When it comes to choosing the right winding wire supplier, businesses often rely on their procurement department. They get quotes from multiple vendors and choose the one with the lowest invoice price. Do you think this is enough? Is it the correct value proposition for your company?

Let us analyse this in detail.

Invoice Price of Winding Wire – a Deciding Factor

Enamelled winding wire (or magnet wire) is one of the core components in all electrical appliances. And often, the volume of enamel wires required for your product manufacturing can be in tonnes.

And since the volume is huge, opting for a manufacturer quoting a lower winding wire price can give you cost benefits upfront. But the long-term implications of that may not look attractive at all.

For example, the quality of such low-priced winding wire may be causing frequent warranty failures of your product. This could affect customer satisfaction and hamper your brand perception.

Or maybe at other times the shipping and handling are not very professional.  Thus, leading to unnecessary wastage – adding up to your actual cost.

So, to calculate the real value offered by a magnet wire supplier, the buyer must evaluate quality mindedness, technology mindset, financial strength and ability to upgrade, systems and product quality being offered, rather than just the invoice price. Although most companies have an SQA department, it is seldom working genuinely and additional measures taken by the manufacturer are often neglected and valued.

Winding Wire Price – What is the value offered?

A winding wire cost-value can be split into –

1. Raw Material Cost

1. Conductor cost –

The price of pure copper and aluminium conductors is higher than recycled ones.

Using pure or virgin conductors in winding wire manufacturing gives wires the perfect electrical conductivity, making your motors highly energy efficient.

2. Enamel Cost –

The presence of impurities in enamel raw materials can affect the electrical and thermal properties of the winding wire. It can lead to frequent repairs and damage, and even warranty failures affecting your brand reputation. In addition, the enamel is a component where the evaluation of quality is very difficult as the impact may be visible after long-term use and failure on the field.

On the other hand, magnet wires made using high-quality enamel meet desired specifications and offer damage resistance.

Using winding wires made using good quality copper/aluminium and enamel can make your product highly efficient, consumes less energy and give long life to the motor. This in turn empowers you to offer a longer warranty and get a higher energy rating.

2. Manufacturing Cost

High-quality magnet wire manufacturing involves the usage of the best technology and high-precision machinery. A world-class infrastructure with processes and systems in place, make winding wire manufacturing very efficient. Likewise, the use of state of art wire drawing machines and ovens for curing, helps make the finest quality winding wires.

Also, with the net zero carbon emission pledge, energy used for the manufacturing of winding wires also matters. At Geekay we source 40% of our electricity requirements from renewable energy.

3. Quality Control Cost

Accurate testing equipment to inspect the quality of the enamelled winding wire at every stage of the manufacturing process ensures the quality of the wire as specified. Concentricity, tan delta, pinhole testing etc are some of the key quality testings’ done to ensure the magnet wire quality during manufacturing. [Also Read: Type of Tests for Enamelled Winding Wires]

Conforming to various industry standards like IEC, UL, VDA etc affirms the consistency in quality during manufacturing.

4. Packaging Cost

Based on your production requirement, the winding wire spool and reel sizes can vary. And good quality packaging ensures that the wires are intact – protecting the main features of the enameled copper wire and its insulation properties. A low-quality packaging puts the winding wire at risk, and the damaged wires end up as a wasted resource.

5. Shipping and Handling Cost

Reliable shippers are needed for winding wires to ensure timely delivery and zero damage during transit.  Also, based on how far from the manufacturing facility the wires need to be delivered, the cost of winding wire can vary. If your volume permits, it is always advisable to opt for a full truckload. This ensures delivery straight to your factory and rules out mishandling by any third party.

As you can see, a low price of winding wire indicates a compromise on any of the above values offered.

Low-Price Winding Wires – How does it affect your brand?

A low-price winding wire falls short at some point in the value proposition.

1. Compromising on the quality of raw materials can make the winding wires not meet the required specification. This could make your product not function as expected or affects its life span.
2. Not having proper quality controls at the manufacturing facility can cause magnet wire to have minor defects. Using such wires for your products can cause frequent repairs, product recalls or warranty failures to the customer. This will hamper customer satisfaction and distorts your brand perception. And one such faulty product could eventually affect the sales of similar products in your portfolio.
3. Poor-quality magnet wires may not be bendable and easily break during winding, due to elongation low. Often, wires that are rejected add up as material wastage. All these in turn make the actual copper or aluminium winding wire cost per kg go higher than the invoice price.
4. Low-price magnet wire manufacturers often offer negligible after-sales support. You might miss out on the best practices to be followed, thus causing time delays in winding installation.

Thus, fair pricing of winding wires should be judged based on low cost than a low price.

Low Price vs Low Cost – How does it differ and what is beneficial in long term?

As you just saw, Low price refers to the initial purchase price of the wire without considering the long-term cost. A low-price winding wire may be cheaper initially, but it may have a shorter lifespan, or may not meet your specific needs and requirements.

On the other hand, Low cost refers to the total cost of ownership over the life of the product. This includes not just the initial purchase price, but also factors such as the quality of the wire, service and support, delivery time, and compliance with safety and industry standards. A low-cost winding wire is one that has a reasonable price and offers good value for the money over its lifetime.

Hence choosing a winding wire supplier providing a low cost is most beneficial for your business. Geekay is an established copper and aluminium enamelled winding wire manufacturer, using best-in-class manufacturing practices and quality control measures to provide you with the right value.

Here is an animated video from Geekay on how choosing the right Winding wire manufacturer can offer you lower landed costs.

Check out all details about our copper and aluminium winding wires –