What is an Original Equipment Manufacturer?
There is often ambiguity over what an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) is, as in different industries it has different connotations. This term refers to where the product is actually made before it goes back to the designers/owners to have their branding added and into the marketplace.
An Original Equipment Manufacturer brings together the complete manufacturing of the product, down to nuts and bolts, circuit boards, moulded parts and/or metalwork, and tests it to ensure it’s safe and ready to go to market.
How using an Original Equipment Manufacturer to manage a product maximises efficiency
OEMs working together to give the best value to the client.
Many products require multiple parts, some of which would be best manufactured by specialists. For a product designer, this can add to the stress of getting a product to market as they:
- Have to work with multiple suppliers and act as a ‘middle man’ between these suppliers.
- Must source and compare multiple suppliers in an industry area potentially unfamiliar to them and ensure they can work together.
- Need to set up and manage relationships between these manufacturers, and overcome conflicts or communication issues.
By having an Original Equipment Manufacturing company in charge of the complete manufacturing of a product, they can outsource individual components using existing relationships and contacts. This is not only more time-efficient for both the product designer and the manufacturers, but it ensures the best possible finish.
Product testing included.
Where a product designer is managing the manufacturing process by bringing together individual components, the product testing stage can be more sporadic where time is short.
Using an OEM means that every device is subjected to rigorous testing, further quality checks, and then even more testing as part of the manufacturing process, before being packaged and sent to the fulfillment team.
Best practice know-how saves time.
Launching a newly designed product can mean feeling your way through the process; learning as you go and eventually finding the best way to operate in order to maximise productivity and minimise errors and wastage.
An OEM company will have already gone through this process multiple times with many different products, and as a result will not need to take that learning curve. You get best practice experience the first time around.
Original Equipment Manufacturers – The Morgan Difference
Where Morgan differs from most OEM businesses is that we have over 30 years of experience making cool electronics from the first nut to the final screen. We also have a full research and development department that is instrumental in creating your device and ensuring that it is designed and made for manufacturing. This is vital in ensuring our manufacturing engineers work harmoniously with our R&D engineers!
Morgan adds value with a wealth of contacts and know-how throughout the team. What the product designer – the customer – sees is the final, perfect device with which they can stock their customers’ shelves.
This process is the same for a one-off prototype or thousands of identical widgets, but all are beautifully crafted and assembled by an OEM company.
For more information on how an OEM adds value to getting your product to marketing, get in touch, or take a look at some of our recent projects.