Product category:
General Subcontracting Services
News Release from: MFG.com | Subject: Subcontract sourcing service
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 13 February 2008
Global search reduces moulding prices
ten-fold
Originally looked at sourcing mouldings in the UK, a safety systems manufacturer used a Web service to find suppliers iand was able to reduce prices by a factor of ten.
When Expo Technologies needed to rethink a small but critical component in its automated safety systems, the company used MFG.com to find a manufacturer for its design MFG.com is a global manufacturing marketplace that brings together buyers and suppliers throughout the world
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 14 Feb 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Sourcing obsolete components manufacture
An automotive engines and gearboxes remanufacturer uses the Web to find suppliers for obsolete components and for the hundreds of complex components.
Protect valuable CAD data on line
With AutoShred Lite's novel functionality, buyers or engineers can completely control how, when, where and by whom their sensitive drawings and documents are viewed.
As well as providing access to the world's largest network of suppliers, it also offers integrated sourcing and procurement tools that help engineers and sourcing professionals cut their time to market and reduce manufacturing costs Based in Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK, Expo Technologies provides safety systems for electrical equipment, such as electric motors, that have to operate in hazardous environments.
One approach is to place the entire motor in a sealed enclosure.
Before it can be switched on, the enclosure has to be purged with compressed air, and then it has to be pressurised while the motor is running.
Further reading
MfgQuote Unveils White Paper
White Paper Defines Online Sourcing as a Missed Opportunity for Many Purchasers of Made-to-order Parts
MfgQuote President and CEO at MoldMaking Expo 2005
MfgQuote President and CEO Mitch Free Joins Industry Panel Covering The Basics of Effective Mold Shop Sales and Marketing at MoldMaking Expo 2005
MfgQuote Partners with Pinion Software
MfgQuote Partners with Pinion Software to Offer New Level of Security for Sensitive CAD Data and Engineering Documents Transferred Via The Web.
This ensures that there is no possibility of an explosive mixture building up around the motor that could be ignited by a spark.
Typical areas where this type of protection is needed include oil and gas rigs, paint shops, pharmaceutical plants and food processing lines.
Different sized enclosures and different applications require different purging regimes, and these are controlled by the Expo Technologies equipment.
Development Engineer at Expo Technologies, John Paul De Beer, explained: "Say you need to purge for 45 min at 18,000 litres/min - our equipment checks that you have reached the correct flow rate and then starts timing.
When the purge is complete, and a positive pressure in the enclosure is verified, the motor can be switched on.
These systems are fully automated and controlled by pneumatic logic circuits".
* Production problems - Expo Technologies consulted MFG.com when it decided to upgrade its product by replacing a troublesome pneumatic component.
This component, an off-the-shelf timer valve that Expo Technologies modified, had a problem with repeatability that could cause it to time up to 20% longer than it should.
This not only wasted compressed air, but it could also cause unacceptable production hold-ups.
"To overcome this problem we developed our own valve.
We prototyped them here on our machines to get working concepts and decided that we wanted them injection moulded," said De Beer.
The design specified six injection moulded components in total.
Three go together in layers to make up the valve body, two more go to make up the valve stem and the final part is a spring cap.
De Beer originally looked at sourcing the mouldings in the UK, using known suppliers, but the cheapest quotes for 10,000-off of each of the injection moulded components came in at around GBP 50,000 including tooling.
By using MFG.com to find suppliers in the global market he was able to reduce this by a factor of ten.
"The lowest priced suppliers we found on MFG.com were coming in at around GBP 4,500.
We had never done anything like this before, but at that price it was a risk worth taking," said de Beer.
But what had started as a low-risk operation suddenly became much more critical when the supplier of the off-the-shelf valves merged with a competitor and stopped making them.
"If we couldn't find a cheaper alternative we would have been forced to pay a higher price for these parts - and it also meant that time was a critical factor.
We were able to buy a couple of hundred of the discontinued valves, but that would only last us a few months," said De Beer.
MFG.com told manufacturingtalk.com that it not only allowed him to find suppliers that could meet his deadlines, it also streamlined the whole sourcing process.
De Beer said: "It was easy to create the RFQs (Requests for Quotation) and I liked the fact that I could upload a model direct from our CAD system.
This was very useful in the development stage when the manufacturing drawings weren't yet complete".
He was soon able to create a shortlist and choose a supplier, said MFG.com.
"The fact that the quotes all come in the same format makes it a lot easier, and the customer ratings on MFG.com were a very useful tool for sorting people out.
It clearly showed when people hadn't been keeping their customers happy," said De Beer.
He added: "We selected Nova Plastics as a supplier at the beginning of June and we got the first-off sample just five weeks later - which isn't bad considering the machining time for the tooling and the design changes that they have accommodated".
It isn't just a question of UK manufacturing being outsourced to the Far East though, said De Beer.
"Having these valves made in China makes our products more cost-effective and more affordable for our clients.
And the systems we manufacture here are exported all over the world, including China.
We are now using MFG.com to source some more complex lower volume components from the UK.
I like the fact that that I can tailor the way I use MFG.com to reach the people I want.".
• MFG.com: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Manufacturingtalk email newsletter
• Manufacturingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
