[Dan Case]

I wasn’t there in 1963 of course but I have worked for one of the world’s largest manufacturers just short of 30 years now. Here are scenarios that play out dozens of times a year for us.

First there is a need for a part or assembly. We find what is available in the market. We usually pick the one that is (a) recognized as the best and (b) the largest capacity supplier. Picking the best and largest keeps warrantee concerns to a minimum and large companies usually won’t fold up and strand you.

Second we enter into a short term supplier customer relationship no matter what the cost is.

Third, almost before the ink on the supplier contract has dried we start hunting lower cost alternatives. Here is where it starts getting messy.

1 ) We might just find another product from the same supplier.
2) We might find a similar part from the supplier’s competitors(s).
3) Or we might cut a deal where the supplier provides private label parts, parts without their identification, parts that are identical functionally and quality wise. Private label parts can cut costs 20-30%.
4) If we don’t need things like Mil Spec certifications we ask to get that dropped off for lower cost.

In this third bullet, the customer just sees one service part number. At the engineering level they have just one need to fill. All kinds of combinations in-between will get the job done but would give anybody on the outside a hard time sorting out what is what.

The fourth common scenario is one supplier can not or will not for any reason supply everything you require. In this case you get what you can wherever you can. We have “1” plastic part we use 37,000 a day of. No one supplier can or will supply them all so we have “2” suppliers. There are “2” plastic resins approved for use and both suppliers are free to use either, usually price and availability drives this. The service parts group just has “1” service part number so customers see only “1” part.
1 = number of parts engineering sees
1 = number of parts service organization sees
4 = number of parts our assembly operators see, and because the resins are slightly different and molds are different they try very hard to keep only a single version in any of our units heading out the door.
If you try to compare your machine to one made hours earlier or later you might notice your parts are not exactly like your buddy’s. If you get one service part it may or may not exactly match the “originals”.

The fifth most likely scenario is to use parts or assemblies from two or more suppliers at the same time to keep them competing on cost and quality. We do this a lots and it means many millions of dollars in savings a year for us.

Finally, as a sixth change method the design is just made lower cost just for the sake of lowering manufacturing costs.

I for one can see how so many variations exist in old cars.