How T&D Metal Products Helped Simplify a Complex Problem for a Major Industry Partner
T&D Metal Products is a fabrication partner to some of the world’s largest industrial equipment manufacturers. Over the years, those relationships have grown deeper than a typical vendor-customer dynamic. We ask tough questions and work alongside our partners to find smarter ways forward, forming the foundation of this project.
The Steps Standardization Project grew from our ongoing partnership with a long-standing partner. It began with a closer look at access steps, a single component category used across their equipment. That review revealed a problem that had been growing for years. Once we understood the scope, both teams knew it was time to address it.
To understand why this project mattered, you have to appreciate how a problem like this takes shape. It doesn’t happen all at once. It builds slowly, one product line at a time, one engineering decision at a time, until suddenly the number is 58 and nobody can quite explain how it got there.
That was the reality our partner was facing. As their product portfolio expanded and different engineering teams made independent decisions, the number of unique step designs in use grew to more than 58 variants. Fifty-eight different versions of one component, each with its own material specs, its own place in the supply chain, and its own costs attached to it. What should have been a simple, repeatable part had become one of the more tangled corners of their entire operation.
The ripple effects touched nearly every part of their business. Supply chain operations had grown far more complex than necessary, and material costs were inflated. Durability and performance varied in ways that were hard to predict or control. And with no shared standard guiding new product development, every new design risked adding yet another variation to an already crowded list.
It wasn’t the result of bad decisions. It was what happens when a company grows quickly without a common framework in place. But it was absolutely a problem worth solving.
The goal was straightforward: take 58+ step designs and narrow them to a focused, manageable short list of options that would prove durable, cost-effective, and versatile enough to serve the full range of our partners’ equipment needs.
We worked hand in hand with their engineering and supply chain teams to go deep into the existing designs. We reviewed performance data, evaluated material costs, assessed durability, and examined how each design held up in real-world conditions. From that work, we identified 11 step designs capable of meeting virtually every application across the portfolio.
But both teams understood that a short list alone wouldn’t be enough. Without something to anchor the standard, new engineers would join, new products would launch, and the same complexity could creep back in over time. Alongside the new designs, we built the Light Structures Design Guide, a practical, easy-to-use reference that gives engineers a clear, pre-vetted starting point whenever a step is needed in a new design. The goal was simple: make the right choice and make sure the hard work of this project had a long shelf life.
We handled rollout carefully and collaboratively, bringing together design, supply chain, and service parts teams to ensure everyone was aligned and that adoption was real, not just on paper.
By the close of 2022, the project delivered clear, measurable improvements for our partner: significant cost reductions, streamlined operations, and a simplified product portfolio that improved efficiency across teams.
The standardized step system was integrated across 21 product groups and 250 assemblies. This move reduced material and supply chain costs by consolidating to 11 well-vetted designs and improved service parts margins. By embedding the Light Structures Design Guide into the process, our partner now benefits from accelerated design cycles, consistent product quality, and lasting savings, without reinventing the wheel for each new project.
This project reinforced that one of the most valuable things a partner can bring to the table isn’t just capability. It’s the willingness to sit with a problem, understand it fully, and build a solution that holds up long after the project is over.
We didn’t walk in with a prepackaged answer. We listened, built trust with our partner teams, and did work sorting through years of accumulated complexity. That approach is what made the difference between a short-term fix and a lasting standard.
For any organization navigating something similar, the takeaway is this: complexity rarely announces itself. It builds quietly until the day you realize the number is 58 and the cost of doing nothing is higher than anyone thought. The solution doesn’t have to be dramatic. Sometimes it’s a focused short list, a well-built guide, and a partner who cares enough to do it right.