I ordered the PST polygraphite front end A-arm bushings. When I recieved them they had a Energy suspension part number on them. 3-3157G.
This threw up some flags immediately. First of all PST has no part numbers listed anywhere, not on the site or catalog. All their bushings are black, because of the graphite impregnation. How do we know the graphite is actually in there? Maybe PST is buying black ES bushings and re-selling them to us at a higher cost.

What do you think? :lala:

 

they have energy suspension make the bushings for them. they are polygraphite instead of polyurethane. alot of companies have others make some of the produsts for them. just cheaper than buying the tooling and machinery to make it themselves.

 

That doesn't seem right. Why would Energy take business from themselves? If no one makes Polygraphite than they will have to buy urethane. Plus ES could sell there own graphite bushings. This does not make sense.

 

I think you may be confused. They're not taking business from themselves. They're selling them to PST not giving them away. This kind of stuff happens all the time. Ever been to Wal-mart and seen the Sam's Choice stuff? Wal-mart doesn't actually manufactures all that stuff. Nope, they buy it and put their label on it.
My friend was showing off the digital multimeter that he got off the MAC tool truck, It had the MAC logo on it and eveything. I flipped it over and showed him... Manufactured by Fluke.

 

they have a contract between the two companies. ES makes the graphite bushings specifically for PST. and ES cannot sell it to anyone else. that's the way things go.

 

I think Performance Suspension sells them too.

 

ok. so 2 companies sell the polygraphite. but then again performance suspension probably get them from Performance Suspension Technology.

 

Why would Engery Suspension sell to anyone else when they could just put the bushings on the market themselves and sell for retail instead on wholesale and make all the money?

 

one company comes up and says i'll take 100 sets. easy sale. or they can wait for 100 people to say i want 1 set. harder sale.

 

100 sets at $25 a set or 100 sets at $50 a set

 

problem is $50 doesnt compensate for wharehousing, shipping, and just the cost of the inventory to wharehouse. If a company orders it, you produce it and sell it for a guaranteed profit. If you inventory it, you may not sell all you invested in, it costs you money to store it, it costs money to ship to seperate locations, and in any case of disaster, you wont lose your investment. Therefore selling for profit instead of distributing yourself for CHANCE of greater profit is a better route.

 

The Real problem is companies these days don't know how to manage inventory. It'a all about supply and demand. Supply as much as the Demand.
Even if energy ships to PST, PST has to ship to joe shmoe. The shipping is the same wheather it come from this company or that company. Insurance will cover any disaster so that's a mute point. Plus were back to supply and demand if there no over stock or very little, than little is lost.
If you are the only manufacturer than you are the only supplier and the only one making all the money. This is called a MONOPOLY. It's not just the name of a game.
End point: If you cut out the middle man you can: 1) Lower customer costs. 2) Raise profit margin. 3) Simplify ordering, technical and sales questions.
The less people that have to get a cut the lower the price.:hail:

 

ok this is starting to get old. in order to supply only what is demanded is a problem. you have to tool up a machine to make products. it costs money to stop a machine and retool it to make another product. look at the stealth ram that holley put out. they guessed too low on the selling of it. so they ran out of fuel rails. look how long it took to get them. when i used to work for Super Shops, we were the primary seller af prime wheels. prime would wait until they had 50 sets of a particular wheel ordered before they would tool a machine to make them. they made money if they made a mimimum of 50 sets. the more you make of a particular product, the less it costs a company.

selling to an individual is called micromanagement. for ES to try and sell to the individual they would need a very large shipping department. it would cost more for ES to ship out to an individual than it would to sell to people like PST, SUMMIT, and others. it is more cost effective to sell a large quantity to them than make small quantities at a time. it's called quick liquidation of assets. wouldn't you rather sell the 100 at $25 at one shot? or sell hem at $50 and have to wait until 100 individuals call up and say i want one? it could take them a year to sell it. so $2500 today, or $5000 over a period of one year. which turns them $416.67 per month. the longer product sits on the shelf the more it costs a company.

then you say well just make a bunch, and set it on a shelf. each product has ebbs and flows. to make a bunch and let it sit on a shelf makes their money all tied up. then if they needed another product made, they have their money tied up in the first product. so, now they have to wait for the first product to be sold before they can make the second product.

so again, if you owned a company, would you rather wait for 100 people to call you and order that first product. or, sell it to the other company, wanting the 100? and let them worry about getting it sold? take a little hit on the price to move the product quickly.

