Pros and Cons: Small v. Large Manufacturing Automation Companies

Every business across the country has suffered the pain of supply shortages and delays caused by the pandemic, especially industrial companies caught in the middle between vendors they rely on for supplies and customers who rely on them for finished products or services. As this frustration follows us into 2022, should industrial businesses look for component manufacturing companies closer to home? For that matter, are you better off working with a bigger manufacturer or a smaller one? Size and location may be factors to consider, but when it comes to manufacturing automation companies, quality, responsiveness, and personalized customer service are far more important.

Local Manufacturing Offers Many Benefits

Consumers embraced the Shop Local movement years ago for lots of great reasons. It’s faster and easier to shop close to home. Supporting local business fuels the local economy, increasing job opportunities and adding to municipal tax rolls. America was built on family businesses, and small companies are still the backbone of the nation’s economy.

But you can’t find component manufacturing companies on every corner. Or even in the next town. Maybe not even in your own state. So, while nearness has its advantages, industrial and manufacturing operations cannot simply shop local to ease supply chain challenges. You need a supplier that can deliver exactly the right products, from replacement parts to custom design. That company could be nearby, or it could be elsewhere.

Is Bigger Better?

Large companies have a lot to offer—literally. They typically have broad product lines and, in some cases, deep inventories. Facilities capable of turning out large quantities of components quickly—perhaps at lower cost thanks to economies of scale. Big companies typically have large staffs to handle your order and provide post-sale service. All that may be just what you need.

On the other hand, high-volume operations succeed because of standardization. So they may not have the flexibility to offer modified or completely custom products, especially if a short turnaround is required. Because they deal with so many customers, they may not have the time to help you fully explore various product options or to help you solve a particularly sticky application or installation challenge. In the end, you might not get what you need despite the company’s large size.

Smaller Manufacturers Thrive on Building Relationships

Small component manufacturing companies succeed by listening. They approach each customer not as a potential sale but as an opportunity to establish or continue an ongoing working relationship. You may be looking for a certain component or set of components, but what you really want is to meet specific functional performance goals to achieve overall business objectives.

The world of manufacturing is rapidly changing. Industrial customers and OEMs not only need reliable, cost-efficient replacement parts, but they also need new products and modified products to meet entirely new types of applications and design challenges.

At W.C. Branham, even though we offer a wide variety of configuration options within our standard product lines, 40% of our products are still customized or designed from scratch to meet unusual customer needs. Occasionally, those one-of-a-kind creations lead to a new product line—our new MICROGEAR™ gearboxes are just one example. We can do that because our company is smaller and because we offer both design and manufacturing capabilities in-house.

Great Customer Service Fits All Sizes

These days, we’ve all learned how to work closely with others from a distance. The question is no longer how often a salesperson shows up at your door but how well the folks at the other end of your call, email, or video session listen. 

In smaller component manufacturing companies, you’re not likely to get shuffled from one department to another. Instead, you can expect personalized customer service from a whole team of people dedicated to helping solve your unique problems. 

W.C. Branham has been a leading manufacturer of fluid power and power transmission components for more than forty years, and to this day, we remain a family-owned company. While our employees are local, our passion is serving customers globally.