SOURCING GUIDE
“My supplier just stopped production — what now?”
The moment every single-sourced product fears: the email saying your only factory won’t make the part anymore — or simply goes quiet mid-reorder. Downtime and retail gaps compound daily, so this is a triage checklist, not a philosophy page.
Day 0: stop the bleeding with facts
Count sellable inventory and in-transit stock; that is your runway and it sets every subsequent decision (4 weeks: move loud; 12 weeks: move fast but keep quality gates). Get any final order the supplier will accept — even at a ransom price it may be the cheapest inventory you ever buy.
Days 1–3: secure the paper and the steel
Confirm you own (or can get) the drawings, the tooling/moulds and their location, and any program files. Tooling ownership disputes are the classic hostage situation; check the original PO terms today, and plan a retrieval (tools can usually be bought out or reclaimed — legal letter first, movers second).
Days 3–14: replacement without re-invention
This is the second-source playbook run compressed: package the part, shortlist by capability evidence, run a paid FAI order with two or three candidates simultaneously and pick on first-article results. For plastic parts, ask the small-series band pages about mould ownership and low-volume injection before defaulting to 3D printing — the break-even at 500–2000 pieces often still favours a real mould from a local shop.
Frequently asked
Should I 3D-print the part immediately?
Print the ones you need this week to keep selling; qualify the real process in parallel. Printing is a bridge, not a destination, unless volumes are truly tiny — and functional prints still need a materials/mechanical check for anything load-bearing or regulated.
What if nobody can match the original quality?
That usually means the original supplier held an undocumented process trick (the drawing never captured it). The FAI comparison against your golden sample is what surfaces it — plan to reverse-engineer the difference with the candidate shop, over a table, on the actual part.
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