Powering industry

Interpower Corporation's president, Bob Wersen, explores the past, present and future of power cord and cord set supply
The number of power cord and cord set vendors has declined dramatically in the past fifteen years. There are several reasons. On a macro level, many suppliers could not compete with rapidly growing Chinese suppliers. Also, larger customers of power cord manufacturers shut down manufacturing in industrialised countries and moved to China, reducing the size of domestic markets for cord producers. On a micro level, many cord suppliers tried to compete on price with Chinese vendors. With costs significantly higher than Chinese competitors, this was simply not feasible and these companies went out of business.
Cord suppliers in industrialised countries that have survived have done so by differentiating their product and/or service. Larger cord suppliers partnered with a small number of key equipment manufacturers and customised their products and services to exactly match their customers’ needs. These suppliers will survive, but probably not prosper, as long as the equipment manufacturers continue to build products in their home markets. Smaller cord suppliers that remain are focused on specific industries, specific geographic areas or well defined service offerings.
One of the strongest differentiators is speed. Different customers of cord suppliers may define fast delivery differently but generally, off-the-shelf delivery with same-day shipment of commonly specified cords and one week manufacturing lead times on special cords or cords with special packaging is becoming an expectation. Lately, one week manufacturing lead times has become too long in some situations.
Why do equipment manufacturers need such fast deliveries of power cords? In some cases, they will build product to a ‘nearly-finished stage’ so they can respond to customer requirements quickly. However, since they can’t predict from which market their orders will come, they may choose to purchase the cords and related components at the last minute prior to shipping. Competitive pressures make it important for equipment manufacturers to be able to take orders and ship finished products quickly, so speed is an issue with the equipment manufacturer, too.
The bigger picture is that many equipment manufacturers are building equipment today in response to specific orders, rather than in long production runs. Furthermore, to minimise raw materials inventories and work in progress, they will purchase components for delivery when they need them. Most manufacturers do not purchase a multi-month supply of anything any more.
So, how do competitive cord suppliers achieve fast deliveries? First, they maintain stock on fast moving cords and they send ready-to-ship stock cords the same day they receive the order. Second, they manufacture in a lean environment with small lot sizes and efficient tool change practices so they can make short runs quickly and efficiently. They also maintain significant inventories of cable for converting into power cords or cord sets. They deliver exactly what the customer wants in a short time: twenty week lead times are no longer competitive.
The final piece of the puzzle is the specification decision. Today, competitive vendors will maintain complete specification information including detailed drawings, agency approval, RoHS compliance, pricing and delivery on their web site. In many cases the entire transaction can be handled via e-commerce.
Interpower Components maintains stock of many frequently specified power cords and cord sets in its Milton Keynes warehouse. Most items are manufactured in Interpower Corporation factories in the US and sent via sea freight on a regularly scheduled monthly shipment. Two regular air freight shipments each month supplement the sea freight shipment.