(Background: We are a small company that assembles electronic boards).
How to determine if a provider is a broker? Can we say that if an entity is not an authorized provider, it is automatically a broker?
The issue is important:
• if a supplier is determined to be a broker, the part will be inspected;
• if the part is inspected, our warranty will apply.
Personally, I believe that there are 4 types of providers:
• Authorized distributors;
• Unauthorized distributors;
• “Reliable” brokers;
• The others!
For my organization, it seems that having 3-4 categories is beyond our means (eg would be difficult to manage).
So, our criteria (to know if a provider is a broker) would be:
1- Is it authorized by the part manufacturer?
2- Does he sell at a very high price (ex: 10x)?
3- Is the guarantee (very) limited?
While thinking, we asked ourselves questions about different scenarios, e.g. :
• Is Digiker a broker? (If so, all Digikey parts should be inspected???)
• Is Rochester a broker?
Purchasing recently changed the status of a supplier (from broker to non-broker). When asked what criteria they based their assessment on, they answered:
1- Absence of problems with this supplier;
2- The supplier has “certifications” (which are rather association memberships than certifications);
The meeting also deviated on whether a CofC could be considered as a guarantee and the role of a CofC.
We will also have to study next what should be the criteria for selecting a broker.
In short, it is important to be able to classify what is a broker and what is not because this will influence whether we must request authorization from customer to be able to buy from a designated supplier if the supplier is a broker or not, and also avoid any dispute.
We would also like to be able to present our criteria in a professional manner to any current or future client.
Another issue: given that we are growing, we would not want to have to rework a lot of electronic pcbs if we put down parts from a broker when we shouldn’t have.
Thank you in advance for your help !
LesPiles
How to determine if a provider is a broker? Can we say that if an entity is not an authorized provider, it is automatically a broker?
The issue is important:
• if a supplier is determined to be a broker, the part will be inspected;
• if the part is inspected, our warranty will apply.
Personally, I believe that there are 4 types of providers:
• Authorized distributors;
• Unauthorized distributors;
• “Reliable” brokers;
• The others!
For my organization, it seems that having 3-4 categories is beyond our means (eg would be difficult to manage).
So, our criteria (to know if a provider is a broker) would be:
1- Is it authorized by the part manufacturer?
2- Does he sell at a very high price (ex: 10x)?
3- Is the guarantee (very) limited?
While thinking, we asked ourselves questions about different scenarios, e.g. :
• Is Digiker a broker? (If so, all Digikey parts should be inspected???)
• Is Rochester a broker?
Purchasing recently changed the status of a supplier (from broker to non-broker). When asked what criteria they based their assessment on, they answered:
1- Absence of problems with this supplier;
2- The supplier has “certifications” (which are rather association memberships than certifications);
The meeting also deviated on whether a CofC could be considered as a guarantee and the role of a CofC.
We will also have to study next what should be the criteria for selecting a broker.
In short, it is important to be able to classify what is a broker and what is not because this will influence whether we must request authorization from customer to be able to buy from a designated supplier if the supplier is a broker or not, and also avoid any dispute.
We would also like to be able to present our criteria in a professional manner to any current or future client.
Another issue: given that we are growing, we would not want to have to rework a lot of electronic pcbs if we put down parts from a broker when we shouldn’t have.
Thank you in advance for your help !
LesPiles