Supply chain logistics covers a gigantic network of interconnected suppliers, parts and processes. Finding new ways to improve the efficiency of your supply chain can pay off in big ways. A relatively new trend that may help your business do just that, is on-demand fabrication. Whether you fabricate in-house or use third party suppliers (or a bit of both), on-demand fabrication may be worth a look.
In this article we’ll discuss on-demand fabrication and how it can be beneficial to help streamline your supply chain. Here at SendCutSend, we are an on-demand manufacturer, so we’ll highlight some of our services you could take advantage of in your supply chain.
What is On-Demand Fabrication?
On-demand fabrication is the process of fabricating components as they are needed rather than storing pre-fabricated parts waiting for an order. Often any on-demand process involves a good amount of preparation and setup to efficiently execute. Part of that preparation may involve pre-fabricated parts (yes, we just used that as the counterexample, but keep reading) depending on the final product. Restaurants, for example, use a form of on-demand. When you order a burger, they don’t start mixing up bread dough to bake a bun, they have pre-made buns ready to go. But they do probably start cooking the pattie once you order. What they don’t have pre-made (hopefully) are the fully assembled burgers sitting around waiting to be ordered. To be fair, that is exactly what the fast food chains did not too long ago.
The goal, or goals, of on-demand fabrication may differ depending on the application, but in general they allow for more flexibility with the same or less storage space and cost. A manufacturer can offer multiple different versions of a product, maybe different colors or materials, without having to keep a stock of each configuration. The key to utilizing on-demand fabrication effectively is efficiency. The more efficiently you can produce a product, the easier it is for a small to medium sized manufacturer to scale up as demand increases.
How Do You Streamline a Supply Chain?
Efficiency in your supply chain translates to more output for the same input, or less input to achieve the same output. That could mean reduced costs, higher quantities, faster turn-around times, etc. There are a few key ways to help with that.
Automation
By incorporating automation into your supply chain, you can reduce the need for human intervention, potentially reducing overhead and speeding up response times.
SendCutSend utilizes automation throughout our processes. We keep humans in the loop at critical steps to keep the process flowing smoothly and efficiently.
Integration
The more aspects of your supply chain you can integrate into your process, the more efficiently you can manage it. Simply sharing planning and schedule information with suppliers can help them be more efficient with your needs.
SendCutSend’s use of on-demand fabrication means we turn around parts quickly and scales efficiently whether you need individual parts or large quantities of parts.
Consolidation
Consolidating elements of your supply chain can also help improve efficiency. Strategically reducing the number of suppliers can help lighten the managerial load as well as improve relationships and the ability to negotiate better pricing by increasing volume through remaining vendors.
Optimization
Optimization works well in all aspects of your business. Fine tuning your processes to reduce wasted effort, cut unnecessary costs etc. can only help to improve your supply chain efficiency.
Supply Chain Challenges
All supply chains face challenges. We’re hoping to show you how using a service like SendCutSend for your custom fabrication can help mitigate some of those challenges.
Costs
Costs are a challenge with any business. By shifting custom fabrication to a third party like SendCutSend you can reduce or even eliminate the need for storing raw materials, fabrication equipment and personnel needed to operate and maintain that equipment.
Finding Fab Shops Offering Services You Need
SendCutSend has a wide range of services and materials. A few clicks on our website and you can easily review all the details of every service and material we offer. We also offer instant pricing making it easy to pricing on those materials and services.
Reliance on Multiple Vendors
Consolidating vendors in your supply chain without losing capabilities can be a challenge. SendCutSend offers more than just laser cutting. We offer services like bending, tapping, countersinking, powder coating, anodizing and more.
Lead Times
The only thing worse than vendors with long lead times are vendors with inconsistent lead times. With SendCutSends instant pricing, we include the current estimated ship date for your order so you can immediately see how the selected options affect lead times.
Benefits of On-Demand Fabrication
There are multiple advantages to using on-demand fabrication for your custom metal parts.
