Interstyle Ceramic & Glass Ltd.

Mike and his team came into our factory and right away I noticed that they "got it". They asked questions, listened to us and observed the workers.

When I met Mike Milroy over 5 years ago I was skeptical that he would be able to deliver solutions to problems that I had spent the last 20 years working on. After all, our ceramic & glass tile business prides itself on delivering innovation in a field that relies on centuries old techniques. We felt that nobody knew as much about our business, and an outside consultant would never be able to learn enough to improve on our own best efforts. Of course I was wrong. Mike and his team came into our factory and right away I noticed that they "got it". They asked questions, listened to us and observed the workers. When they offered solutions, it was in the form of dialogue that encouraged discussion without trying to deconstruct or revolutionize our business. It made us comfortable, but more importantly, they also made the factory workers comfortable.

The rest of the process was just as captivating. They came back with computer models for the machines that offered 3D views, visual articulations for the areas that needed further explanation and even animations of the machine in operation. This allowed us time to understand, review the process with our workers and make changes long before any metal was ordered. We were impressed at the degree of detail, where every component was specified, every part designed and ready for the machine shop. Obviously there would be no last minute "guessing".

When the machines were delivered, they stayed for the commissioning and debugging so that machine was only considered "delivered" once we had several hours of use and workers were fully trained in its operation. They delivered shop manuals and user guides. More telling however, is that if something goes wrong, if a component fails (even if it is from another vendor) Mike and his team always do "whatever it takes" to make it right. No delays, no discussions, no whining, no finger pointing. When Mike and his team came to discuss prices, he talked in terms of return investment, reduction in labour costs, reallocation of resources and terms that we would have expected from a business partner rather than a vendor. Of course that is exactly what Milroy Engineering turned out to be: our most trusted business partner. Years into the process of modernizing our plant, and still we would not dream of purchasing a new machine (even if it is not designed by them) or of modifying a process in the plant without first consulting with our trusted partners, the Milroy Team.