process or value added/value engineer- ing workshops,” he said. For existing suppliers, Stevens said
Nexteer expects 3% year over year cost reductions from its suppliers if they are winning new business. Te provider of steering and driveline systems in- corporates face-to-face meetings with its suppliers to facilitate cost reduc- tions and keep deliveries on schedule. Te company requires a minimum 25 weeks lead time for large, complex castings and 15 weeks for standard castings. Magnesium and zinc castings typically fall between 12 and 14 weeks. When Nexteer is qualifying a new
source, Stevens said the company performs a manufacturing capability assessment on site at the potential new supplier. “Te assessment takes two to three
days to complete and is basically like a TS audit,” Steven said. “We benchmark quoting to make sure the customer is in line with our current costs. We need to understand their annual sales and industry mix, capacity availability and of course if they cast similar parts.”
Doosan Infracore Construction Equipment
Paul Asche, strategic sourc- ing specialist for Doosan Infracore Construction Equipment, West Fargo, N.D., doesn’t mandate annual price reductions, but he expects his casting suppliers to show an effort in finding ways to reduce cost. Tose who don’t are likely to lose his business. “We push for value-added/value
engineering activities to reduce the overall cost of our products (i.e., weldments to casting, material re- duction, specification changes, etc.),” Asche said. Doosan, which requires ductile,
gray and aluminum castings, awards its contracts based on cost, capac- ity and general business relationship concerns such as quality and delivery. Its expected lead times are 8 weeks for the raw casting and 10-12 weeks for a machined complete and painted part. Te company supports engineer- ing collaboration with the supplier’s engineers to ensure it is purchasing the
Doosan Infracore Construction Equipment purchases ductile iron, gray iron and aluminum castings.
lowest cost casting that will meet the requirements. A supplier development group
manages supplier metrics to help steer Doosan’s casting source selection, As- che said. Current casting sources also may be under scrutiny when bidding for a new contract. “We may use the ‘What have you
done for me lately?’ method for new business,” Asche said.
Strange Engineering In the realm of performance cars,
such as drag or stock racing, Strange Engineering, Morton Grove, Ill., relies on high quality cast parts from North
American sources to give it an edge over some of its competitors, which have found less expensive prices from other countries. “We certainly prefer to keep things
domestic. A number of our com- petitors have gone offshore and had problems as a result of quality,” said John McGivern, general manager for Strange Engineering. “I think our price is a bit of a premium, but our customers would pay the premium for our products, provided the premium isn’t too dramatic.” With a casting volume range that
varies between 100 and 1,300 cast- ings per year, Strange Engineering
Mar/Apr 2013 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | 23
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