Spend Matters: The Advantages of the Maker-to-User Model

natali_mis/Adobe Stock

Not long ago, we at MetalMiner published a white paper on the “maker-to-user” movement — that is, the rise in local sourcing here in the U.S.
Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of MetalMiner’s Outlook
The white paper, which makes reference to the agricultural “farm-to-table” movement, investigates some of the benefits of local sourcing and incorporates the impacts of the Trump administration’s tariffs on everything from steel and aluminum to a wide variety of other goods from China.
In that vein, MetalMiner’s sister site, SpendMatters, also took a look at the issue in a guest post from Jason Middleton, vice president of sales and development for Ray Products.
“The domestic companies evaluating reshoring are slowly discovering what some of their peers and competitors have known for more than a decade: Because of hidden costs, outsourcing has never been cost-effective in the long term,” Middleton writes.
Middleton uses British automaker Aston Martin as an example of how offshoring has long-term costs.
“In 2014, after receiving complaints about broken throttle pedals in certain vehicles manufactured after 2007, the company launched an investigation,” he continued. “Their engineers quickly uncovered the issue: The faulty pedals had been made with counterfeit material rather than the company-specified, injection-molded DuPont PA6 plastic.
“How counterfeit resin ended up in these pedals is the result of a complex web of supply chain dynamics.”
MetalMiner’s Annual Outlook provides 2019 buying strategies for carbon steel
Read the whole post over at SpendMatters.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top