When you&#;re ordering custom parts from an outside manufacturer, you know that your own company&#;s ability to meet deadlines and produce a viable final product is resting on this outside manufacturer&#;s ability to deliver a quality product to you in a timely fashion.
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Because your company&#;s reputation might have to depend on the quality and speed of the custom parts manufacturer you&#;re dealing with, it&#;s important to know whether or not if the other manufacturer can make a satisfactory part on time before you commit to a purchase.
With this in mind, here are a few questions to ask your custom parts manufacturer before buying parts from them:
What Kinds of Materials Will You Use?
Material choice is incredibly important in the manufacture of custom components. Your custom parts manufacturer&#;s material choice should provide a good balance of cost-effectiveness and long-term viability for the final product.
For example, if the parts you&#;re ordering are going to be exposed to mildly caustic environments or moisture, then plain steel, while cheap, wouldn&#;t be a good choice of material since it wouldn&#;t last long in a mildly caustic environment. Grade 316 stainless steel, on the other hand, would be overkill since the corrosives that the part will be exposed to aren&#;t that powerful, and the material is fairly costly.
Here, grade 304 stainless steel would be a better choice, as it can survive exposure to mild corrosives and isn&#;t as costly as grade 316 stainless steel.
When a custom metal parts manufacturer uses the right material for the job, you can get the most bang for your buck.
Do You Offer Special Coatings/Finishes?
Aside from material choice, the choice of what coating or finish to use on a custom part, if any, can have a huge impact on the viability of that part for its use in the final product.
A coating of soft PVC can help a custom materials handling basket carry delicate objects without scratching them, or an electropolish finish can remove the microscopic flaws in a metal form that foreign objects may have caught in, improving the utility of the parts in applications where non-stick surfaces are a must.
Once again, it is important that the coating or finish used both enhances the utility/useful life of the part and makes sense financially.
How do You Manufacture the Parts?
Manufacturing techniques have come a long way in the last few decades. Many tasks that were once done only by hand have become automated. New technologies have been introduced to make certain manufacturing tasks faster and more consistent. For example, Marlin Steel uses the IDEAL Welding Machine to make sure every basket is precision made. Watch the video below!
Using a third-party manufacturer that relies on outmoded techniques to assemble your custom parts is, at best, a risky proposition. Manual assembly of metal parts is slow, as a manual laborer gets fatigued throughout the day, slowing down his or her productivity.
Manufacturers who use manufacturing automation don&#;t really have this problem. Robots, unlike people, don&#;t&#; get tired, so they can keep working with the same machinelike precision at the same speed all day.
In fact, manufacturing automation plays a big role in answering the next two questions:
Can You Meet My Tolerances?
When you&#;re mass-producing a product, each part has to fall within a very specific set of measurements, or else the final product won&#;t fit together and you might as well have a collection of worthless scrap on your hands.
If the bend in a piece of steel wire is 90 degrees on one part, but 92 degrees on another, that&#;s a significant enough a different in the angle to potentially ruin the final product.
This is precisely why it is important to know how a manufacturer will make a part, as the precision of automated metal bending machines such as a CNC press brake can make ensuring consistent bend angles in metal easy, while relying on hand tools makes consistency nearly impossible to give in a time fashion.
How Fast Can You Fulfill My Order?
One of the basic reasons that any manufacturer goes to a third party for the production of a part is that they&#;re on a tight schedule and cannot make the part themselves without going behind schedule. This problem is especially critical when your company has a major product release coming up.
Keeping consumers waiting for their product can be incredibly harmful to sales in this modern era of near-instant gratification where consumers are used to a two-day home delivery timetable.
So, it is important to know how fast the manufacturer you&#;re enlisting to make a custom part or component can fulfill your order and have the parts delivered to you. You may want to do some independent research and check with the manufacturer&#;s previous clients to ask them how quickly their own orders arrived after the work order was finalized.
Finding the right manufacturer to help you get the production of your critical components is incredibly important to meeting your company&#;s own obligations. Find out how Marlin Steel helped other companies meet their production goals by reading the case study at the link below:
How to Find Right Partner for Design-to-Manufacturing Custom Stamping Parts
- Design and Engineering
| - Mar 3,
- Home > How to Find Right Partner for Design-to-Manufacturing Custom Stamping Parts
Ziheng Steel Pipes vs. Traditional Alternatives: Which Reigns Supreme?The Advantages of Implementing Solar Panels for Sustainable EnergyAn idea has probably popped up in your mind for a new product or maybe for improving a product that you already have. The next important step is to choose a design partner, someone that will turn the idea and the concept in your mind into a reality, tangible, right before your eyes using custom metal stamping parts. Your product could be something very useful for day to day living or it could be an object that would make life easier for many around the world. That being said, you can&#;t wait to start the production of the product in mind. However, you need to make some serious decisions before your dream can be realized. Listed below are some things that will prove helpful in your quest for the right design partner who will help you in making custom metal stamping parts.
