How to Get Mechanical Assemblies to Market Faster
When you have a new product, you want to get it to market quickly. Several factors can impact a new product launch, however. One fundamental way to minimize product launch delays and get your mechanical assemblies to market faster? Consolidate your supply chain.
Fewer Vendors, Fewer Hassles
When managing your own supply chain, you tend to rely on multiple vendors for procurement, machining, and assembly. But when multiple vendors are involved, you can easily find yourself in a “too many cooks in the kitchen” situation: multiple touchpoints lead to oversights, errors, miscommunications, and an end product that is not what you ordered.
Your solution is to cut back on those touchpoints and trust the complete process to a single vendor.
Here at Micro-Tronics, we offer multi-level mechanical assembly and sub-assembly services. Our fastening methods include riveting, swaging, and RTV bonding. We also provide verification testing to your specifications.
In other words, we can procure or make your components, complete the assembly, verify that it’s in working order, and deliver it to you.
Not convinced? Here are our answers to the two questions we hear most often:
“Can’t I save money by managing the supply chain myself?”
Let’s revisit our cooking analogy.
If you send five world-class chefs through a kitchen, one at a time, and tell them to season the soup on the stove, they’ll each add their signature spice to the pot. Each chef is a master of flavor, but if you put all their ingredients into one pot, the soup will be ruined.
What does this have to do with mechanical assemblies?
The components are the spices. The assembly is the soup. And just as too many cooks will ruin the broth, too many vendors may render an assembly useless.
When Micro-Tronics handles your assembly from start to finish, we take full responsibility for its success. We ensure the components fit, the stacked tolerances align, and the assembly works as it should.
“Can’t I build the assembly myself?”
Pictured here, you see the unassembled components alongside the completed assembly.
-
- Unassembled
-
- Assembled
Which would you rather receive?
Assemblies can be incredibly time-consuming. At Micro-Tronics, we produce a large number of pneumatic valve assemblies, typically composed of approximately 10 different components, which we make to spec in-house:
- The custom-molded rubber diaphragm, made of rubber and fabric
- A two-piece housing for which we machine the casting mating surfaces and add bolt holes
- Fasteners, which may be standard or custom-machined depending on your needs
- Linkages that connect the actuator in the housing
- The cup that the diaphragm surrounds
- Connecting rods for the cup
- A backing plate, which we adhere onto the diaphragm seal
When our customer receives the completed valve assembly, the only remaining step is to fasten the linkage to their auxiliary power unit’s actuator and place screws through the bolt-hole pattern to mount it on the APU properly.
So which would you prefer? A pile of components from various vendors with differing standards? Or a completed assembly that’s ready for immediate installation?
We hear you, and we agree.
6 Benefits of Using a Single Vendor for Mechanical Assemblies
1. Serious cost savings
There’s nothing quite so costly as remaking parts due to manufacturing errors or stack tolerance confusion, and those errors are much more likely when you’re procuring components from multiple sources.
Utilizing a single vendor ensures that your parts are made to spec and the final assembly functions correctly. And if there is a problem, that one vendor—in this case, Micro-Tronics—can quickly implement a solution that won’t cost you anything.
2. Shorter lead times
Every manufacturer has their own lead times and operating costs, all of which add up to a longer wait until you know whether your assembly works.
Micro-Tronics can provide you with a single lead time quote that accounts for each process step. Our concurrent oversight and manufacturing can often shave weeks of time off a multi sourced assembly.
3. Streamlined part approvals
Depending on the industry your product will serve, you may need to submit your parts for approval.
Micro-Tronics proudly serves many customers whose parts undergo a rigorous review by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). To obtain Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) from the FAA, you can submit your individual components or your entire assembly.
Assembly approval requires the same amount of paperwork and review time as an individual component.
And with the post-pandemic backlog still in full swing, submitting an assembly is the best use of the PMA inspector’s time—as well as your own.
4. Repair kits that save you time and money
We’ll never force you to order an entire assembly if you only need a replacement spring or new washer. For a reasonable “stocking” fee, we offer repair kits stocked with replacement parts that you can inventory for later use.
5. One point of contact
Whether we custom-make each of your components in-house or source some of them from one of our partner suppliers, when you work with Micro-Tronics, we’re your single point of contact for everything related to your project. That means one order, one email address, one phone number, one shipment, one tracking number, and one great experience.
6. Faster time to market
All of these benefits add up to the best one of all: faster time to market.
You’ll never be waiting on company A while they confer with company B, who’s trying to reach company C and—oh! Company D is on a two week shutdown.
Instead, you’ll receive exactly what you asked for: a sophisticated, top-quality, fully functional mechanical assembly delivered on time at a fair price.
Trust Your Next Mechanical Assembly to Micro-Tronics
Don’t wait until your launch plan is in tatters and your product is months behind schedule. Let Micro-Tronics be your full-service project manager and get your product to market quickly, efficiently, and profitably.