Fastening & Assembly Solutions & Technology July 2012

facturing and design industry and are
directly involved in the operations of our
manufacturing facilities. Working with the
design engineer's drawings, and talking
with them directly, our sales team is
trained to find the ideal component for the
application at hand. They are also able to
assist with the design of specials or
bespoke components from scratch when
necessary.
"When a product is modified, or a
bespoke component is designed, it is
allocated a CS number at the point of
customer sign off. These numbers
are held on file to be easily accessed
in the event of a second order. The
CS numbers are never deleted, meaning
we can make repeat batches of the
same product on request year after year."
In the formative stages of a project it is
very common for a small order of just one
or two of each component to be made. A
lot of bulk suppliers of smaller components
operate minimum order numbers or
small order surcharges which can be mas-
sively inflated on their advertised 'bulk
order' pricing. At this stage it is often
important to keep costs down so
John Blair, manufacturing manager for
WDS: ". . . providing fully annotated CAD
drawings was the only way forward.”
you should ensure that your supplier operates
with a degree of flexibility to your
budgetary constraints.
Delivery times also need to be consid-
FAST JULY 2012
ered. While most orders
for common parts can be
met with a quick
response for most stockists,
it is rare that they control
the manufacturing which
means that extremely common
or rare components may be out
of stock, resulting in a long
delay. Bespoke components
could also be subjected to long
delivery conditions.
Blair explained why the company
has opted to invest in manufacturing
rather than outsourcing its production.
"Owning and operating our own manufacturing
facilities translate directly to the
quality of service that is experienced by
the customer. By maintaining complete
autonomy over the manufacturing of the
product portfolio, [we are] able to operate
a lean manufacturing process that ensures
each part is re-stocked at appropriate times
and to the right levels."
WDS COMPONENT PARTS 0113 290 5845
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