We often hear the question: “What value does a specialized trading company bring?” It’s true, for simple metal component needs, going direct might seem cost-effective. However, we approach every inquiry with a focus on our unique value proposition. If we can’t add significant value, we’ll decline the opportunity or simply refer you to another company.
Our roots are in specialty steel for cutting tools. This foundation has given us an intimate understanding of the entire process – from raw material properties and heat treatment to hardening, sharpening, and specialized surface coatings like PVC and DLC. We grasp the challenges faced by cutting tool manufacturers in a way that material or rolling mills simply can’t.
Our experience goes beyond just materials. We can read metal component drawings, understand sheet metal and machining processes, and even have experience with AI-driven defect detection. This allows us to quickly understand your needs and provide solutions that fit seamlessly into your operations.
From our past experiences, there is sometimes a gap between what raw material manufacturers “can do” and what material users “require”.
Material manufacturers possess an exceptional level of expertise regarding their own products. However, they often lack a deep understanding of how these materials are actually used by customers, and what properties are truly desired in specific applications. This leads to a common practice of “push marketing,” where manufacturers propose new materials to distributors or large clients (such as automobile OEMs) and seek their evaluation. This approach is prevalent not only among Japanese raw material manufacturers but also German manufacturers (in fact, not only raw materials but also component manufacturers often propose new prototypes with a similar “try it out” approach).
Furthermore, many manufacturers which work on intermediate material processing (such as rerolling, heat treatment, and surface treatment) are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with strong technical capabilities but often weak marketing skills.
From the perspective of manufacturers who utilize raw materials or raw material components, several challenges arise:
- Ready-to-process form / pre-process: materials should ideally require minimal additional processing before being incorporated into the material user’s products. Whether users handle processing in-house or outsource it, materials should be supplied in a easy form for immediate processing. This minimizes lead times and streamlines production workflows.
- Packaging and Delivery Optimization: packaging and delivery quantity must be adapted to the operational needs of the material user’s production site. Needs vary. For example, some material users accept raw material in the wooden boxes, while other material users need in small pieces in returnable boxes.
- Quality Consistency: For some reason, the quality users seek may not be achieved after processing. For example, after machining, stress may build up inside the metal and cause deformation.
To illustrate this with a simple analogy: material manufacturers are like farmers who cultivate tomatoes. In contrast, material users are chefs preparing Pasta. These chefs have specific needs such as “tomatoes must be cut into dices” “tomatoes must be peeled”.
Enserve’s mission is to bridge the gap between the capabilities of material manufacturers and the needs of material users.
We offer the following tailor-made metal materials / components.
- Meeting Your Needs: We meticulously analyze your requirements to offer customized solutions encompassing raw materials, intermediate processing, logistics, and more.
- Optimized Combination: We collaborate with material manufacturers and intermediate processors, often in complex combinations, to provide tailor-made material and component solutions.
- Blueprint Interpretation: Our ability to interpret blueprints enables us to work backward from the final product, considering raw materials, intermediate processing, packaging, quality control methods, factory audits, and storage methods.
To illustrate this with a simple analogy: Enserve bridges between farmers and chefs. We prepare “diced tomatoes” and “peeled tomatoes” in cans and vacuum packages and stock them to avoid shortages.
We excel at sourcing materials from around the world, particularly when availability is a challenge due to specific requirements for steel grades, shapes, dimensions, and surface treatments in special steel, stainless steel, and copper alloys. Our expertise in locating hard-to-find materials has helped our clients achieve their growth.
We provide comprehensive support throughout the new material introduction process, from initial discovery and sample evaluation to factory audits. This allows our clients to focus on their core business (such as development of products) while we handle the complexities of sourcing specialized metal materials.
Here is an example of how we supported a customer who was struggling with a stable supply of rare specialty steel to switch supply chains.
