A New Service
Introducing IPC Global Sourcing
We have some big news to share!
For years, IPC has worked alongside our customers to navigate the complexities of both domestic and offshore manufacturing. Along the way, we've built deep-rooted relationships with premier foundries (both sand and investment), machine shops, metal finishers, and other specialized manufacturers, both domestic and abroad, while working to create a customer-first approach to sourcing that is unique to our industry.
Today, we’re excited to announce the culmination of these efforts: IPC Global Manufacturing, a new core service of IPC Foundry Group. IPC Global simplifies your sourcing to a single point of contact, providing streamlined manufacturing, enhanced supply chain flexibility, and cost-effective production for every project.
By combining our own expertise with our trusted & vetted global network of partner foundries and manufacturers, we’re helping our customers achieve world-class quality and great pricing without the world-class headaches that can come with traditional sourcing.
This isn't a new venture for us, but rather a formalization of the expertise and connections we’ve gained over many years. With nearly 50 years of investment casting experience in our domestic facilities, we know what quality looks like, and we know exactly where a project can go wrong when the process isn't right.
With IPC Global, you’ll work hand-in-hand with our team to prepare your parts for production, and then our team will take the lead on developing the supply chain that best fits your needs from within our network of trusted, vetted partners. Our local team will serve as a liaison, getting you the RIGHT solutions without taking a gamble on communication, reliability, or quality.
From sand & investment casting to 3D printing, machining, forging, and a full suite of finishing work options (e.g., plating, heat treating, galvanizing, and beyond), you can manage your entire production cycle in one place with IPC Global.
In the article below, we’ll explore the benefits of IPC Global Manufacturing as told through the lens of a recent customer’s experience.
Let’s get into it!
A Case Study
Finding The Right Partner
To see the IPC Global Sourcing model in action, let’s look at a recent project we tackled for a US-based company in the marine and boating industry.
Our customer wanted a metal part that could withstand working in harsh and abrasive saltwater environments. Furthermore, they wanted this part to be compatible with a proprietary handle and commonly available aftermarket utility poles (think of twistable broom handles).
Initially, they pursued producing their part as a weldment (basically several pieces of metal welded together) and approached several international companies before selecting one for their first production run. The price point that they were quoted matched their vision, but the quality and consistency of the parts they received left a lot to be desired.
The Challenges of Offshoring
Offshoring is appealing because it's possible to source high-quality metal parts at rock-bottom prices. When compared to domestic production, the cost savings can be significant, provided you find the right partner. But, in practice, this isn’t so easy. Language barriers, timezone differences, supply chain & tariff challenges, workplace conditions, and quality standards can all turn offshoring into a major headache - especially when you have strict time or budget constraints.
You can think of sourcing just like shopping for any major purchase; you may scour the internet for reviews or browse YouTube videos and Reddit threads for testimonials, but at some point, you have to take a gamble on what you find.
For this customer, the gamble didn't pay off. Their initial parts were of such varying quality that they scrapped the weldment project and decided to pivot to a casting instead. That’s where they found us.
Custom-Tailored Casting Solutions
IPC in Action
When the customer reached out to our team, they were actively pursuing Investment Casting because of its reliability and precision. But, during their search, they started to hit another wall: other foundries were saying “no.”
Here’s what they said about their search:
“Foundries turned down our project for numerous reasons, like our tool was too big for their investment casting services, the tool’s design couldn’t be manufactured via investment casting at all, the foundry didn’t have the capacity to produce the numbers we needed, or they would have to outsource the post production machining needed to finish our tool because they couldn’t do it.”
The initial designs for the part treated it as a weldment, so we worked hand-in-hand with the customer to optimize it both for casting and the marketplace, including widening and strengthening the tool, creating space for gating, adding inlaid branding, and developing the handle system mentioned earlier in the article.
We helped adapt and improve their part for a full investment casting run, but there was still one major problem: domestic pricing for the castings wouldn’t fit their budget and desired price point.
With the groundwork put in by our domestic team and updated designs in hand, we reached out to our trusted offshore network to find the right fit. We secured a partner that could hit the customer’s target budget while meeting our own strict requirements for quality.
Here’s Cameron Knapp, Head of Sales at IPC, about that process:
“We were able to provide the engineering support and casting expertise needed to act as a true liaison to reputable foundries overseas. In the end, we delivered a much better product than the customer imagined for significantly less than they could have produced it domestically—all while ensuring the same level of quality they would expect from one of our own domestic facilities."
In a nutshell, that’s what IPC Global Sourcing is all about. We leverage nearly 50 years of industry experience to act as the bridge for your manufacturing projects. You get to work hand-in-hand with our domestic team, avoiding those late-night meetings, communication barriers, and quality concerns, while securing the best pricing possible.
With IPC Global, you get everything you’re looking for: the results you need without the hoops to jump through or any gamble on quality.
Do it All with IPC
IPC Global Sourcing Delivers
What can you expect from IPC Global Manufacturing? A turnkey solution to your manufacturing projects, big or small. Work hand-in-hand with our US-based team to prepare your parts for production, and then our team will take the lead on sourcing a trusted, vetted partner or several partners to meet your production needs.
Once production kicks off, we’ll serve as your bridge to the rest of the production team, ensuring that production moves forward like clockwork, keeping you apprised every step of the way.
IPC Foundry Group is ISO 9001 Certified and works exclusively with partners that match our standards, so you can bank on exceptional metal parts at a price that works for you. Whether you need help with product engineering, tooling, casting, machining, forging, non-destructive testing, or finishing operations like heat treating, plating, and galvanizing, we handle everything you need to get your product to market. Need dual sourcing or stocking programs? IPC has got you covered.
Conclusion
A Partner You Can Count On
Whether it's production in our domestic foundries or our newly formalized service IPC Global Sourcing, our goal is the same: to be the partner you can count on for all your investment casting needs for years to come. Our case study customer is a perfect example of that partnership in action.
We’ll conclude this article with their thoughts:
“No other foundry we interviewed could match the capabilities, flexibility, quality, service, and pricing of IPC. No other provider was able to beat IPC’s lead times, making our decision to team-up that much easier.
What really stood out to us was having the option of domestic or international production, proactive tariff reduction, and the authentic interest IPC took in our project. Their staff and facilities ensured production success and that our tool met the highest level of precision, durability, and quality.”
They Continued:
“Being a smaller organization and new to the investment casting process, we knew we had a lot to learn, and IPC has been able to answer all of our questions and provide guidance every step along the way. They have been so impressive we are beginning to use their design and engineering services for our new tools, keeping everyone in lockstep with encompassing communication and connectivity.”
Want to learn more? Contact our team today!