A top-tier electronic component manufacturer transferred the majority of their manufacturing to Shenzhen , China , in 2001. That transition reduced the labor content of their products but with much of their supply base in North America , their total materials cost increased.

We worked with their design and component engineering teams to source and qualify local suppliers to transfer their supplier-base to China . This included:

• Plastic components
• Packaging materials
• Ferrite cores
• Insulation tape
• Production chemicals, varnishes, and adhesives.

For materials for which there were not suitable local suppliers, we were apply to source suppliers in the Asia-Pacific region and establish stocking arrangements to reduce lead-times, unit cost, and logistics costs.

In an industry where the market price for their products was falling rapidly, we were able to reduce not only their total cost, but actually decrease total materials costs as a percentage of sales.