Many companies seek out contract manufacturers if they have a project that either requires creating a niche product or involves complex processes or materials. There are a lot of benefits to hiring a contract manufacturer to help develop your product or complete specialized processes for both one-off and recurring projects. For most companies who require ongoing services it’s often much more efficient to offload this part of the business.
So, why should you consider using a contract manufacturer? Let’s take a closer look…
Minimize Overhead Costs
Electing to use a contract manufacturing company cuts overhead costs across several categories. For one, you don’t have to spend on expensive instruments and tools. You can also minimize spending on the staff required to maintain safe and effective manufacturing (e.g. managers, engineers, operators, and skilled materials workers). Keeping overhead costs low tends to lead to a higher return on investment. This is ideal, especially for smaller businesses and startups who often don’t have the resources, budget, or staff to manufacture products on their own.
Offload Complex Tasks
Depending on your product, certain manufacturing processes not only require specific tools, but also specific (and and often complex) techniques. An experienced contract manufacturer can help create specialized instruments using a variety of techniques such as:
- Plate Cutting
- Laser Cutting
- Welding
- Powder Coating
- Brass Cutting
- Copper Cutting
Maintain Product Quality and Consistency: While some contract manufacturers will only handle certain parts of manufacturing, such as development or shopping, others offer end-to-end services. This means they’ll take care of the entire process from start to finish: from product design and material purchases to the physical manufacturing, assembly, packaging, and shipping. By hiring an end-to-end manufacturer you can simplify product lifecycle and instead focus your internal resources on business strategy, marketing or sales.
Take Advantage of Cutting-Edge Tech: No matter what industry you’re in, remaining agile means staying on top of the most recent development in technology and product offerings…which can be expensive and time-consuming to research and implement. By hiring a leading contract manufacturer you get all the benefits of the latest in industry technology, without having to invest yourself. For example, rapid prototyping tools and CNC machining make the production process much faster than traditional manufacturing techniques, so products can hit the market faster.
Better Cost Transparency: Trying to keep up with specific tools, new processes, and the right type of staff to complete the product life cycle can not only get expensive, it can easily add up without you even knowing it. Contract manufacturers can provide a detailed cost estimate up-front so you know exactly how much your project will cost before you start anything. If the market causes prices to change, they can notify you of cost shifts so you can keep a better, more consistent budget.
Built-in Quality Control & Production Oversight: Many contract manufacturing companies have internal production oversight and quality control teams in order to better guarantee consistency, accuracy and quality of their products… just two more things you can tick off the list! Additionally, if your product must satisfy ISO 9001 and CE regulations, a contract manufacturer can better help their customers meet these requirements.
Simplifies the Design Process: If you’re just starting out or are unsure of the best way to create a product, a contract manufacturer is also an excellent resource for the design process. It can be overwhelming to take your product idea from concept to reality! But the good news is many contract manufacturing specialists can team up with you to better define the most important aspects of your project, including scope, usage, product design, materials options, manufacturer methods, and of course, budget. For small or budding businesses, this is an invaluable part of partnering with a manufacturer that has the knowledge and expertise to guide your project.
Founded in 1998, AP Precision was created to fill a need for metal products in order to meet the demands of their growing robotics company. Twenty-three years later, AP Precision has progressed to offer an array of contract manufacturing services in San Diego. Their founding principle is quite simple: to provide stable, long-term, precision metal fabrication for businesses of all sizes and shapes throughout Southern California.