For Five Generations, Cal-Tron Corporation has been “Pioneering Plastic Solutions”

A business can never place too much emphasis on its customers. The customer is the foundation of any business’ success. Customer confidence is what brings customers back to your company and ensures long-term success. Keeping their needs in mind is also an integral part of effective marketing. That is why it is vital we get to know our customers’ needs so that we can provide only the best experience possible and 100% accuracy with our services and products. We recently interviewed Karen Leatham, Cal-Tron Corporation’s Operations Manager, to learn more about the business and see what we could do to enhance our relationship with CTC. Here is what Karen had to say about Cal-Tron Corporation and working with Q-PLUS Labs.

Q: First, let me say thank you, Karen, for taking the time to speak with us, as we are always eager to hear feedback from our customers and learn more about them.

Can you please tell us about Cal-Tron Corporation and what types of products you offer?

A: Cal-Tron Corporation (CTC) is a 5th generation, family-owned business, offering custom injection molded plastic components and services. CTC works with a wide range of industries like defense, aerospace, transportation, consumer, electrical, and medical. Our expertise is molding tight toleranced parts, specializing in quality, detail, and the accuracy of complex parts.

Q: Please tell us a little bit about the history of Cal-Tron Corporation?

A: My grandfather, Clarence Pool, started Hydropak, which would later become Cal-Tron Corporation, in Los Angeles 80 years ago. It is a tight-knit family-owned business. When I grew up, we were always very close to my grandparents in L.A., and even when the company moved up to Bishop, we went back and forth a lot. As my children grew up, we continued the tradition of visiting them several times a year. My children have grown up coming here to Cal-Tron. My daughter started working here in 2015. She is the 5th generation of our family to work at the company. After my grandfather passed away, we were going through some stuff in the attic of my grandparents’ house in L.A., and we found records showing that my great-grandmother, Hallie, worked for the business. I did not realize she was a supervisor, and my great-grandfather, Willie, her husband, worked for her. Which, looking back is a bit progressive for the time. Women working at Cal-Tron have always been part of our business. I never knew about gender bias when I was growing up. It was never like “you’re a girl, and you can’t do this, or you can’t do that.” It started generations before me. I honestly was very blessed because I never knew about bias or prejudice because neither my grandparents nor my parents were that way. It was, “are you a good person, and are you a good worker?” That is what mattered; that is who we are as a company.

Q: How does Cal-Tron stand out in the injection molding industry compared to your competitors?

A: I would say it is our ability to make overly complex parts with tight tolerances along with our dedication to customer service. We are a small company, so I deal directly with all the customers. There are not layers and layers of departments. If you call here and you have an emergency, it is not like “well let me see, I have to go talk to my manager” who says “they’re going to have to talk to another manager, then we’ll see what we can do, and hopefully we might be able to do something.” It is not like that. If a customer has an urgent need, I will go directly to the floor production team and we will see what it takes to meet that need. So, you get answers. You do not get passed off from person to person. The buck absolutely stops at my desk.

“The customer is king” is something I learned years ago from my grandfather. It is just how I am and how we are as a company. I do not care if they are buying one part, a few parts a year, or if they are our largest customer; it does not matter to me; my treatment is completely the same. We will do everything that we can to get it right and, when needed, to quickly fix any problems with the customer directly.

Q: Can you tell me more about how this philosophy has helped Cal-Tron build customer relationships?

A: We just try and do our best with every single customer. We are a relatively small business, so everybody wears a bunch of hats. We do everything possible to never let a customer down. Everyone here is hands-on in their roles and jobs, including out on the production floor. I am very familiar with most of our customers’ parts. I take the time to know the parts, especially those that have problems in the molding process. I am really familiar with them! (Karen laughing)

We are fortunate as well to have long-standing relationships with many of our customers. There is one customer where their grandfather did business with my grandfather, and 50 years later, we still make parts for that company. We also make parts for companies that have grown and were bought up by other companies and subsequently were bought up several more times. What started as a little business maybe 40 or 50 years ago is now part of a much larger company. Rockwell Collins now owns one of these long-time customers. We are still dealing with some of those same companies going on 50+ years.

For example, we have been recognized by Northrop Grumman as an outstanding supplier. We were invited to visit Washington DC to be presented with their prestigious World Class Team Award. A very select few companies, not even 1% of their supply base, gets this award. Cal-Tron was one of only 34 suppliers who received this honor out of more than 9,500 companies worldwide.

Q: Can you tell me how you choose your suppliers?

A: I treat my vendors the same way I want to be treated as a customer. We only have a small number of suppliers, like Q-PLUS Labs. For example, we have several large material distributors we deal with and a couple of smaller ones on our vendor list. They give us excellent service and I really appreciate it as we do not buy large quantities of material. I am approached occasionally by other material suppliers and I tell them I am not interested in taking on a new vendor because I am very loyal to the ones we have. As far as longevity and financial stability? We are careful about who we work with. Since we are small, we are very conservative with our expansion, so we have been able to weather the storms over the years.

Q: How long have you worked with Q-PLUS Labs?

A: I started sending RFQs to Q-PLUS back in 2015, so, going on five years now. That is when I started working with Alex and Nicole in customer service. They have been awesome. They always get back to us quickly and have been great to work with.

Q: What Q-PLUS services does Cal-Tron primarily use?

A: We use Q-PLUS Labs for measurements and inspections. More precisely, first article inspection stuff. We exclusively use Q-PLUS to do first article inspection on all our complex parts. The more basic parts we do in-house.  We do not have the time to do the complex parts.

Q: How has working with Q-PLUS Labs helped your business?

A: Working with Q-PLUS has been great from the get-go. I really like Alex; he has done a terrific job working with us. I have worked with Nicole here and there; now, she is the “go-to” person I deal with. I have occasionally talked to Lola in accounting when I have needed to, along with Mike, the Lab Manager. I like the people I have worked with and your ability to handle complex parts. There are jobs where the part has 185 dimensions and is so complicated that we do not have the workforce, the time, or the equipment to measure it. If I need 16 first article inspections on one part, it is just not feasible to do it in-house. Q-PLUS has the advanced equipment and personnel to handle all those challenges.

When I receive an RFQ I will look at the print and decide whether we can do the first article in-house or if I need to have Q-PLUS to do it. Much of our inspections are on repeat business from customers. Many times, I already have the cost from Q-PLUS on past inspections, and that makes it easy. With some other vendors, we deal with “the black hole” as I call it. It goes in, but it never comes out. That never happens with Q-PLUS.

Q: Can you give me an example of the quality customer service you mentioned? And how have we helped you with that?

A: For example, any time I send an RFQ, I get a response quickly. When I send a PO, I do not have to wait for a while to get a response. The Q-PLUS support team has always been very responsive. I get emails and confirmations back quickly.

Q: Is there anything we could do to improve our services or business relationship? 

A: I would say, do not change a thing. I am very happy with Q-PLUS’s services.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add or say about working with Q-PLUS Labs?

A: I will just say it has been a wonderful relationship, one that is always positive. I would not change it or even think about going anywhere else. Back to what I said earlier, you guys are a great vendor. I do not fix what is not broken.

Karen, on behalf of the rest of us at Q-PLUS Labs, I thank you for your time today. We appreciate learning about Cal-Tron Corporation, and we look forward to working with the 6th generation in the Cal-Tron family!

(Karen laughing) At the moment they are ten years old, but they are coming!

To learn more about Cal-Tron Corporation, visit their website at caltroncorp.com.