Page 38 - MetalForming February 2017

OEM Finds New Suppliers via
Online Matchmaking
Using the MFG.com contract-manufacturing marketplace to source machined and fabricated-metal parts pays off big time for glassware OEM Anchor
Hocking—$70,000 in savings over
41 RFQs in just 14 months.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Since July 2015,
Anchor Hocking
process engineer
Eric Goldman has been
sourcing CNC-machined
and fabricated-metal products using the online marketplace at MFG.com. Buying primarily maintenance items used for upkeep of the company’s glass- product (beverage- and ovenware, for example) mold lines, Goldman typi- cally issues RFQs two to three times per month.
Prior to sourcing on MFG.com, Goldman had been issuing work to six local machine shops (Anchor Hocking is in Lancaster, OH). However, shortly after assuming his current role with the company, he took note of one par- ticular part the company had been buying locally—a bolt flange—that seemed overpriced.
“We were paying $250 apiece for the relatively simple part,” Goldman says, “and I thought we could save some money by looking for a new supplier.
These parts typify the work Anchor Hock- ing sources on MFG.com: a three bolt- flange (left) used to attach air ducts to
glass-forming machines, for which process engineer Eric Goldman realized an 83-percent per-part savings; and a material-handling component used to move glassware from a forming machine onto a conveyor belt, originally built as a two-piece weldment and now sourced as a machined part made from solid bar stock.
36 MetalForming/February 2017
www.metalformingmagazine.com
I tried sourcing it on MFG.com, and was able to find a supplier in Ohio to provide the part for $40.”
Outsourcing Waterjet Cutting
Now Goldman is sourcing just about everything he needs through MFG.com, to keep the production lines running. “In addition to the 41 projects I’ve sourced online since July 2015,” he
says, “we also use our
inhouse machine shop when it has capacity. However, we do not have waterjet-cutting capacity inhouse, so anything that requires waterjet we source online rather than milling inhouse. For example, we often look for fabricated-metal parts cut from 3⁄4-in.-