Metrofuser is more than just a distributor of laser print parts, remanufactured printers, tools and supplies, and a provider of training for HP, Lexmark, and Canon printers. Its quality parts are why thousands of office technology dealers, online resellers, mail order resellers, VARs, rechargers, MPS service providers, and authorized and non-authorized service companies count on Metrofuser and one of the reasons why the company was named one of Inc. magazine’s fastest growing companies for five consecutive years. But the company is also an ideal partner for any reseller who appreciates the added value of an education component.
This diversification—training, parts, remanufactured printers, and tools and supplies—has helped each business segment and the company’s knowledge base grow continuously over the years.
Erik Katz
“When we first started we were just in parts,” observes Eric Katz, co-president. “We did that for eight years and when we got into these other business units we grew exponentially because we had so much exposure to those different [business segments]. We learn at such a faster rate now and it feeds the other departments and all the business units. That’s a unique advantage.”
Made in the USA
Metrofuser’s NEXTGENN is one of the leading brands of compatible printer parts in the U.S. This brand represents a new class of compatible parts engineered to match the OEM’s fit, form, and function at a 40 percent savings. The company also stocks whole unit printers to help customers locate hard to find parts. The company even offers parts with no part number that aren’t listed in service manuals. Metrofuser truly is a one-stop shop.
When it comes to sourcing products, Metrofuser emphasizes location, location, location. All products are made in the USA, which the company considers a key differentiator in the aftermarket.
“In the past two years we’ve seen our biggest competitors move their production outside of the country,” observes Katz. “We still believe that one of the selling points of remanufactured product is that you are buying American labor and reinvesting in our country instead of sending dollars across the border.”
A Very Good Year
The past year has been an excellent one for Metrofuser with double-digit growth, something the company has enjoyed for the past five years. Asked about the reason behind this continued growth, Katz replies, “It’s not one thing, it’s a lot of little things.”
Some of those little things include the company’s focus on quality, new product introductions, an emphasis on R&D plus its ability to develop new proprietary products (tools, equipment and supplies) that aren’t available anywhere else such as a tool that allows technicians to reset the count on transfer kits.
“This saves a lot of service techs time and is totally unique. It gets us in the door and has taken off internationally without much advertising,” states Katz.
Metrofuser’s customers range from a small one or two-person owner/operator of a copier dealership all the way up to national service organizations. “They’re all dealers, but their size and market segment is diverse,” explains co-president Will DeMuth. “There’s also some resellers—folks who buy our products and resell them through the Internet or catalog.”
Quality and an Attention to Detail
Metrofuser prides itself on pioneering “better-than-OEM” remanufactured printer parts. Nowhere is that more evident than in its attention to detail. All remanufactured parts are inspected and cross-checked throughout the entire remanufacturing process, from disassembly, cleaning, and testing to the final finished product.
Technicians from various technical backgrounds rebuild parts down to its lowest level. From IC’s on the printer’s logic board, to the smallest spring on a fuser, every part is scrutinized to what Metrofuser calls the most demanding quality control standards in the industry. Unlike some competitors who might focus more on cosmetic replacement, Metrofuser applies all factory and proprietary upgrades and enhancements to each remanufactured part. For electronic devices and PCB’s, this includes upgrading to the latest applicable firmware revision, ensuring full compatibility with current standards.
Plus, many of the parts used in its remanufacturing process are manufactured exclusively to Metrofuser’s rigid specifications, often beyond off-the-shelf quality.
Will DeMuth
Dealers and resellers depend on Metrofuser first and foremost for the quality of its products. “You hear that over and over, but it’s not a standard anymore,” acknowledges DeMuth. “There have been a lot of changes in our industry where a lot of our competitors outsource to Mexico and quality is no longer a standard. The quality of remanufactured product from vendor to vendor is different. Unlike OEM where OEM is OEM and you just negotiate price and you get what you get, it’s diverse in the remanufacturing world.”
Quality is critical and that’s a message Metrofuser remains determined to pass along to customers.
“We want quality to be a conversation between ourselves and our customers,” says Katz. “We look into every warranty that comes back and encourage our customers to ask about our forensic analysis and seek preemptive technical support. We also are constantly educating our customers with ProNotes and information about paper quality and dirty power.”
That emphasis on quality is the backbone of Metrofuser’s Quality Management System.
“Everything that comes back marked as defective or warranty gets tested to make sure we can find the defect and reproduce it, and allows us to track trends in our parts and trends in our customers,” explains DeMuth. “We track all this information and make it available to our customers. The biggest thing is trying to get quality to be a conversation between us and the customer. You want to make the highest quality parts, but you want to make sure they’re all doing the right things. Everyone loses if they have to send a technician out three times whether it’s because they’re misdiagnosing something or because it’s a defective part. It’s about educating the customer and getting them to talk to us about what they’re seeing as well.”
For example, when Metrofuser’s dedicated forensic department tears apart a returned fuser and finds an issue, they’ll share that information with the production manager and the operations manager who meet every two weeks. They then pass that information along to sales and sales reports back to everyone else what’s going on with the customer.
“We want that communication line as short as possible,” states DeMuth.
Available When You Need It
It’s one thing to make great parts and have a diverse menu of products, but it’s another herculean effort to make sure customers receive their orders in as timely a manner as possible. Metrofuser offers multi point distribution via a network of strategically located distribution centers and same day shipping, two critical reasons why dealers and resellers have the company on speed dial. An electronically linked network provides 1-2 day ground shipping to 80 percent of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas. This model ensures that dealers and resellers can provide customers with top-notch service and delivery without having to invest in stocking and warehousing. In addition, local customers have the option of pick-up service for their orders.
