Purchasing and Logistics

Do you want to benefit from sourcing your engineered products (components, subassemblies...) within North America? Have you ever sent out prints for quote in the US? Oftentimes there is a desire to look at different sources on different markets yet at the same time you hesitate to reveal know-how that your company possesses and protects. Do I trust a confidentiality agreement? Or should I purposefully alter the requirements on the print just to obtain a rough understanding about a potential cost?

Either way those activities are typically quite time consuming and do not show up as top priority items on your to-do-list. Why not turn over such projects to an external company which you can trust with your specifications and who can translate those into meaningful requests for quotation (RFQ) and find potential partners for you in North America?

In the moment where initial contacts develop into closer relationships, supplier audits can be performed and reports on capacity, quality, and overall impressions can be submitted. A decision on business awards may be the next step. Should this happen, a close relationship between the supplier and your external consultant can be developed, especially during times of prototyping, APQP, PPAP etc. See also our Quality chapter. logistics

In case you are thinking of purchasing goods in North America and exporting those goods into the EU, the logistical chain needs to be as efficient as possible, especially during times of high transportation cost. Studies need to be conducted to find the best ratio between just-in-time, full container loads, cash flow, air or sea shipping and so forth. Internationally operating freight forwarding companies might have to be selected and signed up. Custom bonds might have to be purchased and American Border protection requirements taken into account. To have a trusted partner who acts in your name if you don‘t already have an organization in North America will be beneficial.

Our experience shows that there is typically huge potential for cost-savings in international shipping...

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