By Matt Giza, General Manager, Cogmedix Inc.

There are many reasons for companies of all sizes to utilize services from a trusted contract manufacturing (CM) partner. However, one reason in particular is the ability for a CM to react more quickly to changing market conditions, which can have an immediate effect on your top and bottom lines. Although CM’s are not immune to market recessions like the one a lot of us experienced in 2008/2009, they are generally better prepared to manage through them due to the nature of their business management processes. The personality of a diversified CM is one that is used to rapidly adjusting to dynamic customer and market conditions. In addition, they are generally more diversified than any one particular company promoting their own market specific product. The Subsidiaries of Coghlin Companies, Inc., including Columbia Electrical Contractors Inc. (dba Columbia Tech), DCI Automation, Inc. and Cogmedix, Inc. for example are well diversified in Life Sciences, Homeland Security, Semiconductor, Solar, and Industrial OEM markets, presenting a well diversified portfolio.

“An effective CM partnership can define whether or not your organization will be properly positioned on the forefront of the next demand wave.”

A core competency of a solid CM partner is their ability to manage extended supply chain and skilled human resource management strategies to accommodate for rapid changes in customer demand. This often contrasts technology development companies in as far as their differentiators generally include core IP development, unique product features and performance, and other technology or marketing related advantages as viewed by their market.

An effective CM partnership can define whether or not your organization will be properly positioned on the forefront of the next demand wave. Often times the CM can simply shift resources from other programs or bring on skilled resources much more rapidly than a company who doesn’t live and breathe the same resource management process as a core competency. While considering this topic it’s clear how a solid CM partnership can benefit young, innovative companies that need to control costs very closely and realize ROI as quickly as possible. However, it’s also important to realize that even in larger organizations it is often wise to outsource some percentage of your manufacturing so that you have more than one lever to adjust during times of increased or decreased production volumes.

About The Blogger:

An industry veteran, Matt Giza brings his wealth of experience to his role as Cogmedix General Manager.