- Global Component Sourcing-AT 'Zero' Cost to Client!
- Research and Development Engineering Sourcing-AT 'Zero' Cost to Client!
- Overseas Distribution Channel Establishment
- Global Supply Chain Management
- Tradeshow and Other Field Marketing Management
Today, the deverticalization of firm structures in the US is at least partly a response to the increased volatility of the markets in which the firms are operating. Shorter product lifecycles, the complexity and high cost of new product introductions, and unforgiving end-user and capital markets are combining to impose new pressures on all areas of the firm, from R&D to manufacturing to marketing and sales. In response to these pressures, and to offload risk, firms in a wide range of sectors and locations have sought to outsource'non-core' functions, especially those, like manufacturing, that are associated with large scale fixed capital.
Outsourcing has been especially prominent in competitive and fast-moving industries like electronics, motor vehicles, and textile/apparel. Advanced firms have focused on the areas and functions that they believe to be essential to the creation and maintenance of competitive advantage, especially product innovation, marketing, and other activities related to brand development.
Many firms in the US are asking their suppliers to take on more responsibility for the design and engineering of products and sub-systems. Suppliers are increasingly being chosen and brought into the development process before products are fully designed. By doing so, the lead firm is able to spread risk and reduce costs. When suppliers participate in prototype development, moreover, they typically improve their performance in design for manufacturability and in implementing subsequent engineering change orders. Product redesign for different markets is also easier and quicker if the suppliers are actively involved from the outset.
CORE REASONS for OUTSOURCING |
- Firms are in many cases marketing their products globally, and require engineering, manufacturing, and logistics support in multiple locations.
- Firms often seek to economize on development costs by creating global product platforms that share and re-use many common parts, modules, and subsystems. Partnering with a small number of suppliers, or even a single supplier, enables the firms to exploit these economies of scope more fully, while also avoiding the cost of re-qualifying new suppliers for each new market.
- Cost pressures require purchasing organizations to scan the world for low-cost, high quality parts, and to the degree that suppliers are taking on these responsibilities, they too must have global sourcing capabilities.
- Suppliers based in protected final markets can combine global sourcing with local sourcing and subassembly to help lead firms meet local content requirements.
- The preference for key suppliers to take on a more active role early in the development process requires these suppliers to be able to co-locate at least some of their own design activities with the design facilities of their customers.
Our carefully prescreened member-suppliers stand out, not only for producing at lower cost, but for having recruited and nurtured well-educated managers, engineers, and technicians who can work in partnership with customers in the US. These member-firms have innovative design capabilities that allow them to offer new model design suggestions to customers (ODM) as well as work to their clients' specifications (OEM). They have implemented major changes in their business structures and adopted advanced ICT systems that allow them to coordinate widely dispersed activities indifferent countries.
