amc49 wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 18, 2018 2:30 am

In today's cutthroat world of competition and JIT inventory practices I wouldn't be surprised at all if they use more than just one supplier, it is considered death not to and even on the assembly lines they often have more than one vendors' parts lined up to pull off of as problems can develop in one vendor to have them instantly fall back on another. They cannot allow the line to stop based on only one supplier of a thing, multiple suppliers are built into the delivery chain.

You can just about guarantee that with the disc pads, being there are so many makers of them to compete. Even auto parts have gone that way due to the big chains forcing the issue. Most of the parts in your parts boxes will have a different maker than what is printed on the box, start looking at what you have in your hand. There is so much reboxing going on now it is unreal, you really have no idea who makes anything any longer and the box is irrelevant. When a new supplier comes in to replace an old the new as part of the contract agrees to absorb most if not all of the old vendors' product, it gets reboxed in the new boxes and they go on. Vendors in parts lines can change easily every year as the price wars continue, it never stops.

As well, there are vast 'deep state' type parts consortiums now all over the world that make parts for many of the world famous parts names we have grown to lean on thinking they make their own quality parts. Take world renowned Borg Warner for instance, they make virtually nothing any longer, the name is overlaid parts that come from all over the world and a thousand different plants. They are not nearly the only major names doing that now, the names were purchased by LLCs to then apply to parts from everywhere.