Choosing an assembly service can be tricky because it involves trust. Contract assembly outfits, like people, may make promises they cannot keep. Approaching the decision from a hard-headed viewpoint is the way to go. Here are three things to think about--and, more importantly, verify--when choosing an assembly service.

Contract Volume
Simple, low volume pick-pack and kitting services can be effectively run out of a garage. And sometimes are. And that may work superbly for the client, because the price could be lower and/or the customer service more individualized.

However, packing and shipping thousands of items per week to customers all over the country or even the world is a job too big for a garage. The contract assembly company may have the best of intentions and the lowest of prices but be unable to perform. Its just too much. The same thing is true for the small job that is put out to a larger assembly service, which may not view small jobs as particularly important. In that case, the mom-and-pop garage assembly service may make much more sense. Theyre probably cheaper--and easier to get on the phone.

Size matters, but bigger isnt always better.

Contract Pricing
Pricing in the assembly industry tends to revolve around the idea that the more work promised in the future, the cheaper the work now will be. Contract assembly outfits, after all, must buy machinery and pay workers. So they like to rely on repeat customers. This is why so many assembly services have a minimum order and a set-up fee. Understandable for the assembly service, but if the product is a prototype or does not have a history of heavy sales, committing to a high minimum order and costly set-up fee can eat up early sales.

Again, its a matter of right-sizing.

Assembly Service Speed of Delivery
Sometimes speed is the paramount concern. Companies must not only have the right product at the right time, but must ship that product out like gangbusters if the customers are buying. A sub-par assembly service can cause delays and other logistical foul-ups. Or by hurrying too much they can derail the actual product assembly. A top-notch assembly service, meanwhile, has the manpower and machinery available to pump out jobs rapidly without sacrificing quality.

Automation largely determines whether an assembly service can do a job quickly without doing a job poorly. Especially if the product is specialized or technology-heavy like computer chips, there is just no substitute for a row of robotic wafer stampers.

In other cases, human beings are the faster option. If the product being assembled is fragile or must be configured several different ways, automation is not the panacea. The assembly service must be able to access high-skill labor and put it to work--fast. Certain contract assembly outfits can do that, and others cant. The point for the business decision-maker is to separate the two--before the assembly line is put in motion.

Sources
Assembly Magazine
Kearney Executive Agenda