Understanding the entire process:
Additional reading:10 Questions You Should Know about Innovations in Ziheng Steel Pipes
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A good designer will strive to gain a full understanding of the particular manufacturing process that your product requires, including custom metal stamping parts. Design partner that is professional will aim to minimize glitches in the design process since production can be hampered if these exist. The design partner will also work to meet safety standards, testing mandates and prepare fully for procuring the needed approvals from regulatory bodies for your product and the custom stamping parts.
Knowing the market:
Finding a product designer that wants to know just how your idea of a product is going to work in the market, hit target sales, attract customers and prove to be successful is the beginning to building a strong relationship with your designer partner. This goal can easily be achieved by carefully listening to the questions that your would-be design partner throws at you and how he helps design the custom stamping parts. He should be asking you for details as to how your product is unique, how it compares to the products that are already out there in the market, how will it meet the requirements of customers, how can the customers get the complete benefits that the product serves, what sort of packaging will be needed to appease the audience. These and other similar questions from your design partner will convince you that he surely wants your product to be a total success and will assist you in making custom stamping parts.
Rectitude:
Any relationship that intends to last requires straightforwardness in it. Many at times you would hear things that may not be pleasant or that you would not have intended to hear from your design partner. But a good design partner will not shy away from providing necessary guidelines that will ultimately help produce a good product simply out of fear of displeasing you. To that end, such relationships need certain foundations, like an NDA or a non-disclosure agreement; your design files should be returned to you as these are your property and convincing evidence that this relationship is definitely going to benefit both the parties involved.
Competence and Dexterity Level:
Relationships with product designer need to last long, even after the main production of custom stamping parts is over. A future round of production or even a revised production would require the services of a product designer once again. Mass production runs of your custom stamping parts and the product will be satisfactory and successful if the relationship with your product designer is free from strain.
Once the custom stamping parts and your product is designed to your satisfaction and your designer partner has made you happy, the next step would be to look for a manufacturing or a production partner. There is a sea of manufacturers out there and choosing a good one isn&#;t simply a matter of following a reference or checking simply for reviews of other clients. What may work for a particular company may not necessarily work for you. A mutually beneficial relationship is what you need to be looking at establishing. The success of your product will largely depend on how the production of the custom stamping parts is carried out, which means all the hard work done by you and your product designer will find its results in how then the next and final step is performed. Here are some essential steps that will help you find a good manufacturer for getting your product out in the market.
Capability:
One of the first things you would want to look into a manufacturing unit or company is if they possess the capability to make it happen. While there may be minimum requirements that every job has, it would not be a course of wisdom to be satisfied with just the minimum requirements. Your product may need certain assemblies of the custom stamping parts depending on the complexity and the manufacturing company needs to have the specialty in making such or other assemblies of the custom stamping parts. Another important factor to consider is balance. While you want the best manufacturer, it is not just the best but the best for you. While there are production firms that perform great for large scale productions, they may not be a suitable match for you if your production requirements are small. Hence, the need for balance. You should also bear in mind whether your chosen manufacturer meets the needed regulations. Generally, regulatory bodies insist on production under strict inspections and process controls- all of which should be met by the manufacturing plant that you choose. If your product doesn&#;t need such inspections, you can save yourself much money and hassle by choosing a fairly simple manufacturing plant. With the task of every production, there comes a certain amount of risk. Knowing if your manufacturing company is equipped to take that risk or not is also vital. Depending on the kind of product being made and the scale of production, you can work out a risk management protocol with your manufacturing firm.
Knowing about variations:
If you choose to manufacture your product overseas, in a land that is far from yours, there may be certain cultural differences that you would need to be aware of. These can come in between the production process if not handled wisely. Each continent has a certain way of working and following it while doing business is important for mutual benefit.
Understanding and effectively doing your part:
Since your relationship with the manufacturing firm is a mutually benefitting one, it is important to know what part you need to play in making this relationship work and then fulfilling it well. One of the most important part of any good relationship is good communication. It does not mean that you do all the talking; listening is even more important and so is asking questions that elicit more than a mere yes or no response. While communicating it is also important to clearly explain the kind of expectations you have with your production. When your needs are clearly explained, the manufacturer will be able to work towards meeting those requirements and satisfying your expectations.
At Eigen, we understand the intricacies that are involved in getting a product out into the market and therefore provide a service that is at the highest professional level. Our designers, engineers and production teams are highly experienced and possess a thorough knowledge of the manufacturing process. We adhere to the norms and standards set by regulatory authorities and deliver satisfying products within the stipulated time without compromising on quality or cost. Allow us to serve you and find yourself a manufacturing firm that you will enjoy working with.
Ujjwal handles crucial roles like AGM Marketing, researcher, and is an author for KDDL &#; Eigen. He currently works with Eigen for implementing proven techniques and strategies for marketing plans on online and offline platforms. An expert in efficiently executing SEO, SEM, marketing, social media marketing, PR marketing, Print campaigns, etc. Ujjwal has coordinated an efficient marketing team on various creative campaigns and programmatic buying to support various digital cross-promotion efforts. Implement efficient search optimization strategies with the help of collateral material and metrics.
In his former years, Ujjwal has years of experience in a managerial role for several reputed companies. His years of experience combined with the flair of writing help him come up with result oriented strategies for Eigen.
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