Manufacturing as we once knew it in our region has almost disappeared as companies go global to source factories in developing countries to work with or purchase in an attempt to lower manufacturing costs. Larger manufacturers have survived because they went overseas and either purchased companies or worked out deals. This is easy to do being a large manufacturer with the cash flow available to go and do their due diligence. Small companies do not necessarily have that luxury so they fight like mad to keep afloat or go to web sites such as Alibaba to find manufacturers to work with. This is what I like to call the hit and hope scenario, you hit a manufacturer that claims to be able to produce what you want and at a reasonable price, the client has samples made and sent over which look great then they place an order and pay 30% up front . After many weeks of waiting the product is ready to ship you hope that what you get is like the sample. Every overseas company will tell you they are a specific manufacturer’s number one factory because to them that’s what customers want to hear.
Some of the things I have personally seen over my 25 plus years doing business with companies who import.
Large manufacturer of line hardware gets product manufactured in China but has no one in the country making sure all is correct. Ships 100,000 bolts to BC Hydro only to find out when they arrive at Hydro’s facility in B.C. that not one bolt was galvanized.
One of Bell Canada‘s largest suppliers of enclosures that are used to splice wires in. Has Stainless Steel mounting brackets shipped from Chine which arrive rusty.
Vibration dampers being shipped from China that was improperly manufactured as one component that holds the weights on was orientated incorrectly. The high level of vibrations would have snapped the parts in no time causing major problems with vibrations and snapping conductors. Not so good when a 138 thousand volt line comes down.
This is just a couple that I have seen but in the early stages of their importing from overseas this is what happened. Since then things have changed as they now have plants in China and other countries through acquisition that need to follow protocol. These problems did affect business as customers had lost faith in overseas products and other manufacturers were gun shy. To combat these issues they started to bring in parts for items and assembled in North America. This made the customers feel at ease with the quality control and product delivery to this day they are still doing it. Another benefit of bringing in components rather than complete items is tax rates are lower to do this.
What can PCM do to help small manufacturers have this global reach while getting the products they require at a cost they can live with and be more cost competitive.
With over 200 qualified suppliers and service providers in China, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, India, Europe the USA and Canada; with our people on the ground we are positioned and have capabilities to engage new factory sources according to client needs.
Source items manufactured from any material, plastic, steel, iron and others.
Source and provide engineering services in structural, mechanical, electrical, marine and civil as well as bulk material handling.
Can assist with product development from start to finish as well as reverse engineering and ACAD and 3D modeling.
Worldwide network of carrier’s specialist and project cargo capabilities. Project management for on time door to door deliveries as well as coordination of import and export documentation and brokerage requirements.
How does PCM Global Work
Every one of our clients is a business partner we don’t succeed until our partners succeed.
Unparalleled customer service with quick responses to questions of concerns.
PCM can take the 10 most expensive items that might be making products too expensive to manufacture in Canada and source globally to find cheaper alternatives with the same quality control measures in place.
We work on our customers terms either a buy and sell relationship or an agreed upon fee for service.
We can assist your competitive supply chain development by overcoming potential barriers of time, distance, language, culture, customer service, quality assurance and logistics. No project is too large or too small our goal is to help small manufacturers in Canada succeed and be more profitable.
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