Forgings are important components in industrial production, but often even forgings of the same quality have significant price differences. Let’s take a real production case to explain this issue.
This case is about the procurement department of a manufacturing company. They need to purchase forgings to replace the castings they have been using. During the procurement process, they found that forgings of the same quality had significant price differences. Some suppliers’ prices were much cheaper, even less than half of other suppliers’ prices, while some suppliers’ prices were very expensive.
Why does this happen? We can explain it from the following aspects:
Firstly, production cost is one of the main reasons for the price difference of forgings. Producing forgings requires making molds first, and then requires multiple process steps such as heat treatment and forging, which require a lot of equipment and labor costs. Some higher-priced suppliers may have invested more in production processes, such as introducing advanced equipment, or using better materials, which can lead to price increases.
Secondly, supply and demand relationship is also an important factor affecting forging prices. If the supply is low but the demand is high in the market, prices will naturally rise. On the other hand, if the supply is greater than the demand on the market, prices will fall.
Finally, the quality, specifications, and size of forgings also affect prices. Different types of forgings have different production requirements, such as for mechanical manufacturing or automotive manufacturing, and different forging specifications and sizes are needed for different purposes. These can all lead to price differences.
In summary, although forgings may be of the same quality, there may still be significant price differences due to factors such as production costs, supply and demand relationships, and product quality. In practical procurement, we need to consider multiple factors such as forging production equipment and processes, delivery time, production qualifications, and consumer feedback, in order to make more reasonable decisions.
