On this Axis blog, we often bang on about the importance of quality – in fact it’s point four in our top tips to look for in your chosen supplier.
That’s because quality is part and parcel of precision parts engineering. It is something that is woven into the fabric of the way we do business – we insist on engineering your components to the quality required first time!
Your parts will absolutely, categorically NOT require re-working…
So, when we hear tales of businesses putting up with second best, we find it surprising and rather irritating. It just doesn’t make any sense. Does it?
It’s especially puzzling when they qualify this acceptance of poor quality with – “but they were cheaper than the other quotes.”
Your parts arrive but don’t fit properly and that’s fine because the price was low. Hmmm… Isn’t it just a little frustrating?
It’s a story we hear over and over.
Choosing the cheap price or the option offering value?
Is it really cheap if you have to spend additional time machining a supplied component so that it fits your requirements?
Have you actually done that calculation?
The cost of someone manufacturing it wrong PLUS the cost of your employees or another outsourcer putting it right? PLUS the time cost of delays!
Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to have chosen a supplier who got it right first time?
At Axis we always manufacture to model rather than drawings. This gives us greater accuracy and you parts that fit first time, which means you get exactly what you asked for – and you can have that in writing! C of Cs and FAIR available if your project requires!
The definition of madness…
Einstein was falsely attributed with this definition of insanity. Namely:
Insanity – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results
Whoever said it, it works here.
We still hear tales of businesses who repeat this cheaper process with their usual supplier time and again because “it’s what we always do.”
Here’s the, errr, logic:
- You return to the same supplier because you know your delivered parts are always going to be wrong…?
- You will always have to remachine the parts so they will actually work properly?
There is something fundamentally wrong with this thinking.
And what does it say about the quality inspection procedures at your chosen supplier?
Perhaps if they had higher quality equipment and software, it would take less time to produce a part that didn’t require additional attention before it could be used in your project?
Cheaper precision parts engineering in the long run
Choosing the supplier who gets precision parts engineered correctly, first time, makes perfect sense. Cheap with mistakes is a false economy.
This is just one reason to consider switching supplier. We’d suggest this in itself is enough to make you decide to switch.
Your current suppliers may be pretty good but, if they aren’t great, it’s time to look for someone new.