Four Rules To Follow To Maintain a Healthy Relationship With Your Contract Manufacturer

Trust between any two people and any two organizations stems from a few common denominators, trust, communication, and passion. To keep a healthy relationship with your contract manufacturer, the same principles are applied. 

The steps taken to partner with your contract manufacturer are quite different from the path of sustaining your relationship with them. Here are ways to maintain a healthy relationship with your contract manufacturer. 

Long Term Planning

Successful relationships always look towards the future and they plan it together. This concept holds true with your contract manufacturer. It is also very important that these goals also align. There is no point to commit yourself to a contract manufacturer if, in 10 years, they want to be in an industry that does not compliment your product. 

For example, if your supplier is investing a lot into electronics but your product has no electronics then maybe you know that it’s not a good long-term match. However, if your contract manufacturer has the same goals and their long-term planning aligns with the support you will need then it’s probably a good match. 

Be Transparent

In any relationship there is never just good news, there is always going to be bad news. What can hurt the relationship is if one party is not transparent and tries to hide the problem. For example, if your contract manufacturer tries to hide a quality problem then you can most definitely think there will be trust issues going forward. It’s better to be upfront about the problem instead of failing to report it. 

On the other hand, if the brand is hiding something from the contract manufacturer, then it will also lead to them thinking of whether or not they want to pursue with them. 

Learn to Trust Each Other

The reason you partnered with your contract manufacturer was that you believed they complimented you very well. To keep this partnership flourishing, you need to also show that you trust them. 

For example, if you contracted them because of their strong engineering team then trust them when it comes to DFM and other engineering tasks. You must continue to supervise them but you can trust them while supervising simultaneously. 

Living up to your Word

It is very easy “to talk the talk” and say you can provide them with support and a high-quality product. If you have worked with suppliers in China, the most popular phrase is “yes, no problem.” But usually, there is a problem. The supplier can’t live up to their word. 

On the brand side, it’s the same thing. If you talk about purchasing high volumes but always end up way short, the contract manufacturer will start to wonder if they can trust you or not. 

How OpenBOM Can Help? 

OpenBOM believes engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing teams should be able to seamlessly manage their parts, vendors, bill of materials, purchase orders, and change orders. All BOM, engineering, and manufacturing information are stored in the cloud which you can share with your team, contractors, suppliers, or anyone else that has access to your account. OpenBOM keeps everyone on the same BOM while providing you with the tools to streamline your development to production & scale up operations. 

Register for FREE to create your OpenBOM account and reach out to us via support @ openbom dot com if you have any questions. 

Best, 

Jared Haw