Contract Manufacturing’s Dirty Little Secret

There’s a secret in the contract electronic manufacturing (CEM) industry: a manufacturer can be optimized for high volume, low mix manufacturing. Or, a manufacturer can be optimized for low- to mid-volume, high mix manufacturing. A manufacturer can NOT do both well. But in lean times, many will try.

A number of our customers have come to us after a high-volume manufacturer informed them that they could no longer provide service because the customer’s production volumes were too low.

What happened? It’s simple. Those manufacturers didn’t want those customers in the first place.

But, to keep their production floors busy, high-volume shops sometimes take on lower volume customers than their business models can support. And guess who gets the shunt when business picks up, or when a million-dollar-plus order comes through the door?

At OCM Manufacturing, we’ve only focused our entire business model and operations strategy on contract manufacturing service for low- to mid-volume products. We’ve done it for 25 years now, and we will continue to do it. In the past quarter century, we’ve developed systems and processes to provide exceptional service to low- and mid-volume OEM customers of all kinds. For example:

  • For start-up OEMs with the spark of an idea, we work with partners to provide design services tightly integrated with our own design-for-manufacturing (DFM) expertise. We service these customers through prototype, test production, and volume ramp phases.
  • For established OEMs with new product lines, we provide turnkey or consigned electronics manufacturing services, including DFM, test, PCB assembly, box-build, system assembly, supply chain management, and after-market service.
  • For established customers with existing products, we transition production to our shop, providing turnkey manufacturing and after-market service, freeing OEMs to focus on innovation, marketing, and sales.
  • For OEMs with high-volume forecasts, we provide an established transition to high-volume production through our operations in China.

Simply put, we understand and are completely focused on low- to mid-volume production. We won’t drop a customer because a bigger order comes along, and we are optimized to meet the unique needs and challenges of our customers.

To learn more about the advantages of finding the right fit with your CEM, please contact us!