Connecting manufacturing professionals to drive continuous improvement!
Sourcing reliable offshore Mfg.
Has anyone found a company that specializes in marrying US and offshore Mfg. sources? It's hard to know who you are dealing with, and the consequences of picking a 'bad' source can be disastrous. Maybe some users of this site would have suggestions or references on such Mfg's?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Lee Scanlon on -
I would echo one of the points made by several individuals in this string. Be prepared to visit any potential source. My organization has allowed many of the components we use to be manufactured overseas, and the drop in quality in my mind has negated a large portion of any cost savings. Verify that the supplier has a Quality Management System, and can show evidence of process controls and continuous improvement activity. It is these activities that took made in Japan from what it was after WW2 to what it is today.
-
Permalink Reply by Sampath Krishna on -
I second Lee's suggestion. Many will produce an ISO certificate, but not all ISO certifications are created equal. Check on the ISO issuing organization as well. Keep a close eye on quality and check it frequently.
Bottom line is that you get what you pay for, but you *can* get better quality from China by paying a little more and being very vigilant.
krishna
-
Permalink Reply by Antonio Passalacqua on -
Katherine,
Many good points have been made on this thread though I don't agree with Ken D. --We are in a Global Economy today where we trade goods so outsourcing can only be good to economies.
-
Permalink Reply by Charles Morley on -
don't go offshore, there are many good suppliers in the US still that can be competitive.
-
Permalink Reply by Ken Doenges on -
USA product manufacurers, retail merchandisers of food products or any soft or hardware item that can be produced in the USA are fools to even try to outsource their needs to sources other than in the USA.
In point of fact, it is economic treason and a 99% of value import tax should be levied against all imported products.
Global outsourcing is not conducive to the benefit of our overall economy.
The right answer is that any US company that has the opportunity to sell their products overseas should make those products in each country in which they are sold and buy all the product parts from within each foreign country.
The USA citizens are fools if they believe the worlds countries can supply cheap products to the USA market and that the consequences will be beneficial to US citizens.
On the contrary, importation of such world products means our gross national product is drastically diminished, jobs are eliminated and the results is less and less wealth to distribute to US citizens.
Consequently, the US tax base is always high and each citizen has less to live on.
If you must out source, out source in the USA.
-
Permalink Reply by Antonio Passalacqua on
-
By no means I’m a trade expert but have seen many instances were small, medium size and big corporations have benefit from outsourcing.
In the case of small / medium size companies they have been able to source small and medium lot size parts or components from suppliers aboard at competitive cost in contrast to poor interest from local suppliers who prefer big batch production. Some times also they can find different production processes being used that locally are not available maybe because they are more labor intensive but are more appropriate to the parts needed.
On big corporations one has to ask why their strategies on outsourcing really works, companies like GE, automotive, machinery like John Deere, Caterpillar, Parker Hannifin to name a few.
-
Permalink Reply by chicago-industrial on -
I don't want to legitimize Ken's response in any way, but maybe shed some light on the issue's background.
Public corporations, by law, must do everything they can to return the highest dollar amount for their shareholders. It's the law!
If companies begin to externalize expenses, and internalize profit, it's good for them. How is this done?
You can buy cheaper materials.
Take the cost of labor out of your product.
Do business in areas with less environmental regulations.
Don't require health care, no unions, etc.
There's thousands of ways to save money.
If a leader in your industry 'takes the plunge' and makes a massive investment overseas, well, the competitors sort of have no choice but to follow suit.
Let's say you make audio mixers. All of your domestic competitors sell a fine mixer for $1000. One of them sells a comparable product for $300. Well, you're going to lose market share unless you start to figure out what the other guy is doing.
Ken, et all who feel this way,
Don't be mad at people for playing by the rules. It's much more useful to direct energy towards those who make the rules.
I'd like to wrap this up by coming full circle.
I am a contract equipment manufacturer in the USA, in a state that is very anti-business, actually.
Most of my Clients have attempted to 'take the plunge'. They have attempted to do business overseas, and have failed. Quality and communication was not to their liking. (I do understand that China makes PS3's, and LG TV's and the like, my clients obviously were not dealing with the right people).
Their business came home.
It's very appropriate to globally source some products and services.
If you are interested in more fact-based history of how massive off shoring happened, I recommend looking for Adam Curits's film, The Mayfair Set. Although this is about Thatcher's England, the same formula came to the USA at about the same time.
-
Permalink Reply by Larry Thalacker on -
Chicago-Industrial,
Excellent post! Anyone that has spent time working with Asian suppliers directly will state unequivocally that we can either fight globalization and loose big or we can figure out a way to make it work for us. This is what the US has always done best: turn adversity into prosperity. For those that would disagree, consider India and China alone, would you prefer 2.5B people industrialized or desperate and starving. But on to the point... I have successfully outsourced several products to Japan, India Taiwan and China as well as routine engineering work. While it is not for every business and/or product, there are ways to take advantage of their capabilities even for small operations. It can help reduce costs, improve utilization of key resources and advance overall business interests. However, the business case must be carefully considered. There are a number of hidden costs. The business culture is different of course, These differences must drive the nature of your engagement process as well as the management interface. I have found that with the proper engagement, Asian CMs will take more ownership of the overall task than the equivalent US based CM.
-
Permalink Reply by Mark Cole on -
General Microcircuits Inc. (GMI) located in Mooresville, NC (USA) has a Manufacturing site in North Carolina and has 3 reliable partners located in Asia (S. Korea, Tiawan, China and Malaysia). The benefit with GMI you can get all your small volume and prototype's done stateside and once the design is firmed up transition the business to one of the Asian Partners.
Generally sourcing is one of the biggest challenges that one faces in working with Asia, but GMI has developed a formula that gives the best of both worlds. You deal with a US source so communications are easier and you still get the benefit of the lower labor costs of dealing with Asia.
If interested in finding out more contact - mcole@gmimfg.com.
-
Permalink Reply by mickey mccallion on -
Katherine, it depends on what type of manufacturing you are looking to source. There are numerous US companies who have sites in Asia or other low cost regions. Looking for one that actually owns the off shore rathet than a "strategic alliance" is your best bet. Also look for plants with recognized certifications, ISO9000, ISO13485 for medical etc. These give an indication of the types of products they are building and the types of controls in the industry sector they operate.
I work for a company who operates in the automotive, components and electronic manufacturing services sectors. We are global and have sites in the US, Europe (UK, Czech Republic) and Asia. we own all the sites and each one is certified to the highest standard, medical, avionics and industrial for the off shore sites. The onshore sites in the US and UK are also certified on military products.
We have NPI centers in all regions and take many customers products from design to full manufacturing. From high cost regions transfered to low cost regions. The company has been in business for 111 years and have adapted through all types of markets. We aplly full value stream mapping to a customer product and determine best fit for the customer within CTS. Selecting the site which gives the best return for all.
look us up www.ctscorp.com, or if you need more information contact me directly on michael.mccallion@ctscorp.com
Michael McCallion
Director Global Lean Manufacturing
-
Permalink Reply by Steven A. Colantuoni on -
Hello Katherine:
Our company, The Offshore Group (www.offshoregroup.com) provides comprehensive services that enable companies to initiate and maintain manufacturing in operations in Mexico. We have several manufacturers in our client base provide contract manufacture service in a diversity of industries. This pdf document may be of value to you in identifying sources of items that you many be seeking:
www.offshoregroup.com/pdf/offshoregroupmagazine.pdf
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- Next ›
© 2010 Created by Paul Patterson.
