Have you ever worked with a metal fabrication supplier that didn’t quite meet your expectations? Or worse, completely dropped the ball and botched your production process? Whose fault was it? Did the supplier not perform the work as quoted? Or did you leave gray areas in the quote that they misinterpreted?

With today’s supply chain complexities, selecting the right metal fabrication supplier is more important than ever. Manufacturers need to do everything possible to limit production disruptions and minimize the potential for a variety of unpredictable setbacks. A successful supplier partnership can make the difference between success and failure, profit and loss, frustration and peace of mind.

Through the years, we’ve learned what it takes to become that reliable, high-quality metal fabrication partner that manufacturers are looking for. Today, we’re launching a Smart Fabrication Sourcing series to share some of our tips and best practices for getting the results your company needs to be successful.

Whether you’re sourcing a new supplier or working with an existing partner, there’s a lot that can and will go wrong if you’re not paying attention to every detail. Although there’s usually plenty of blame to go around, in many instances these problems could have been avoided altogether.

Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but wouldn’t it have been nice if your fabrication partner would have uncovered these issues before it disrupted your production schedule? In our 25+ years of being a supplier to OEMs and tier one manufacturers, we’ve been called in to pick up the pieces many times after another supplier has dropped the ball. Some examples include:

Front-end quoting miscommunications that led to back-end production mistakes.
Small finishing or assembly details that got overlooked in the rush of compressed timelines that cause big problems at launch.
Incomplete or faulty parts from a supplier that misrepresented their capabilities.

So, if you’re looking for ways to get your sourced metal fabrication products right the first time, our new Smart Fabrication Sourcing series will deliver the proven tips and best practices you need to be successful. From supplier evaluation and quoting to capabilities and culture to quality processes and fabrication strategies, we’ll explore all the key considerations for building strong fabrication supplier partnerships that will give you the predictable, high-quality results you want.

Next week, in our first post of this series, we’ll explore the critical importance of the Onsite Visit.