New Sourcing Platform for U.S. Buyers and Suppliers
Recently launched, Fabricating.com is an online request-for-quote marketplace. Careful though—both “fabricating” and “request for quote” may not be what you think.
In its broadest sense, “fabricating” means making and putting stuff together to create products. And that’s the broad meaning it has in Fabricating.com, a new request-for-quote marketplace. According to its developers, the site is intended for all suppliers and buyers of manufactured parts, generally components that are made to order. The Web-based service supports more than 250 manufacturing processes, including most types of machining and, yes, sheet metal fabricating.
“Request-for-quote” also needs clarification in this context. The site is based on what it calls its SourceNow platform, a set of interactive, online tools that solicit and organize thorough details and digital information about the buyer’s part. This data is automatically analyzed to locate contract manufacturers with the expertise and the machining assets needed for the job. To participate, qualifying manufacturers have to be carefully surveyed and screened, developers say. Once in, participating manufacturers use the same streamlined, paperless system to quote for business as a supplier.
Finally, the online marketplace is restricted to U.S. buyers and suppliers. One of the stated goals for the site is to build effective networks of American enterprises as part of the growing trend to reshoring of manufacturing jobs. “In order to revitalize the nation’s manufacturing base, we have to encourage the cooperation and coordination of U.S. buyers and U.S. suppliers engaged in the request-for-quote process,” says Frank Russo, Fabricating.com CEO.
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