Supply Chain Solutions
Supplier insecurity leads to disruptions in the manufacturing process and can damage a brand's reputation. Whether it's a natural disaster, virus outbreak, trade conflict, or financial incompetence, suppliers need to adapt and react swiftly to mitigate risk.
We at Advanced Metal Etching follow industry forecasts and possible disruptions to ensure we have the photo etching capacity for demand fluctuations. Our goal is to protect your brand.
For this reason, we developed supply chain solutions for internal processes such as strong supplier qualifications, transparency, rapid response, collaboration, corrective actions, and flexible scheduling to meet your requirements.
Value-Driven Supply Chain Strategies
Supply Chain Partnerships
There are multiple reasons why supply chain partnerships are important for manufacturing companies. First, by partnering with other companies in the supply chain, manufacturers can meet their customers' requirements more effectively. By sharing resources and collaborating on production, manufacturers can ensure that they have the capacity to produce the products that their customers need. Additionally, by working together, suppliers can help each other manage inventory and anticipate demand fluctuations, which can help reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Second, good supply chain partnerships can help manufacturers respond more quickly to changes in consumer demand. By collaborating with their suppliers and distributors, manufacturers can quickly adapt their production plans in order to meet changing demand trends. This agility can be critical in industries where consumer trends change rapidly, such as technology.
Finally, strong supply chain partnerships can help reduce manufacturing costs. By collaborating on production planning and sharing resources, manufacturers can save money on transportation and inventory costs.
Here are ways that we have strengthened our relationships with our manufacturing partners.
- Long-standing partnerships with qualified vendors
- Constant collaboration with our vendors on how to resolve issues quickly, including facility visits and audits
- Shared forecasts of customer product demands
- Multiple suppliers in different geographical regions
- Raw materials that are RoHS and DFARS-compliant metals to ensure quality and 100% traceability from raw material stock to the final product
- Inspections of incoming materials
Supply Chain Strategies
Any contract manufacturer's goal is to reduce their customers' lead times. With so many supply chain tiers, moving parts out faster, especially at the lowest levels, is imperative to develop supply chain strategies to meet consumer demand.
An organization must evaluate and analyze data to support implementing new systems and programs to keep parts on time. Below are some that we have found crucial for scheduling and expediting orders.
- Expedited orders of prototypes and smaller quantities. Sometimes within 24 hours.
- Machine scheduling for prototypes and larger production volumes.
- In-house matte tin, bright tin, and nickel flash plating reduce electronic components' cycle time.
- Custom software for faster quoting, production scheduling, and order tracking
- Cross-trained employees to respond more quickly to customer inquires
- Daily department management meetings to coordinate objectives and expedite solutions
- Agile corrective action responses that focus on continuous improvement
Combining Processes
Having in-house secondary operations can significantly reduce lead time and is an important supply chain solution to move parts out the door faster.
Our matte and bright tin, and nickel flash plating is a time-saver for companies that need complete electronic parts.
In some instances a combination of our in-house laser cutting and chemical etching services can help manufacture parts that have specific requirements that can't be achieve with one process alone. You get all the benefits of laser cutting and photo etching combined!
For example, thicker metal parts can't always hold tighter locational tolerances, but with our Hybrid Laser Etch Process™(H.E.L.P) it is possible.
Automation is on the rise and can be easily aligned with manufacturing processes to further reduce lead times.
Our automated inspection system can detect imperfections and parts out of tolerance faster and with greater accuracy than a human eye. This type of system is perfect for delicate parts to reduce the unwanted effects of too much handling.
In our shop, 3D printing machines are used as a value-added option. For example, we make special packaging for parts that are difficult to transport using traditional methods. The 3D printer creates a custom package to conform to the parts dimensions to avoid material bending that sometimes occurs during transport.
Our Commitment to Quality
Our Quality Policy is to achieve excellence by improving quality, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and efficiency daily while maintaining competitive pricing and on-time delivery of our precision metal parts. We recognize our employees as Advanced Metal Etching's most valuable asset. By consistently improving and reviewing our quality standards, our employees can harness the joy of commitment, follow-through, and excellence produced by their efforts.
A quality system alone isn't enough to solve the current supply chain problems that are plaguing the entire manufacturing ecosystem. By creating valuable partnerships, forecasting and improving internal systems, manufacturers can be part of the solution.