Use cases / Manufacturing & Fabrication
Find a contract manufacturer. Checked against your brief.
Describe the part, the processes and the certificates you need. Ordren finds manufacturers, reads their own websites, and gives you the quote and the page behind each requirement.
Start from this brief
Contract manufacturer for sheet-metal enclosures. ISO 9001, powder coat in-house.
Draft my briefContract manufacturer for sheet-metal enclosures near Milwaukee, runs of about 500. ISO 9001, powder coat and assembly in-house. No sourcing agents.
Ordren heard
- Sheet-metal enclosures primary
- Milwaukee, WI
- ISO 9001
- In-house powder coat
- In-house assembly
- No sourcing agents rule out
- Unit price to ask
- Lead time to ask
01 — How to vet a contract manufacturer
What a manufacturer’s own site can prove. What their site can prove. And what you will have to ask. What you still ask.
RequirementWhere manufacturers usually state it
- Processes and materials
- A capabilities page: cutting, forming, welding, and the metals and gauges they run.
- ISO 9001 certification
- A quality page, often with the certificate as a PDF. Look up an accredited certificate yourself in IAF CertSearch.
- Finishing done in-house
- The finishing page. Look for a sentence that says the powder coat line is on site.
- Equipment and capacity
- An equipment list: lasers, press brakes, welding cells and their sizes.
- Makes the parts itself
- The About page. If it says jobs are placed with partner shops and you ruled out sourcing agents, the company is excluded.
Ordren checks, on their own pages
- Processes and materials
- ISO 9001 certificate
- In-house finishing
- Equipment list
- Makes the parts itself
Look up an accredited certificate yourself in IAF CertSearch.
You ask, in the RFQ draft
- Unit price and breaks
- Lead time
- Tooling and setup charges
- First-article inspection
02 — A sample manufacturer shortlist
Fourteen manufacturers assessed. Five must-haves each. Fourteen manufacturers, five must-haves each.
Sample data · Fictional suppliers
Shortlist · Sample data
Sheet-metal enclosures, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
14 assessed · 5 must-haves each
- 23 found
- 14 assessed
- 42 pages read
Brightwater Metalworks
5 of 5 checkable must-haves verified · 2 to ask
Verified · ISO 9001
The supporting sentence, found on Brightwater Metalworks’ own site in a stored copy of the page.
“Certified to ISO 9001:2015. The current certificate is posted on this page.”
brightwatermetalworks.example/quality Open stored copy
Dunmore Fabricating
3 of 5 checkable must-haves verified · 2 to ask
Verified · Sheet-metal enclosures
The supporting sentence, found on Dunmore Fabricating’s own site in a stored copy of the page.
“Custom enclosures and panels in steel, stainless and aluminum.”
dunmorefab.example/products Open stored copy
Sandhill Metal Products
3 of 5 checkable must-haves verified · 2 to ask · 1 not met
Verified · Sheet-metal enclosures
The supporting sentence, found on Sandhill Metal Products’ own site in a stored copy of the page.
“Sheet-metal housings and enclosures, cut, formed and welded to your print.”
sandhillmetal.example/services Open stored copy
Meridian Sourcing Group
“We place each job with a partner shop in our network.” Sourcing agent. Ruled out.
Rule-out found on its own page Sourcing agent · Left off the shortlist
03 — RFQ questions for a manufacturer
The gaps become your first email.
Every Unknown for a shortlisted manufacturer becomes a numbered question: here, the certificate and who does the assembly. You open the draft in your own email and send it yourself. Ordren contacts nobody.
Sample draft · To Dunmore Fabricating
We need powder-coated sheet-metal enclosures in runs of about 500. Before we send drawings, could you confirm three things?
-
Are you certified to ISO 9001, and can you send the current certificate? ISO 9001 certificate?
-
Do you assemble enclosures in-house, including hardware and gaskets? Assembly in-house?
-
What are the unit price and lead time for a first run of 500? Price and lead time for 500?
Open in your email Sample draft · You send every message
You send it from your own email. Ordren contacts nobody.