Charles City manufacturer celebrates John Deere honor

By Kate Hayden | khayden@charlescitypress.com

Machine Tool Engineering, Inc. is still enjoying the company recognition after John Deere announced a ‘new status’ last Thursday.

The Charles City manufacturer is now a 2016 “partner-level supplier” in the John Deere Achieving Excellence Program. MTE was chosen for “dedication to providing products and service of outstanding quality as well as its commitment to continuous improvement,” a press release said over the weekend.

“We will get new opportunities on new business that we haven’t had before. We do have two salesmen that will use this as a sales tool in the future,” MTE President Sarah George said.

MTE manufactures the components that fit within a blueprint John Deere or MTE’s other clients provide, building to fit the needs of each print. MTE contracts with more than 80 businesses to provide a manufacturing service.

The company has been graded on a scale while doing business with Deere & Company Inc. through the years, and this year, John Deere’s points tally, 98 percent of all possible points John Deere awards, leveled MTE up from Key Level to Partner Level, the top tier available. MTE has been working with John Deere for about 15 years, Sarah said.

“Quality is one of the things we were rated on, so the guy loading parts into the truck had to be careful, the packaging had to be good,” Sarah said. “Another area rated was wavelength, how we communicate with them, our timeliness in communicating problems. It’s all how easy we were to work with, and delivery.”

The business has also recently upgraded it’s own quality rating system to the 2015 International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9001) certification.

“It tells our customers that we have a strict quality policy, and they know the quality of parts that they can expect from us,” Sarah said. “It’s a feeling of security that they know they’re going to get quality parts.”

Kurt and Sarah George purchased MTE in 1989, which served one client at that time, Sarah said. The business now employs about 40 people, running off of two production shifts, and is considering expansion plans for 2017, Kurt, Vice President, said.

“At some point we’ll have more footage, either on to this building or on to other property we own,” Kurt said. “We’re ready.”

This is the first such designation from a client that MTE has received, Kurt said, and he hopes it means more business with John Deere to help MTE grow.

In the meantime, the family-owned business took a workday break on Monday to share the news with employees and celebrate the designation.

“This is just a thank-you for the employees who’ve helped us get to this point, to the partner designation,” Sarah said. “It’s definitely a group effort. No one could have done it on their own.”

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