- Reduced Inventory
Traditional manufacturing typically requires keeping some level of inventory to be able to meet increases in demand quickly. That inventory ties up funds and requires space and infrastructure to store. When parts are fabricated on-demand you no longer have the need to keep them in inventory. The obvious benefit is that it eliminates storage space/resources and frees up funds that would have otherwise been tied up in inventory. As a result of not having physical inventory, there are a handful of other benefits we’ll discuss as well.
- Increased Customization
When parts are fabricated and kept in inventory, it’s more difficult to manage different numbers of configurations. The more variety, the more complicated and costly it becomes. With on-demand fabrication, setting up those configurations is simpler. Each configuration is built as needed. This isn’t always the case, however, as parts or fabrication that require unique tooling to be created for manufacturing each configuration could add complexity.
- Flexibility/Agility
Because on-demand fabrication eliminates the need for storing product, you gain the flexibility to make design changes without having to consider scrapping, reworking or running out existing stock. This flexibility makes it easier to keep up with ever increasing technology improvements, changing market trends, supporting one-off customer requests, correcting design deficiencies, and much more. All of which can easily translate to a competitive edge for your business.
- No Minimum Order Quantities
It’s not uncommon for typical manufacturers to require minimum order quantities. This can be frustrating for customers with smaller needs, or during a prototype phase where iterating happens quickly. Once again, on demand manufacturing can solve the issue. No longer do you need to think about manufacturing batch quantities. You can offer customers the ability to order without minimum quantities, which is often enough for a customer to order from you over your competition.
- Order Fulfillment
While it’s not exclusive to on demand fabrication, it does eliminate a lot of the barriers to having vendors provide order fulfillment. Again, the lack of storing physical inventory ahead of time means your suppliers may be able to drop ship parts directly to your customers, reducing logistics steps, saving costs and cutting lead times. Not all on demand manufacturers will be able to offer this, but it’s a much smaller hurdle when there’s no inventory to store.
- Easier Automation
From the initial customer sales order, the material handling, processing, through to packaging and shipping, each step in the process can be automated easier when using on demand manufacturing. An on demand process can simplify the supply chain, making it simpler to automate, and as we’ve mentioned already, automation is a great way to streamline.
- Increased Innovation
You may not realize it, but utilizing an on demand manufacturer, whether external or internal, can increase innovation. When prototypes and design changes are easier, faster and less expensive to iterate, new ideas can be tested with much less risk. Failed iterations are less of a setback because entire batch orders aren’t wasted. Lessons learned can happen quicker, allowing your team to get an optimized solution sooner.
Services That Help Improve Logistics in Supply Chain
It’s no secret that SendCutSend uses an on demand manufacturing process. When you use SendCutSend for your metal fabrication needs, you can take advantage of all those benefits we just discussed.
- Our catalog of materials and services cover a range of fabricated components that you can order in any quantity as needed to avoid having to maintain a warehouse full of parts
- We build to your design, so customization is only limited by your internal requirements
- Parts can be delivered raw for additional processing at your facility, or fully finished with powder coating, zinc plating or anodizing
- Holes can have threads, countersinks or even dimple dies
- Our laser, waterjet and CNC router cutting, along with CNC bending services allow you to take advantage of that equipment without having to purchase, store, maintain or operate it
- Because we’ve taken the time to optimize and automate much of our process, we’re able to significantly reduce both costs and lead times, both of which you can use to increase profits or pass along to your customers to get that extra bit of competitive edge
The Benefits of Going with On-Demand Manufacturing
On-demand fabrication is growing in popularity, and it’s easy to see why. While there are still plenty of manufacturers using classic processes, there are benefits to going on-demand. Using SendCutSends on-demand custom metal fabrication services are a great way to incorporate on-demand into your supply chain. You can review the materials and services we offer. You can compare our prices and lead times with just a few clicks using our free online instant quoting tool. We’re confident we can help streamline your supply chain.
