Vendor Managed Inventory

Yes. Send us your components and we’ll hand pack them into kits ready to use in the field. You keep your existing supply relationships and benefit from meticulously packed kits, checked against a bill of materials, which we organise. Most of our kitting works in conjunction with our sourcing, bespoke processing and vendor managed inventory services, and many customers move that way over time. Once we’re involved in sourcing, we often find you savings, most commonly where parts have been over-specified for the required application, or, where material prices have been locked in despite new savings being available. On one spring stack package we found an alternative material and coating that matched the performance requirement and came in at roughly 10% of the original cost! At peak we process over 100,000 individual kits across more than 100 different assemblies, with standard complex kits fulfilled within the week. Send us the assembly you want kitted and let’s get into the details.

In most cases, yes. Where a manufacturer has ceased production, we face the same constraint you do, so our first step is to locate remaining stock across our extensive network of suppliers. Where no stock exists, we identify products that supersede or replace the original.

Replacement products vary in specification. Some are of lesser quality than the discontinued item, some higher. Our aim is always to return with a better replacement rather than a substandard one, though this is not guaranteed in every case, particularly with electronics.

Once a replacement is signed off, we can hold it in stock for the life of the part, so a second discontinuation or design change does not leave you exposed again.

Whatever the outcome of the search, we come back to you with a clear answer and a quotation.

If you have an issue with discontinued parts, let us know and we’ll help you find a solution.

Yes, provided the part number is already on our system and we hold written consent from the end user or the proprietor of the brand.

Where we are named on a bill of materials as the manufacturer or lead supplier, and you are a subcontractor to one of our customers, we can supply a list or the full bill of materials for their products.

We stock over 4,000 of our customers’ parts with specific part numbers in specific bins. This enables us to supply products at short notice even if they are out of stock or require long lead times.

This Vendor Managed Inventory enables us to provide your subcontractors with speedy solutions that meet customers’ needs and tight deadlines.

If you need help with supply for your customer, get in touch and we’ll handle everything

Yes. We can supply kits containing parts made to your own drawings.

If those parts are already sourced through your existing supply chain, we incorporate them into the kits we make for you. If they are not, or if your current supply chain structure is costing you more than it should, we can help you optimise how the parts are both manufactured and processed. That is usually where the cost saving comes from. A part that currently passes through several specialist companies for forging, heat treatment and coating, for example, can be brought under one managed project, with all bespoke processing handled by us.

Every kit is then built against a bill of materials you sign off before a single component is purchased, covering item quantities, descriptions, suppliers and agreed cost per line.

If you need specialised parts as part of a kit, get in touch and let’s talk through all your options and analyse where we can save you money along the way.

No. We hold no machining capability within our facility. All kits and assemblies are hand packed in house, but the manufacturing is carried out by our approved suppliers.

We work with an extensive list of approved manufacturers, each specialising in its own field, giving you a far wider array of finishes, services and production methods than any one factory could hold. Replicating that ourselves would need a huge factory, and that cost would be passed on to you.

What we do instead is manage and optimise those suppliers at every level. We match the manufacturer to the tolerance, material grade and finish your part requires, and combine processes that would otherwise be split across several companies. Where required, parts go through full PPAP testing with traceability and certification.

If you need to engage multiple manufactures and suppliers to meet your requirements, get in touch and see how we can reduce your operational complexity and save you money.