In an attempt to save money, one of our OEM customers recently ordered 5 complex gear housings from an on-demand parts marketplace. They planned to have the parts shipped to Focused on Machining for assembly.
There was just one problem: the housings we received from the budget marketplace arrived with serious quality and accuracy issues. The threaded holes hadn’t been deburred, and the press-fit holes were too small for the hardware.
Upon assessing the parts, it became clear that the cost of fixing these low-quality housings was greater than the cost of starting over from scratch and machining them ourselves.
We were happy to work with this customer to solve a problem that another shop had created. And thankfully, they came away from the experience with a clearer understanding of something that most precision machine shops know to be true: it’s risky to outsource parts to an unknown shop.
The Problem with On-Demand Parts Marketplaces
We’ve all heard the adage that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. In the precision machining world, “too good to be true” can look like an on-demand parts marketplace offering customers the chance to source inexpensive parts online with the click of a button.
These budget marketplaces connect customers with a network of manufacturing suppliers worldwide with excess production capacity. And while it may seem incredibly convenient to submit a quote for a part and let someone else take it from there—getting you the parts you need at a low price—the fact is that each transaction is a gamble.
Because the downside of being hands-off is that you have no idea who is making your parts. The unknown shop might knock your project out of the park—or they might not. And if they don’t, you’ll be stuck picking up the pieces (sometimes literally).
Thinking beyond the Lowest Price
Here’s the truth: sometimes, using an on-demand parts marketplace really is the best option. If you need a simple part, like a bracket, you can be confident that just about any precision machine shop in a marketplace’s network will get the job done right. You’ll save money while enjoying a relatively seamless experience.
But when it comes to sourcing complex parts, price should not be the primary factor influencing your decisions. Our customer learned this lesson the hard way. Their gear housings posed precision machining challenges that the unknown shop who built their parts couldn’t overcome: tight tolerances, expensive material, gold plating, and tapped holes for 50+ pieces of hardware.
The fact that these parts would eventually be assembled added another layer of complexity because they needed to fit together perfectly. (Tip: It’s always best to have the same shop machine and assemble your parts so that they can proactively address any issues before assembly begins and so that they assume responsibility for the entirety of the project.)
Our customer knew from the start that they needed a reliable precision machine shop like Focused on Machining with the careful assembly work for their parts. In trying to cut costs on the initial precision machining work, they wound up shelling out more money in the long run.
The moral of the story? It pays to work with a shop you know and trust.