Metrofuser’s service system has a well-earned reputation for exceptional order/fill rates and unmatched order cycle times. Orders placed by 6 p.m. EST are shipped the same day via any major carrier. A 96-percent fill rate is another reason the company has so many satisfied customers.
The Core of the Matter
Metrofuser’s CoreBank IT system is another value-add that customers appreciate. The company’s system can identify, itemize, inventory, report and manage a customer’s core inventory while the customer maintains control on how to use it. If a customer is unable to return a core, Metrofuser estimates core charges on current market prices while always trying to accept fair and equitable trades.
The company can also help its partners keep track of their core returns. On all drop-shipped exchange orders Metrofuser provides a pre-paid pre-printed return shipping label with packing and shipping instructions. In addition, Metrofuser can send customers the tracking information for the return shipment the moment that the part is shipped.
Service options range from Repair & Return, to Remanufactured Outright, to Remanufactured on Advance Exchange, to OEM New Outright, to OEM New on Advance Exchange.
Beyond the Parts
There’s a lot more happening at Metrofuser beyond parts fulfillment, most notably education via Metrofuser’s ServicePLUS Training. The company trains technicians from across the country, including technicians for the U.S. Army, NSA, FBI, and Lockheed Martin, on how to repair printers. Some techs are sent for training by copier dealers who are just now getting into printers while others attend the training as a refresher course so that they are confident working on every model. That business unit is going strong.
Techs learn how to repair the latest LaserJet printer technology and become certified. This training provides techs with hands-on, real-life scenarios. Students break it, fix it, install it, troubleshoot it, integrate it, migrate it, upgrade it, and deploy it. These classes usually take place over the course of one week with an emphasis on the top models and networking.
“There’s been a lot of interest in that this year and it continues to grow,” says Katz.
A big part of the training is introducing techs to the problems they’re most likely to encounter in the field and how to diagnose them. “It’s a huge confidence builder so when they walk into an office to repair a printer they’ll feel more confident,” states Katz. “Our trainers look at it not just as ‘here’s how it breaks and how to fix it,’ but how it works and how the paper travels through the printer. This way if they encounter a printer they haven’t seen before they have an idea how the paper travels through the [device].”
Tech Support at the Highest Level
When it comes to technology, tech support is a key component and that’s another area where Metrofuser excels. Its Level III tech support provides technicians with access to an array of support options, including toll-free phone support, email and instant messaging. In addition, every Metrofuser customer has a dedicated customer service rep.
“That’s distinctive about us,” says DeMuth.
Also distinctive is an online knowledge base, laserprinterhelp.net, that is constantly upgraded with new information. Last year Metrofuser introduced TekSuite, an app for Apple and Android devices. The TekSuite app was built for professional printer service technicians that repair HP and Lexmark laser printers. It contains a knowledge base that techs can navigate through by printer model and by key words. It provides them with the Top 10 possible solutions to the problem.
“The app was a major hit with both our current customers and prospects, too,” says Katz. “Nobody can have a technician who has the knowledge base to fix every machine so we have a technical support department that can help them fix the machine and get the right part the first time around. We also help them troubleshoot a problem before they order a part. It’s not about us selling parts, it’s about solving the problem the first time around.”
Printer Remanufacturing
Four years ago Metrofuser made the move into printer remanufacturing, which today represents one of its fastest-growing business segments. Recently, the company launched its MPSClass printers and is selling them under that brand. Those too are doing well. This was a major initiative for the company.
“We used our knowledge from building parts and printers to select what we believe are the best models in their respective categories – color, monochrome and multifunction,” says DeMuth. “The printers are chosen based on a number of criteria and we feel our remanufactured models offer our dealers the best shot at maximum profitability in an MPS environment.”
Focusing on the Future
Looking ahead to 2015 expect Metrofuser to expand its current space in New Jersey, enabling it to increase capacity and foster growth.
“We’ll continue to look for opportunities to find the unique and exclusive products out there,” adds DeMuth. “We’re always looking for the opportunity to finesse products or reengineer current products to make them even better than the original.”
For dealers and resellers not currently doing business with Metrofuser, Katz and DeMuth make a compelling case for them to give Metrofuser some serious consideration.
“We don’t compete with our customers,” says DeMuth. “There are a lot of companies who sell to the small office and the service company as well as the service company’s customers. We don’t and we’re exclusive in that way. We have blind drop shipping to protect the dealer. It’s rare nowadays. A lot of folks have crossed or blurred lines with their Websites and their sales folks. Our motto when we started the company was ‘always partnering, never competing’ and that remains the spirit that guides the decisions we make today.”
“We are a hands-on company from technical support all the way up to ownership,” adds Katz. “Keeping an open line of communication with the people who trust in our products allows us to make quicker decisions. When you obsess about delivering superior quality and service like we do, it’s essential to make every resource available to your customers. That’s becoming more and more unique amongst our competition.”
Contact Info:
Metrofuser
263 Cox St
Roselle, NJ 07203 www.metrofuser.com
(888) FUSERS-1 (387-3771)
(908) 245-2100 (Phone)
(908) 245-2900 (Fax)
011-908-245-2100 (International)
