Case Histories

Graybar Electric Co. Inc.

Graybar Electric Co. Inc. is an international distributor of electrical and communications/data products with $3.7 billion in annual revenues and 7,000 employee/owners. Graybar distributes 750,000 different products through 260 locations located in the U.S. and Canada.

In the summer of 1996, Graybar Electric Co. Inc. performed an exhaustive review of printer manufacturers. According to Don Ludwinski, Manager, Network Systems of Graybar, "We needed a printer that would be able to withstand the harsh environments of being located at a counter or within a warehouse. It had to be an industrial strength unit that would not fail because of dirt and dust. The selected printer was going to print Graybar’s most important document, the shipping ticket. We print over 42,000 shipping tickets per day."

After months of testing various brands of printers, "Graybar selected the Printek FormsPro 4500 printer because it met the criteria of being a printer we felt we could depend on," notes Ludwinski.

During the review process Graybar’s IS staff met with Printek technical representatives and found them to be very responsive to their needs. Printek made a minor modification to the printer and in addition agreed to ship each printer with the Graybar required settings preloaded into the device. This allowed Graybar to ship and install 240 units as quickly as they could be delivered.

Today, Graybar has approximately 350 Printek FormsPro 4500 units installed. Graybar is utilizing depot repair to maintain the printers. Eleven spare units are housed at a service facility in Boston. Repaired units are shipped overnight when a printer fails. "Graybar has yet to have a spare printer unavailable when needed. The Printek 4500 has been most reliable," comments Ludwinski.

Graybar has since had conversations with Printek regarding additional feature enhancements they wanted to see in a Printek printer. Says Ludwinski, "Those changes have been incorporated in the new high-speed FormsMaster 8000 model printer. We are installing some of these units now as well."

After working together for over two years, Ludwinski concludes, "A very successful relationship exists between Printek and Graybar. Graybar continues to purchase Printek printers at the rate of 1 or 2 printers a week."

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"A very successful relationship exists between Printek and Graybar"

Don Ludwinski,
Manager, Network Systems
Graybar Electric Co., Inc.