Choosing Optimized Outsourced Assembly and Subassembly Services
OEMs that do their research when production planning most often realize that outsourcing secondary processes such as assembly and subassembly provides benefits that far outweigh keeping these processes in-house. By outsourcing the secondary processes, manufacturers can optimize their own resources such as capacity and labor to focus on their niche market. Procurement teams seeking the best outsourced assembly services should make sure that they are getting maximum value to optimize their process.
Asking the right questions of your contract assembly service company will help to ensure that you meet all objectives with the greatest value.
In addition to learning basic information about the company such as the company’s size, capacity, resources and experience, the following questions will help to provide necessary information to choose the best partner for your assembly process:
1. How will the company’s resources be allocated to your operations?
Be sure that your contract assembly provider has the capacity and resources to meet your production needs. This includes space for dedicated assembly lines and personnel with the knowledge and training to meet any specific assembly requirements.
2.Does the assembly provider offer value added services?
Value added services include specialized packaging after assembly, wrapping, palletizing, and shipping. An experienced assembly provider will offer additional services to be your one-stop production solutions partner.
3.Is the company registered to quality or environmental certifications?
If your manufacturing process requires strict quality control, working with an ISO9001:2015 registered provider helps to meet your own quality requirements and provides peace of mind to have confidence in your vendor.
4.Can they provide quality metrics?
An ISO9001:2015 registered supplier should be able to easily provide quality metrics including internal scrap and returned goods. These are key indicators of quality processes and should be tracked and reported regularly.
5.What is their on-time delivery rate?
Quality minded companies also track delivery performance with reliable contract assembly companies meeting close to 100% on-time delivery in relation to customer order releases.
6.Does the provider practice continual improvement methodology?
Any production company whether manufacturing or providing secondary services should practice continual improvement in all processes. This includes a robust training program as well as capital investments.
7.What is the pricing structure and how does it compare to in-house costs?
Be sure you understand all of the costs involved to make an informed comparison to conducting secondary production services in-house. Manufacturers must take into account the space and labor required to perform in-house assembly services in addition to any specialized materials or equipment.
PPS Provides Value-Added Assembly Services
Peoria Production Solutions, PPS, offers more than 80 years of experience in providing secondary production services such as assembly, subassembly, kitting, sewing, packing, wrapping, packaging, and more. We are registered to ISO9001:2015, following strict quality policies and continually investing in our staff through training and development. We utilize automated equipment and many processes and offer the capacity and resources to meet production and delivery demands.
PPS is a leading contract assembly company located conveniently in the Midwest, providing high quality secondary production solutions. We practice lean processes and value stream mapping (VSM) to eliminate bottlenecks with cost-efficient solutions. Contact us to learn more about improving your production and assembly demands with our experienced contract assembly team.