 

Well if it doesn't work to have the product just sit than how is it the middle man stays in business wouldn't the same rules apply.

Basically my question started out asking if all PST was doing was repackaging the ES urethane ones and screwing us on the graphite part, and that was answered. So I am arguing for the fun of it now.

Thanx for the information.

 

I am arguing for the fun of it too.

yes insurance pays for disasters. but when was the last time insurance paid anyone what they have invested into it? If you have it in inventory they will also argue your total cost (labor, machine hours, cost to operate the machine during those hours, your materials cost, etc.) versus value so you will still lose money.

And the shipping is not the same. you said why dont they sell them for themselves at retail and make the money, or something along that line. shipping one large lot is cheaper than having to worry about actual DISTRIBUTION. shipping is different than distribution. distribution costs ALOT more.

I do agree with your first and final statement. No argument there. If you want to talk about mis-managed companies, I will talk with the best of them.

I was laid off from a company that went from 2300 employees to 600. And all remaining 600 had to take a 10% pay cut to stay there. Then there is the company I am at now.... WOW! I cant believe they are still in buisiness. We retool machines so often for the customers, the machines are down a good 50% of the time over the course of the year. I cant stand it. So I am looking for another J-O-B.

but I will quit there so this doesnt get locked for going off topic.

 

OK OK. I give. You win.

Sheesh your very focused on this. Must of struck a nerve.

Obviously your well versed on the subject, so I conceed the point.

 

sorry about the rant. just a little bitter about work. It has been a LONG...month. I agree with alot of simplistic ideas but it seems nobody does buisiness that way anymore.

 

My grandfather worked for Armour meats. They would stop the hotdog line, change from Armour wrappers to Kroger wrappers and keep pumping it out. Its all about marketing.

 

I think what he meant by "why doesn't ES sell polygraphite" was "why doesn't ES make polygraphite to be sold by places like Summit"? I wonder when their contract is up.

Hey, what was that part #? I'm confused! I punched that number, ENS-3-3157G , into the summitracing.com website, and it said "Chevrolet/Pontiac: 1982-92 Camaro/Firebird, black, front, control arm bushing set". So we're kind of back to what Firechicken was asking- is there any graphite in these bushings? As far as I know, that 3-3157G is just a black polyurethane bushing... not a black polygraphite bushing.

If these were special bushings made for PST to sell, it would have a part # that Summit (or even http://www.energysuspension.com ' s online catalog!!) didn't list or sell! Click on http://www.energysuspension.com/cam1.html and there's 3-3157! Supposedly "G" is the color code for Black, and the "G" stands for "Graphite color"- you can put an R for Red or B for blue in there, too. Is "G" not a color code for Black? Does "G" really mean Graphite-impregnated??

[edit] If that's really the same part #: PST sold him those bushings for $50. Summit Racing wants $32 for the same part #. Firechicken, find out, and if they're the same part #, send them back and go thru Summit! I was going to get that PST kit too, thanks for warning us! I'll just buy everything individually thru Summit.

 

Peformance Suspension Components says this on their web site:


"All parts available in black-Graphite Impregnated Polyurethane to provide you with bushings that are self-lubricating and won't squeak.

All development and production done in house to assure top quality.

Energy Suspension is the largest manufacturer of polyurethane components for the automotive aftermarket with the most vehicle applications.

Polyurethane allows suspensions to work positively 100% of the time... giving the driver that "in control" feeling."