Seeking a new pretreatment supplier? Jeff Blain of Circle-Prosco Inc. discusses considerations you should keep in mind when making this important decision.
As Stephen Covey wrote, “Begin with the end in mind.” Why are you considering a new pretreatment supplier? To answer that effectively, ask yourself, “what is the problem that I am trying to solve?” Here are a few common reasons we see folks looking for a new supplier.
- Reducing costs to remain competitive, or to capture increased market share
- Meeting an elusive quality spec
- Eliminating the root cause of a product recall
- Reducing rework costs
- Increasing capacity to support growth
- Complying with increasingly strict environmental regulations
- Improving employee safety
- Some combination of these
Ensure that your answer — the problem you are trying to solve — is the primary consideration when selecting a new pretreatment supplier.
To put it simply, if your current vendor doesn’t solve your problem, then look somewhere else. Let’s break this down a bit.