Maudlin & Son Manufacturing provides a standard and custom shim line and cantilevered u-spring.

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Founded in 1938 as a job shop and metal stamping company, Maudlin & Son Manufacturing Co. Inc. has diversified its product lines throughout the years, as well as its customer service capabilities. The Kemah, Texas-based, family owned company has maintained its original service scope throughout the 1970s, but transitioned into wire EDM and water jet cutting when the company’s third-generation owner, Earl Maudlin, moved it from Houston to its new Kemah headquarters.   

Here, in its 40,000-square-foot metal stamping and fabrication shop, Maudlin & Son was able to grow and prosper through new service offerings. “These services allowed our company to thrive throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, always staying one step ahead of our competition,” Vice President of Sales Reed Leistad says. In the 1990s, Maudlin launched Maudlin & Son’s first product, slotted shims, with the help of some key distribution partnerships with McMaster Carr and Precision Industries.   

By 2000, another family member, Kirk Tindall, became the fourth generation company president, and Maudlin & Son shifted into becoming a full-fledged manufacturer of shim-related products, including slotted shim kits, replacement packs, coil shims, tool wrap, key stock, feeler gage, plastic shims, custom shims and cantilevered u-spring.

“Today, when asked what does our company do, we reply, ‘We are not only a job shop,’” Leistad asserts. “Today, we provide both a standard and custom shim line, along with cantilevered u-spring and other manufacturing capabilities.” He was hired by Maudlin in 1991 to develop a distribution network for the company’s newly emerging slotted shim line.

Lean Manufacturer
Maudlin & Son enjoys a solid position in its industry through several national and regional distribution agreements. The company aligned itself with buying groups IBC and NetPlus to reach smaller, local distributors.    

Maudlin stands apart from other companies in its category through its commitment to customer service, flexibility, quality products and speed, according to National Account Manager Wade Countryman. Maudlin & Son’s custom shims can be produced within three to five days, and the company maintains a large inventory with same-day or next-day shipping capabilities. Its customers demand faster lead times and on-time deliveries, and the company is more than happy to oblige, he says. “When they have machinery fail or stop running, it costs money for every hour the machine is not running,” Countryman notes.   

“By properly aligning equipment, facilities can save between $5,000 and $50,000 an hour, depending on what they’re manufacturing. We’re also trying to eliminate waste from our processes to streamline our production.”

The company does so through implementing lean processes. “That ties into being ISO 9002 1000-certified,” he says. “We’ve been practicing lean manufacturing for five years and have been ISO-certified for two years.” Countryman joined Maudlin & Son in 2001 to grow and maintain the company’s relationships with manufacture representatives and national accounts throughout the United States and Canada. “Being ISO-certified definitely improves our standing in our clients’ eyes.”

Talented Personnel
Maudlin & Son’s flexibility enables the company to maintain repeat business. “Repeat business is essential to what we do,” Leistad says. “Our demand changes often and we meet those demands by being flexible. Our manufacturing personnel must wear many hats throughout the day.    

“We can shift our employees to bottleneck areas at a moment’s notice, either daily or hourly to meet the demands. Sixty percent of our employees have been with the company for more than five years, and many are experienced in various departments.”  

In addition, Maudlin & Son operates its business with inventory-based software. “This allows us to constantly monitor raw materials and finished applications, as well as working with our suppliers on blanket purchase orders with release dates,” he says.    

“Those releases can be shipped on schedule or moved on demand. Our flexibility allows us to adjust to manufacturing and customer needs, while eliminating our waste and maintaining our production flow.” Through the hard work of its dedicated work force, Maudlin & Son’s sales of shims, custom shims and cantilevered u-spring has increased nearly 20 percent on average every year since 2005.    

“We attribute that to our focus on gaining market share and our focus on giving customers what they want,” Leistad says. “‘Profitable growth through customer satisfaction’ – that’s our mission statement.”

Special Appearance
Through aggressive pricing and continuous marketing efforts to increase market share, Maudlin & Son has recently expanded distribution into Canada. “Our market share is still growing and we have recently become a non-resident importer into Canada,” Leistad reports.

“We now have national sales representation throughout Canada and are looking for new local, regional and national distributors,” he continues.   

Maudlin & Son continuously seeks out opportunities to network by attending industry conferences, such as ISCTF.