Here’s how you can use them to your advantage:
There’s an ongoing battle between engineers and procurement departments to balance cost, performance and availability of components.
Purchasing departments face pressure to lower costs and look to engineers for cost effective alternatives. You tell us that too often this leads to a redesign, which in many cases can be more expensive. Then you’re back at square one.
Manufacturers and suppliers that can guarantee availability will be the most valuable to their customers, and that’s why we make it a priority, however specialist the requirement may be.
Innovation in new materials to improve the performance, capabilities and durability of bearings is an absolute must.
Our industry has invested heavily in research and development in recent years and we are really starting to see the benefit. New alloys have been introduced, along with new techniques for manufacturing, testing and fault analysis.
This level of innovation will increase long-term performance and help to deliver a cost-effective overall solution– both of which will remain critical for any OEM. Our BowMet® range is a perfect example, now enabling manufacturers to use smaller bearings with higher load ratings to save space and weight, or replace existing bearings and get a much higher load rating and longer life.
We’ve also noticed suppliers expanding their service to streamline the supply chain for OEMs.
It has long been a requirement of the automotive industry that a component manufacturer ensures the highest levels of quality, price and on-time delivery alongside the parts.
We are now seeing a growing demand for this level of service from other manufacturing industries including construction equipment, commercial vehicles and marine, amongst others. Suppliers, like us, that are able to offer that same level of service to all customers are delivering what the market so desperately needs.
