Insights and FAQ
Straight answers to what buyers ask before they shortlist a supplier.
Buyer FAQ
What files help ENCO answer quickly?
A 3D model in STEP or IGES and a 2D drawing (PDF, DWG or DXF) with tolerances. If you have several parts, put them in one ZIP. Ask an Engineer takes several files of up to 50 MB each - but send nothing confidential until any NDA is in place.
Who reads my question, and when will I hear back?
An ENCO engineer reads every question sent through Ask an Engineer and replies within one working day. The site sends no automatic mail.
Can we sign an NDA before sharing drawings?
Say so in your first message and send only a part description. ENCO will reply about the NDA before you send drawings.
Can you take over tooling from another supplier?
Yes - tell us where the tools are now and who owns them. ENCO’s tool room will need to see the tools, or their drawings, before quoting.
What volumes do you take on?
ENCO takes work from prototypes to mass production, and spares after it.
We are happy with our current supplier. Why talk to ENCO?
Keep your supplier. Start with one part instead: send its drawing, and an ENCO engineer will tell you where it is likely to give trouble - at trial, in production or at the next engineering change. You decide what to do with that.
See the case studies for problems other buyers brought to ENCO.
Has ENCO made parts as complex as ours?
Send the drawing and judge for yourself. An ENCO engineer reviews it with your team before any quote - the steel grade, the forming, the tooling route, the welding and how the part will be checked - and says plainly where the risk is.
Senior engineers from pressing, welding, forming and machining look at it, and where it helps ENCO makes micro-samples.
Can we see the plant before we send an RFQ?
Yes. Ask for a visit and name the part you have in mind, so you see the line, the dies and the checking that would make it.
ENCO invites customers to audit its plants.
How will we know a new part is on track?
ENCO tracks every launch in its Obeya room with Critical Chain project management. Rank A plans set the milestones, Rank B plans the work in 4-hour blocks, and Rank C is the recovery plan when a milestone slips.
Will you quote in our format?
Say which format you need when you send the enquiry. ENCO does not publish prices; each quote is made for your part, your volume and your tooling.
Is ENCO registered on our vendor portal?
Tell us which portal or vendor list you buy through when you write. If ENCO is not yet on it, we will say so and what registration needs.
ENCO holds registrations on several DPSU, DRDO, CPPP and GeM portals.
What does ENCO not make for defence?
Turbine airfoils and hot-section castings. ENCO makes pressed, welded and coated sheet-metal parts and assemblies, to your drawing.
A part that cracks, a die that wears, a supplier that slips?
Ask an ENCO engineer. You get an answer from a person who runs presses every day, within one working day.