Services

Turnkey Done Better

Sonic Manufacturing’s turnkey services are unique in the industry. We understand that predicting the future is no easy task, and therefore we refuse to “blame the forecast” when your actual demand arrives differently than the forecast. Instead, Sonic has done everything in its power to be quick, nimble, and accurate when executing to what you need inside of lead time. In fact, over half of our customer demand is for delivery in under half of lead time! At Sonic, we know that your one-month sales horizon is more accurate than your six-month sales horizon. Our ability to quickly adapt to changes in short-term demand means we are spending more of our time on keeping your customers happy, and less of our time and your money on the consequences of producing what you thought might make them happy. While a longer term horizon is great for establishing the pipeline to support you and your customers, it is our ability to adapt to changes rapidly that keeps you profitable and your customers coming back. Reducing lead time is the ultimate improvement to forecast accuracy— no six-figure black-box forecasting tools required.

Launching a New Product

We can be up & running on your new product in as little as a day. To begin this process, we review your turnkey documentation for accuracy and upload it into our systems, leaving no room for data entry errors. Once the ERP is set, 70% of the purchase orders will be placed automatically by our ecommerce systems— no human intervention. Don’t have time to wait on weekly MRP runs? No problem, we run MRP daily and run ‘specials’ for quick-turn throughout the day. We will order it faster and bring it in sooner than anyone. At Sonic, there is no distinction between “production” and “quick turn”. Everything is run through the quick turn process. Speed saves us time, handling, aging, reporting, cash cycle etc. In short, “supply chain agility” is the best business model for both you and Sonic. Our business metrics are aligned. And the entire factory is this agile: all 9 surface mount lines and 120,000 s/f of it. We don’t point to a seldom used corner of the factory and call it “our proto line”. Every line can handle your NPI and prototypes anywhere in the factory. It’s our job to have the resources when you need them.

How Do We Do It?

How can we move so quickly? Our data is impeccably accurate. We continuously adapt custom code and expert systems to stay ahead of our evolving processes; policing the data, filling in the gaps and correcting mistakes. In short, we can auto-spend our money and auto-commit your materials without having to wait on multi-tasked people to get around to it— and we rarely make a mistake. While other companies use their ecommerce to share bad data faster than ever before; Sonic has eliminated the root cause of bad data. Have mistakes or slow responsiveness been the cause of excess and obsolete billings? Does your manufacturer seem to take the high-quantity PPV while giving you the high-quantity E&O? Sonic has the disciplines and financial controls in place to prevent E&O before it happens and to obtain authorization where risk is unavoidable. Recent experience has shown that when our customers have phased out similar assemblies across multiple EMS, our end-of-program liabilities have been 10%-20% of the competition. We run it tight & lean.

FAQ

Inventory accuracy?

High nineties.

Soft picks?

Absolutely. We run the business on data-driven simulations.

Forecast sharing & distribution bond programs?

All the major players. 40% purchased without human touch, typically next-day delivery.

Broken package quantities?

Of course. Whatever is sold, whenever you need it.

JIT/Kanban customer deliveries?

Both stand-alone and flowed to the upstream MRP.

Shipping & Logistics services?

Yes, every day. SFBA Customers receive free same-day/next-day delivery on our fleet of vans.

International distribution?

Yes, with prior experience across OEM, EMS and 3PL partners.

Consumer retail?

Quarter-Million piece builds including consumer packaging, box-store labeling, designated carriers and specified delivery windows. Also, single-piece webstore deliveries to homes and apartments with backend office processes synchronization for billing, and warranty tracking.

The Results

Sonic is currently building and exporting subassemblies as a supplier to “low-cost” regions; and has “backshored” over 200 assemblies from these regions to the United States. On a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) basis, Sonic is surprisingly cost-effective, and given offshore deliveries of 8-12 weeks plus 4 weeks on the water; we can probably make you a hero to your own sales, marketing, finance and end customers with 2-6 week delivery performance being typical at Sonic.

The Conclusion

The world is changing; and so is the paradigm that offshore manufacturing automatically means a more cost-effective product. Pursuing offshore PPVs that increase total costs is not a sustainable business model, and holding your end customers hostage to offshore lead times is hardly conducive to growth. Alternatively, compensating for long lead times with high inventories that are invariably misaligned to demand creates its own finance and service problems. Before locking-in an offshore cost structure that is inherently less responsive, seek to optimize your total business costs and performance.

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