Uniparts Group operates eight manufacturing facilites throughout the world.

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Eldridge, Iowa-based Olsen Engineering LLC knew it had the quality to compete with any U.S. precision-machined components manufacturer. However, to compete long-term in a global environment and deal with all the logistics challenges was an entirely different issue. This was the exact scenario presented by its customers beginning in 2003.

In response to this request, Olsen Engineering spent a year researching options and ended up forming a partnership with the Uniparts Group in India. Initially, the first phase included selling half its stock to the Group who, in turn, built a manufacturing facility in Noida, India, a suburb of New Delhi that was established as a subsidiary of Olsen Engineering. The 70,000-square-foot plant was completed in January 2006 and production was started with 200 employees in March 2006.

In May 2007, with the partnership working well and the concept being accepted by their customers, the company sold the rest of its shares to the Uniparts Group. Later that year, it rebranded itself as Uniparts Olsen Inc.

“We’ve tried to add value and integrate our products that were tremendously received in the U.S. and begin offering these types of solutions on a global basis,” President and CEO Kevin Code says. “We worked with North American customers and al­lowed them access to multiple geographic locations in either the U.S., Europe or Asia, finding the lowest total-cost market to produce these projects.

“Consequently, we’ve eliminated risk for those customers in finding the best geographic manufacturing locations.”

Joanne Mercer and Larry Olsen founded Olsen Engineering in 1972. A group of investors, including Code and Executive Vice President and CFO Dennis DeDecker, purchased the business from Mercer and Olsen in 1998.

With its new parent company, it now boasts eight manufacturing facilities throughout the world, one distribution center in Augusta, Ga., a sourcing office in China and a group headquarters in New Delhi.

“We have redundant manufacturing facilities for almost all produced product, which gives us flexibility for specification changes and volume fluctuations,” Code says. “If there are any problems that may occur internationally, we are able to react quickly here in Eldridge and provide a manufacturing alternative that eliminates any risk to delivery and/or quality.

“If you are a manufacturer and your source is India or one of the other developing countries, the planning cycle and delivery lead time on a new project is a minimum of six months.         

“With our global solution, we afford customers flexibility by not only having manufacturing facilities across the world, but also a U.S. facility here in Eldridge that can start the project and provide parts while the transition to one of our international facilities is developing.”

While many machined steel parts manufacturers are still becoming acclimated to the international economy, Uniparts Olsen considers their global sourcing, manufacturing and distribution acumen a major core competency. Code says Uniparts India has been exporting overseas to the United States since 1982.

“Not only are we manufacturing, but we are also involved in distribution and can handle the parts from start to finish providing a turn key solution for the customer,” Code adds.

Multiple Markets
Uniparts India is an established brand within the agricultural industry, specifically known for the three-point hitch system that was developed for use on tractors. It has one of the largest market shares worldwide for three-point hitches and related parts on tractors of 100 horsepower or less.  Recently, the Group was awarded the “Top Exporters – Gold Trophy Award” for medium enterprises in India.

Uniparts Group is now evolving into delivering complete assemblies as well as individual parts. Code says this change assists the customer by eliminating waste in the process, as well as managing costs on an individual part basis.