Orphan Products

For years you have designed and built products that have successfully performed so well that a significant number of your customers still depend on them today. We call them legacy products.

As your business has evolved, maintaining these older products puts a drain on your resources. What was once profitable business is now costly overhead.

At Quality Control Corporation (QCC), we are specialists in providing creative and effective solutions that support the needs of your important legacy product customers.

The Orphan Product Placement Program is an outsourcing initiative created by Quality Control Corp. We find a home in our operation for precision-machined components and assemblies or aftermarket replacement services that are no longer among your company's core competencies. These non-core activities are not critically important to the future success of your business. They are most likely taking up valuable manufacturing space and utilizing engineering support that could be better assigned to operations of more strategic importance, such as new product manufacturing.

However, you cannot simply abandon these non-core activities because they are part of your offering and important to maintaining customer loyalty. Through the Orphan Product Placement Program, you now have a strategic alternative.

You may have previously considered contract manufacturing during times of high-demand, but the orphan program proves that there is a company willing to produce products nearing the end of their life cycle. What you would like to phase out, we gladly phase in to our operation. Companies have found our program financially advantageous because they no longer have to produce a low volume part that carries a high overhead. Manufacturing floorspace, engineering resources and operating capital are better utilized on products or services that parallel your growth objectives. At the very least, should you agree to our On-Site Orphan Product Analysis, you will receive a detailed report with an outside expert's opinion on your situation, including recommendations on how to possibly improve your operation. But the best case scenario is that you will capitalize on a new way to improve your manufacturing facility and place your orphan products or services in the care of Quality Control Corp.

How can you tell if you have an orphan product?

Take a look at the following questions to help you identify an orphan product. If you answer "yes" to any of the questions, you may have an orphan product or service.

Do you have a product line with more than two or three years of declining sales but an installed customer base to support?
Do you have a product line that is less profitable than all your other lines?
Do you offer a service, such as aftermarket parts fulfillment, that is absorbing a significant amount of your resources without favorable returns?
Is your company in a state of organizational change?
Do you have a shortage of floor space?
Do you need to close, relocate or re-engineer a manufacturing plant?
Have you experienced labor force reductions or are you having trouble finding good labor?
Are you stretched too thin and find it difficult to focus on the core competencies you've set for your organization?

If you did answer "yes" to any question, you should consider taking the next logical step in the orphan product identification process. That is, consult with one of our experts and see if your orphan product or service can find a home at Quality Control Corp.

Keeping your customer satisfied is the key to successful business operations. Supporting lower volume, slow moving or older products results in expensive manufacturing, increased inventories, and a drain on precious resources needed to support your core competencies.

Partnering with QCC allows you to focus on current and evolving opportunities knowing your customers' needs for legacy products will continue to be met.

At QCC, we’ve developed a unique program for the management of legacy products. Aptly named as our Orphan Product Placement Program, it is designed to alleviate the legacy-manufacturing dilemma by providing a transparent, seamless solution to the challenges of providing older products to meet your customer's demands.

We can work in a variety of ways to ensure your customers' total satisfaction. As an extension of your organization, QCC can manufacture and ship products and service parts directly to your customers, or we can manage the entire product line under an agreement that provides you with additional revenues.

Regardless of the arrangement, your customers become our customers. You can trust QCC to maintain your key customer relationships through a commitment to exceeding their expectations.

Since 1981, some of the world’s largest and most respected companies have placed their trust in us to service their legacy product needs.

Currently the legacy products we manufacture are in use within the Agricultural, Fluid Power, Mobile Equipment, US Government, Rotating Equipment, Turf Care and other industrial markets worldwide.

Having a twenty-year history of providing legacy solutions, QCC is in a unique position to understand the mutual benefits of legacy partnerships.

Incorporated in 1951, QCC is a financially strong, privately held company with a strong legacy of combining highest quality manufacturing and distribution processes with the dedicated customer service that has earned us the reputation as a world-class partner.

For more information on how QCC can develop a legacy solution for you contact us at (708) 887-5400 or send an e-mail to orphanproductsinfo@qccorp.com.

The On-Site Orphan Product Analysis is an evaluation service conducted by Quality Control Corp. After an initial telephone conference, a QCC representative will visit your facility to review your orphan product in greater detail. During the site visit, we will take an in-depth look at your manufacturing processes. We'll also need to review sales forecasts, product specifications, marketing strategies, quality procedures and requirements, work instructions and more.

Approximately two weeks after the audit, we'll provide a detailed report of our findings. It will summarize our observations and confirm or deny the existence of an orphan product. If we concur that you have an orphan, we may include a detailed proposal for adoption or alternate suggestions if it is not a good fit with QCC.

To learn more about QCC's Orphan Product Placement Program or our On-Site Orphan Product Analysis, contact us at (708) 887-5400 or send an e-mail to orphanproductsinfo@qccorp.com. You may also request a copy of our White Paper "How the Orphan Product Placement Program Works." The paper goes into greater detail on this new concept and takes you step-by-step through the process.

Request a copy of our white paper "How the Orphan Product Placement Program Works.

So what makes the orphan product concept so unique?

The orphan product concept focuses on the outsourcing of manufacturing and service operations that are no longer in sync with a company's core competencies.

An "out of the box" method of thinking can lead to new and better methods of doing business. And that is the essence of the orphan product concept. What follows are different types of adoption alternatives. Each is dependent on what you require.

High demand, limited-run manufacturing

Respond to the increasing demands of customers for products that do not fit with the existing or future core competencies of your organization. QCC will manufacture those limited-run items perceived to be an interruption to your normal workflow so you can apply your resources to your growth- or profit-oriented objectives.

Free up valuable manufacturing space

A partnership with QCC may involve the transfer of all hard and soft assets for a product line. If you have a product with declining sales but an installed customer base to serve, you can transfer the complete operation to QCC. As a result, you may find valuable manufacturing space available for new product manufacture or reengineering efforts.

Reinvest your assets away from service parts fulfillment

Facilities, systems and personnel, finished component inventory and production interruptions fulfilling service parts may lead to a less than desirable asset utilization situation. QCC can assume responsibility for providing service parts directly to the service parts facility. We can ship parts directly to your customers, which would include program management and distribution. Or we could assume full service part responsi-bility, including the ownership of inventory.

Strategic alternatives during a time of transition

A proud manufacturing heritage could make you reluctant to transfer production for fear that the device would not meet your standards. Our objective is to produce a lower cost product without sacrificing quality or performance. You'll find our experience in assuming total responsibility for manufacturing, testing and fulfillment for a product line results in a more efficient internal operation for you and your customers who appreciate a continued source of supply.

Located in Chicago, Quality Control Corp is a contract manufacturer of high precision machine components and assemblies for several niche applications, including aerospace, diesel fuel systems, air tools and fluid power. With a half-century of full service machining and assembly capabilities, along with complete control of ancillary services such as heat treating and plating, QCC is considered a leading authority on the successful implementation of a "single source" partnership with original equipment manufacturers.

To learn more about QCC click here.

To contact us about the Orphan Product® Program, please call (708) 887-5400 or send an e-mail to orphanproductsinfo@qccorp.com.