Cast metal components are not products, which are generally bought out from market; most often they are custom made objects, designed and engineered to meet the specific requirements of a particular customer. As such, we can say that cast components high value and high volume commodity items, where price is the main buying criterion.Cast components are considered as high-value manufacturing products, where the production facility (foundry) is an extension of the manufacturing capability of buyer that involves long-term relationships and open, on-going communication at different stages. Since these are considered as high value products, the buying criteria for cast metal components involve a fine balance of quality, cost, service and delivery.
According to experts and OEM component buyers, properly formulated buying policy is fundamental to the "best-value" procurement of cast metal products. The buying policy should specify the buyer-partnership, and is based on the following principles:
- Long-term partnerships based on shared interests and optimal value for concerned parties.
- Reliable cast component suppliers who are capable to meet the standards of production quality, supply on time, offer knowledge and expertise to facilitate component design and improvement and offer best price and value.
- Open and uninterrupted communication at different levels including executive, purchasing and technical levels to facilitate concurrent engineering/design, design for production and regular improvement.
