The Standing Company
When the Saginaw-based standing wheelchair manufacturer faced supply chain delays, MEDC’s Pure Michigan Business Connect services helped the company secure a local supplier
Based in Saginaw, The Standing Company has been manufacturing standing wheelchairs for over 30 years, serving customers across the United States. As the country’s only manufacturer of a manual and half-power standing wheelchair, The Standing Company delivers customized products that help improve the quality of life and overall health of its users, including working alongside the VA to help veterans receive wheelchair benefits.
In October 2022, The Standing Company faced a critical supply chain roadblock: two of their primary chromoly steel suppliers in California and Georgia couldn’t deliver their product until March or April 2023. Chromoly steel is a critical component of the company’s standing wheelchairs; with delays in the supply chain, the company could not complete and deliver existing wheelchair orders, threatening the company’s future.
Unaware of other chromoly steel suppliers, president of The Standing Company Raymond Maczik reached out his longtime contact at Saginaw Future, PTAC Director Delena Spates-Allen, for guidance. Spates-Allen put Maczik in touch with MEDC Business Development Manager Brenda Flory, who connected The Standing Company with Pure Michigan Business Connect (PMBC); by leveraging its extensive database, PMBC identified Michigan-based suppliers of chromoly steel and facilitated a connection to Boyer Steel in Warren.
Securing a steady, reasonably priced supply of chromoly from Boyer Steel allowed The Standing Company to fulfill its existing orders and continue to serve its extensive customer base across the country, thanks to connections made by the MEDC and its partners.
“We are very impressed with the creativity and ingenuity in helping The Standing Company,” said Maczik. “Finding and receiving this chromoly steel order is a tremendous stress reducer, especially since we thought we were at a dead end. It is a lesson to all of us that we need to not simply take ‘no’ for an immediate answer. We need to make use of manufacturing and industry friends with far more expertise based on a wider global view than we have in our own little world. Thanks to the MEDC for helping The Standing Company continue to produce the finest standing wheelchair in the world: The SuperStand Standing Wheelchair.” Hear more from Raymond Maczik on The Michigan Opportunity Podcast.
The MEDC is here to help Michigan businesses. Learn more about the services from Pure Michigan Business Connect here.