Admit it: Most of us would rather run to Wal-Mart for the stuff we need instead of driving across town three times for the grocery store, hardware store, and pharmacy. Wal-Mart’s just so easy. The good news is you can apply this all-in-one philosophy to your component manufacturing -- and the benefits stretch beyond more convenience.
(Bonus points if it’s a made-in-the-USA manufacturer!)
When we say “all in one,” we’re talking about a manufacturer who will provide:
- In-house engineers who will optimize your design in pre-production
- Numerous fabrication capabilities, such as bending, laser cutting, recutting, and assembly
- A variety of production machinery, including welding, cutting, and roll forming
- Finishing options (think powder coating, bead blasting, and painting)
- Packaging
Let’s take a start-to-finish look at how a single vendor can boost your business:
Where All-in-One Cuts Component Manufacturing Costs
An Overhead View
A quality all-in-one metal manufacturer can spot potential risks from design to delivery. When something isn't working correctly, its engineers will step in and prevent expensive mistakes.
Your accountant will also have an easier time catching mistakes if you’re cutting checks to only one manufacturer. With all-in-one, you and that accountant won’t have to worry about your oversight being stretched too thin. Remember, some manufacturers tend to take advantage of an engineer balancing too many things at once -- dealing with just one makes it easier to screen for inconsistencies.
But most of all, bringing consistent work to a vendor is mutually beneficial in providing a consistent source of work.
Keep the same manufacturer happy, and over time they’re more likely to offer perks to such a loyal customer. Those may include price discounts for using multiple services within the company.
Design Collaboration
A great full-service vendor can order materials in bulk at the lowest cost and keep them on hand for you.
When it comes time to put those materials to use, an all-in-one vendor can further optimize your design so it’s as cheap as can be. Tweaks could include use of different metals, loosening of tolerances, and more. Manufacturers with in-house tooling capabilities can further optimize your process.
When working hand in hand with you, these experts may notice a flaw in your design they can help you solve. This way, you won’t waste money replacing poorly designed or not-so-durable parts.
Smooth Rides
When calculating costs of a potential purchase, far too many folks forget about shipping and transportation. Using only one manufacturer for multiple needs can cut out some surprisingly big transportation costs. We’re dealing in metal manufacturing here, so we’re talking about some pretty huge, heavy stuff -- stuff that can push you over budget with use of multiple vendors.
Those big, beautiful components won’t do much good for your bottom line if they show up damaged or defective. So why make your product ride a merry-go-round of transport to four different manufacturers? Every time a product leaves a facility or the production line, its chances of sustaining damage spike.
Streamlining process changeover and keeping a product under one roof reduces wait time as well as your transportation and shipping costs. You and, in turn, your customers will get your finished product more quickly and at a lower cost than you would using multiple vendors.
Don’t forget that every moment your product sits in transport or otherwise idle is a wasted opportunity to sell, sell, sell. Going all-in-one keeps you from paying good money for your product to collect dust.
Find Your Ideal Vendor
The cost savings and potential discounts that accompany all-in-one component manufacturing almost always trump the few drawbacks of full-service manufacturers. Let the right metal manufacturer get to know you, and you’ll enjoy a long and profitable relationship.
