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Had an issue with a customer in Mexico last week that makes me suspicious on a few things. I received an e-mail that one of our parts (small stamping) had a burr in one of the holes. It was not from my usual contact there, but he was CC'd. They wanted me to approve a sort at our cost, so I asked them to provide a quote for a visual sort and hand deburr of 9000 pieces. I've approved similar things in the past, and they never seem to send a quote or charge us - I think they mainly want me to respond with CA, which I do.
Anyway, this time a quote comes in from a third party containment company, with a price tag 10 times what I could get the same thing done locally for. It also came from a yahoo e-mail address. They claimed 40% of the shipment was bad (no way would we have missed that). I pushed back, saying I would not approve unless they could prove the burr met the "fails safe handling and assembly" quote on the print. I also wanted a larger sample take to determine what percentage really needed deburring.
They did reply showing some parts that could not be put on a fixture. The percentage NC dropped to about 6%, and the sort quote dropped to a reasonable amount, and deburr at 8 cents each. I approved the sort, but not rework until I know an exact quantity that is bad.
The whole thing makes me suspicious that someone is trying to pass off work to a buddy and bill us, since being 2000 miles away makes it difficult for me to drop in and check it out myself. I was talking to a friend that also deals with Mexico, and she heard that this is becoming common, and is related to drug cartels not being able to make as much money with government crackdowns. Apparently they are setting up sham containment companies to make a quick buck, figuring it is not worth the time for US suppliers to fight. I can't seem to find any news articles on that, so not sure if it is someones guess or there is actually a problem.
Anyone else have a spike in containment issues and costs recently?
Anyway, this time a quote comes in from a third party containment company, with a price tag 10 times what I could get the same thing done locally for. It also came from a yahoo e-mail address. They claimed 40% of the shipment was bad (no way would we have missed that). I pushed back, saying I would not approve unless they could prove the burr met the "fails safe handling and assembly" quote on the print. I also wanted a larger sample take to determine what percentage really needed deburring.
They did reply showing some parts that could not be put on a fixture. The percentage NC dropped to about 6%, and the sort quote dropped to a reasonable amount, and deburr at 8 cents each. I approved the sort, but not rework until I know an exact quantity that is bad.
The whole thing makes me suspicious that someone is trying to pass off work to a buddy and bill us, since being 2000 miles away makes it difficult for me to drop in and check it out myself. I was talking to a friend that also deals with Mexico, and she heard that this is becoming common, and is related to drug cartels not being able to make as much money with government crackdowns. Apparently they are setting up sham containment companies to make a quick buck, figuring it is not worth the time for US suppliers to fight. I can't seem to find any news articles on that, so not sure if it is someones guess or there is actually a problem.
Anyone else have a spike in containment issues and costs recently?