How Distributors of Non-Woven Wipes, Paper Towels, and Tissues Benefit from Working with a Manufacturing Partner vs. a Vendor

As a distributor of bulk wipes, paper towels, and tissues, you occupy a unique role in each of your clients’ business structures. There is so much more to building your reputation as a reliable distributor than delivering on simple product requests. In order to grow and strengthen your customer relationships, it’s essential to provide comprehensive support — and the best way to gain that capability is to have a manufacturing partner to back you up. 

The best partners will show commitment to creating sustainable growth for your business. This article continues our mission to provide distributors of non-woven wipes, paper towels, and tissues with valuable insights and resources by establishing the difference between a purely transactional vendor partnership and an all-inclusive, solutions-based manufacturing partnership. 

How product capacity and personalized service go hand-in-hand

As a distributor with a host of client needs to fulfill, your first inclination is probably to choose the supplier with the most products and the highest production capacity — the bigger, the better. The truth is that there are several large vendors with impressive product lines and abilities. However, there is more to building a secure partnership between distributors and suppliers than size. 

Berk International operates 20 production lines across a 275,000-square-foot facility and uses state-of-the-art equipment that allows us to operate two ten hour shifts 7 days a week. While these are industry-leading stats, the factor that makes us a better choice than any other similarly-capable vendor is our purposeful attention to client success. Our operation is large enough to supply virtually any disposable paper product needed, but we make the conscious decision to operate like any other family-owned business would: with care. To our manufacturing partners, the personalized services we provide go hand-in-hand with our inventory and product capacity to make us the ideal manufacturing partner.

Vendors vs. partners: key differentiators

Distributors of disposable wipes and towels have many needs beyond product procurement to run successfully. Here are several important methods that manufacturing partners use to personalize their services and set themselves apart from mere vendors. 

Unparalleled product knowledge 

You may be able to find products for a variety of industries with a typical vendor. However, their only real obligation is to sell those products — there is no guarantee that they will hold a high level of knowledge about each wipe, tissue, and paper towel they have in their inventory.

Whether you’re making your first product selections or need to reconsider a regular purchase, it’s a game-changer to have a trustworthy resource on your side to give you the best options available for your industry uses. Manufacturing partners learn the ins and outs of each item in their stock for when questions inevitably arise. 

Personal connection 

Even if you speak to a staff member in person or meet with them online to discuss product details, there’s no guarantee of a heightened level of collaboration and connection with a typical vendor. Choosing a supplier that cares is the only way to ensure that your company’s history, value proposition, and needs are understood. 

With manufacturing partners, support goes beyond the limited scope of a given transaction. Forming authentic personal connections allows suppliers to establish an ongoing relationship and craft customized solutions for their distributors.  

Business growth support 

Unlike a single-use vendor, a manufacturing partner will offer unparalleled support in growing each distributor’s business through training and other resources. Berk International’s Roadmap to Success is a visual example of the many ways a true manufacturing partner works to develop robust growth opportunities for its distributors in every area, from sales to customer support.  

Through good and bad

Vendors may appear to perform well during times of stability and success, even if they don’t go beyond simple product provision and delivery. But as with any industry, challenges are bound to arise. When vendors encounter material price increases or supply chain issues (of which there is currently an abundance), they most likely will not take any steps to lessen the effects on distributors besides communicating the changes or delays — leaving distributors grappling for a solution for their own client bases.  

Whether difficulties that arise are due to supply chain problems or other market forces, a trustworthy partner will help mitigate the consequences. Manufacturers that continuously cultivate the habit of networking and forming connections with different suppliers can make quick changes when necessary without costing their distributors time and money. Seek out a resource that will support you whether the business landscape is favorable or facing challenges.  

A premier manufacturer partnership 

With over two decades of service and product development behind us, Berk International has a tissue, paper towel, and non-woven wipe for every industry application. Whether you choose from our extensive catalog of private label deliverables or work with us to develop a specialized product for your client base, your business is sure to find a solution to even the most complex use case. And we don’t stop there — our team of industry thought leaders provide distributing partners with training and onboarding content to ensure they know how to best serve their clients. Start building your business towards lasting growth with Berk today.   

Contact the Berk team for more information about how we provide distributors with everything they need to succeed. Check back to our site soon for the next article in this series, where we’ll explore how distributors of wipes, tissues, and paper towels can manage supply chain issues.