TriTek Corp
Plastic
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2010
- Location
- Virginia USA
Background
We are a manufacturer and seller of products that typically use an assortment of electronics and about 60 unique aluminum machined parts (90 total). Most are plates under 12" x 12" x 3/8" and most are machined rather than turned. Finish is black anodize.
I recently requested quotes for a representative cross-section of our parts from a web-based enterprise and was a bit surprised at the very low prices quoted from various companies. Most of the quotes were from companies in China and a few were from US companies that were 3 to 6 times the average from China. One US quote was comparable to the China average.
Our Made in the USA products are installed in 17 countries and we purchase only American made parts unless there is simply no viable American supplier. (USN 1959-1968) For machined parts I am willing to pay a premium for US made parts, but 3 to 6 times will make us unable to compete.
Question
My questions for this community are:
1.Why such a large disparity in pricing across the US? Why can one shop offer prices comparable to China while others quote 6 times higher?
2. Is the wide variation in prices based on tooling cost versus labor hours in the US? That is, does a shop with less computer/numerical controlled tooling cause their labor costs to overwhelm their quote, or vice versa?
I welcome enlightenment.
We are a manufacturer and seller of products that typically use an assortment of electronics and about 60 unique aluminum machined parts (90 total). Most are plates under 12" x 12" x 3/8" and most are machined rather than turned. Finish is black anodize.
I recently requested quotes for a representative cross-section of our parts from a web-based enterprise and was a bit surprised at the very low prices quoted from various companies. Most of the quotes were from companies in China and a few were from US companies that were 3 to 6 times the average from China. One US quote was comparable to the China average.
Our Made in the USA products are installed in 17 countries and we purchase only American made parts unless there is simply no viable American supplier. (USN 1959-1968) For machined parts I am willing to pay a premium for US made parts, but 3 to 6 times will make us unable to compete.
Question
My questions for this community are:
1.Why such a large disparity in pricing across the US? Why can one shop offer prices comparable to China while others quote 6 times higher?
2. Is the wide variation in prices based on tooling cost versus labor hours in the US? That is, does a shop with less computer/numerical controlled tooling cause their labor costs to overwhelm their quote, or vice versa?
I welcome enlightenment.