The bottom line is king in the supply chain, but it takes more than a low price point to protect your budget for electronic components. Use these three component purchasing strategies to make high-confidence purchases with less work and lower costs.
Make Consistent Lower-Volume Purchases
The electronics component supply chain is under a lot of stress in recent years. A steady routine of smaller purchases ensures that your supplier always has you on their radar and considers you a reliable and recurring buyer.
This is a valuable position to be in when their capacity is stressed and inventory is low, because they’ll be more inclined to keep your small and predictable monthly supply available. In the end, this can save you time and money that would have gone towards searching for new suppliers that can take on a large order, and then coping with longer lead times to accommodate it.
Work With Fewer, More Versatile Suppliers
Consolidating your supply chain has a few advantages. First, you have more negotiating and purchasing power. Second, there’s fewer vendors to juggle, vet, monitor, and communicate with. However, a smaller network of suppliers can also leave you in trouble in times of component shortages or when you need obsolete or hard-to-find components.
The solution is to narrow your network to only one or a few hybridized distributors that carry a fully vetted line card that includes a combination of factory direct, authorized/franchised, and independent product lines. Such a partner can offer you all of the advantages of each supplier type while circumventing the need for an in-house vetting process and also aiding in vendor consolidation. The result is lower costs, more flexible inventory options, and fewer suppliers to track.
Versatility also comes in the form of bundled services. Rather than sending purchased parts to a third-party lab for costly inspection and testing, select versatile suppliers with in-house secondary services. Sensible Micro, for instance, has a cutting-edge in-house testing lab that empowers component purchasing strategies with bundled counterfeit avoidance and other tests built into each purchase you make.
Engage With Pre-Rated and Vetted Vendors
Evaluating individual suppliers and their products can take a lot of time and effort in any safe, reliable component procurement strategy. You’ll get access to quality components faster by working with a fully vetted network of vendors that have all been rated for quality and reliability. Sensible Micro carefully monitors all of our authorized, direct, and independent suppliers and leverages a robust rating system to scrub and refine our line card into the ideal base of vendors.
After 15 years of evolution and verification, you can be sure that our list of vendors represents the best of the best. No more purchasing strategies that require manual tracking of every supplier. Every component you need can be sourced from a high-confidence list of pre-rated vendors. Contact Sensible Micro today to discuss your options, or check out our hybrid line card here.
