Production: +/- 10% on custom orders

We get many calls about our practice of not shipping the exact quantity ordered on a CUSTOM made spring.  It is really to the advantage of the customer to allow this to happen.  Let us try to explain.

During the manufacturing process unforeseen changes in the quantity happen after the springs are run off a spring coiler.  Some are ruined during the grinding/hooking process, some are lost during the plating process and some can be accidentally dropped off the floor and “bounce” away never to be found again.  Over the years we have found that running 10% over the order quantity allows us to make up for these losses and ship at least the quantity ordered in most cases.

There are two ways to handle the “cost” of these lost/scrap springs after the process is over.  One is the advantage of Jones and the other is to the customer.  If we build this cost into the price of the springs and ship you exact quantities, the price to you would be 10% more than you currently pay and you would not get the overrun springs.  Here is an example.  Let’s say you place an order under our current practice allowing +/- 10% overrun and we quote 50 springs at 1.50 each.  We might actually ship and bill you for 53 pieces so your total cost would be $79.50 and you would have 53 pieces.  If we have to build in the possible 10% loss/scrap into our costs, we would have to quote 1.65 each for the 50 springs.  We would ship and bill you exactly what you ordered so the total for 50 springs would be $82.50 and you would get 50 pieces.  So which is the better deal, 53 for $79.50 or 50 for $82.50?

The biggest problem really happens when we lose/ruin more than the 10% we overrun and ship you less than the quantity ordered which doesn’t happen in about 99.75% of the cases.  Most orders we make are not a one-time deal and the customer might have to order the next batch a little earlier than normal.  That leaves an even small percentage that falls into the scenario of a one-time buy and us shipping less than the quantity ordered.

We hope this explains why we choose to follow the +/- 10% rule.  The lesson to be learned is that if your order is a one-time buy you might want to order 10% more pieces than you actually need.