Global Sourcing Process
Our goal is to evaluate your OEM engineered component needs and leverage our deep bench of highly qualified manufacturing partners to provide you with a part that is cost competitive, high quality and delivered on time every time.
The hard truths are:
1. Despite global tariffs and the resurgence of North American manufacturing, low cost regions are still the most competitive origins for engineered products (metal/plastic) with meaningful annual volume.
2. Sourcing from low cost regions and managing all the ins-and-outs of the process is not quick, clean and easy.
3. There are endless quality requirements, first piece approval requirements, PPAP requirements, packaging requirements, minimum order quantities, commercial terms agreements to be made, geopolitical headwinds, labor strikes and holidays.
Is Global Sourcing really that simple?
The short answer is no. Sourcing abroad is so much more than doing a quick search online, sending an email, cutting a PO, and receiving product that meets your needs. Time, patience, relationships, resources, command, process diligence, honesty, knowledge, and intuition are all required to successfully import product from any traditional low-cost manufacturing region.
“It is not a stress-free experience,” says Brent LaLonde, President of Mechanical Power, lead times are long and some manufacturers are very demanding with their payment terms, minimum order QTY’s, persistence on deviations.
We won’t go as far as saying it is an impossible feat because many companies have proven successful and effective in this line of global trade. Most of those companies, however, are large fortune 1000 companies with an abundance of cross-cultural resources that bridge the gap between low-cost country manufacturers and consumers in the USA.
Mechanical Power has proven the ability for over 45 years to find, vet, validate, secure and source from capable manufacturers meeting the needs of diverse consumers in our targeted industries. Over the years, we have strengthened manufacturing partner relationships, developed new ones, leveraged others, expanded our boots on the ground and developed standard operating procedures that ensure we always have what the customer needs when the customer needs it.
Quality, Delivery and Cost
Quality, Delivery, Cost in that order of priority is how we operate. Bad parts on time are of no use. Good parts late are of use but often leave someone holding a bag they do not want to hold. Our three primary indicators of success are delivering Quality product, On-Time, and On-Cost target. We want to partner, with you, to be an extension of your organization by adding value in handling all the frustrating, irritating things about global trade.
In the end, going direct to manufacturers abroad looks favorable on paper – lower costs, perceived control, and visibility, etc. What companies should consider are the many soft costs and the time involved with managing suppliers abroad. To do it right, it requires a proven process, considerable time, patience, and efforts some do not consider.
Trust, Commitment and Relationship
Audits, relationships, trust, following through on commitments, fair trade and many other things factor in to near- and long-term success. Mechanical Power has developed a trustworthy, capable, consistent supply base that positions us to compete as a value-add distributor of engineered components for highly demanding OEM manufacturing companies.
We handle the dirty work, bring in parts to print, hold inventory and take a pro-active approach to demand management to ensure OEM customers can rely on us in unpredictable times to have what they need when they need it. The #1 rule of Supply Chain Management is ensuring continuity of supply.
Those who choose to work with Mechanical Power can count on continuity of supply within their supply chains and leave the noise to our organization. We try to make it easy. We try to make it enjoyable. We try to make it, dare we say, fun.
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