Jim Cerkleski and Jim Schiefelbein are taking Clover Technologies to the next level.
What started as a business relationship between two men after a fishing trip has since grown into a major company.
Jim Schiefelbein started Clover Technologies in his garage in 1995 primarily as a remanufacturer of used laser toner cartridges. Cerkleski was one of Clover’s customers, but after selling his office supply business, he approached Schiefelbein about taking Clover Technologies to the next level.
Together, the two men have made the company into a major success story. Innovative approaches include:
- Empty toner cartridge collection. A wholly owned subsidiary, Core Recycling Concepts Inc., collects approximately one million used toner cartridges per month. This allows Clover Technologies to have a unique advantage over its competitors by achieving lower-than-average material costs and forging relationships with large end-users of printer products.
- Leveraging research and development and production equipment. Remanufacturing laser printer toner cartridges is relatively labor intensive. The two men have focused research and development efforts to create a robot that significantly reduces labor cost to remanufacture certain units.
- Private label business with retail customers. Clover Technologies has been successful at growing its business primarily as a private label supplier to retail customers such as large office product retail companies. The pricing of their products is significantly less than that of an original equipment manufacturer.
How to reach: Clover Technologies, www.clovertech.com
