Do you intend to engage a contract manufacturer in your business? Which strategies will you employ to get value for your investment?
Most people make the mistake of selecting the contract manufacturing firm with the lowest bids. While this may help in cutting costs, it’s not the best option. Here’s why.
In most cases, the lowest bid doesn’t have all the services you need. It’s also very common for these firms to exclude important manufacturing process- quality assurance and control- from their bids. In the end, it’ll cost you more money to fix the problem.
Evaluating these bids is a task that you shouldn’t take lightly. There are different factors to consider. They’ll include a review on customer service, contingency plan, and supply chain and quality assurance.
You may need to ask yourself these questions when evaluating a bid.
Contract Manufacturing Bid
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Does the Bidder Have the Capacity to Deliver on Your Contract?
Evaluating a bid is like making a purchase and investment decision. You’ll need to evaluate everything. Don’t limit yourself to price and experience only. Assess their IP safeguards, competence, and financial stability among others.
When communicating with the bidders, be sure to ask as many questions as possible. Ensure they are all related to the services you seek. Evaluate the responses they give to determine whether they have the skills you need.
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After Signing the Contract, Will they Offer any Customer Service?
Customer service is key in a contract manufacturing exercise. It’s even important where the companies are in different geographical areas.
You’ll need to maintain a constant communication channel at all times. You may need to make a requested change, address a manufacturing problem or inquire about the delivery process.
Your communication process with the contractor needs to be simple and smooth. Otherwise, your contract will always lead to frustrations and headache.
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How Does the Manufacture Manage Quality?
The quality of a manufacturing exercise is a process. It begins with inspecting your raw materials and ends at packaging the products effectively for shipment. How will the manufacturer manage the entire process?
A competent contractor will maintain a decent record for every manufacturing stage. Its staff will be able to answer any question you may have concerning the process. They’ll also keep updated on each issue that arises in the manufacturing process.
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Does the Manufacturer Have a Contingency Plan?
In every exercise, there is always a probability that things will go wrong. So, what will the manufacturer do if things go wrong? There’s nothing like expecting the unexpected. But still, the manufacturer can predict some challenges and find advance solutions.
As such, ask their contingency when any of these situations arise:
- What if there is a delay in the supply of raw materials?
- What if an emergency situation that makes it impossible to ship products?
- What if there is a problem with the power supply? A labour problem?
- What if a company experiences a major line failure?
A good company will foresee these problems. As such, it’ll have the best solutions in place to curb them.
