Navigating the Speaker Component Supply Chain

The first phases of speaker manufacturing typically occur thousands of miles away, at the source of raw materials–paper, metal, plastic, and fiber. Obtaining those materials means navigating a complex system of producers and suppliers–and dealing with seemingly endless supply chain issues.

John Hennessey, MISCO’s Materials & Purchasing Manager, knows this challenge well.

“What happens in one part of the world, specifically around the Red Sea, puts a lot of pressure on the global supply chain,” Hennessey said. “With the tensions in that area, you’re seeing many companies diverting shipments to different ports, which creates further uncertainty about lead times, along with rising costs.”

If an audio solutions manufacturer doesn’t plan for these challenges, they might end up with delayed shipments, spoiled materials, or even worse–added costs. At MISCO, we know that OEM customers require products delivered in the right place, at the right time, and at the right cost.

That means mitigating as many supply chain disruptions as possible. Here’s how we do it.

Smart Sourcing and Logistics

The past several years have seen multiple disruptions to the global supply chain. From pandemic outbreaks and labor shortages to trade wars and tariffs, few industries have avoided direct impact. Sourcing and acquiring raw materials requires a deft hand–and many, many calls with vendors across the world.

Other manufacturers might try to circumvent these snags by diverting shipments to different ports, but that creates capacity issues and further uncertainty with delivery times and costs. The last thing any manufacturer wants to do is pass cost overruns onto their customers.

When sourcing raw materials, either from U.S. suppliers or foreign suppliers, it helps to know your vendors–and for them to know you. That’s why MISCO relies on long-standing partnerships with vendors in the U.S. and Southeast Asia who understand the speaker manufacturing industry.

“We’ve worked with the same vendors and carriers for a long time because we know who they are, we’ve built that relationship, and they’re familiar with how the materials will be used in speaker manufacturing,” Hennessey said. “And we don’t ask them to go beyond their specific area of expertise.”

In some cases, depending on the origin country, that also means navigating local labor and scheduling challenges. China, for example, struggles with ongoing labor shortages, high tariffs, and holiday delays. Hennessey notes that frequent communication helps MISCO address these issues.

“If I’m at home and see the news, and hear that something’s happening with international trade, or a new tariff is imposed, I immediately get with my broker,” Hennessey said. “I find out what’s happening on the corporate side and what’s happening on the freight side. We discuss options to help address the issue.”

Hennessey noted that automation has helped address some of these labor-related issues, but it isn’t an immediate fix.

“If it’s a robot doing it, and it’s programmed correctly, it should be able to create the material flawlessly,” Hennessey said. “But we’re just starting to see robots and automation added to our vendor factories, and they require new processes to function. Hard to do if the factory already deals with labor shortages.”

Performance Analysis

If any part of the supply chain fails, the entire manufacturing process gets delayed. While we can’t control external geopolitical issues or labor shortages, we can influence how our preferred vendors adjust to them. At MISCO, we regularly measure the performance of every partner in the supply chain (including ourselves) through vendor/supplier scorecards.

“Every year, we pick a handful of suppliers who we measure each quarter, usually from among our highest revenue generators,” Hennessey said. “We ask them how they rank with other competitors.”

We ask various price, accuracy, and quality questions in our vendor analysis:

• How competitive are they in price?
• Are they constantly changing their price?
• How often have they changed prices in the same quarter?
• How often do they ship their product to the full accuracy we require (based on our account need)? Do they consistently ship under or over our targets?
• How many material returns have we processed?
• How frequently have they delivered on-time?

These questions, along with frequent video calls to address mid-delivery issues, help MISCO assess a vendor’s full capabilities–and where everyone needs to improve for better performance.

“Our customers often want to know who our suppliers are, and if we know them very well,” Hennessey noted. “We visit their factories in person each year–sometimes twice in a year. When we can’t see them in person, we have numerous face-to-face Microsoft Teams conversations every day. We know them well, and they know us, and it’s important for us to see them face-to-face over a handshake and some tea.”

Material Quality Control

Even the most efficient delivery process fails if material quality doesn’t meet our expectations. 

At MISCO, we address material quality control in several ways, specifically in the vendors we choose and with real-time material tracking capabilities.

“Everyone makes mistakes, especially in situations with human error,” Hennessey said. “Even if a trusted vendor has been making a part for 30 years, they could have some process go off, or have a new operator make a mistake, or a tool start to go bad. Because of our frequent communication with that vendor, our QC team can catch these issues before getting into the finished product.”

Speaker components, especially cones, are sensitive to temperature and moisture. Placing these materials in high-humidity containers, or letting them dry out in high-heat areas, risks damaging them. Once the part leaves the factory, customers often wonder if it will reach its destination without degrading.

With real-time tracking capabilities, MISCO can keep customers informed at every stage of the material journey.

“When we started running into not getting shipments in time, especially with COVID-era shipping delays, I wanted more traceability of our goods, and many of our customers also wanted that information,” Hennessey said. “So we invested in individual trackers from brokers/carriers/forwarders, which we then send to suppliers to place on pallets. This gives us a lot more visibility of the shipments, rather than just a general sense of where they might be.”

Hennessey noted that the trackers can also monitor for humidity levels, especially important for preserving speaker materials.

“With these trackers, we can actually tell the exact point that the humidity levels spike during a voyage,” Hennessey said. “If a container has humidity spikes, we may need to inspect the contents and submit replacement orders.”

Inventory Build-Up

We aim to avoid lengthy delays in production, and part of that goal involves acquiring enough inventory to weather supply chain issues. We use vendor management programs (VMI) with some of our suppliers and customers to maintain minimum levels of raw materials (like adhesives and chemicals), while deploying Kanban cards to support shorter delivery timeframes.

For Hennessey, the biggest MISCO difference is how we use those programs to build up inventory.

“We have minimum quantity levels in our inventory, and if our supply falls below that minimum quantity, but we don’t have any more on order, our MRP would drive us to order more,” Hennessy said. “That process can be driven by a stock agreement or VMI program we set up with a customer.”

In other cases, Hennessey uses his own knowledge of supply chain trends and regional events to build up inventory.

“Lunar New Year is coming up soon, and we’re building up some inventory for Q1 customer orders to offset the delay and buying rush during that time,” Hennessey said. “I look at buying trends, past usage, and any recent forecast to help acquire the necessary material needed to help customers avoid air shipping.”

Caring for the Customer

Moving forward, MISCO continues to adapt to global supply chain trends, while limiting their effects on our customers.

“We work to avoid relaying the costs of shipping delays to the customer right away,” Hennessey said. “And because we've already seen so many things happen in the last five years–from tariffs to a pandemic, to trade wars to war itself–we are prepared to find alternative sources if the primary ones fall through.”

For Hennessey, it all reaffirms MISCO’s commitment to its customers.

“We take care of our customer, and that means doing anything possible to resolve the issue, whether that be sourcing from somewhere else, finding a different factory, or finding a different country to buy it from. And to meet the challenging needs of our aerospace, military, and medical customers, we’ve become more seasoned supply chain handlers. This expertise allows us to better support all customers at this level.”

Learn more about why industry pioneers choose MISCO.