Managing Your Custom Manufacturing Supply Chain

28 Nov 08

Most companies involved in manufacturing place great importance on managing their supply chains. Procuring quality off-the-shelf and custom manufactured components that are delivered on-time is critical to the operations of a successful business. Lets face it, if what you receive is unuseable or delivered late, your manufacturing operations can fall down pretty quickly and take your valuable customers with it. So from early on in the process of developing a supply chain, establishing good quality suppliers who deliver the service you need is critical.

When the supply chain fails

But inevitably things go wrong for various reasons. Some common scenarios many have experienced include:

• One of your suppliers has won contracts for other business and due to poor supply contract arrangements with you they have booked your machine time to someone else, or have sold your held inventory to someone else.
• After many years of reliable delivery, one of your regular suppliers is suddenly telling you they are too busy to deliver your goods when you need them.
• An existing supplier has decided to increase their prices making them no longer an economicaly viable option.
• The relationship with one of your suppliers has soured for some reason and you don't feel comfortable doing busines with them anymore.
• New products or design changes mean You have a need to source manufacturing capability that you haven't had to source before which are outside the expertise of your current suppliers.
• Your volumes have risen to levels beyond what your current suppliers can deliver.
• Your's or your supplier's geographic location has changed pushing transport costs up and making the supplier unviable.
• Your regular supplier has changed their business focus and no longer wants your type of business, or has simply gone out of business or retired.

Most engineering or manufacturing companies would have experienced one of these scenarios which has resulted in the sudden need to locate a new supplier to fill the void. This is the most common reason why established manufacturing companies find they need to go and find a new supplier. Quite often larger organisations with large supply chain management activities do this constantly in order to find backup supliers to call if they run into problems with their existing ones.

How do most Manufacturers go about finding a new supplier?

Typically the first port of call is to dig up the contact details of other suppliers you looked at when making your original choices.

But more often than not, the process of finding a new supplier means spending days or even weeks searching the internet and phone books, calling and emailing suppliers, waiting for responses, sending out drawings for quoting and possibly conducting site visits to check out or audit their manufacturing capability. The process is time consuming, costly and full of risks due to unfamiliarity with the suppliers being contacted.

The process is even more daunting when you have to find a supplier in a hurry to meet your deadlines.

So is there a better way to do it that can deliver results in a short time and remove the risks? Fortunately there is in the form of online supplier research tools, sourcing tools and a service you can contact for fast, personal assistance in finding a suitable supplier.

The service is known as ManufactureLink.

ManufactureLink have taken the Australian market by storm because they are delivering a service the Australian industry desperately needs. ManufactureLink deliver a suite of powerful offerings that enable buyers to find what they need quickly using the 'self-help' tools of: an online directory, detailed supplier profiles and an intelligent online sourcing system.

Using ManufactureLink's inovative online tools you can:

• Research new suppliers to contact directly to discuss your requirements.
• Use the online sourcing system to quickly source your immediate manufacturing requirements
• Use the online sourcing system to send out 'test jobs' to gauge new suppliers quality and value.
• Use the sourcing system as a collaboration tool to seek innovative solutions to your needs.

But ManufactureLink is much more than a faceless website or directory. ManufactureLink backs its online technology with personal service. They make it their job to keep abreast of who in the industry has niche capability, particular manufacturing expertise and who has good reputations for manufacturing particular types of products.

To tap into their knowledge base is as quick as making a phone call or sending in an email enquiry. As Managing Director, George Pofandt likes to say, "if we can't find what you need, it doesn't exist." Most enquiries are satisfied in less than 1 hour.

As well as their own personal knowledge, ManufactureLink are able to put your enquiries out to their network of more than 350 manufacturers in a matter of minutes. This means you can very quickly tap into the broader knowledge of others in the industry who may at some stage been searching for the same thing you are.

"Time and time again we have found our network of manufacturers operates liek a true network. On the occasions we get stumped and can't find a manufacturer to fill a buyers needs, we put it 'out on the wires' to our supplier network and so far there has always been someone who know something and who is more than happy to help," says George.

Click here to contact ManufactureLink to find out more.

Subscribe free-of-charge to the Advanced Manufacturing Bulletin and be kept informed about manufacturing industry news and new manufacturing technology.