Supply Chain Management Benefits of Streamlining
We’re all familiar with the expression, “spread too thin.” That’s what trying to manage too many moving parts—literally and figuratively—of a supply chain can do to your efficiency and bottom line. What are your options? You can go the way of vendor reduction. The customer benefits of supply chain management through vendor reduction can be far reaching, but we’ve listed the top 5 here.
Top 5 Benefits of Streamlining
1. Big fish in a small pond
You get to be the big fish in a small pond. As you increase your “spend” with fewer suppliers, your leverage with the vendor increases. You are in a favorable position for situations that require an imminent need. The vendor is more apt to accommodate you when the need arises, like pulling deliveries in sooner (taking priority over other customers).
2. Cost reduction
When you rely on one vendor to supply and manage your parts, the cost reduction benefits vary—some are felt immediately, and others more subtly. They all impact the bottom line. Examples of cost reduction are:
3. Streamline services
Customers are generally looking for vendors who can provide myriad services along with the products they manufacture. By aligning with these vendors, you can take more cost out of the products. Viable solutions include sub-assemblies or kitting. By working with one vendor to supply these functions, you can alleviate infrastructure load by reducing labor, space, and processes, thereby reducing more costs. The biggest bonus here: reduced lead time through schedule sharing—and you don’t worry about the schedule, your dependable vendor does all that work.
4. Resource and personnel efficiency
Less vendors means less details that your employees need to monitor and track. As with kitting, the vendor will also track inventory, allowing your personnel to focus on their jobs, spending less of their time procuring parts, tracking inventory, or re-allocating missing parts. They can talk to one person rather than multiple people at different companies—an often understated but valuable benefit of supply chain management when you reduce your vendors.
5. Reliable partnerships
Often, companies who consider outsourcing have already established a trusting relationship with a reliable vendor. When a vendor undertakes responsibilities like the kitting, then all or some of the supply, purchasing, machining, sub-assembly, plating, and packaging concerns are taken off your shoulders. You still have control, as you set the parameters in regards to what suppliers you want used in the kitting program. Reputable kitting companies will also advise you on cost-saving and design-enhancing options for things like machining, plating, and packaging. If you really break it down, companies like CSI Group are simply managing the process you already have in place. Vendor reduction allows you to build more in-depth relationships with the key personnel of major vendors, ultimately offering a single-solution to an organized production/assembly process.
CSI as Your One-Source Solution
The CSI Group is a highly specialized group of companies offering manufacturing processes for mechanical components. CSI provides precision machining solutions for turning, milling, plastic injection molding, metal injection molding (MIM), stamping, and micro-machining, along with a full range of support services such as vendor-managed inventory programs (VMI), kitting, assembly, plating, and heat treatment.
Imagine having all that expertise at your convenience—from purchasing and quality oversight to stock room streamlining and final sub-assembly. CSI can help you reap the benefits of supply chain management through the vendor reduction services we provide. One of them is our kitting program. If you’d like more information about our kitting program, download “The One-Source Kitting Solution” now.
It all began with AC submitting a RFP for a major new customer account. AC needed a supplier that could handle the manufacturing of the required components for AC’s end product as well as provide competitive pricing, quality, and lead times. Plus, the supplier needed to handle short lived cyclical demand and help prevent the buildup of obsolete inventory. CSI Group was able to produce 9 out of the 10 components as well as meet all the required criteria mentioned above. Because of this accomplishment, CSI Group became the Preferred Supplier for all 9 of the components.
After CSI Group became AC’s Preferred Supplier, both companies faced several challenges such as producing parts they had never made before, language barriers, and the customer providing inaccurate forecasts as well as the customer’s demand being highly cyclical, but also unpredictable. But, with the partnership based on the SRM elements and CSI Group’s unique and flexible business model, the process from concept to production was completed in only 5 weeks which normally take months, language barriers were overcome, and demand risk was lessened by weekly communication and with AC providing CSI Group with a Letter of Intent that guranteed them business. In return, CSI Group agreed to maintain 25% of the estimated volume of all 9 parts on their shelves. THis project benefited by CSI Group and AC’s partnership which allowed the project to move forward quickly and seamlessly.
In the earlier years of this business relationship, CSI Group took part in AC’s plant SRM process. Because of the success of the mentioned project, CSI Group became part of AC’s corporate SRM program which in turn CSI Group has received attention at a high level. AC’s corporate endorsement of CSI Group played an important role in CSI Group acquiring business with each of AC’s manufacturing plants.
