Behind the Scenes: Technical Services Team

May 12, 2021

It goes without saying that Inland has some of the best of the best when it comes to their employees and our Technical Services Team is no different.  A few months ago, we shared a behind-the-scenes look at our Customer Graphics Coordinators, and this month we want to share with you a BTS look at our Technical Services Teams.  For those of you who have worked with our Tech Services team in the past, this may be a refresher for you, but for those of you who are saying “tech services…who?”, we’re here to catch you up…because you need these rock stars in your life!

Who is part of our Technical Services Team?

Our Technical Services Team is made of three individuals.  First, our longest standing Field Service Rep, Randy Roeck.  Randy has been with Inland for over 13 years.  He’s been around since cut and stack and IML were our main product offerings. He has since expanded his knowledge to include all of our product segments, including our newest – flexible packaging. Second, Ron was brought on board 6 years ago.  He was heavily pursued for his expertise working with pressure sensitive and shrink sleeve materials.  Last but not least, is our newest member of the Tech Services Team, Eric Cushing.  He’s hitting the ground running, absorbing the expertise and tribal knowledge that Randy and Ron have accumulated over the years and bringing to the table his skillsets from his past life.  He’s up for trying new things and doesn’t miss a beat when bringing new ideas to the table on how our team can better serve our customers.

What?

Some may be thinking, “Wait…WHAT do they do again?”.  Our tech services experts are available to our customers as one of the perks to a partnership with Inland.  Now, it’s hard to hit on everything that this team does, but we’ll do our best.

Material Selection

When we have a new customer coming on board, technical is part of the conversation from the beginning.  Evaluating the product that we are producing to find the best material for our customer’s product sometimes isn’t as simple as one would think or hope.  The technical team asks the important questions to fully understand the need for our customer’s packaging to ensure the right material is being used.

Qualification

Once a material (or two) has been recommended, our technical services team is available to be at our customer’s facilities while trialing the material(s).  With any change to your labels, packaging, or container adjustments it may be necessary to also make changes to the equipment settings to reach the greatest efficiencies.  Our technical team can collaborate with the operators to get the new material up to the standards for full production.  One of the key tools that our team provides, is a qualification plan.  This is a document that is sent in advance to key stakeholders to explain the steps that our team will take upon arrival at the facility.  There can be a lot to juggle when being onsite for a qualification and we want to make sure that Inland and our customer are on the same page when it comes to the plan of attack.

Technical Support

We know all things in life come with complications at times.  Although Inland prides itself on the quality of labels that go out our doors, there may be times when our customers are having issues that they are unable to resolve on their own and need our support to troubleshoot an issue.  This is the time to call our technical team.  They can support our customers 24/7.  Our team will travel upon request, but after the last year, we’ve learned that much of what our tech reps do can be accomplished through conference calls or video calls to get them as close to “onsite” as possible.  So, even if your company still has limitations to visitors in their facilities, don’t hesitate to pick up that phone.  We will provide the support as much as we can with our customer’s comfort in mind.

Why?

Because our customers are our number one priority.  Inland takes the steps required to produce a successful product, we know that sometimes things happen and new material might not run exactly as it used to and adjustments are needed. So if things do not go as planned…we have a solution.  Our Technical Services Team is the dream team that can put the pieces back together when things don’t go exactly right.

Technical support is extremely important to make sure that our customers always have the service and quality that they expect and deserve each time an order is placed.  Our Technical Services team brings all the resources of Inland to the customer’s door to support and optimize production or troubleshoot specific issues.  This team is a key component our customers can expect and rely on when having a partnership with Inland.