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EDITORIAL


A Purchasing Evolution O


n p. 45 of this issue, our CEO Journal col- umnist, Dan Marcus, provides interesting insight into today’s casting buyer and the


transition in philosophy that is occurring in how purchasing works with its suppliers.


“Two characteristics of this new genera-


tion are most interesting. First, it is remarkably neutral, almost indifferent, about the products it specifies and the suppliers it purchases from.… Te second striking characteristic of this group is its highly collaborative nature.”


Te belief is today’s buyers have evolved from


being casting experts many years ago to the price-obsessed commodity manag- ers of recent times to this new generation. While I am sure your facility still interacts with buyers from all three gen- erations, the future might demand a different approach from your team, one that fits well with the strength of metalcasting. Metal castings


require multiple processes to offer. Te key is if metalcasting, as an industry, can be supportive of this collaboration and the education of the potential customer base. Te ultimate struggle for your business


“Are you able to understand what motivates each and every customer and build individualized sales and customer


solve problems. We know this, but you haven’t been able to educate your customers enough on this point. You can create complex shapes. You can put metal where customers need it with the properties they need. You can remove that metal from areas they don’t need it. You can lower weights. You can reduce part counts. You can take advantage of rapid manufacturing techniques for short lead times, and you can use hard tooling for million piece runs. Tese benefits allow you to be key contributors


to collaborative designs when metal components are required because you offer the flexibility in one process that other metal component manufacturers


as you adapt to this new generation of purchasers is you still have to support the two previous generations as well as hybrids of all philoso- phies. Are you able to under- stand what motivates each and every customer and build individualized sales and cus- tomer service philosophies to specifi- cally appeal to each customer’s motivation? As Marcus discusses in his column,


even with the changes in philosophy, this new generation of buyers is still focused on an end game.


“As the power of quality is dimin-


service philosophies to specifically appeal to each customer’s motivation?”


ished, it is delivery and price that are the last remaining differentiators between and among suppliers and producers.”


Te key is to bring value to the table


through collaboration so we change that notion of what price entails. Did you bring design assistance, assembly, machining and logistics to the partner- ship? Remember, the product you are delivering at a specified price must be an engineered metal component.


Alfred T. Spada, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief


If you have any comments about this editorial or any other item that appears in Modern Casting, email me at aspada@afsinc.org.


February 2016 MODERN CASTING | 9


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