Distributor & Supplier Focus
Powering industry
Interpower Corp.'s president, BobWersen, explores the past, present and future of power cord and cord set supply
The number of power cord and cord set vendors has declined dramatically in the past 15 years. There are several reasons. On amacro level,many suppliers could not competewith rapidly
growing Chinese suppliers. Also, larger customers of power cord manufacturers shut downmanufacturing in industrialized countries andmoved to China, reducing the size of domesticmarkets for cord producers. On amicro level,many cord suppliers tried to compete on pricewith Chinese vendors.With costs significantly higher than Chinese competitors, thiswas simply not feasible and these companieswent out of business.
Cord suppliers in industrialized countries that have survived have
done so by differentiating their product and/or service. Larger cord suppliers partneredwith a small number of key equipment manufacturers and customized their products and services to exactly match their customers’ needs. These supplierswill survive, but probably not prosper, as long as the equipmentmanufacturers continue to build products in their homemarkets. Smaller cord suppliers that remain are focused on specific industries, specific geographic areas orwell-defined service offerings.
One of the strongest differentiators is speed. Different customers
of cord suppliersmay define fast delivery differently but generally, off-the-shelf delivery with same-day shipment of commonly specified cords and one weekmanufacturing lead times on special cords or cords with special packaging is becoming an expectation. Lately, one weekmanufacturing lead times has become too long in some situations.
Why do equipmentmanufacturers need such fast deliveries of
power cords? In some cases, theywill build product to a ‘nearly- finished stage’ so they can respond to customer requirements
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quickly. However, since they can’t predict fromwhichmarket their orderswill come, theymay choose to purchase the cords and related components at the lastminute prior to shipping. Competitive pressuresmake it important for equipmentmanufacturers to be able to take orders and ship finished products quickly, so speed is an issue with the equipmentmanufacturer, too.
The bigger picture is thatmany equipmentmanufacturers are
building equipment today in response to specific orders, rather than in long production runs. Furthermore, tominimize rawmaterials inventories andwork in progress, theywill purchase components for deliverywhen they need
them.Mostmanufacturers do not purchase amulti-month supply of anything anymore.
So, howdo competitive cord suppliers achieve fast deliveries?
First, theymaintain stock on fastmoving cords and they send ready- to-ship stock cords the same day they receive the order. Second, they manufacture in a lean environmentwith small lot sizes and efficient tool change practices so they canmake short runs quickly and efficiently. They alsomaintain significant inventories of cable for converting into power cords or cord sets. They deliver exactlywhat the customerwants in a short time: twentyweek lead times are no longer competitive.
The final piece of the puzzle is the specification decision. Today,
competitive vendorswillmaintain complete specification information including detailed drawings, agency approval, RoHS compliance, pricing and delivery on theirweb site. Inmany cases the entire transaction can be handled via e-commerce.
Interpower Corp. has a 1-week lead-time on non-stock cords and
cordsets, any length, any quantity. Interpower alsomaintains stock of 100,000 frequently specified power cords and cord sets in its Iowa, USAwarehouse. Nominimumorder quantity and same day shipments are available.
www.interpower.com www.electronics-sourcing.com
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