Screen Innovations has been innovating in the motorized roller shades and projection screens industry for over 20 years. As a loyal customer of SureSource for over six years, they recently looked for ways to reduce lead time on custom orders and turned to us for solutions.
The Problem
Screen Innovations builds a substantial percentage of their products for custom orders. Custom products are notoriously difficult to forecast and the parts required to build them have long lead times. These two factors resulted in excessive parts inventory for the company. Screen Innovations needed to reduce the 40–45-day part manufacturing lead times to shorten custom order completion times and minimize working capital requirements.
The Solution
Screen Innovations, looking to reduce purchased parts lead times that their current supplier was providing, approached SureSource, their lowest price, highest quality supplier, with a proposal: would SureSource accept a stock order for 26 parts and hold the parts until requested for shipment? Given the long-standing trust and understanding between the companies, SureSource was keen to help. We reviewed the proposal and offered a solution that would benefit both companies:
- Hold parts in Asia to reduce lead times from 45 days to 15 days.
- Finance the parts and cover carrying costs while the parts remained in Asia.
The Results:
This arrangement led to significant improvements:
- 18% Savings: Screen Innovations is now saving 18% on their parts purchase price versus their previous supplier.
- Lower Working Capital Costs: SureSource is financing the parts in Asia, reducing Screen Innovation’s working capital costs.
- Reduced Lead Time: Order completion times were cut from 45 days to 15 days.
- Enhanced Relationship: SureSource secured the additional custom products business because of the strengthened partnership.
Conclusion
SureSource’s commitment to collaboration and flexible solutions reinforced the trust and partnership with Screen Innovations, yielding significant benefits for both companies. Our approach to viewing every customer as a partner, with a focus on mutual trust, drives business growth and efficiency.
SureSource: Your Safe Pair of Hands in Asia. Let’s see what we can do for your company.