The results of this partnership were significant and tangible benefits for both companies. Due to the increased demand from the mentioned project and CSI Group being a strategic partner, CSI Group’s business with AC increased 283% from 2012-2015. Having CSI Group as a partner, AC’s customer was happy with quality, price, and delivery. As for AC, over the years, they were able to eliminate multiple suppliers and replace them with a high quality, reliable, and trustworthy supplier-CSI GROUP.
What Are the Differences between Conventional CNC and Swiss Machining?
Will conventional CNC machining solve my problem, or do I need CNC Swiss machining? What’s the difference between the two?
There are distinct advantages and applications for both, but they are very different processes. Choosing which precision machining process depends on the specific job.
CNC Swiss Machining
Swiss-type precision machining provides a cost-effective way to produce components for medical and defense products such as dust cover pins and firing pins used in military rifles. These long, slender components feature a tolerance band of 0.0005 inch on the part’s diameter.
A Swiss-type lathe consists of a variety of turning machines that feed the stock through a guide bushing. This means the OD turning tool can always cut the stock near the bushing, and therefore, near the point of support, no matter how long the workpiece. The machine feeds the work out of the spindle and past the tool as it goes. This makes the CNC Swiss-type particularly effective for long and slender turned parts.
Advantages of Swiss Turning Process
The advantage of a Swiss turning process is that the material is supported close to the tools that are cutting, using a guide bushing that the bar stock is pushed thru and into the tools. This prevents deflection of the bar stock when using a conventional turning process. On many machines, the tools are only a few thousands from the face of the guide bushing.
Swiss-Style Distinguishers
Swiss turning is ideal for long parts and small-diameter parts under .125″.
Examples of Swiss Parts Are:
CNC Conventional Machining
The first CNC precision machines were built in the 1940s and 50s and became the workhorses of the modern machine shop. Motion is controlled along multiple axes, normally at least two (X and Y), and a tool spindle that moves in the Z (depth). The position of the tool is driven by motors through a series of step-down gears, in order to provide highly accurate movements, or in modern designs, direct-drive stepper motor or servo motors. Open-loop controls work as long as the forces are kept small enough and speeds are not too great. On commercial metalworking machines, closed-loop controls are standard and required in order to provide the accuracy, speed, and repeatability demanded.
Advantages of Conventional Turning
Conventional turning extends the material from the chuck/collet to the overall length of the part, and then tools will move into the bar. Conventional turning is better suited for short, large-diameter parts with very tight tolerances. Conventional turning is also best suited for larger parts with difficult materials.
CNC-like systems are now used for any process that can be described as a series of movements and operations. These include laser cutting, welding, friction stir welding, ultrasonic welding, flame and plasma cutting, bending, spinning, hole-punching, pinning, gluing, fabric cutting, sewing, tape and fiber placement, routing, picking and placing (PnP), and sawing.
Conventional Turning Distinguishers
Examples of Conventional Turning Parts:
The job, materials, and ultimate use of the part are the drivers in which process you should use. CSI Group and our partners have 26 years of experience providing one-source solutions for your micromachining needs.
How to Shop for the Right Precision Machine Shop
There are approximately 29,900 job shops in the United States and ThomasNet lists more than 8,000 companies under precision machining. So, with the enormous range of resources (and distractions) related to precision machining services, what should engineers and purchasing agents look for when sourcing precision components?
1. Quality
How does the precision machine shop rate on quality? Do you need an ISO Certified qualification? By the nature of the description “precision” components, you would most likely want your component manufactured in a certified machine shop, especially if you are an OEM or selling to an OEM in the medical and aerospace markets. Because of requirements for identification, liability, and perfection, medical and aerospace will most often require certification and need unique identification of parts. These markets will often require specific certifications like ISO 13486 for medical.
2. Capacity
Depending on the quantity of products that need to be produced and shipped, capacity needs to be considered. For small and short runs, a small shop with limited machines and machinist may be able to turn around your order more quickly. Large orders and complex parts may require unique equipment and more expert machinists. Most precision machine shops provide an equipment list on their website or data sheet. Look for a company that has vast capabilities in diverse types of machining and top-quality resources—like varied materials—to meet all your component requirements.
3. Inventory Management
Since most precision components are used as part of another product or equipment, the manufacturing cycle may have a varied schedule. Some machine shops will offer ship-to-stock, Kanban, and other inventory management system that can coincide with the timely requirement of your product.
