The manufacturing industry relies heavily on deadlines both from a customer perspective as well as an outsourced manufacturing company perspective. Here are some tips we’ve come up with over the years to help you speed up the manufacturing process so you can meet your deadlines more efficiently and get your products into your customer’s hands faster.
Tips for Speeding up the Manufacturing Process
Maximize Your RFQ Information
The more information that you disclose when you request a quote from a manufacturing company, the less time the company has to spend asking questions and you answering questions to get all the necessary information to produce an accurate quote.
Avoid Solidworks Document Formats
More often than not, when a design is submitted from Solidworks, it lacks the proper dimensions to quote the project. When you submit your RFQ, make sure you include your dimensions in your design, otherwise the manufacturing company will spend more time getting that information from you further delaying the quoting and manufacturing process.
Communicate Timelines
Simple, but important - clearly communicating your timeline is crucial to getting your parts into your hands when you need them. Whether you’re in need of an expedited timeline or not, when you’re up-front and clear about when you need your parts, the manufacturing company can readily meet and often exceed those deadlines.
Supply Materials
Ordering materials to use in the manufacturing process is a normal, daily activity for outsourced manufacturing companies, but one that can take a lot of time. If you are able supply the materials you would like to use for your parts, it could shave a lot of preliminary, set-up time off speeding up your manufacturing.
If you aren't sure what materials to use, this article might be helpful »
Provide the Right Gauges
Every part is unique and often requires speciality gauges in order to ensure that the parts are exact to specifications. Instead of relying on the manufacturing company to order the necessary gauges to test your parts, provide your own gauges from the start to further speed up the process.
From supplying the right information in your RFQ to providing the materials you need to manufacture your parts with, there are a variety of ways you can help expedite the manufacturing process to get your parts into your hands quicker.
But before the manufacturing process even starts, it’s important to know that you’re working with the right manufacturing company. Here’s are easy steps to qualifying a contract manufacturing company »
