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Tips on Selecting a Qualified Vendor

Few companies making an investment in costly patterns or dies neglect to qualify their vendor with a plant visit. For those responsible for screening a metal casting facility what do they look for? The following factors justify considerations:

1. Based on the anticipated volume of the job, does the metal casting facility have the capacity to handle the work?
    
2.  Is the vendor financially sound? Begin with a check of Dun and Bradstreet, or with metal suppliers.
    
3. Is the material or the alloy required for your parts regularly poured at the foundry? If not, delivery delays may be caused by a "learning period" or waiting for other orders to make a heat. (a heat constitutes a furnace load)
    
4. Is the metal caster making similar parts for any of your competitors? It's often a cost benefit to buy from a metal caster with experience gained from making your competitors' parts. To avoid this type of supplier involves the time and risk of educating a new source.
    
5. Does the vendor have layout facilities for first sample inspection? If not, first sample inspection costs are the purchaser's responsibility, an extra cost, hidden because it doesn't appear on the quotation.
    
6. Does the vendor have in-house equipment to perform the tasks necessary to qualify the parts? (i.e., heat treating, metal or spectrographic analysis, dye penetrant, zyglo booth, X-ray, plating or painting)
    
7. How's the housekeeping? Cleanliness and orderliness have a correlation with quality and reliability.
    
8. Who carries the insurance on patterns and tooling for fire loss? Usually, this is the customer's responsibility, but some vendors have insurance to cover tooling in their possession.
    
9. Will the loss of one key person in the vendor's employ threaten an established buyer-vendor relationship? Depth of management assures the continuity of current business practices and philosophy.

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