ManufactureLink's system supports a wide variety of file formats. If you normally make drawings/sketches of your parts by hand, you can simply scan the drawing or take a digital photo of it. Either upload the graphics file, or convert it to a Word or PDF file for uploading.

A wide variety of standard formats can be used. Converting your drawings to standard web formats such as eDrawings, DWF and PDF is recommended for viewing by all users. Graphics file formats such as JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIF, and more can all be used as can Microsoft files such as Word documents. Drawings can also be uploaded in their native format for suppliers who posses the software to work with them.

No. You need nothing more than a computer with an internet connection and a web browser to use all of the system's functions.

Yes you can. The supplier showrooms are viewable just like any other web page. A supplier showroom URL is entered in the standard format of www.manufacturelink.com.au/suppliers/company-name.aspx

In many cases this is possible. You can simply contact ManufactureLink using the feedback form and suggest a new category. ManufactureLink will review the suggestion and add it on if we feel it is an essential process for the system. You will be notified when the category has been added.

You can do this in one of two ways. You can set up a new Sales Rep. Sales Reps can be set up with any process(es) you wish. Alternatively, you can simply browse the full list of live RFQs. You can submit a quote on any RFQ you think you might like to manufacture.

You can cancel a RFQ at any time. When you do this, the suppliers who have submitted quotes are notified that the RFQ is withdrawn. You can also choose to add in comments to let them know why (eg. component needs to be redesigned). You can also choose to save the cancelled RFQ for re-submission another time.

Yes, you can. You can create a custom Sales Rep and add in up to 10 email addresses to receive the notifications. The provision to do this is in the Sales Rep section of your account.

No. The buyer who submitted the RFQ is the only one who can see the quotes submitted.

Not necessarily. Most buyers are wary of quotes that are too low or too high. Buyers most commonly select quotes that are just below the average price. Buyers will also choose quotes based on your company's capabilities, not just price and ManufactureLink provides buyers with tools to make the 'due diligence' process easier.

No, auction style bidding is not allowed. To prevent this happening, suppliers may submit one quote only. No supplier can see what another supplier's quote. Any attemp by buyers to drive down prices by pitting suppliers against each other is not allowed under our trading rules. Our system moderators monitor RFQs submitted for any unethical activity.

Buyers are encouraged to provide feedback to unsuccessful suppliers on awarding a quote. The feedback will usually contain comments on why they chose the quote they did (e.g. previous experience, accreditations, professional presentation). All supliers who submitted quotes are notified if they were successful or unsuccessful by automated email. ManufactureLink also provides automated feedback on how your quote compared in terms of price by loggin in and viewing your declined quote.

Not necessarily. A customer who is happy with the services you provide will naturally continue to do business with you. The system has the ability to raise a RFQ by special invite, meaning your customer can ask you alone to provide a quote.

All suppliers are asked to select accreditations they hold when they register their capabilities. Buyers can choose to submit their RFQs to only suppliers having the accreditation they require. Buyers can also view accreditations held in a suppliers profile or web snapshot. Where possible, ManufactureLink verifies the accreditaiton credentials of all its suppliers. For suppliers who have achieved at least bronze certification, this is the buyers guarantee that the supplier's claim to having a certain accreditation has been verified by ManufactureLink.

We require your ABN for two reasons. The first one is that this service is intended to be for the benefit of Australian manufacturers only. Therefore supplier subscribers must have an ABN to be eligible for inclusion in the system. The second reason is to prevent shoddy operators from abusing the system. ManufactureLink will use the ABN to ensure the company contacts are accurate and to check if any companies listed on our site have a history of bad business dealings. ManufactureLink will always do what it can to protect our users from unethical dealers. Our certification system is your guide to users who have undergone our quality control checks.

Buyers can use our system to just obtain supplier's contact details. We expect this to happen often as buyers are not always ready to obtain a quote. One contact details for a supplier are obtained, they may choose to use conventional methods to request a quote. Suppliers still get value from being listed in the system as these instances are also good sales leads. However, buyers have access to the system for free which provides them with a faster, easier method of lodging their RFQ. We believe that most users will always choose using ManufactureLink's system over slow, tedious and costly conventional email and fax methods.