4. Value-Added Services
Many companies are looking for vendor consolidation where the part can be completed in-house and does not have to be shipped to other vendors for finishing, assembly, or other secondary processes that ultimately add to the cost and quality control. Some precision machine shops may have value-added partners who add the depth of added services and expertise for their customers.
5. Kitting Services
Does the machine shop offer kitting services? If your product is part of an assembly that ultimately goes into your completed product or equipment, kitting services can save time and money if the precision component is packaged or kitted together with other components or products. A reputable kitter usually has an established kitting program in place to provide you preferential and reliable schedules and stock availability.
It is impossible to sift through the thousands of available machine shops in the United States, but if you keep these 5 top points in mind, they may help you focus on which company best fits your needs.
Find a Reliable One-Source Precision Machining Solution … Every Time
Robots the size of a grain of rice. Lenses that allow tiny cameras to capture medical marvels and make huge discoveries. The smallest springs you’ll ever almost not see with the naked eye. Micromachining makes this happen. How micromachining does what it does is due to advances in high-precision turning machinery that manufacture extremely complex geometries of minute components and parts. Specialized multi-axis turning machines can produce parts as small as .008 O.D. and .008 I.D. Component Sources International (CSI) has multi-axis machines, 12 of them are 11-axis, with high-speed production yields up to 120 pieces per minute, yielding a 850K parts per week capacity.
There are no standard specifications that define micromachining. Generally, each precision machining manufacturer has a standard spec it starts at, and at CSI, we start at around .050. The smallest tolerance CSI manufactures is +-.0002.
The industries, markets, and applications that depend on this type of precision machining vary vastly—from aerospace and railway to telecommunications, and are used in robotics, sensors, and fiber optics, among diverse applications. Some of the markets that CSI specializes in are the medical, test and measurement, watch, and test probe, along with and many more. Examples of some of the precision machining products we micromachine are test probes for testing circuit boards and contacts for high- frequency RF applications.
Seek Comprehensive Solution
When seeking a contract manufacturer to handle your micromachining work, look for one that can provide a comprehensive solution for you. You want a supplier that can provide:
Materials Matter
You also want to find a micromachining manufacturer that can produce components in a variety of metal and plastic materials, including hard materials like alumina, glass and ceramics, and tungsten carbide. CSI has a long list of materials it produces, keeping in mind that material choice/availability is subject to part geometry.
Responsible suppliers can also provide one-source kitting solutions for you among their other offerings. Also look for a manufacturer with the capabilities to offer:
You have specific requirements, and a trusted, reliable manufacturer needs to be able to provide you with high-quality precision components and assemblies … every time. CSI Group and our partners have 26 years of experience providing one-source solutions for your micromachining needs.
Are You Kitting? No, Seriously … Are You Kitting?
Well-managed kitting solutions create a more efficient and cost-effective manufacturing operation for product assembly. But no one is laughing when in-house kitting is poorly managed and hosts a cascade of problems.
Got Problems?
Common practices or poorly managed kitting often involve operators removing parts from complete kits for use in other kits, creating a Domino effect of other problems.
An improperly administered kitting process can cause:
• Incomplete or late deliveries
• Disruption in production
• Increased finished component costs
• Stockroom inefficiencies due to general misallocation of components among kits
• Drain on personnel resources—procurement tracking and re-allocating missing parts
• Cash flow deficits—unfinished kits waiting on late components means you may have to pay for components but cannot deliver kits for assembly
• Delayed invoicing—you cannot invoice customers until you have delivered complete kits to assemble
• Accounting backlogs—multiple components, often ordered and received at various times, means multiple POs and multiple invoices
Sound Familiar?
If plant management is experiencing problems like the ones noted above, it will very likely be more efficient on many levels—cost, productivity, streamlining internal resources, including personnel—to have your kitting services done by one of your suppliers. This is especially cost effective if the kitting supplier makes multiple components that would normally go into your kitting package. An established, reputable kitter will manage the kitting process, advising you on design-enhancing and cost-saving options, while leaving you in ultimate control of all design implementation and vendor choices.
For detailed information on the kitting process, our kitting services, and your kitting solution, download CSI Group’s brochure, “The One-Source Kitting Solution.” Once you read it, you’ll know why so many customers say to us, “You’ve got to be kitting me!”
