Biotech customer saved 62% on part costs
Biotech customer uses Swim Left Products to drastically reduce costs on complicated, tight-tolerance parts.
62%
savings on parts
Low-volume sweet spot
In the past, this customer’s low-volume, complex parts were cost prohibitive to order in small quantities. However, this customer profile is a great match for Swim Left’s model, which carefully controls operating parameters, making re-orders easy and efficient.
Swim Left reviewed the customer’s needs and quoted their average monthly spend across seven parts at $2,260 per month. With this quote, the biotech customer landed in Swim Left’s Tier 1 pricing, qualifying for fast 5-day lead times. After onboarding and customer approval, the parts were ready for true just-in-time production. This customer can now order a minimum of 5 parts at a time at a fixed, transparent cost.
Background
Prior to working with Swim Left Products, this biotech customer had difficulty finding a manufacturing partner who could produce their complex tight tolerance parts at a cost effective price. The assembly (shown above) consisted of a main body, three nose cones of varying sizes, and shroud parts that have an interference fit with features on the main body. The customer’s average inventory needs are 10 main bodies and 5-10 nose cones and shroud parts per month in each of the three sizes. To hit reasonable price points, the customer ordered from previous vendors in 25 to 45 unit quantities.
Significant savings
By simply charging a one-time NRE charge and preparing to run small volumes of parts on a monthly basis, Swim Left was able to offer effective pricing at 5- and 10-unit quantities. Over the first six months of working with Swim Left, this biotech customer was able to save 62% on part costs relative to their previous vendor. Swim Left breaks out initial design and fixturing costs as a simple one-time charge, instead of embedding setup into all pricing quotes, so a customer who requires small batches of parts each month stands to save significantly.
Cost of Ordering One Month of Parts
Part (# units per month)
Swim Left Products
Other Vendor
Main Body (10)
$672
$1,757
Shroud 1 (10)
$355
$977
Cone 1 (10)
$413
$1,093
Shroud 2 (5)
$218
$570
Cone 2 (5)
$259
$651
Shroud 3 (5)
$173
$480
Cone 3 (5)
$171
$475
Total
$2,261
$6,002
Savings
$3,741; 62%
