ABOUT L&R INDUSTRIES. L&R Industries started in 1969 as a little welding and metal fabrication shop serving their local community. Owned and operated by the Jones family, the company has always stressed the importance of providing top-quality products and services their customers truly need, and that approach has helped them grow dramatically through the decades. L&R’s family of 9 divisions includes: metal fabrication, millwright services, metal stampings and assemblies, crane services, industrial electrical services, material processing systems manufacturing and installation, parts and components sales, mechanical steel tube milling and collapsible steel reel manufacturing. Each division has specific goals and functions, but all are linked together to make L&R a one-stop-shop with almost any resource imaginable to make things happen for their customers.
THE CHALLENGE. With all the growth and expansion L&R has achieved, it became critical for them to develop and promote a company brand that highlighted their capabilities and commitments to outstanding performance. L&R’s outdated website made them look more like the little metal shop they started as and contributed almost nothing to their marketing and sales efforts. The company had become a vital part of the community as one of its biggest employers, and it was important to continuously grow sustainably to increase opportunity for everyone. L&R needed to develop a new brand and marketing strategy, driven by a modern website that professionally highlighted their capabilities and allowed potential customers everywhere to find and learn about them. They knew they needed to do something but weren’t sure where to even start.
MEP CENTER’S ROLE. Chris Oravec, L&R Industries’ Chief Operations Officer, had attended a Lean Manufacturing training program sponsored by Missouri Enterprise, the state’s MEP National Network partner and he knew about their mission, so he decided to reach out to their local Area Business Manager for assistance. Missouri Enterprise brought in its brand and website development experts to assess L&R’s needs and objectives, and together they set up a plan to organize their marketing and messaging into a cohesive brand that highlighted their extensive capabilities and promoted their “let’s get the gloves on” approach to performing above and beyond client expectations. Missouri Enterprise’s brand development experts built L&R’s new website using advanced search engine optimization strategies and created every aspect of the company’s new brand, including everything from their new logo, to graphic design elements, written messaging, photos, videos, brochures and more. The result was an exciting new brand promoted by an industry leading website that dramatically enhanced L&R’s web presence regionally, nationally and internationally, opening the door to new customers who would never have found L&R before.
“The owners trusted me to run with this branding and website project even though they were a bit unsure of the investment – but they sure get it now! We’ve easily brought in over $1M in new work that we never would have gotten if those clients hadn’t found us online and been impressed by our new website, and it’s been a huge help in our employee recruitment efforts because potential hires see our site and want to be a part of it. Missouri Enterprise’s project managers were incredibly knowledgeable – they understand our industry and what we do. They were extremely professional, always available, and worked really well with our team. They put the gloves on and got to work, and they did an incredible job.”
Chris Oravec, Chief Operations Officer
RESULTS
- Over $1,000,000 in new sales
- $43,000 in new investment
- $15,000 increased investment in employee skills development
- 7 new jobs created
- 12 jobs retained