Proficient Sourcing exists to help procurement professionals (without obligation, by the way). We try to learn exactly what the buyer’s needs are. Then we search our resources to find one or more supplier that should provide an excellent fit. What happens after that is entirely up to the buyer, but we are pretty confident we’ll provide an attractive solution. Check us out: https://proficientsourcing.com/
An example of good results has recently happened with a number of manufacturers of custom equipment. These companies generate one-of-a-kind requests for quote; this means the chances of repeat orders for whatever is being RFQ’d are very low. Further, most of these RFQ’s are for parts with very low quantities—sometimes just one, and rarely more than 10. Of course, delivery is sought yesterday.
We have had good success answering several of these RFQ’s. In some cases the procurement professional is stunned to receive a quote within 24 hours. In addition, we have suppliers who like this market, and so they offer low, or at least competitive, pricing and very fast delivery. 2-3 weeks is not uncommon in these cases.
Our most recent RFQ was for a sheet metal project in which the buyer was looking for a replacement supplier. The company they had been using was very slow in answering the RFQ. Our company responded within 24 hours, and we are optimistic of winning that job.
Sometimes things do not work out so well. We have worked hard to develop relationships with OEM’s in the aerospace and defense market who are looking for very high precision suppliers with specific certifications and credentials, such as AS or ITAR.
In one case our supplier choice has won several PO’s for relatively small jobs involving very close tolerance machining work. This relationship began 2 years ago, and our supplier candidates were required to address a number of issues in a comprehensive vendor questionnaire. Once that was successfully completed, our candidate has received several RFQ’s and won several PO’s. Recently, however,
their major customers have increased their purchases significantly, and our candidate can no longer meet the shipping requirements of this customer. Fortunately, our network has several companies with similar expertise and more normal delivery schedules.
This reminds us of our often repeated recommendation that buyers question no-bids from supplier candidates who appear attractive. Your best match could well be in a situation similar to that described above; temporarily too busy with important customers to be able to respond positively to a RFQ from a new prospective customer (you). But they could well be available in the future, and you might find a very good match next time and a very valuable long term supplier.
Another buyer-supplier situation that has not yet worked out also involved a high precision/low quantity project requiring specific certifications. We submitted this RFQ to 3 shops with the requisite credentials and all 3 no-quoted the work. In each case, and completely independently, each company identified a feature they were not confident they could perform and measure as directed by the specifications provided. Each of the 3 shops identified the exact same feature—that does suggest a problem in our opinion.
This is a case where an established mature relationship would not have this problem. If this was a situation where there was a relationship between this OEM and the supplier, the supplier would have a communication channel with this OEM and could work out some way to solve the manufacturing concern. Without this established relationship, where no communication channel exists (yet), the suppliers believe it too risky to quote, and a no-bid was the result.
It is now up to Proficient Sourcing to work with this prospective customer OEM in order to create adequate communications so that they can offer future opportunities to companies that would seem to match the required capabilities and interests.
Our point in all this is that Proficient Sourcing exists to help in exactly these situations. If this sounds like something useful for you, give us a call (513) 489-5252. We’re ready whenever you are.
