Second Source Analysis
In an effort to design and launch products quickly, companies often concentrate on look, feel and functionality without considering how the supply chain will work prior to the first production run. It’s not just about having stock on the shelf when needed - there’s a degree of component sourcing complexity involved.
Having the right component management processes can be the difference between the success and failure. This means component sourcing has to take care about supplier management, divisional Component, product component - and project related component requirements.
Companies must decide whether their product needs single sourced components from offshore manufacturers on long lead-times, or components that are available through a local supplier with a shorter lead time and has a second source. The offshore component supplier may provide a lower cost, but if it means the product launch is delayed and the market opportunity missed then that component becomes expensive.
Zuken’s approach offers a very flexible way to rank components based on customers "matrix" to ensure a valid methods for engineers to bridge the gap between engineering technology decisions versus sourcing decisions.