Circular Logic Blog asked Michael Gordon, the President and Founder of COREDEMAR Precision Bearings, to answer a few questions based on this scenario. Here’s what he had to say:
MG: It doesn’t have to be common, it only has
to be perceived as common. Maybe it happened to you? Or someone you know? Or
maybe you heard it from someone who heard it from someone else? If it happens
to one person, there are suddenly 50 people who “know a guy” who it
happened to.
Dealing
with negative perceptions about China is the biggest challenge we face from
day-to-day. You have concerns whenever you’re dealing with a new supplier but
if that supplier is located in China, the concerns become fears and they tend
to multiply, fairly or not.
CLB: “Fairly or not” – are you saying
it’s not
a real concern?
MG: Far from it! China is the capital of the
global trade in counterfeit bearings and too many of their legitimate
manufacturers can’t meet bearing standards, be they ABMA or ISO.
But
there are companies that can manufacture consistently high-quality bearings. That
shouldn’t be a surprise! China has launched space satellites, they’ve landed
probes on the moon and they’ve developed ultra-high-speed trains. Their elite manufacturers –
the best of the best – can design and manufacture precision bearings equal to
any in the world. The challenge is to find them.
CLB: So how do you find the right supplier?
MG:
Short of a
direct referral, there are really only two ways to be completely sure. The
first is obvious: go to China and meet your suppliers face-to-face. Invest the
time and energy to inspect and validate their capabilities for yourself. To
be honest, if you’re not willing to take this step, you shouldn’t be selling
bearings manufactured in China in the first place.
The
second is to have an actual office in China – not just an address – a real
presence in the market. The Internet is great for working across cultural and
geographical boundaries but there’s no substitute for actually being there. We
opened our office in Shanghai in 2008. We’re also fortunate that most of our
supplier relationships predate the Internet.
CLB: And if you don’t have the money or the
time to visit China or open an office there?
MG:
If you
can’t get there yourself, you need an agent who can get there, or better yet,
an agent who already has a presence in China. I don’t mean “some guy” who claims to
have a connection; I’m talking about a reputable agent who can act on your
behalf to identify suppliers, validate their qualifications and make sure the
work gets done on schedule and exactly to specifications. The
top agents can
back up
their quality claims with years of relevant experience and a real local
presence.
CLB: That seems like a lot of work – Why
run the risk in the first place?
MG: My
first reaction is to say – if you’re sure of the supplier – the risk is no
greater than any other source. As for the effort involved, that’s why you hire
an agent to work on your behalf. There’s no more effort involved than
a standard bearing purchase.
Regarding
the “why,” everyone knows that bearings manufactured in China are less
expensive than bearings manufactured by the big multinationals. In many cases,
the money saved can be significant. However,
saving money means nothing if your customers don’t trust the product. So, while
the price savings can be significant, the focus has to be on quality and
service. The prices take care of themselves.
CLB: Returning to
the scenario we discussed earlier: what happens when a bearing from China
rejects or fails?
MG:
Bearings will
fail from time to time. What we resent is the notion that it’s somehow better
or preferable for a major manufacturer’s bearing to fail than a bearing
manufactured in China. For
instance, when a bearing from Timken or SKF fails, it’s chalked up to
statistics and you grab another one off the shelf. If a bearing from China
fails, it
becomes an indictment
of the entire society. That may be an exaggeration, but generally, if you
sell bearings manufactured in China, you’re not allowed to have a reject. It is
what it is.
CLB: So how do you deal with it?
MG:
Fortunately our
record speaks for itself. COREDEMAR has been doing this for nearly 40 years and
can claim virtually zero rejects over that time. I say “virtually zero” because
you can never eliminate human error – that goes for bearing manufacturers as
well as end-users – but we put our record up against anyone. The
most important factor in our ability to avoid bearing failure has been the
quality of our suppliers and our supplier relationships. We’ve
been working
with most of our
manufacturers for decades.
CLB: Do you have any parting advice?
MG:
One of
the best ways to avoid failure is to learn to say “No.” For instance, we don’t
sell tapered rollers. They’re an incredibly popular item and – given the
well-publicized delivery problems that Timken is enduring - we could probably
make a fortune if we did sell them, but we don’t. Why
not? Because we’re not 100% sure of the sources in China who sell tapered
roller bearings. And
if we’re not 100% sure of the quality of the part, we don’t sell it. Period.
We
know
super precision angular contact bearings, small motor bearings, thin-cross
section bearings, and several other types. We’ve been successful because we’ve
focused on ultra-precision spindle and machine tool bearings and we’ve stayed
in our lane.
_________
Michael Gordon is the President and
Founder of COREDEMAR Precision Bearings (the same company that's behind this blog), which has been selling precision
spindle and machine tool bearings to the North American manufacturing industry
for nearly 40 years. To contact Michael, email: info@coredemar-ltd.com
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