Great! You’re ready to ship—but wait—a quality problem was discovered on a shipment that was already sent to a top-tier customer … and you need to pull components out of the production cycle to patch up that problem. Which, in turn, creates another problem. And who knows how far down the line that will reverberate. Feel like you are always playing catch up to patch up production and quality challenges? Sounds like it’s time to consider kitting solutions.
Kitting—in a perfect world, it’s like production Utopia—where all your parts, components, and cables are ready for you when and how you need them. Delivered together, on time, and in top quality. It’s not a dream; it’s a reality. Many OEMs are using outsourced kits and assembling the final product at their own facilities, cutting out much of the hassle that traditional production and assembly supply chain can create.
A well-Managed Kitting Process Provides Positive Solutions for You:
The efficiency of a robust kitting process creates a positive cascade of saving time, money, and resources (material and personnel efforts) right off the top. Your staff is alleviated of the timely task of searching for and managing multiple suppliers, enabling them to work with greater depth in existing projects. Accounting will love you—with kitting, only one PO is needed per project. Inventory management is streamlined, cash flow is optimized (no more waiting for parts, paying for one component at a time), and your warehouse clutter—poof!
One-Source Solution
It’s truly a single-solution answer to an organized production/assembly process. Often, companies who consider outsourcing their kitting needs have already established a trusting relationship with a reliable vendor. When a vendor undertakes the kitting responsibilities, then all or some of the supply, purchasing, machining, sub-assembly, plating, and packaging concerns are taken off your shoulders. You still have control, as you set the parameters in regards to what suppliers you want used in the kitting program. Reputable kitting companies will also advise you on cost-saving and design-enhancing options for things like machining, plating, and packaging.
Kitting solutions work remarkably well for cable assemblies. Industries like telecommunications, electronics, and organizations like the military reap the benefits of kitting solutions with dependable suppliers. Reputable kitters run transparent programs, leaving you in charge of all design implementation and ultimate decisions.
Your assembly line is not the place to be discovering quality issues, which is one of the biggest benefits of having a top-quality, ready-made kit delivered to you. Any quality issues have been vetted and resolved before being shipped—with all components present and working to spec—so they arrive on time and ready to be assembled.
Leap of Faith?
Not really. Whenever we suggest kitting to companies, we get unanimous head nodding approval around the table. Even with that, some companies are reluctant to give up “control” of this pre-assembly kitting process. Citing iterative approval processes for making such sweeping changes and fears about leaving trusted suppliers behind, some companies just aren’t sure about this kitting thing.
But if you really break it down, companies like CSI Group are simply managing the process you already have in place. We lift the burden of the “dirty jobs” off of you. You don’t have to spend your time stomping out production fires and chasing after rogue supply chain elements. Letting companies kit for you really frees you up to bring more creativity, productivity, and depth of knowledge to your specialty. A kitting solution allows for your company to discover and expand into capabilities that it might never have known it has.
Because CSI has been working for many years with 10 trusted partners, all leaders in the high-precision component manufacturing segment, we are well-versed in the skills and expertise necessary to bring big jobs together—not leaving a single tiny variable behind.
The CSI Group is a highly specialized group of companies offering manufacturing processes for mechanical components. CSI provides solutions for turning, milling, plastic injection molding, metal injection molding (MIM), stamping, and micro-machining, along with a full range of support services such as vendor-managed inventory programs (VMI), kitting, assembly, plating, and heat treatment.
With CSI Group managing your kitting process—from purchasing and quality oversight to stock room streamlining and final sub-assembly—your kits are created efficiently and delivered complete and on time. Now … you are ready to ship.
We are proud to announce we are a member of the Precision Machined Products Association (PMPA)
About the PMPA:
The PMPA is an international trade association representing the interests of the precision machined products industry. While PMPA consists mainly of North America based manufacturers, its members also operate facilities in various industrial markets around the globe.
The PMPA has been in continuous operation since its inception in 1933. The success of the organization can be directly attributed to the on-going involvement of its members at the chapter level, committee level, and on the Board of Directors. The PMPA consists of industry leaders who understand that a strong trade association is critical to ensure the future of manufacturing in North America.
Through PMPA membership, companies have a distinct competitive advantage over their global competitors, with daily access to a full range of programs and services designed to help them meet their operational challenges and focus on new business opportunities.
Our Comprehensive VMI Programs can Reduce Total Acquisition Costs:
Traditional Kan-Ban Inventory
Buyer/Planner Program
Ship-to-Stock Program
We encourage you to take advantage of our cost and time saving approaches. Team up with CSI to increase your efficiency!
