If there are two things people know about Arctos, it’s that: 

1) Providing value to our customers is central to all we do 

2) We love a good bear pun 

When those two passions collide, you get what we call the Bear Necessities, a turn of phrase that sums up how we tailor our services to provide our customers with exactly what they need and only what they need. This is achieved in a variety of ways: the staff we hire, the equipment we keep, how we operate, all the way up to how our very business is structured. To explain further, we spoke with President Matt Ache and Operations Manager Yolanda Menendez. (responses have been edited for length and clarity) 

Matt Ache (MA): Our mantra since day one has been “Access…not Overhead.” That comes through in all of our engineered solutions, but one of the ways that is most unique to Arctos is how we structure our company. Arctos is part of a collection of independent companies located under one roof as TyRex Manufacturing. Now, there are often times we all work together on a project, but we all have separate balance sheets, clients, and ways of operating.  

What this means for the customer is that the price we can quote doesn’t need to cover the overhead of multiple departments like a traditional large business. However, you still get the access to experts from any number of disciplines (design, logistics, IT) should you need them. And as an added bonus, you know that these experts are all market-tested with their own companies and have a proven track record.  Putting it simply, through TyRex, there’s an expert for any step in the product development process, from concept to design to production, so your product can get to market as quickly as possible.

Yolanda Menendez (YM): I want to add that this level of entrepreneurship bleeds into how we treat customers’ products. One thing we like to say is that we’re “committed to our customers’ success,” meaning once we begin a partnership, we really treat the product as our own. That means we look to improve the product however we can, whether that’s cutting costs, increasing quality, or getting it to market faster.

And because we work in such a global industry, cost is a given so everyone has become “lean,” but not everyone is as committed to being a “squeaky wheel.” Meaning, we will pick up the phone and work our way up any chain of command to ensure that we’re getting the best results as quickly as possible, because we realize timing is critical. So often you see contract manufacturers receive word of a delay and they take it at face value. We, on the other hand, are immediately calling to find out why and searching for alternatives before our partner even knows it’s an issue.  That’s why you won’t see us labeling ourselves as a contract manufacturer.

MA: Exactly, thanks Yolanda. It’s this entrepreneurial mindset that shows up in our equipment too. We love giving tours of our facilities to give a better picture of how we operate. And without fail, our guests are blown away at the level of technology out on our floor, regardless of whether they’re a start-up or multi-national corporations. It truly is a complete production line that can take any project from A to Z, be it testing all the way through to distribution. However, any keen-eyed observer will notice that there are some machines that traditional contract manufacturers have that you won’t find on our floor. This is by design.  

We focus on the true cost drivers of a product. We buy smart so that our partners are only paying for what they need, when they need it. The Bear Necessities.  

Start a conversation about your business with Arctos Assembly today.