Newsletter May 2023:

By: Chuanying Cui

How does bdp Mechanical Components find and select suitable suppliers for customers – from a technical perspective

Finally, after three years of uncertainty caused by COVID-19, a new phase full of hope and new opportunities has begun: we will continue to help more customers find suitable suppliers in China.

1. It is crucial to determine the actual needs of customers: 

In which industry sector is the customer active: automotive parts, railway machinery, engineering machinery, agricultural machinery, fluid engineering, or ship accessories? 
Understanding the customer’s field is the first step in finding suitable suppliers.
Do customers want to develop new products or compare prices? 
If it is a new product or project where the product is not yet fully developed, the supplier will have to communicate and coordinate with the customer multiple times during the development and trial production stage, update drawings multiple times, etc., which will require a lot of time and effort. 
bdp MC must consider whether the supplier has the ability and willingness to cooperate with the customer’s development.
If the customer changes suppliers in order to reduce the cost and price ratio, please provide as much information as possible about the problems and deficiencies with the previous suppliers to avoid them occurring again with the new suppliers.

2. It is very important that customers provide comprehensive drawings and technical specifications:

This is the basic condition for us to start technical analysis and process determination: if the customer does not have or cannot provide complete drawings, then at least samples and photos should be provided to clarify the basic characteristics and quality requirements of the product. Otherwise, there is a risk of losing valuable time.

3. It is also essential for the customer to clarify the surface treatment and packaging plan of the product:

Years of experience with inquiries have shown us that international trade is closely related to surface treatment and transportation plans for product packaging, which is also the main reason for the increasing number of customer complaints from year to year. For this reason, suppliers and customers must clearly specify surface treatment and packaging plans, as well as related costs, in their quotations.

4. A comprehensive understanding of the process classification of Chinese suppliers for mechanical components is the foundation for finding suitable suppliers.

The current market for manufacturing mechanical components in China is very extensive, and the level of technology and craftsmanship has greatly improved compared to ten years ago.
For example, among casting suppliers, precision casting is divided into ordinary water glass processes, silica sol processes, and composite processes. Sand casting is divided into clay sand, resin sand, coated sand, lost foam casting, etc. Casting non-ferrous metals such as aluminum, copper, and zinc can also be divided into sand molding, metal mold gravity casting, high-pressure casting, low-pressure casting, and others.
For forging suppliers, we can divide into cold forging, hot forging, and warm forging suppliers based on the deformation temperature of the billet, and can further divide into free forging, tire die forging, die forging, and special forging according to the production process.
Heat treatment suppliers are also very experienced in quenching, normalizing, tempering, annealing, carburizing, nitriding, and carbonitriding.
Among machining suppliers, we can divide between ordinary turning, drilling, milling, planning, grinding, broaching, and boring, as well as high-end four-axis and five-axis CNC machining centers.
Among stamping and welding suppliers, there is general punching, precision punching (Fine blanking), and various cutting and welding processes to meet the product needs of different customers.
Our company also has some high-quality suppliers of rubber, plastic, and casting raw materials to fulfill the needs of customers.

5. Determining the type of suitable suppliers based on the annual demand for customer products

It is very important to determine the size of suppliers based on the different annual demands of customers, as larger suppliers are not interested in projects with low annual demand, and customers have concerns about whether there is sufficient surplus production capacity in small and medium-sized suppliers.
This is also a key point for our bdp MC supplier audit.

6. Identifying suppliers based on the difficulty coefficient and quality requirements for customer products is our specialty

bdp MC has an experienced team of engineers who can conduct detailed technical analyses of projects based on product drawings, samples, technical standards, quality requirements, etc., provided by the customer and develop feasible process plans. Based on this, the best potential supplier is identified from the supplier pool and compared with three suppliers to find the most suitable supplier for the customer.

7. Working with suppliers to provide customers with detailed technical analysis and improvement plans is our value-added service

Through multiple technical exchanges and process negotiations with suppliers regarding the inquiry products, we require them to provide a complete project or product technical analysis report for customer reference in the quotation plan. This is our unique value-added service to customers and an effective measure to force suppliers to clarify customer needs in detail, avoid misunderstandings, and reduce quotation risks.

bdp Mechanical Components is pleased to offer you our full range of services, including purchasing, supplier audit, process audit, product inspection, and logistics.

Feel free to contact us at purchase@bdp-mc.com with any further questions you may have regarding appropriate supplier selection.
Our bdp Mechanical Components team will be happy to advise and support you.

Chuanying Cui

Chuanying Cui

Technical Manager ·bdp Mechanical Components China

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