Outsourcing Guidelines 採購指南

If you've read our FAQ, you are ready for more specific information about how to go about submitting an RFQ and placing an order with an Asian Castings supplier.  Following these general guidelines will make the process a lot smoother.

 RFQ (Request for Quotation)
    a.   Drawings And Specifications
        i. Complete Paper Set
            1. Full, Complete Drawings, Clear Copies
            2. Do Not Require Physical Cutting And Pasting
        ii. Complete Electronic Set
            1. Full, Complete Electronic Drawing Set, 3D Solid Model or 2D CAD
            2. Do Not Require Any File Manipulation Duties
        iii.  Must Include Specifications For Any Secondary Operations and Testing

Many suppliers tell us that they prefer to work with traditional paper drawings.  While every one of our suppliers can and will work with electronic drawings, paper drawings are just fine.  Make sure that your copies are clear and that our suppliers don't have to do any cutting and pasting to make a complete set.  This includes any other specifications you require too.  If your product requires assembly, we need your manufacturing procedure documentation as well as your test specifications too.  We need every piece of information required to build and test/qualify your product.  We can use all industry standard file formats.

If you are requesting a quotation on a casting, please provide us with the weight of the raw casting, before machining.

    b. Sample Parts
        i. Must Be Acceptable Part, Or Reason For Rejection Must Be Known And Defined By Report
        ii. Must Have Duplicate Part In The US For Comparison

Occasionally, we receive samples which are rejects.  That isn't very good, since we don't want to make rejects!  If the only sample part you have is a reject, its necessary to tell us in what way this sample part is discrepant and did not meet your specifications.  A Quality Report on a reject sample part is essential.  You also should have a sample part available in your office so we can discuss the parts with examples in front of us on both continents.  Provide us with the best example of what you want to receive from us.

    c. Material, And Other Required Certification
        i. Must Be Clearly Defined
        ii. Frequency Of Submission To Customer Must Be Defined

If your company has special forms for First Article Inspection submission, we need them.  If you have a list of critical dimensions you require us to check, we need those also.  The certification requirements are closely linked to the specifications in section 1. a. iii above.  We need to know whatever your certification/documentation requirements are from us - and we need the documentation formats you want.   This includes material certs, CNC machining reports, Quality Reports, and anything else, and how often you require them (i.e. every shipment, every 1000 pieces, etc.).  Also, if you have some special knowledge which can aid our production efforts (such as gating methods you have proven to work) we need that information!

Orders
    a. Payments
        i. PO Must Be Placed Before Any Expected Work Can Begin
        ii. All Payments Must Be Received By Supplier Before Any Expected Work Can Begin, Including Ordering Materials For Tooling Or Parts

Although it may seem like it goes without saying, occasionally we have Customers who are intent upon placing orders, and want us to order materials for tool making or raw materials for parts.  It is impossible for us to begin any aspect of your project without payment first - no exceptions.  We require a Purchase Order from your company, and a wire transfer to the appropriate bank account before any work can begin.  Remember, if you give us a "verbal" order, nothing will happen until the PO and payment are received.  Purchase Orders may be faxed, emailed or send via regular postal or document carrier.  Our Quotation will provide you with payment terms and supplier information for your PO and wire transfer.

    b. Schedules
        i. All Schedules Must Be Confirmed With Suppliers Before Commitments Are Made To End-Customer
        ii. Any Changes To The Schedule Must Be Confirmed By Suppliers Before Commitments Are Made To The End-Customer
            1. Any Changes To The Schedule Regarding Additional Processing Can Effect The Delivery By As Much As 1 Month
            2. Schedules Should Consider The Number Of Airline or Oceangoing Vessels Which Are Available Per Week
        iii. Shipping preferences/requirements

Many of our Customers are distributors or are themselves, suppliers for other Customers.  Believe it or not, sometimes we have schedules sent to us which have not been confirmed with our suppliers, and yet the end-Customer has already been informed of a delivery date!  While we make every effort to accommodate such schedules, the likelihood of our suppliers being able to keep your schedule without prior confirmation is low.  Most of our suppliers require a small premium for expedited service.  When placing an order, you may request expedited service if you must hold to a very tight schedule with short notice.  Once confirmed, the schedule cannot be changed without causing a delay in delivery.  For example, if you want to review some design aspects and wish to suspend production, you will more than likely lose your place on the machining schedule.  Once you are ready to resume, a new schedule will have to be set up.  Any such changes will cause delays.  

We need to know how you want the parts to ship to you.  Asian Castings has negotiated some attractive shipping rates and we can give you a Quotation for ocean shipping or air freight.  Tell us when you need the parts and we will make a recommendation.

Airfreight

Airfreight has its own set of requirements and hence its own category in this discussion.  While difficult to detail here, Asian Castings is personally familiar with what it takes to get an air shipment off the island of Taiwan.  Occasionally, our Customers have emergencies which require them to receive shipments by air which weren't scheduled.  These kinds of things happen, and we truly understand that sometimes you just "gotta get some parts fast!"  The problem is that air shipments must be scheduled in advance.  If you send us an email on Thursday, demanding an air shipment on Saturday its not going to happen.  We know how to book air shipments as quickly as possible, and how to get your parts to the airport on time.  During the peak season, the pre-booking delay may be as much as 1 week (we occasionally see 10 days).  Asian Castings will make every effort to get your parts to you on an emergency basis, but no guarantees can be made as airfreight must be booked in advance, on a first come, first served basis.  Regular, ongoing air shipments which are scheduled in advance are normal and easily implemented.

Communication

Keeping in touch with someone on another continent can be a frustrating experience, especially when there is a 12 hour time difference!  Most companies we deal with have a contact person with email capabilities from both their office and residence.  This is very helpful when you consider that basically, when we are working, you will be at home, and vise-versa.  Checking your emails when you arrive at home, and some point during the evening, and in the morning before you leave for your office can be very helpful to us during our work days.  We will be monitoring our emails until very late at night, our time for the same purpose.

In order to facilitate even greater communications capabilities, I recommend that you download and install the following programs on both your home and office computers:

Skype: http://www.skype.com/download/  Skype is a cross-platform internet telephony program which will enable you to make calls to anyone else in the world who is using Skype, on the internet, for free.  Skype is available for Windows, Mac OS, Linux and even for Pocket PC (which means you can call us from your PDA).  Create a free user account and then add us to your contacts list.  Our Skype username is asiancastings.

Yahoo! Messenger: http://messenger.yahoo.com/  Yahoo! Messenger is an "instant message" type program, which (more importantly) supports the use of so-called "webcams."  A webcam (a misnomer) is a CCD camera which connects to your computer and will provide video to any program which supports it (the industry is tending towards losing the reference to the term "webcam" recently).  An example of such a camera can be found here: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/US/EN (Asian Castings does not recommend any particular manufacturer - we are just showing you what a webcam looks like).  The principals at Asian Castings have more than 10 years of experience using such cameras for video teleconferencing on the internet, without expensive conferencing services.  Download and install Yahoo! Messenger.  Next, create a free Yahoo! account.  Then, add us to your contacts list.  Our Yahoo! username is asiancastings.  With Yahoo! Messenger we will be able to use our camera here to teleconference with you.  You do not need a camera unless you need to be seen by us.

Using Yahoo! Messenger for video and Skype for audio creates a very useful realtime audio/visual communication capability which must be used to be fully appreciated.  We at Asian Castings have the equipment and technical know-how to set up such conferencing capability from virtually any place on the island of Taiwan.  Arrangements can be made for such conferences in most other countries too.

Note:  Asian Castings recommends software and hardware firewalls to protect computers which are connected to the internet.

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