Blanket orders are a critical tool for many buyers, ensuring predictable pricing, efficient volume, and guaranteed capacity. At Focused on Machining, we specialize in contract manufacturing services, including blanket orders in areas like aerospace machining.
This year’s regulatory uncertainty has made both buyers and machine shops hesitant about long-term commitments, but we think this moment presents an excellent opportunity for customers. If you’re concerned about the potential for rising costs, locking in pricing now through a well-structured blanket order could be a major win.
Learn how our collaborative approach to blanket orders and negotiations can help you secure the pricing stability and manufacturing capacity your business needs.
Collaborative, Open Negotiations Lead to Success
Negotiations aren’t always the most enjoyable aspect of manufacturing, but they’re essential to creating a win-win setup for everyone involved. We welcome open discussions about blanket orders, believing that every option is on the table to help find the best possible arrangement. That’s because we understand different factors matter most to different businesses.
If competitive pricing is your primary concern, blanket orders are an ideal solution. You’ll gain the cost advantages of large-scale production without the burden of large shipments. Getting the best possible pricing requires give-and-take on both sides, identifying areas where both sides can find beneficial terms. Ultimately, as a manufacturing partner focused on our customer experience, our goal is to understand your requirements and find the best path forward.
Strategic Approaches to Managing Material Costs
Material pricing is a significant challenge in today’s market, as pricing has risen at points during this year and uncertainty remains. As a result, some shops now shy away from blanket orders as they struggle to find vendors who will guarantee stable pricing.
At our Colorado machine shop, we take multiple approaches to this issue. First, our large network of trusted vendors often allows us to find suppliers for long-term commitments, even in today’s landscape. These partnerships give us leverage to secure competitive pricing that many shops or individual buyers can’t achieve.
Alternatively, some of our partners opt for upfront material purchasing in their blanket orders. This approach locks in current pricing, while we handle storage at our facility. An added benefit is that, with materials on hand, we can often accelerate your production schedule if your demand surges unexpectedly.
Flexible Payment Terms for Better Pricing
Risk directly influences our pricing structure, and that’s why customers who agree to more favorable payment terms will often see significant cost reductions. In a recent negotiation with a large space and defense contractor, for instance, our customer agreed to Net 15 payment terms. By reducing our financial risk, we were able to offer significantly lower prices per part.
The Benefits of Early Delivery
There are countless other areas that many of our customers often focus on to secure greater cost savings. Early delivery of contracted parts can benefit both our shop and the customer, depending on the situation.
Early delivery reduces your prices by allowing us to optimize scheduling, minimize setup costs, and reduce expenses from external processing and shipping.
Let’s Tailor a Blanket Order to Your Needs
Every aspect of our blanket order agreements is negotiable. If you’re seeking the stability and predictability that these structures offer in uncertain times, we’re committed to finding the terms that will work best for your business.
The strategies above represent just a small sample of how we can help customers achieve their goals. We’re always open to discussing any contract element where flexibility can help to create value for both our shop and our partner.
Ready to explore how a blanket order can benefit your business? Request a quote today to start the conversation with our Colorado contract manufacturing shop.