Dot Commentary: It's Your Turn to Bid
I'd like to take a few minutes this month to tell you about a new service that PF Online has launched in an effort to put your shop in touch with new customers, new markets and new work.
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I'd like to take a few minutes this month to tell you about a new service that PF Online has launched in an effort to put your shop in touch with new customers, new markets and new work.
We call it the Bid For Work system. Bid For Work is an online "e-marketplace" where job shops can connect and collaborate with buyers of finishing services.
This may or may not sound familiar to you. The online RFQ model for finishing services has been around for a few years now. But there are some unique features to PF's Bid For Work system that we think will evolve the model dramatically.
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First, PF has partnered with ManufacturingQuote.com to power the RFQ engine and evolve the collaborative environment and tools to support the RFQ process. Part of this relationship will explore ways to provide valuable feedback to both suppliers and buyers. Our partnership with ManufacturingQuote.com also means that the system is already populated with a substantial number of potential buyers.
Next, the Bid For Work system is not a reverse auction, which relies solely on price to drive the vendor selection process. Bid For Work was built to support all parties equally in the collaboration of finishing outsourcing processes.
Strategic partnerships with third parties will be nurtured to expose Bid For Work members to the highest quality prospective sales leads available online. Currently, this system enjoys connectivity with Thomas Publishing, NASA TechBriefs, and other high-end private and government sources of finishing work.
So, why have we launched this service? As Products Finishing's online editor, I spend a considerable amount of time reading e-mail and message board postings from buyers who are looking to have parts coated and from suppliers looking for new jobs. In establishing the Bid For Work system, we hope to provide both parties with a targeted area from which they can connect with one another. In short, it is representative of the steps we're taking every day to make Products Finishing Online the industry's number one resource.
You can learn more about Bid For Work by directing your web browser to www.pfonline.com/bidforwork.
