May 2013
| Business World Magazine | 201
the middleman in the equation, one might
think Hunstad would do all in his power to
prevent the manufacturer and supplier from
coming together in such a way as to negate
his role, but NO. He believes in transparen-
cy and openness, so suppliers know exactly
who the manufacturer is that requires parts
and the manufacturer knows exactly who is
producing the parts. “Some may find that
scary,” says Hunstad. “I think the more open
you are, and the more transparent it is ... the
better it is for all involved.”
That philosophy has only gone afoul
on one occasion, he concedes. Some years
ago, in the midst of the economic recession,
Hunstad encountered a situation where he
was only able to source a particular large-
sized component from a singular supplier
that specialized in that manner of produc-
tion. The manufacturer was undertaking a
little belt-tightening and ultimately began
dealing solely with the supplier, a maneuver
that ultimately cost Hunstad an estimated
$15 million of business over time. Fortu-
nately (or unfortunately), the manufacturer
learned that it wasn’t really saving that much
in the way of cost by going around him. The
valuable lesson for Hunstad was realizing the
importance of working with numerous sup-
pliers with numerous capabilities, and nev-
er depending too strongly on one singular
source for a specific material.
Jeremy Werhan - Manufacturing Engineer
Jerry Sinner - Director of Finance
