Statement of Services

Total Project Management

Choosing the Simmons Group as your sourcing organization has many advantages. Our total project management approach assures efficient coordination of all facets of the procurement program from design to delivery. Whether managing an existing product line from a specific manufacturer or working together with our client to develop new sources for their products, Simmons professionals located throughout the Pacific Rim work together to assure your satisfaction.

Vendor Survey

Our professionals conduct vendor surveys to identify, review and analyze potential manufacturers and suppliers. Our research encompasses not only those manufacturers who are currently producing similar product or products within the same category, but also manufacturers whose potential capabilities -based on their equipment and background - indicate an ability to meet your requirements. Our vendor survey includes a detailed review of the manufacturer's current production capability, manufacturing facilities, equipment, financial strength, as well as staff and operational management.

Review of Product

There are limits to industrial and manufacturing capabilities at a competitive level in every geographic region. As a well-established sourcing organization, Simmons’ knowledge of these strengths can play an important role in locating the best qualified manufacturer for your product. Other factors, such as trade restrictions or tariffs may also be a factor in our overall preliminary evaluation of your sourcing requirement.

Therefore, it is necessary to make a preliminary evaluation of each product or product line to help determine the feasibility of effectively manufacturing your requirements in the Pacific Rim. If it’s determined after evaluation that a product or product line doesn’t lend itself to competitive production in our sphere of activity, we will advise you accordingly.

Negotiations

Negotiations are conducted by local staff, usually face-to-face with manufacturers, to optimize best pricing on behalf of our clients. Our general quoting practice is to have three local qualified vendors quote the same inquiry to assure the best pricing available to our customers from local sources. At the same time, we review sourcing through other Simmons offices located throughout the Pacific Rim so we can provide multi-country sourcing pricing details to our clients.

We do have clients that need to protect critical items by having multiple sources either in the same country or duplicate manufacturing in another country to assure stability in supply chain.

Engineering Support

Electronic and mechanical engineers provide staff support for those items requiring their talents. Our staff engineers are fully conversant with production processes related to operations in their areas of expertise and their presence in the factories provides continual support during production.

Communication

Communication by letter, telephone, e-mail or fax is critical when business is conducted over an expanse of many thousands of miles where differences in language and customs can lead to misunderstandings.

From experience gained in over 50 years of international operations, we fully appreciate the critical nature of communications, especially when working with customers around the world. Simmons bridges this possible communications gap by offering all communications whether by e-mail, fax, letter or documentation in English. Our staff is English speaking, which is an asset often underrated in Pacific Rim engineering and sourcing.

Simmons also continues to upgrade methods of communication as technology makes them available. Most of our offices have video conference capabilities, which offer a method to quickly review critical details over thousands of miles where visual evaluation is an added benefit to resolving issues. Some offices are currently working to upgrade computer systems to add ERP availability, allowing our customers to handle tracking of their order process and inventory production.

Quality Control

We understand the requirement not only for a final audit inspection, but also for the necessity to have, on a continuing basis, a presence in the factory during production. For major projects where we’re heavily committed to individual factories, we maintain a staff of inspectors who are permanently based in a specific factory and have responsibilities for online inspection. Their presence in the factory is on-going and daily during the production run.

Supporting Staff

Our export shipping department is responsible for providing a multitude of services to our customers. This includes not only scheduling shipments, but also closely monitoring changes in freight rates and import requirements to insure customers receive competitive freight costs.

Your dedicated project team will work closely with both your staff and contracted product manufacturers for all aspects of your order, providing updated production and shipping schedules, and handling a multitude of day-to-day issues, including updates on shipping and order status.

Most importantly, we offer a staff that understands how to operate and function in the Far East, and recognizes what is necessary to support a successful operation in the U.S. and overseas.

Our presence as a sourcing organization in the Far East, as an extension of your purchasing department and an integrated part of your supply chain, opens the door to a wide range of manufacturing opportunities and cost savings. We welcome your inquiry.