Why do the small ones always have to cover a lot more than the big ones in mechanical engineering?Posted by Juul Stokholm on May 22nd, 2021 Lower costs through alternative providers to the top dogs. Erfahrungen Small companies who develop, build or commission machines will be overwhelmed by the costs from the machine parts. Anyone who, like me, as a research assistant also needs prototypes or small (very) series to use something out is faced with completely different challenges. As the large suppliers of mechanical engineering solutions aren't interested in small (very) orders . I think it is particularly annoying that large companies are granted gigantic discounts on their purchases, so that the providers actually only generate a higher throughput, but hardly make any profit on the parts themselves. Conversely, this also means that smaller companies and medium-sized companies have to serve for the profits. This is one way the little ones purchase the corporate shopping frenzy . That just can't be. Within the last few years, however, there's been an interesting development. While in the past you had to choose everything from standard parts to catalog parts from thick, printed catalogs (I recall the fattest catalog from Ina-Schaeffler), procurement in the B2B area can be shifting to online shops. Here you will find a significantly greater price transparency and for that reason also stronger competition between your providers. It really is precisely this transparency and this online competition leading to fairer purchasing conditions for everybody . Because of course you may also give discounts to individual customers in web stores and tailor the offer. But if you hide your good prices behind discounts rather than making them available to everyone, you lose market share. In the end , probably the most transparent and fair mass provider wins in web business . The search engines also have a component in this. Because those that attract many users to their site will be rewarded with good ratings by the search engine providers. Niche providers have a tendency to go under. I have to say: I like this development. There's something about Robin Hood about any of it, because the over- benefits of large companies in purchasing and sales must finally arrived at an end. Because the damage is caused by the tiny ones. And it is exactly the small and medium-sized companies, research institutes and startups that live from innovations. But if you want to bring innovations to market quickly, you have to be able to pay for the countless development interventions. I am going to consistently list fair providers among the top tables here. I have thought of a number of criteria: Transparent online prices and online availability Comparable quality promise Good support In the event that you as a reader know other interesting providers, please write to me and I will add them to the directory. My goal is for small businesses to have a sort of "yellow pages of alternative sources". Ideally also from other, small companies.Like it? Share it! More by this author |