Monthly Archives: April 2010

When Life Gives You Lemons …

I know – there are all kinds of clichés that promote positive thinking.  Lemons being made into lemonade.  Looking at the glass half full.  Etc.  But, when things go wrong, it really does not pay to get upset or overly stressed out about the situation.  Remaining calm and thinking things through to figure out what CAN be done is a much better route than complaining and making things worse.

Case in point.  Today we had a MAJOR problem with our phone system.  Our Customer Service area, which normally boasts 8 phone agents, was reduced to only 4 of those phones being able to accept incoming calls.  And, on top of that, our local phone line routed to this group, resulting in 30% more calls coming in to less than 50% of our agents.  Ouch.

Rather then getting upset, our CSRs banded together to rotate in and out of the four workstations with phone connections to cover for each other and reduce some of the burden and stress on each other.  Those on the phones helped customers while those with no phones worked with fax and e-mail orders, ran messages throughout the company, etc.  This fast paced day was actually fun – and helped build a better sense of teamwork in the department.

While I don’t want to go through this again any time soon, I look at the crisis and am proud of how everyone pulled together to make our situation invisible to our customers.  Just one more way that Nelson-Jameson customer service goes the extra mile to serve our customers.


The Man, The Myth, (and now) The Legend

Taking pride in a job and the Company you work for is important.  While others on the outside may look and see a food and dairy supply company, we on the inside see a family-owned business full of history, tradition, and an abundance of pride on our accomplishments.

Sixty some years ago, Earl Nelson, his father T.C., and two other investors (Herb Jameson and Bob Dougherty) founded a dairy equipment and supply firm and named it Nelson-Jameson.  While three of the investors choose to pursue other business ventures, Earl had enough faith in his business model and his abilties to continue to follow his dreams.

As the years passed, Earl’s vision for Nelson-Jameson was to be a “one-stop” supply source for cheeesemakers and other food processors.  In business, as in life, Earl and the Company still operates on the “Golden Rule” philosophy:  treat others as you would like to be treated.

It is with great pride that we announce Earl Nelson is one of this year’s recipients of the 2010 Distinguished Service Award from the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, recognizing outstanding suppliers and manufacturers that have aided the growth of the U.S. dairy industry.

Read about Earl’s award in the  Cheese Reporter article “Earl Nelson & Norm Wood To Receive 2010 WCMA Distinguished Service Award”


Where Do You Buy Your Coffee?

Working in the Technical Services department can pose some very interesting requests from our customers and sales people. Some of the requests seem almost silly. A good example was a request for coffee. Now, if you were thinking like most of us were, you would be saying something like this, “Why the heck don’t they go to the local grocery store and buy it?”

The biggest reason they ask us has to do with liability issues. It would cost the customer more money to send an employee to the store than buy from us. Think of the cost and paperwork involved if that employee got in an accident while running the errand, not to mention the potential for lost time from work if they were injured. 

We may not be able to source all the items, but these requests help us grow our line of products, and keep us in touch with what our customers need and want.


Nelson-Jameson Discovers The Benefits of Blogging

Social media seems to be the business-to-business topic of 2010.  Facebook, Twitter, and blogs are all becoming innovative ways to reach a large number of customers quickly … whether it be about industry information, product-based solutions, or general company communcation.

As we work on a redesign of our web site and review our business processes, we plan to incorporate the use of social media.  Please be patient with us – many of us are “old school” and still trying to wrap our arms around the concept of blogging.  But, with the help of the younger generation we employ (and a wonderful web development firm), we are embracing this concept of two-way communication with our customers, prospective customers, and vendors.

Please feel free to subscribe to blog updates, as there will be a lot of interesting information funneling through our blog,  The Wide Line.  And, as always, your feedback, comments and suggestions are encouraged … and appreciated.

We’re excited about this new venue of communication.  And we hope you’ll be on board and join us as we go forward.


Making Maintenance Easier with Color

Available in Buna, Viton, EPDM, Teflon, and Silicone, color-coded gaskets can be manufactured in virtually any color for virtually any application. Color coded gasket programs are a great way to manage and monitor your plant maintenance schedules.

Annual color changes will allow your maintenance and production employees to immediately determine when the last time a gasket was changed as soon as the clamp is removed, making missed gaskets obvious. Color-coded programs help to ensure that gaskets are changed out regularly and that your piping connections are securely sealed to reduce the risk of leaks and product loss.

Color coded gaskets can also be used for designating production/product lines. Especially in congested piping configurations, complete line gasket changes become faster and easier. Employees can immediately see if they are working on the correct line based on the gasket color.

Interested in implementing a color coded gasket program? Call our customer service department  today at 800-826-8302. Questions on the right gasket for your application or general gasket specifications? Learn all about gaskets at our Learning Center.