Services
Supply Chain & Strategic Sourcing Services for Manufacturers
Four ways I help precision machine shops and regulated manufacturers cut cost, stabilize suppliers, and keep material moving. Every engagement is run by me directly, built on a career inside high-mix, low-volume AS9100 machine shops.
01 · Cost
Strategic Sourcing & Should-Cost Negotiation
Supplier price increases arrive with a one-line justification, and without an independent cost model there is nothing to push back with. Quotes for the same part vary widely, and nobody on the team has time to find out why.
What I do
- Build bottom-up should-cost models from material, machining cycle time, setup amortization, tooling, outside processing, overhead, and margin
- Compare quotes line by line to show where each supplier’s price departs from the model
- Rationalize the supplier base and dual-source critical parts and processes
- Prepare data-backed RFQs and negotiation positions
- Lead negotiations directly, or coach your buyers through them
Deliverables
- Should-cost models for priority part numbers
- Quote comparison and negotiation brief
- Renegotiated pricing or a qualified alternate source
Who it’s for
Shops facing supplier price increases, long quote cycles, or a few suppliers holding too much leverage.
02 · Quality
Supplier Diagnostics & Corrective Action
Late deliveries and quality escapes keep repeating, SCARs stay open for months, and your customer is starting to notice. Without disciplined root cause work, the same failures come back.
What I do
- Diagnose supplier on-time delivery, quality escapes, and lead-time performance
- Run root cause analysis with 5 Whys, Ishikawa (fishbone) diagrams, and 8D
- Manage the full SCAR lifecycle: containment, root cause, corrective action, and verification of effectiveness
- Build supplier scorecards for OTD, escapes, lead time, and responsiveness, with a review cadence
- Align supplier requirements with AS9100 and ISO 9001 expectations and your customer flowdowns
Deliverables
- Supplier performance baseline
- SCAR tracker with owners and due dates
- A scorecard your team can maintain
Who it’s for
Regulated, high-mix, low-volume shops where one supplier failure can stop a job or turn into a customer audit finding.
03 · Supply
Critical Material & Component Procurement
A job is waiting on a long-lead alloy, an obsolete component, or an outside processor that just lost capacity. Your buyers are already stretched, and the usual distributors have nothing.
What I do
- Source long-lead and hard-to-find alloys (e.g., Ti-6Al-4V, Inconel 718, 17-4 PH, 7075 and 6061 aluminum)
- Find specialty tooling, obsolete components, and bottleneck purchased parts
- Qualify outside processors for heat treat, plating, anodize, passivation, and NDT, including Nadcap-accredited sources where your flowdowns require them
- Review material certs, certificates of conformance, and traceability before material ships
Deliverables
- Vetted source list with lead times and pricing
- Cert and traceability review
- Purchasing support through delivery
Who it’s for
Shops with a schedule at risk from a single material or outside-process bottleneck.
04 · Capital
Surplus Material & Equipment Recovery
Dead stock, surplus bar and plate, and idle machines sit on the floor tying up cash and space, and selling them well takes time nobody has.
What I do
- Review surplus inventory and idle equipment
- Provide valuation guidance based on current market conditions
- Reach out directly to qualified industrial buyers
- Coordinate the sale, documentation, and handoff
Deliverables
- Surplus list with valuation guidance
- Qualified-buyer outreach
- A coordinated sale
Who it’s for
Shops that need floor space and working capital back.
One Methodology Behind Every Engagement
Every service follows the same three steps: diagnose spend and supplier performance, execute with should-cost data, then lock in the gains with scorecards and corrective action.