It’s hard to know who you can trust to manufacture the parts you need to get your jobs done. Without an established relationship with a manufacturer, it can seem like every manufacturer looks and says the same things. But, there are clear-cut reasons to choose one manufacturer over another to ensure you can trust that manufacturer to deliver.

Here’s how to navigate the sea of potential manufacturers out there to pick the right partner for your business, because that’s what a parts manufacturer is: a partner to deliver the best product you can offer to your customers.

Reputation Counts

Without an established relationship, a company’s reputation in the business can help you determine if you should even reach out to the manufacturer in the first place. Are they a known parts manufacturer already? Have they established themselves as a reliable supplier? Do you know someone who knows someone at the company? What is their experience?

Investigate their social media to see what they are saying about themselves and explore their digital reputation to see what other companies are saying about working with them.

Entering into a relationship with a new parts manufacturer is more than just finding a supplier; both businesses are entering into a partnership with one another. Don’t waste time—you want to know upfront that there’s a good chance you’ll be able to trust this business.

Capabilities

Your parts manufacturer needs to be able to demonstrate their ability to fulfill your orders with the necessary quality on time, every time. At Arc and Gauge, we specialize in a sophisticated robotic welding process to manufacture the metal parts you need. We create fixtures, jigs, and templates to ensure that the parts are consistently made at a high level of quality and any volume. In addition to standard orders, our in-house capabilities include tig welding, mig welding, experience with ferrous and non-ferrous metals, robotic welding, CNC machining, and fabrication to produce a high volume of metal parts with the consistency you need.

Price vs. Value

It may be tempting to choose a parts manufacturer that comes in at the lowest bid, but don’t be lured into a relationship with a manufacturer who can’t deliver on quality. There’s a significant difference between the price of a part and the value of that same part. A cheap part translates to a cheap product, and a cheap product can damage your reputation in the marketplace, costing you in substantial ways down the road.

Test the Quality before Making a Commitment

If you want to make sure that the quality of parts will be at the standard you need, the parts manufacturer should be willing (and proud!) to showcase the work they’ve done in the past. You should be able to see samples of what the manufacturer has made in the past. You could also ask the manufacturer to run a sample of your design, especially if the parts are for a prototype, before entering into an agreement. This might come with a small fee, but the investment is worth it.

Reliability and Communication

You are going to be relying on this manufacturer to supply you with the parts that will complete your product—it is essential that you can trust them to communicate the status of your orders and deliver on time. If you don’t know what’s going on or if something is delayed because of your supplier, you aren’t the only one who gets upset… your customer is also impacted, and ultimately, that customer will blame you.

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Arc and Gauge prides itself on being a professional and capable start-to-finish parts manufacture. Learn more about our processes and capabilities, and reach out to us to start a conversation. We would be proud to be your partner in manufacturing the parts for the highest quality product you can deliver.