Building a Relationship Based on Trust
In all our client relationships, we work to establish trust from the outset by demonstrating that EQI products and services are indispensable. This is exactly what we did for our major OEM customer, helping them grow their catalog from 200 to 550 parts since 2017. Over the past few years, we’ve supported them with day-to-day initiatives and large-scale projects. We’re continuously looking for ways to lower costs, increase efficiencies, and reduce overhead.
EQI is proud of the collaborative relationship we’ve built with this customer. We feel empowered to ask questions about where they are headed and what we can do to ensure they get there—all in an effort to help them continuously improve. As a result, the OEM frequently presents us with significant RFQ opportunities.
Pinpointing an Opportunity to Outsource
This OEM’s latest RFQ was for gearbox assemblies. We responded with a proposal to take over their gearbox assembly process and build a new assembly line from the ground up at one of our facilities. At the time, we were already providing 80-90% of the components to make their gearboxes, and the customer was assembling the parts in their US facility.
As a first step, our engineers met on-site with their team to discuss technical requirements. This helped us gain an explicit understanding of what was needed for a commercial proposal, so we could go back to our supply base and source the additional components necessary, to provide a cost-effective solution.
Next, we quickly delivered our proposal to the OEM, outlining a cost savings of roughly 40 percent. The customer enthusiastically gave us a purchase order to create our assembly line, source and ship ancillary parts from the US, and build the gearbox assemblies.
The final steps included technical internal review, delivering PPAP documentation, and sample parts to the customer for approval. The customer not only approved the gearboxes but stated that the quality was superior to the original process. Today, we are producing, storing, and shipping the gearboxes for this customer, significantly reducing their overall landed cost. Because we can ship them line-ready components on demand, the customer now has increased floor space to produce more profitable parts.
Simplifying Supply Chains to Boost Profitability
This is just one example of how we work with our customers to identify and simplify aspects of their supply chain that we can help make more efficient and profitable. For some customers, this might be assembly or freight. For others, it might be warehousing or painting. Our goal is to uncover the customer’s pain points and present solutions that ease their burden and provide financial benefit.
Interested in learning more? Contact us today. 616.850.2630 info@eqiltd.com