When you seek an outside company to make something, would extra candidates be helpful (with no obligation)? Proficient Sourcing exists to supplement the candidates you might otherwise find, as our expertise is to provide custom manufacturing candidates for the requirements of engineers and/or procurement professionals. In contrast to most manufacturers’ representatives, we first work to learn of your specific requirements and then access a very large and diverse network to find one or more candidates that not only fit, but are available and interested in the project at hand. During a long period of productivity consulting we developed a set of criteria for identifying good companies to recommend. It would be extremely helpful if you would tell us if these criteria are the “right stuff” and share your criteria for supplier selection on our blog.
Obviously, the better the match between our respective criteria, the more likely we can provide a win-win candidate (or candidates) for you. Initially, a good supplier choice needs to be competitively priced and have expertise in the sort of work you require. Beyond those, here are factors that we value, in no special order. We’d like it very much if you’d add to this list, or comment generally:
- A history of providing parts built to spec and delivered on time; an absence of quality problems as well as prompt attention to finding solutions when any problems occur. Once pricing is settled, these factors are what we believe are your primary issues over time.
- Financial strength: Most of our network companies have been in business for over 20 years. This suggests they’ve successfully survived poor economics and have satisfied customers for an extended period of time. Since many of these companies are small private concerns, there may be reluctance to disclose specific financial details. In the absence of this, a solid history should suffice to instill confidence they will be there for you over time. It is also evidence that these suppliers are not likely to become embroiled in financial issues while servicing your needs.
- Ownership encourages effective communications. Thus, the company will provide timely communications concerning problems. If, for example, critical components will be delayed, the buyer needs to know this in a timely manner. Moreover, the supplier needs to be responsive to new situations and buyer needs. Ultimately, this is a trust factor. If you can trust your suppliers there are not likely to be problems—especially bad news surprises!
- Honest and candid about capabilities; not only special requirement deliveries, but also ability to meet new requirements of time, cost, or other things such as tolerances. Our network has an admirable record of acknowledging what they cannot do as well as volunteering new things they can do.
- A diversified customer base, so that the company is not dependent upon one, or a few, big customers. Most companies will disclose general information about customers or type of manufacturing experience, and these should give you details about the sort of product history the company has. It might be especially revealing to know how long important customers have been customers, and especially instructive to learn if and then why important customers were lost. We think you will appreciate knowing a candidate has satisfied an important customer for an extended period and any losses you learn about are justifiable in your mind.
We have been surprised that RFQ’s we see intended for new potential suppliers rarely ask anything beyond price and delivery. Is this opportunity lost? We think so.
It’s difficult to find website answers to the sort of information we have presented above, and in our 2/5/16 newsletter we presented one of many bits of information that an RFQ might have to address this overall issue. We plan a significant white paper that will deal with RFQ information in more detail, and we hope you find it useful. Check our website in the near future if you are interested.
If you get positive information from these criteria you will probably find the company worthy of consideration. And so the question remains: are we on the same page here? We certainly hope so and look forward to your comments.