Establishing Regional Supply Chains in a Global Economy

As globalization took hold in the manufacturing world, it was global supply chains or GSCs that helped offshore manufacturers to increase efficiencies and meet expected cost savings. According to the World Trade Organization, GSCs also “revolutionized development options facing poor nations.”

All State Fastener (ASF) has been part of that revolution for manufacturers around the world, establishing vital and economical supply chains internationally. ASF sources and ships thousands of different SKUs, many to plants in the US, Mexico and Canada, but also in South America, Europe, China, Australia and South Africa. When we develop a new supply chain, part of our job is to identify the right sources from ISO manufacturers. The right source is a vendor who not only meets strict quality standards and reasonable pricing, but who can also handle supply chain demands quickly and economically.

With over 200,000 line items sourced globally and delivery of more than 5 billion components to our customers annually, ASF has depth in our supply chain.  Specializing in procurement and material flow for more than 5 decades, we have established supply chain strength second to none. 

While we set up regional supply chains to meet the demands of our customers, the WTO in a recent study emphasized such supply chains “have transformed the world.” They have opened up markets for developing countries that can now “join supply chains rather than having to invest decades in building their own.”

ASF didn’t set out to transform the world. Our goal was to provide value and to make our customer’s jobs easier.  In an increasingly complex global economy facing many contentious issues, our key challenge is to implement supply chains that moves hundreds or thousands of different products from numerous suppliers to where they are needed at the right time and at the right price.

But if doing our job helped the world even a little, we’re glad to hear it.