How important are Web sites to the manufacturing industry?
By ANDRÉA MARIA CECIL
Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 03/25/2007 02:29:18 AM EDT


Mar 25, 2007 — Some manufacturers in York County don't have computers. So the idea of a company Web site is a bit far fetched.

Springettsbury Township-based Web development company Affinigent sees that as a chance for business.
The manufacturing industry is "an area that we recently identified in our internal marketing as an area that we felt was under served and presented a real opportunity to us," Affinigent President and Chief Executive Officer Don Bishop said.

But the company has its work cut out for it because the manufacturing industry, at least locally, is still trying to determine how having a Web site can help business.

"I would say it's on the lower priority list - on the secondary list - because we haven't found a way where it adds dollars to the bottom line yet," said Michael E. Smeltzer, executive director of the Manufacturers' Association of South Central Pennsylvania. "It's neat. It seems right. But right now we're struggling to see how it adds value to the bottom line."
Of the association's 350 members in southcentral Pennsylvania and northern Maryland, about 75 percent have Web sites; the remaining 25 percent do not. "There was no science that we could see as to the why or why not," Smeltzer said.  The problem, Bishop said, is how many people, including those in manufacturing, view the Internet.
"Everyone thinks about selling products on the Internet because everyone buys products on the Internet. That's how the Internet got big," he said. "But that doesn't make sense for a manufacturer."  Instead, manufacturers should use Web sites as a way to enhance relationships with their customers, Bishop said.

Recently, Affinigent developed a Web site for Hanover-based Precision Cut Industries, a contract manufacturer of laser-cut parts that also provides general laser-cutting services. Before January, Precision Cut Industries didn't have a homepage. "One of the things we wanted to do is ensure our customers really understood who we were in terms of the professional basis of how we run our business," company President Brian Greenplate said. "A lot of people think of manufacturing as dirty, dark and dingy, and we take pride in having a clean, high-tech approach to manufacturing."

With an increasing number of potential customers searching the Internet for suppliers, Greenplate wanted searchers to be able to take a tour of Precision Cut Industries. At its Web site - www.precisioncutindustries.com - visitors can see photos of the company's assembly, laser cutting, robotic welding, precision bending, shipping and storage areas.  "We think more and more customers are using the Web to find potential suppliers, and we really wanted to be able to portray ... the image of who we are," he said.

Die-Tech, another small manufacturer in the county, also uses its Web site - http://www.die-tech.com - to attract business.  "We try to focus on what issues, problems and concerns a prospect or customers might have, and use the Web site as more of a vehicle to help them understand whether it might be good to give Die-Tech a call," company President Richard W. Dennis said.

Newberry Township-based Die-Tech manufactures precision metal stampings for the aerospace, automotive, electronics, medical, military and telecommunications industries. The firm's Web site has seen several changes since it first appeared in the late 1990s. The page ranks higher on search engines, such as Google, and has become a tool Die-Tech uses to get feedback from customers, Dennis said.

"It's really evolved into a more sophisticated marketing and customer communication piece for us," he said. "Over the last year or two, our site has gotten much more effective as a communication piece and a lead generator for us."  Instead of spending roughly $5,000 to print hundreds of brochures that need to be carted around, Die-Tech has spent significantly less money for something that executes the same mission, Dennis said.
"The Web has always made much more sense as an advertising vehicle than just about anything else we've ever done," he said.

Plus, companies who have Web sites are several steps ahead of those who don't, Dennis said.
"When we do competitive analysis ... someone who has a very basic Web site and not a lot of information, we find that they're not a strong competitor," he said. "Typically, a strong competitor will have a sophisticated Web site that they're at least trying to use as a marketing piece."

When all that can be found on the Internet about a company is its name, address and phone number, it's probably not a force to be reckoned with, he added.  "Basic research information kind of leaves an impression," Dennis said.
Greenplate echoed the sentiment, saying Precision Cut Industries resisted the temptation to throw up any old Web site in favor of doing it right the first time.

"We thought it was really important to take a really professional approach," he said. "We see our Web site changing to continue to reflect our changes and our growth as we move into new areas and take on new challenges. We want to be able to portray to our customers with just a quick click of the Web, 'here's what's going on at PCI.'"
The companies - Precision Cut Industries
• Based in Hanover
• About 70 employees
• A custom manufacturer of laser-cut components for the construction, defense, energy, food equipment and consumer industries that also offers general laser-cutting services
• Web site: http://www.precisioncutindustries.com
Die-Tech
• Based in Newberry Township
• About 52 employees
• Manufacturers precision metal stampings for the aerospace, automotive, electronics, medical, military and telecommunications industries
• Web site: http://www.die-tech.com
Affinigent
• Based in Springettsbury Township
• Does Web site development, Internet strategies, application development and multimedia production
• Web site: http://www.affinigent.com