Forging A Chain Of Successes Editor’s Note: Supplier Visions is a feature which provides insight into the working relationships D-R cultivates with key component suppliers. Its primary function is to inform readers about the issues the companies face in a constantly changing business environment, and how these companies work along with D-R to provide value to D-R clients.  Lufkin Industries, Inc. is representative of a number of key supplier relationships that have developed over time. These companies emphasize quality in product design, manufacturing cycle times and reliability. All are characteristics that are highly valued by Dresser-Rand. In addition to Lufkin, other gear suppliers include: Flender Graffenstaden and Renk.  The most successful relationships are the ones founded upon a common purpose and a mutual understanding based on trust. This definition is equally applicable to the alliances Dresser-Rand has sought to form with key suppliers -- alliances formed for the purpose of providing an ever-increasing level of quality products and services to clients at industry-leading cycle times.  For a good example of this type of affiliation in practice, one can look at the working relationship D-R has formed with Lufkin Industries, Inc., one of several suppliers of gear units to D-R.  For more than 25 years, Lufkin has provided D-R with high quality gears for centrifugal and reciprocating compressors, as well as for steam turbines. Founded in 1902, Lufkin has a long history of providing equipment to oilfield industries. The company’s Power Transmission division began supplying oilfield pumping unit gearboxes for industrial purposes in 1939. Based in Lufkin, Texas, the company designs and manufactures gear units rated in excess of 50,000 rpm, to 175,000 hp (130,498 kW), with gears up to 16 feet (4.9 m) in diameter.  In the early 1970s, Lufkin began furnishing speed increasing gear units to Dresser-Rand in Olean, New York, for centrifugal compressors driven by gas turbines. The company demonstrated expertise and reliability as a supplier, and over time began working with other New York State D-R operations in Wellsville, for single- and multi-stage steam turbine applications, and in Painted Post, for reciprocating compressors.  In 1997, D-R first launched the Supply Chain Management (SCM) program in response to a continually changing marketplace. D-R clients in various industries were adopting supply chain practices and re-engineering their own operations to become more efficient. These companies looked to companies like D-R to provide value to their own supply chains through increased quality, service and technology while maintaining competitive prices.  In order to position the company for long-term success, and to remain a vital part of our clients’ supply chains, we recognized that we would have to improve our own supply chain organization.  One of the early challenges of the SCM program was organizing the various groups within Dresser-Rand, to share best practices and leverage purchasing with our supply base. At that time, companies such as Lufkin worked with separate business units within the Dresser-Rand family, supporting the needs of multiple equipment lines.  Lufkin is a good example of how many suppliers in the SCM program adapted their methods to work better with D-R. “The crucible of competing in the global marketplace has forced Lufkin to keep its focus on the ever-changing needs of its customers,” said Terry Orr, director of sales and marketing at Lufkin’s Power Transmission Division. “The market demands high performance, superior reliability, and shorter lead times. Together with D-R, we are able to provide an equipment package that meets these needs.”  As a result, in part due to the SCM program, Lufkin reduced delivery times to D-R by approximately 50 percent and has maintained its status as a key gear supplier to D-R.