What makes a good CEM?

We’re often asked about the difference between Offshore Electronics and other contract electronics manufacturers.  In effect, customers want to know why they should partner with us rather than another supplier, and to understand what makes us special. 

Choosing a supplier, especially one that is of strategic importance to your business, is fundamentally no different from making any other decision.  It will be based on a combination of rational and emotional judgements; the former making use of hard facts and data, the latter being an assessment of the people that you’ll be working with at the contract electronics manufacturer to ensure that the chemistry is right between our two companies. 

Hard facts and data can generally be distilled down to three factors: price, delivery and quality.  Although it may take time to reach a final dataset for each criterion, it should be a relatively straightforward process to arrive at a position where it becomes possible to make comparisons between competing suppliers.  Even here, however, careful assessment can be required, as the lowest cost on paper may turn out to the most expensive choice in the long term.  For example, if costs have been calculated using components of a lower standard or if there are shortcuts in production procedures or quality control, then returns or failure rates are likely to be higher; this will create disruption, with associated costs and delays to deliveries further up the supply chain.   

Making a decision about a potential supplier’s ability to meet your exact requirements as well as their own price, delivery and quality promises, will always contain an element of subjective judgement.  In many respects, this is where a broader assessment of the supplier’s suitability as a strategic partner to your business becomes even more important. 

And this is where things can become more complicated.  Assessing the likely chemistry between two partner organisations is not something that can easily be accommodated within a conventional procurement process.  It depends on a range of factors, such as personal relationships, shared goals, common beliefs and a supplier philosophy that places integrity, customer value and service at the forefront of everything they do.   

None of this is easy to assess with a simple tick-box exercise.  Instead, it requires time and commitment from both parties to ensure that there is a solid foundation for a long term relationship.  This is one reason why it is so important to visit the supplier’s site, meet their team and gain a solid understanding of how they operate, the processes and procedures they deploy to maximise customer value, and the skills, experience and motivation of their managers as well as their production staff. 

Choosing a strategic contract electronics manufacturer – one that will truly make a difference to your business and, when the chips are down, will pull out all the stops to ensure success – is not a quick process.  Neither is it one that should be driven by price alone.  Your choice will be determined by hard facts and data, plus a careful and intuitive assessment of a number of intangible factors; these may ultimately be the critical elements that lead you to your final decision. 

If you’d like to learn about our unique approach to contract electronic manufacturing and customer value, then why not arrange to visit our manufacturing centre in Guernsey?  

You can contact us on +44 (0)1481 712721 or by email: [email protected]