| Updated January 31, 20202018 was a solid year for most companies although certainly not without challenges. In the metal industry, we were severely and negatively impacted by government-imposed tariffs on steel & metal imports. Politics seem to find a way into all our lives whether we want it or not (most of us not!)
Tariffs impacted both cost and supply—many typical material units were hard to find and even out of stock.
Despite some of those frustrations, and quotes that literally had a one-day life span, AMF was blessed with both great customers and great, hardworking employees.
2019 looks to be another good year by all indicators, even against some of the negative economic head winds being reported by the national media.
One of AMF’s main goals this year is to reach out to our customers like never before with negotiated win-win deals.
We humbly submit that there is too much wasted & non-value-added time used on the old-fashioned quoting system so deeply entrenched in the traditional market supply chain.
How often do you find yourself saving ten dollars but losing a week of production time?
Time often has more value than a few percentage tics and two weeks of wasted RFQ time.
This can change!
AMF’s promise is to deliver great, quality parts on time and for a price that allows both AMF and our customers to make money.
AMF has been putting these practices to the test over the last several years and found many-more-than-expected relationships where our customers simply give us a price and PO which we agree to fulfill.
The deal takes trust on both sides!
It is a little scary at first (for everyone), but, when it works, enormous amounts of time and energy are saved and directed toward fulfillment instead of the old RFQ dance.
In essence, for the accountant types, wasted overhead money is transferred into direct COGS money…even better, wasted time is eliminated.
These types of partnerships allow buyers to spend more time on very elastic goods and services (where real money can be saved), and sellers to spend more time on fulfillment service (where real money can be saved).
Obviously, this only works if both parties are committed to each other’s success!
In conclusion, we started this article on tariffs and politics—where we can be sure almost NO PERSON is committed to another party’s success. Gladly, we are finishing on trusted business relationships where there are still many people that can see practical Game Theory in action where EVERY PERSON can win.
Here is to a great 2019 and the hope that we can all be game winners this year!
