3 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Wire & Cable Distributor

Author: Kassie Teagarden, Senior Content Marketing Specialist, LAPP Tannehill

When you’re searching the internet for ‘wire and cable distributors near me’, make sure you’re not just choosing from the selection of distributors on the first search results page.

Your ideal wire and cable distributor should match your product needs while also saving you time and money.

Once you establish a relationship with your distributor, you should be able to trust that they will provide you quality products within the price range that you’re looking for.

If you already work with a wire and cable vendor, you may want to consider your answers to these 3 questions to see if your distributor checks all of the boxes.

1) What value-added services do they offer?

You can lower costs and save time by consolidating the list of vendors you work with. If your wire and cable distributor offers value-added services that you can take advantage of, then you don’t have to find another vendor to fulfill the requirements you need for your project.

What value-added services does LAPP Tannehill offer?

We offer a variety of value-added services that aim to decrease time-to-market, lower costs, and improve productivity including:

Wire Striping and Dyeing: Add additional color(s) or change colors to your wire or cable jacket with our striping and dyeing services for easy in-field identification.

Wire Twisting: Save time and money by allowing us to twist single conductor and multi-conductor wires to your specific needs for easy wire management.

Re-Spooling: Get the get the exact quantity needed on the spool that works for you. Wood & plastic spools available.

Cut and Strip Wire: Whether it is long or short, custom cut lengths made to your requirements of the material that you need with precision.

Wire and Cable Marking: We will mark wires and cables via inkjet marking, hot stamping, wire printing, or laser printing for easy identification to meet your requirements.

Tubing Cutting and Marking: Browse our pre-cut bags of heat shrink tubing or we will cut the heat shrink tubing to your specific lengths and hot stamp it for easy identification.

Custom Labeling: We create custom labels for your wire, cable, boxes, or spools with your part numbers and to your specific requirements.

Kitting: Save time and efficiency by having us kit, package, and label your assemblies with your own part numbers so your products are ready as soon as you receive them.

Inventory Management: Our Quick Pick Program is our vendor managed inventory solution we offer so you can easily scan your products to automatically replenish your inventory.

Custom Cable: We will help you find a custom cable solution from conception to your final product to meet your specifications, requirements, and modifications.

2) Do their quality standards and practices stack up to your expectations?

The distributor should have extensive knowledge with the wire and cable industry and will be able to provide up-to-date certifications, standards, and regulatory compliances such as ISO, UL, REACH, and RoHS. The distributor should strive to meet the highest quality standards, regulatory compliances, safety, and performance while also reducing environmental impact in the wire and cable industry.

What is LAPP Tannehill’s commitment to Quality?

Our core focus is to drive customer satisfaction by monitoring, maintaining and continuously improving our Quality Management System (QMS). As a part of LAPP North America, we have multi-site ISO 9001:2015 certifications, an ISO 14001:2015 certification and we list all Approvals on our LAPP products. We are committed to:

Customer-Driven Quality. We are committed to meet 100% of our customer requirements and deliver quality products on time through continuous improvement of our processes and procedures. Our customers depend on the quality and reliability of the products we offer, and our success is measured by our customer’s satisfaction.

Continuous Improvement. Our Quality Management System (QMS) and our Environmental Management System (EMS) is based on guidelines that focus on our internal processes and collecting valuable external feedback for continuous improvement.

Setting Higher Standards. Our dedication to Quality is illustrated by our UL Certification, which grants authorization to perform tests in full compliance with UL standards, Quality Validation, and New Product Innovation. At LAPP’s state-of-the-art laboratory in New Jersey, LAPP can perform air oven aging, oil resistance, cold temperature, cold impact, and many other mechanical, electrical, and environmental testing that go above and beyond regulatory standards.

Being Your Trusted Partner in the Industry. Our commitment to excellent customer service and well-trained sales support allows our customers to trust us to be their partner in the wire and cable industry.

3) What kind of relationships do they have with their suppliers?

You certainly don’t want to do business with a distributor if they are not well-aligned with their suppliers. Having robust communication and healthy relationships with suppliers benefit customers in many ways including having access to preferential prices, better and more accurate lead times, vendor-related services and/or add-ons, and updates relating to any supply chain issues.

How does LAPP Tannehill maintain healthy relationships with suppliers?

We diligently work with our partners on a regular cadence so you can get better value from your relationship with us. We know that a lot of businesses often choose their distributor based on cost control – which is why we’ve aligned ourselves with the industry’s best suppliers to give our customers the flexibility of choosing over 100 million products from industry-leading manufacturers and suppliers.

No matter what your wire, cable, or connectivity requirements are for your next project, we have a vast inventory of quality products with a range of competitive prices. Our Director of Supply Chain states, “One luxury of distribution is that we have the oversight of over 250 partners, allowing us to see trends and easily compare cost options across the industry.”

Customer Quotes

“LAPP Tannehill has been an exceptional valued supply-chain partner for years. They have excellent sales and customer service support along with solving any issues that may arise in a timely and accurate manner. They are always willing to help when needed and deliver a quality product on time. LAPP Tannehill is one of our top 3 suppliers that has helped us save thousands of materials spend every year. This relationship is truly a very valuable partnership.” - NRI Electronics

“We have been looking for a company that could go above and beyond to help us with our wire/cable problems. In our ever-changing production environment, we needed someone that could react quickly to our needs. We found LAPP Tannehill and they have been an amazing asset in not only supplying all our wire/cable but also having a wonderful vendor managed program so we never run out of items we need. We couldn’t be happier to partner with LAPP Tannehill and have found immediate success with them as our relationship grows.” - Hamer-Fischbein 

If you are looking for a new wire and cable distributor, check out the reasons why you should choose LAPP Tannehill. Access our website chatbot to learn more from our sales support team.