You’ve spent months or even years developing your product, and now it’s time to start looking for a manufacturing partner. Or maybe you haven’t yet begun to develop your product and are looking for an integrative partner who can take you from conception to launch, handling everything in between.
At Pivot International, we’re an integrative leader in product design, development, manufacturing, and supply chain management. Our DFM (design for manufacturing) expertise is behind dozens of award-winning products across fourteen industries. Although we’re headquartered and have manufacturing facilities in the heart of the American midwest (Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri), we are a global leader with product solutions for markets across three continents.
The search for a manufacturing partner will need to include considerations of cost, quality control, and scope of experience. It will also need to include considerations of technological investment, ease of communication, and site access. Let’s look at how each fits together in an integrative model and why a midwest manufacturing partner can be an incredibly advantageous choice.
Cost Competitiveness of Midwest Manufacturing
Midwest manufacturing tends to offer clear cost advantages over coastal manufacturing for two reasons. First, the midwest in general and Kansas City in particular (where we’re based) is a central hub for logistics and e-commerce, making “In” and “Out” costs among the lowest in the country.
Second, the cost-of-living in coastal cities is higher than in the midwest. This means that companies in coastal areas necessarily pay their employees a higher-than-average wage. This cost is externalized to customers, which gives coastal manufacturers their reputation for being considerably more expensive than their midwest counterparts. At Pivot, customers have repeatedly told us stories of receiving prohibitively costly quotes from coastal manufacturers, only to find we could offer a significantly more cost-effective solution.
Quality Control
Of course, if cost were the only consideration, choosing a manufacturing partner wouldn’t be such a big decision. You’ll also need to factor quality-control into the equation. Our Quality Management Systems and Policies are consistent with the requirements of ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485:2016, ISO 80079-34, and IEC 60601-1. We are also FDA Registered, UL Listed, and CSA Approved. We are compliant with WEEE, Conflict Minerals, Prop 65, REACH, and RoHS regulations.
Experience and Expertise
You want a midwest manufacturing partner with decades of experience that knows the industry, inside and out, and has seen customers through thick and thin. At Pivot, we bring nearly a half-century of proven experience and expertise across fourteen industries. We’ve been around long enough to have solved thousands of challenges and weathered many storms — economic, geopolitical, and pandemic. This means we’re experts in employing advanced risk management strategies to protect our companies and our customers, even in the worst of times.
Technology Investment
Even if your partner is a green light in terms of cost, quality, and experience, have they invested in the latest digital technologies, including digital twinning, AI, AR, VR, blockchain, and more? Do they have the technological capability to handle both small and large production runs, as well as the ability to alternate between them flexibly? Can your partner scale production to real-time demand? (This is especially crucial when attempting to capitalize on unpredictable demand curves and rapidly appearing market opportunities.)
Ease of Communication and Site Access
Let’s think about less tangible but no less critical considerations. Is your partner easy to work with? (Do they take a collaborative approach and keep you in the loop on where things stand?) Do they speak your language? (Not just product-wise, but literally — will you need to deal with a language barrier?) Does your partner have a reputation for having an impeccable work ethic? (Do they walk their talk about doing whatever it takes to come through for you?) And is your partner near your time zone? When you opt for Pivot’s midwest-based product development and manufacturing, you’ll be able to answer yes to every one of these questions.
We hire talent that brings advanced design and engineering expertise to the table and the ability to work well with people. Because our teams specialize in DFM, we know the product development process from end to end. This, combined with the lack of a language barrier, makes our teams incredibly easy to collaborate with. We’re also less than one-day travel from anywhere in the US. You can jump on a plane, or in your car, and be onsite to meet the team or check on your project in a matter of hours.
There are countless reasons why midwest manufacturing is a winning bet for your business. If you’d like to learn even more about how our integrative, one-source model can help your product successfully cross the finish line, contact us today for a no-cost consultation!
