Above & Beyond

Virginia Carlock, Shipping and Production Manager, T&L Specialty

Every year T&L Specialty ships multiple products to customers around the globe. As the company’s shipping and production manager, Virginia Carlock is responsible for the logistics of every one of these shipments.

“I spend a large part of my day scheduling and monitoring shipments,” said Carlock. “Attention to detail is a must.”

Carlock also spends a lot of time building close ties with customers.

“I like to check on my customers to see how everything is going, to make sure no problems have arisen,” she said. Indeed, after 26 years with T&L, Carlock knows many of her customers so well that she often anticipates their needs before they do.         

“We work to keep them out of a bind regarding product supply. For example, we’ve extended our own inventory levels to keep those situations from occurring,” she said. “That way, when the order comes in, generally speaking, we can ship the next day.”

Carlock also aids clients in locating the right solution for specific manufacturing concerns.

She said, “People often ask if we have a good degreaser.  I send them a sample with instructions to ‘Try before you buy!’ Doing so saves the customer money because they aren’t purchasing a bunch of products that won’t do the job.”

Putting customers first has led to real friendships—even when the client is on the other side of the world.

“We have a customer in India who I talk with frequently, since navigating international customs can be an intricate process,” she explained. The relationship began in 2004 with an initial order of four drums of degreaser. Now T&L ships him 32 drums of the product 2-3 times a year. The client, T&L, and Carlock have built such a friendship that he has made two visits to T&L offices.

“It was amazing to meet someone I’ve worked so closely with,” she said. “We are real friends now.”

The quality of customer service displayed by Carlock, along with the excellence of T&L products, has led to many referrals over the years. One such example is Walmart. Thanks to the satisfaction of the New Albany, Miss. Distribution Center, Walmart distribution facilities throughout the U.S. now use ID 240 LF to safely clean their food storage rooms.

The recent Covid-19 pandemic brought challenges to service, however, when nationwide supply issues threatened inventory and sales.

Carlock recalls thinking, “We’ve got to get through this, not only for T&L, but also for our clients’ businesses.”

“We scoured the internet to find alternative sources to stabilize supply,” she continued. “And when chemicals such as phosphates and solvents were hard to come by, our laboratory designed new formulas as substitutes. Honestly, customers often liked the new products better. Many were less expensive to make, too.”

Time and again, industrial chemical customers have trusted T&L and Virginia Carlock to handle their manufacturing issues.

“We’ll figure it out together,” concluded Virginia.