R&D, First Article and Production Costs

Birk Manufacturing business is thermal circuits and subassemblies. This requires us to be nimble and cost effective at the same time, although, these two demands make for a challenging relationship. Most of the time being expedient is associated with substantially higher costs, due in part by the necessity to carry more inventory and having materials shipped overnight, which can be avoided by working together and partnering. Combine all that and you have custom manufacturing. We have accepted orders with turnaround of as little as one day and our standard lead time from receipt of order to shipping is two weeks, obviously we prefer a bit more time but have the ability, resources and willingness to work with the customer.

How are we able to respond so quickly? We have most of the required resources under one roof. Customers can directly contact our application engineers; we have an onsite etching facility for foil heating elements, a dark room with an image setter, screening room, standard resistance wires, a multitude of lead wires and sensors. We are a company large enough to handle prototypes, large production runs and still accept those small orders of high end units, knowing that they may be the seeds of the future.

Some customers know exactly what they want and have chosen the best cost-effective design, others are not quite so sure and sometimes that works out well. The ability to build with universal parts, or the reduction of manufacturing processes, is a huge factor in cost and is usually only completely understood by a specialized company. The sooner you get our engineers involved with a project and design, the more you benefit with application performance and pricing. We also have a large sales force, many are engineers that will make visits and assist in any way possible. The best way to survive in today’s business climate is to cultivate great supply chains and partnerships where both parties prosper and profit.

Howard Birk

Vice President