Contract Products Case Study

Sherpa Snowshoe Company
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

What do snowshoes have in common with stamped parts? This was a frequently asked question by many employees at Ideal when Sherpa Snowshoes co-owners Mark Stimac (Owner of Ideal Manufacturing Solutions) and Tim Dodge (Partner at Hanson, Dodge and Sutter) presented the idea of having Ideal manufacture the snowshoes for their company.

"Manufacturing is a process, regardless of what the end result will be," stated Mark Stimac. "I believed Ideal was perfectly suited to take on this endeavor and that it could lead us into new directions for our company." And after two production seasons, both points seem to be true.

Ideal engineers and toolmakers became intimately involved in this project when the snowshoes were completely redesigned. The company's purchasing agent investigated and found sources outside the company for several components of the shoe, including some vendors from overseas. And the very manual process of manufacturing the shoes has been changed to a production line with shoes being made to fill the orders as they come in. This allows the staff at Sherpa Snowshoe Company time for the important tasks of marketing and selling the snowshoes, while the manufacturing of the shoes has been completely removed from their daily tasks.

Ideal has learned from this experience and is looking for more opportunities to provide complete products for customers. We offer engineering and design services, complete from manufacturing through shipping to the end customer. Ideal has recently taken on a complete reel assembly project for another customer and has previously manufactured a commercial can opener for another. This service is especially attractive for customers who have a smaller volume product or a prototype product being sold on a trial basis. For more information, see Contract Products.