Lights, Camera, Action! A Visit from Amazon’s Film Crew

You know what feels pretty sweet? Partnering with great people.

After all, strong partnerships make the world go around — where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. Your success and theirs is integrated — synchronously beneficial and symbiotic. You work together like distinct parts in the same machine.

That’s why we couldn’t be happier with our partnered collaboration with Amazon. CTM is a major supplier of shipping and printing labelers for Amazon’s Fulfillment Centers. In fact, Amazon ships millions of products that have been labeled by a CTM label applicator. Amazon’s level of trust in our labeling machines is a source of community pride.

Amazon’s a great company to work with. They make a point to prioritize quality customer service.

An Email in a Bottle

I remembered a friend once tell me you could literally email Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos and get a response. So one morning after coming into work and feeling the warm fuzzies from working with such a great company, I decided to reach out to Mr. Bezos personally:

“Mr. Bezos, it may not mean anything to you, but we sell labeling equipment to your company. Our company just wants you to know there are suppliers, people you work with who know you are doing good things, and we appreciate the business. Keep on keeping on.”

Just a message in a bottle. I never expected anybody to actually read it. I just tossed that email into the sea of the web and clicked send. And what transpired in the weeks to come turned out to be a truly rewarding experience.

Call & Response — Somebody Listened

A month later I got a call from Amazon’s corporate. Turns out they wanted to send out a film crew to see what we had to say.

A corporate representative had seen the email. She wondered if we’d be willing to tell CTM’s story about how our relationship with Amazon impacts the company and the Salem community.

Up Close & Personal — from a 20,000 Foot Perspective

Amazon asked us about the history of CTM and our machining process. They showcased our assembly line, shot close-ups of our inventory, took a walking tour of downtown Salem and shot pictures of the city.

It was a lot of work for what turned out to be a 60-second clip — our “60-seconds of fame,” so to speak.

I also talked about what I’d witnessed at Amazon’s facilities and their focus on creating job opportunities and always driving technology while still maintaining premium customer service. I talked about what it meant to CTM to work with such a quality company doing good for local communities.

Check out Amazon’s blog here.

How Our Amazon Partnership Helps Us Serve Customers Better

Amazon gives us great business, but more importantly, they help us be a better business.

Our partnership with Amazon enables us to utilize the labeling technology we’ve invested in our facility and increase our manufacturing capacity. Because of the labeling machines we continually produce for Amazon, our highly automated work cells have greater access to inventory. And that means more material flowing through our production pipes that we can then funnel to other customers.

Amazon helps us fill in the valleys of demand curves. They allow us to expand as a company, be more efficient in our technology, and engage a manufacturing versatility that pours into every aspect of CTM.

Sell Global, Live Local

Amazon’s collaboration with CTM helps us provide our people with a good wage and hire additional talent.

And that’s wonderful for Salem — a community as quintessential to small-town America as you can get.

We’re able to maintain competitiveness in the local workforce and that means more tax revenue for Salem. It also contributes healthy income to the local economy, which benefits not only local car dealerships but sandwich shops and restaurants when more people can afford to eat out. It has a real ripple effect.

Money flows downhill. That means a lot for us — and it’s awesome for the local community.