The buyer (in French, the “donneur d’ordre”) is the company, or more broadly the person, who orders from a third party the manufacture of a part, a sub-assembly or a service. The buyer states the need, supplies the drawings or the specification, chooses the supplier, approves delivery and pays the invoice. On the other side, the subcontractor carries out the work to these specifications. In principle, the buyer remains responsible for the final product to its own customers. On Meaflow, this is the role of the client who posts a request.
Profiles vary: a large manufacturer outsourcing part of its production, an engineering SME, a start-up having its first prototype made, a design office without a workshop, a craftsman. In a manufacturing chain, roles follow one another: a tier-1 subcontractor may entrust heat treatment or painting to a tier-2 subcontractor, and then becomes a buyer in turn. Depending on the nature of the need, we speak of capacity subcontracting or specialist subcontracting.
This role comes with duties that determine the success of the project: giving a complete, up-to-date brief, answering questions, approving stages (the first article, for example) and paying within the agreed terms, which are regulated by law in France. Intellectual property in drawings and models is settled by contract; a non-disclosure agreement covers the exchanges.
In a quote request
Identify yourself clearly (company, technical and purchasing contacts), describe your need with a drawing, a quantity and a lead time, and specify who approves quotes and samples. Say whether your order is one-off or recurring: a forecast annual volume interests a workshop planning its workload. State your quality, audit or certification requirements before the order, not after. See the request for quotation, as well as the guides choosing an industrial subcontractor and comparing quotes.