Role (Position, Company) Corporate Production Manager, Large OEM Manufacturer
Interviewer Hannah Schmeling
Date Interviewed 2/22/21
Can you share a bit about the project work that Dalsin completed for you?
Dalsin has completed a lot of canopies, which is usually 11 or 14 gauge and they have also done some thicker gauge material. Specifically, we’ll order some prototypes, and they will deliver those, we’ll usually order the prototypes at a little bit higher cost to try to cover some of the processing costs that Dalsin has. Over a period of time, after the second or third order, we’ll get the serial production quantity. Most of the products quality has been pretty stabilized, Covid has kind of delayed everything we’ve been working on. The end of 2019 I think we were picking up a little bit with the momentum and then all of a sudden Covid hit. Just trying to get orders and supply chain.
What challenges have experts from the Dalsin helped you address?
On our end, the same thing is again Covid and the travel restrictions, we’re kind of opening that up very slowly going into this year. There’s this road map to potential cost reductions and improvement in the build, so we’re going to be digging back through that in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of this year and see what we can put together. For 2022, we’re looking at some new projects and Dalsin will definitely play a role as far as the canopies. We have a generator that’s about 40 feet long and it will be very challenging. This will probably be one of the biggest challenges.
How did the relationship with you and process work?
It’s been pretty good, I found them early in the morning trying to find out who can help us develop our metal fabrication issues and came across Dalsin. In this part of the country, we don’t really have suppliers like Dalsin. We needed a supplier that had an automotive quality and needed to get back to QDC. We used low-cost suppliers, but it didn’t work for the long term, so we’re focusing on a balance between quality, delivery, and cost.
What outcomes or results from your work with Dalsin have your experienced?
Overall, the cost has been pretty low, quality has been pretty good. We’ve had a couple little blimps, but I think we’re turning a corner, Dalsin has recovered and has shown that they’re willing to and will recover with us, which is unlike anything we’ve seen with other suppliers. When Dalsin does make a mistake in their production, they’re willing to sit down with us and talk with our quality people and engineers. It has been very refreshing versus what we typically face. Delivery has been good, and we really need to get more serial production in the pipeline so we can judge more efficiently, the delivery. But I don’t think there will be anything negative, I just think we need to get more in the pipeline.
What makes Dalsin a good partner to work with?
The reliability of their answers, their promptness, response time, and their focus on quality. Out of all our suppliers, especially for canopies, they definitely provide something much closer to that realm for the quality. We had an engine issue on QAS 625, so we had to shut down a project, but that’s not a problem on Dalsin’s end.
Can you share quote that we can use for promotional purposes?
“If you’re focused on TCO, total cost of ownership, Dalsin is the supplier for you or your operations.”