Questions You Should Know about Wire Harness Supplier

Knowing what to ask when talking to a wire harness manufacturer is key to choosing the right one.

Wire harness manufacturers come with a wide range of experience and specialized knowledge. However, finding the right organization is more than simply reviewing their credentials for a specific project. You also want to find a team that is a good fit with yours. With a few carefully chosen questions, you can build a partnership with a reliable manufacturer that lasts beyond one or two jobs.

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Talking with Wire Harness Manufacturers

The process you go through when hiring a wire harness manufacturers has a lot in common with conducting interviews for employment. The information you need to ensure they can do the job is covered by obvious questions, like:

• What industries do you serve?
• What is your experience with my type of equipment?
• What is your lead time on orders?
• Are you able to produce small/large quantities?

You absolutely want to cover that information, but there are a few other questions you may not think to ask that can shed additional light on how your working relationship would be. These include:

Who is your ideal customer?

There is no perfect answer to this question. You can, however, learn a little bit about how the wire harness manufacturer&#;s team likes to work, what their communication style is, and whether their expectations for how closely you will work match with yours. It can serve as a conversation starter, so it might be useful to give some serious thought to what kind of customer you will be.

What do you consider your greatest success on a project?

Again, there isn&#;t a right answer for this question. There can be a wrong one, though. You don&#;t want to hear, &#;The cable worked.&#; That should be a given. Listen for tough challenges that were overcome. Ask for details. While they may not be able to give specifications, they should be able to talk about they how they worked through the problem.

Can you give references?

You should ask for references from every wire harness manufacturer you are serious about working with. While references are almost always handpicked to give the best possible impression of the manufacturer&#;s work, they should still be able to provide them. And you should contact those references. Make sure you talk about their experience working with the manufacturer and how the wire harnesses they produced perform.

Do you have one or two big clients that provide you with most of your work?

Answering yes to this question shouldn&#;t automatically rule out a contender for your project. However, it can imply that your project might not be as high of a priority for them. While this isn&#;t always the case, it is something you want to address before you get started.

Can you describe your testing and quality control process?

This question is less relationship based, but it&#;s vital that you understand how a wire harness manufacturer ensures the quality of the products they produce. It goes beyond ensuring the product works. Products that have gone through rigorous testing are just safer to use. It&#;s not an area where you want to cut corners.

Technical know-how and manufacturing capabilities are obvious areas to consider when talking to wire harness manufacturers, but that information doesn&#;t always tell the whole story. Asking a few questions during initial discussions can help you understand what a relationship with the company would be like. When you&#;re ready to discuss your next custom wire harness, please get in touch with the Meridian team. We&#;d love to hear about your project.

Asking Challenging Questions Gains Valuable Information 

When considering outsourcing services to a custom manufacturer of any industry, asking challenging questions is critical for selecting the best fit possible. Having a list of tough questions prepared brings tremendous value to the process. Since we are a Wire Harness Manufacturer, we will specifically address Interviewing a Wire Harness Manufacturer.

At this stage, you have narrowed the field down to either a single or hopefully a few candidates. Now is time to begin the interview process. Asking tough interview questions will help lead you to the valued partner that you desire. This partnership will take your business to the next level. At least, that is the goal.

For example, do you find the company accessible and responsive? To vastly increase our response time with customers, we recently launched the Falconer Electronics Wire Harness Estimator. This new tool allows customers the ability to gather an estimate immediately.

Outsourcing Your Wire Harness Assembly Process 

We are continuing our series on going through the entire due diligence process of selecting a custom manufacturer to outsource products. This week we suggest a list of questions to ask when Interviewing a Wire Harness Manufacturer.

So far in previous weeks, topics have included:

Outsource Your Wire Harness Assembly Process &#; Part 1

Selecting a Wire Harness Manufacturer &#; Part 2

How to Find a New Wire Harness Manufacturer &#; Part 3 

In addition, being overly prepared and asking the right questions can save you a great deal of grief and frustration down the road. Hastily jumping into a new relationship with a custom manufacturer that turns sour can be devastating and difficult to recover depending on the severity.

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50 Questions When Interviewing a Wire Harness Manufacturer

To help discover if you are compatible with a custom manufacturer that you are interviewing, below are a list of helpful questions to consider:

1. What industries do you serve?
2. Please describe your ideal customer?
3. Greatest victory in your business career or at your company?
4. Biggest let down or setback as well as how did you resolve?
5. Could you share exciting changes taking place at your business?
6. What are you absolutely best at?
7. What are your greatest weaknesses?
8. How long have you been in business?
9. Who are your key employees?
10. Describe the experience of staff?
11. Do I have access with the floor supervisor?
12. Who is my main point of contact?
13. What are your business hours?
14. Do I have a contact on weekends?
15. Who do I contact for an emergency?
16. Are you properly insured? (Check with your insurance company to confirm requirements)
17. Can you supply 3 customer references?
18. Are you willing to sign a non-disclosure form?
19. What is your lead time on orders?
20. Are you able to tackle rush orders?
21. Should the customer supply parts or do you prefer to supply parts?
22. Do you have aggressive discount programs with vendors?
23. Do you take advantage of early payment discounts with your vendors?
24. What are your payment terms?
25. Do accept credit card for payment?

Round II: Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Wire Harness Manufacturer

1. Are discounts available for early payment?
2. What is your shipping policy?
3. Could we compare discounts with UPS/FedEx to see who has best rates?
4. Who is responsible for damaged goods during shipping?
5. Do you accept blanket orders?
6. Will you inventory our raw parts or finished goods when necessary?
7. Are you willing to purchase new tools or equipment to complete projects?
8. Can we work with you on projections?
9. What software do you use for inventory management as well as scheduling?
10. Do one or two customers represent more than 50% of your annual sales?
11. Have you ever been sued or in a lawsuit?
12. Have you ever gone bankrupt?
13. How do we handle damaged goods or parts not working?
14. Can you describe your testing process as well as quality control?
15. What is the company mission or vision statement?
16. Is your company tech savvy?
17. Do you have a succession plan or exit strategy in place?
18. What makes your company stand above the competition?
19. Facets of your business that demonstrate your commitment to your customer&#;s profitability?
20. Any industry standards or certificates achieved?
21. Do you have a safety protocol?
22. What is your capacity level?
23. Have you experienced layoffs recently?
24. Are you profitable?
25. Please explain the reason a recent customer stopped buying from you?

Wrapping It Up

Asking excellent questions goes a long way with any relationship. This list is just a suggestive list of helpful questions to consider when Interviewing a Wire Harness Manufacturer.

Lastly, Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

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Contact us to discuss your requirements of Wire Harness Supplier. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.