Everyone is in a rush these days. I even find myself a victim. I get up too late, run out of the house, and feel my heart pumping as I exceed the speed limit just to get to work on time. But is this fast paced society doing anyone any good?

When I talk to buyers, I always ask them when they need delivery of their goods. Almost half the time the answer comes back yesterday! Why are we doing this to ourselves. I know we are the victims of a previous chain of events, but the fact of the matter is, no one is winning. Suppliers are flustered, buyers are paying higher prices, and the word "expedite" is becoming even more familiar in our sourcing vocabulary. ( I was on the highway just yesterday and the truck in front of me was called Panther Expedite Services...people are in the business of expediting!)

Suppliers take note! Don't wait to jump on this opportunity! I speak with suppliers every day who are upset because they were preparing quotes on a job and the buyer decided to award the business before the quote date. Here's the thing, if you are busy, let the buyer know that you are preparing the quote. Call, e-mail, do something to let him know that your quote is coming through and he will be happy to see it. Otherwise, these buyers are on tight deadlines and are getting jumpy. If they see something even moderately close to their price, or even get a sales call that sways them, they are ready to go.

On a personal note...I don't see society slowing down any time soon, but promise me one thing....don't deny yourself a vacation this year folks. We need to recharge our batteries so we can keep up with this rat race and coffee only lasts 30 minutes. Peace!

This is my first posting, so thank you for reading!

As a Sourcing Specialist in manufacturing, I see a lot of different requests that buyers submit to suppliers for quotation. They range from machined parts, molding, screws, motors, high volume, low volume, brass, iron, etc. The one thing that all of these buyers have in common though is that they NEED a quote. There are different reasons why buyers outsource but I believe more often then not we have to give them the benefit of the doubt ...that they are not doing it to just exercise their sourcing legs. (Especially when they deal with me....I ask to many questions and it wouldn't be worth the trouble if they weren't serious about obtaining a quote). Here's the point....the undesirable business is still a request that the buyer NEEDS.

For example, have you ever looked at a low volume RFQ and said to yourself the tooling will cost more than the parts and it's not worth quoting. Come on....I know some of ya fellas are saying, yeah...that's me. Here's the deal....the buyer KNOWS this. And every time a supplier says he doesn't want to do it because the tooling and labor are going to cost too much, the buyer is unable to bring on a new vendor. I've had some of the biggest corporations in the world come to me with these types of jobs and they simply are going unquoted. They are not impossible to do, just not the most desirable. But, to the one supplier who is willing to build a relationship and work with them on this project, they are opening a door to new business in the future.

So, I encourage any supplier....the next time you see that low volume sand casting or molding and are ready to hit delete, give it a second look. At least look at who the buyer is and ask yourself how hard it would be to get in their preferred vendor program and is this your way to get your foot in the door.