Case Study
Cloud Networking Company Cuts Time To Market By 50%
The Challenge
Needed to reduce the product development lead time for their Hyperscale customer base
When bringing new products to market, a collaborative relationship between manufacturing, engineering and supply chain is crucial. This is especially true for Company X, one of the world’s leading providers of hyperscale cloud environment solutions.
When they began looking for help to develop, manufacture, and test three new products, Company X wanted a custom mechanical solution provider that could also provide engineering and in-region supply chain support with the ability to scale quickly.
In short, they were looking for:
- Improved engineering and design for manufacturing support
- Reduced total landed cost of product
- Reduced lead-time from product demand to in-region availability
- Enhanced flexibility and responsiveness
After narrowing their search to three companies, one stood out: Cadrex.
The Solution
Prototyping and high volume production with global scalability in North America
Cadrex’s engineering, supply chain, and customer facing teams helped Company X expand their existing programs while quickly developing new ones from scratch. Because of Cadrex’s engineering depth and expertise, combined with substantial soft and hard tool sheet metal fabrication capacity spanning North America, Cadrex and Company X decided the best way to scale Company X’s efforts globally was by utilizing both of Cadrex’s U.S. and Mexico facilities.
To achieve Company X’s desired scale, cost, and lead-time goals, Cadrex proposed prototyping and validating new programs in the U.S. to achieve the speed Company X required and scaling production in Mexico. Additionally, Cadrex was able to offer mechanical assembly, integration, and system testing in their Mexico facility to further decrease lead-time.
“They’re happy with the fact that Cadrex has been able to integrate and test their units. If we weren’t able to do that, it would have required a whole secondary set of processes with their contract manufacturer,” says Cadrex’s director of program management
The Outcome
Company X is getting their custom mechanical enclosures to market twice as fast
Cadrex cut Company X’s lead times in half and has helped them develop a number of new products, effectively expanding its ability to respond to the dynamic cloud and enterprise markets, diversifying its product offerings, and growing revenue. As such, Company X has achieved its rapid production scale requirements, ultimately satisfying their large enterprise and hyperscale customers’ demands.
The close relationships Cadrex and Company X’s engineering teams have developed allows them to quickly hash out details during design, a process that would otherwise take several prototypes to get right. This relationship—and Cadrex’s ability to support production peaks in their U.S. and Mexico-based facilities—helps Company X get their products through production and testing and into the market faster while eliminating ocean transit times and mitigating geopolitical risks.