Our process pages provide a wealth of knowledge to users on each and every manufacturing process we represent. Your company can submit the process description text for a process page which in future may include examples and photos of particular jobs you have completed. If you submit a comprehensive process description with photos, we will put your company name on the page. You can also choose to sponsor one or more of the process pages. When you sponsor a page, your company's logo with links to your web snapshot are included on the page. There are only up to six sponsorships available per page, so you can give your company outstanding promotion for a particular process. Contact ManufactureLink to find out how.

There are three options available in this situation. The first one is to submit the RFQ to every user in the system. The manufacturers themselves would decide if they can quote on your job. The second option is to select a broad category you think will cover your manufacturing requirements to submit your RFQ to a broad range of manufacturers. The third option is to use ManufactureLink's free manufacturing assistance service. You can use the contact form under 'About Us' menu. Wherever we can, ManufactureLink provides free assistance to help you to get your components manufactured.

You can make a submission to ManufactureLink's sales staff to request assistance. ManufactureLink has an extensive list of contacts we regularly use, and if we can help we will assist you to source your component. We also suggest you lodge your RFQ and inform them they need to register and provide you with a quote. Once they are registered it wil make it easier to submit your RFQs in future.

You have three options here. When submitting your RFQ to the system, you can first submit your sketches as a RFQ and nominate that you need a mechanical engineer (for example) to create a final design of your product. You can include scanned sketches and descriptive text to describe your component. The modeling, drafting and design work can be included in the quote. The second option is to contact ManufactureLink's customer service staff for assistance with locating the expertise you need. If we can help, our staff can arrange the resources you need to get your component made. The 3rd option is to create a RFQ containing as much information as possible and request suppliers submit 'expressions of interest' in the form of a zero value quote. Thsi will then provide you with contact details you can use to chat directly with suitable suppliers.

Buyers and suppliers are also able to view feedback from others who have used the supplier or supplied goods to the customer. ManufactureLink also carries out detailed background checks, reference checks, credit checks and other pre-qualification checks before awarding Bonze, Silver or Gold certification. Users who have achieved certification have had their claims to accreditations verified. Finally, users have the opportunity to view a suppliers web snapshot and company website, view contact details and are at liberty to conduct their own external checks before accepting a company's bid. This is all a part of what ManufactureLink calls the 'due diligence' process and tools are provided to make this much easier to accomplish than conventional methods.

Yes you can. You can create a RFQ containing as little or as much information as you want. In the details section you can request zero value quotes or 'expressions of interest'. You can make manufacturing category selections and submit it to the system. When suppliers interested in your job submit their zero value quote, you will have their full contact details. Also, if you use this method in conjunction with the RFQ by special invite function, the suppliers are immediately notified. This means you are effectively submitting a one-to-many enquiry which the suppliers wil be notified of by email immediately. ManufactureLink is developing this part of our system and in the near future we will provide a tidier means to do this.

Using our online systems, you can source pratically anything that is typically manufactured from a drawing. Some examples would be CNC machining, die casting, sand casting, open die forging, metal stamping, rapid prototyping, fine blanking, laser cutting, swiss turning, metal fabrication, toolmaking, injection moulded parts, laser welding, CNC lathe turning, gear cutting, water jet cutting, laser sintering, isostatic sintering, metal injection moulding, metal spinning and many more processes. To view a full list of the processes our system currently facilitates, visit the process pages under our resources section.

ManufactureLink facilitates manufacturing for almost any industry imagineable. We cover light engineering to heavy engineering. We have suppliers who are small, one-man operations right up to large manufacturers having hundreds of employees. We have engineering firms servicing the mining and railways industries. We have ISO9100 accredited suppliers servicing the aerospace industry. We have ISO13485 accredited suppliers servicing the medical device manufacturing industry. Our suppliers provide manufacturing services to the defence force, government, agriculture, marine and transport industries and much more. Our manufacturers can provide manufacturing services for any size part or project for practically any industry imaginable.