What started out in 1977 in founder Chuck Bergmann’s basement as a three-person family business selling digital readouts for equipment to machine shops, has turned into a regional powerhouse in the precision measurement industry. Today, Inspection Engineering sells, installs, and calibrates various kinds of measuring equipment for a variety of manufacturing companies, as well as providing their own precision measuring service and consultations, advice, and training to manufacturers needing to improve accuracy and efficiency in their operations. They now have Tech Centers in Ohio and surrounding states servicing multiple states and employing almost 40 people. A merger in 2023 added further capabilities in other parts of the country and brought the staff total to roughly 200 people.
Expansion for Problem-Solving
With the founder now retired, the business remains in the family, with son Michael Bergmann at the helm. The current president has been with the company for 32 years and has been part of the massive growth that Inspection Engineering has seen over the last couple of decades.
“Thirty years ago, we started becoming interested in providing services for companies who couldn’t do their own measuring or calibration work, and we started doing that work for them.”
He continues, “The reason is that so many companies don’t have the manpower or expertise, so they have to outsource that work. A lot of our growth has been the result of providing those types of services.”
Sales Administrator and Marketing Specialist Bethany Eierdam adds, “We have a variety of experts, and we pride ourselves on having the expertise to help people find the solutions they need. We create a lot of content that goes out there to help people figure out the right steps to take to solve their problem. We have a YouTube channel and a variety of other things, and we do brand ourselves as experts in the industry. If we don’t have the solution or answer for you, we’ll send you somewhere that we know you can get it.”
A Mix of Service and Sales
Inspection Engineering does about half of its business in sales of equipment and half in the service and advisory side of things, with some small variations according to economic changes. Presently, things are weighted a bit more to the service and advisory side, with high interest rates slowing the purchase of new equipment for many manufacturers. Staffing is key to providing the kind of service and guidance that the company offers, and most employees, whether in sales or service, have extensive backgrounds in manufacturing industries and/or engineering areas. With their continued growth, it can be a slow process to find the right people to fill new positions as they expand, but the effort has proven well worth it in order to maintain the high standards they’ve become known for.
Two separate technical teams handle the services offered by the company. “We have an outside service team that goes out and does repairs and calibrations of machines on-site“, says Eierdam. “Then the services we offer in-house include part inspections, programming, and the like. Our in-house team is mainly composed of people with an application engineering background, and the people on the outside also have engineering experience, but they’re focusing more on repairs, and that sort of thing.”
On the equipment sales side, the company stocks some items, and drop-ships others directly from manufacturers, depending on the type of product and the cost involved. Their supply line is generally stable, and pricing increases have mostly been modest and predictable in recent years.
Precision measurements are vital to a wide variety of manufacturing industries, and most of the equipment Inspection Engineering sells, and the knowledge and advice they provide is adaptable to an extensive list of businesses. The largest shares of customers come from the medical device, aerospace, defense, and automotive industries in roughly equal numbers, although it varies with prevailing economic conditions at any given time.
Cloud-Supported Manufacturing
A unique service the company offers is a cloud-based platform to keep track of clients’ inventory of equipment. Bergmann says, “We have so many customers come to us, and their things are completely disorganized. They’ve got thousands of gages, or assets, as we call them, and they don’t know where they are. They don’t know which ones are updated, they don’t know which ones are even working anymore. Our platform will keep track of every instrument in the building, and let them know where it is, what the working condition is, and when it’s next due for calibration or maintenance. Where it helps them is that oftentimes these companies have one, two, or sometimes four or five people just to keep track of all the gages and measuring instruments, and that doesn’t add value to the product they’re trying to ship out the door.” By outsourcing those tasks to Inspection Engineering, the customer clearly improves its efficiency and bottom line.
The reputation and experience of Inspection Engineering gives them a competitive edge, as do exclusive regional rights for some of the equipment they sell. They have also become one of the largest service providers in the region and are continuing down that path with the expansion of on-site calibrations, measurements, and training. They also assist customers with integrating robotics into their manufacturing processes through a sister company that specializes in that field. Their sales efforts are bolstered by staying up to date on the latest industry advances to provide the best technology available to customers. Bergmann says, “We’re always looking to add new product lines that people who manufacture in our area can use, and we’re also exploring and adding new pieces of equipment for measuring and for manufacturing.”