end-user, such as a steel mill or air separation plant, buys a new compressor train once every 20 or 30 years. It is not really thinking about a long-term strategic relationship with a machine building company, so it will charge a penalty. Penalties from final customers can easily reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, far exceeding the value of late-arriving steel castings. An experienced casting buyer can
see how processes are organized in a metalcasting facility. If there are too many castings at some work stations, a dirty work shop or no clear identi- fication tags on parts, poor delivery performance can be expected. In many
A metalcasting CEO must possess an iron discipline not to be seduced by fast money in new markets.
cases, when this situation is addressed by management, the casting buyer hears that other facilities are just as bad as this one. Successful jobbing metalcasters,
especially in hand molding, have identified this problem and started to implement lean manufacturing. Tey have shifted from push to pull manu- facturing and reduced lead times by 30%. Manufacturing discipline also
TOP BUYER PRIORITIES
The following is a list of seven critical questions buyers ask when evaluating a casting supplier, according to Metal Casting Design & Purchasing columnist Bob Mueller Jr., Joy Global Surface Mining, Milwaukee.
What are your current lead times?
This is a cue to the amount of business moving through a metalcasting facility, as well as the potential for reliably predictable lead times.
What is your on-time delivery performance?
Documentation is considered a key factor, as it enables casting buyers to form realistic expectations.
What are your rejection rates?
Internal and external data can lend insight to the manufacturer’s processes and equipment, as well as quality standards and performance.
Who makes up your current customer base?
Casting buyers often seek a good fit with a supplier’s base, to avoid disadvanta- geous situations versus large customers, for example.
What end-use markets does your customer base represent, and in what percentages?
A metalcasting supplier that is oversaturated in one market is at risk of losing profitability when that segment of industry trends downward.
What is your “sweet spot”?
This question pertains to properties of the cast metal products themselves, as well as quantity, in relation to the metalcasting facility’s capabilities.
What value-added services do you offer?
Some casting jobs require engineering support while others might benefit from “one stop” service through finishing.
Source: “Purchasing Points,” MCDP Nov/Dec 2012.
has improved significantly. Interestingly, for a casting
buyer, it can backfire in some cases: despite total improve- ment of delivery performance, in some cases the buyer might ask the metalcaster to deliver two or three weeks earlier than
previously planned. Te metalcaster might refuse to do so, as it would endanger deliveries to other custom- ers. Te casting buyer might not be happy in this moment, but in general he or she is much more satisfied with this particular supplier than with other competitors on the market.
ment, they manufacture castings on the same quality level and they have similar delivery performance. One company is successful and growing, whereas the other earns just enough money to survive. Te reason is often simple: the successful metalcaster has better sales personnel. A good floor shop engineer is not
5
automatically a good sales person. In many metalcasting facilities, sales departments are staffed with good metalcasting engineers who are bad sales people. In some cases, it is worsened by arrogance inadvertently shown to the buyer. Tat personal- ity profile is not suitable to the job. Of course they know their facility and products, and they are good specialists, but the casting buyer has purchasing orders that are vital to the business. Successful metalcasting sales
personnel must know their cus- tomers’ needs and be able to answer these questions: • How many products (machinery, tools, etc.) does my customer manufacture per year? How big is my market share at the customer?
• For how many parts is my com- pany a single source? Why? What is the customer doing to avoid his dependency?
• Who are my competitors? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
36 | MODERN CASTING July 2014
It is all about sales! Two similar metalcast-
ing facilities have the same production lines and equip-
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