Cover Letter This document is the correspondence between a design engineer and a supplier.

The engineer needs a certain product for a project the company is working on. The correspondence here is shown in the form of email conversation. Note that this is not the only way that this task can be achieved (phone call, for instance). Ultimately, the engineer needs a torsion spring for the Research & Development project at hand. Thus, he reaches out to this supplier via email in hopes that they can produce the torsion spring with the right specifications for the project. The conversation is necessary in order to confirm that the supplier can produce the product with the correct specifications, at a feasible cost. The engineer does his best describing the situation (why he needs the suppliers product) in order to give the supplier a better understanding of the project. This can be classified as something that the audience (the supplier) may want. In this case, the engineer has done most of the work ahead of time, providing (theoretically) all of the parameters that the supplier would need in order to compile a quotation for the spring. A quotation is kind of like an order, without actually purchasing anything (more on this later). The supplier replies with an affirmation that they can indeed produce the right spring. Obviously, the audience of the reply is the engineer himself. The supplier captures a welcoming persona, to assure the engineer that he is in good hands. This is a common tactic in customer service, for it helps guarantee business with the customer (even if the order at hand falls through, future business is more likely with a good first impression). She eventually provides the cost of the spring to the engineer, which he needs in order to decide whether or not to complete the purchase. The conversation proceeds in this manner until the engineer finally accomplishes his task by ordering the spring. I mentioned the suppliers persona; the engineers persona, however, is portrayed here as relatively objective and emotionless. This is not to define the engineer personally, but rather to show that he is serious about the order and hopes to describe his need as clearly and concisely as possible. Bullet points are used to emphasize this. Bullets are easier to read through and quantify compared to a string of sentences. To conclude, it is important to know how the people at hand found each other in the first place. There is a website called ThomasNet.com that exists as a search engine for suppliers. The engineer can simply search for what he/she needs, and the site will show a list of companies that supply that specific product. The supplier company in this example (Coiling Technologies) actually exists.

The Initial Request Dear Coiling Technologies Inc., Johnson Engineering is working on a product in Research & Development that requires a torsion spring. I am contacting you in hopes that you can provide us with a quote of a torsion spring with the correct parameters. The spring itself is going to be used to hold open a heavy lid at a small angle with the horizontal. This is simply to provide an assistive torque when a user must open the lid, in an attempt to eliminate the need for a hoist. The space that we have available on our product restricts the maximum size of the spring. The outer diameter cannot be greater than 4 inches, and the total length of the spring cannot exceed 4 inches. Currently, those are the only known restricted parameters for the spring. Going through some calculations with those limitations in mind, we have come up with the following parameters for a torsion spring: Material Stainless Steel Spring Rate (in-lbs/) 15 Mean Coil Diameter (in.) 3.5 Wire Diameter (in.) 0.5 Number of Coils 8

These parameters yield a length of 4 inches and an outer diameter of 3.75 inches, which fit our limitations well. The spring should provide a perfect torque for our purpose, given that the lid weighs 85 pounds. Please let us know if there is any additional information that you need. We look forward to doing business with you. -Eric Gutterson Design Engineer, Research & Development Johnson Engineering 100 Inventor Street Boston, MA 02115 Tel: (555) 342-5366 Cell: (555) 466-2911 NOTICE: ALL INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS EMAIL IS OWNED BY JOHNSON ENGINEERING AND CANNOT BE SHARED BEYOND ITS RECIPIENT WITHOUT CONSENT.

First Response Dear Eric, Thank you for your interest in Coiling Technologies; we are happy to help you and be a part of your R&D project. I am pleased to inform you that we have the capability of producing a torsion spring with those parameters. However, since we have not yet produced one with those specific dimensions, there is an associated tooling cost. This tooling cost would be in the $5,000 range, which does not include the cost of the spring. Before going on to the quotation process, I must ask if this cost would be feasible / acceptable for your project. If so, I am happy to send you a quote as soon as possible. The only other question is the quantity that you want. Beyond the first spring, additional springs with the same parameters would cost significantly less. You may request a quote for one spring, as well as three (or any quantity greater than one) to observe this reduction in price, at your discretion of course. I look forward to hearing from you, Thank you for choosing Coiling Technologies. -Jane Smith Customer Service Coiling Technologies, Inc. 7777 Wright Road Houston, TX 77041 Toll Free: (800) 969-2645 Tel: (713) 849-4000 Fax: (713) 849-2645

Confirmation Dear Ms. Smith, Thank you for your timely response. That tooling cost is acceptable. Please quote one (1) and three (3) torsion springs with the dimensions provided previously. I will send them again for your convenience: Material Stainless Steel Spring Rate (in-lbs/) 15 Mean Coil Diameter (in.) 3.5 Wire Diameter (in.) 0.5 Number of Coils 8

We look forward to receiving the quotation. Thank you, Best Regards -Eric Gutterson Design Engineer, Research & Development Johnson Engineering 100 Inventor Street Boston, MA 02115 Tel: (555) 342-5366 Cell: (555) 466-2911 NOTICE: ALL INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS EMAIL IS OWNED BY JOHNSON ENGINEERING AND CANNOT BE SHARED BEYOND ITS RECIPIENT WITHOUT CONSENT.

Quotation Dear Eric, Please see below for the requested quote:

Please let me know if you would like to make any changes. At this point, you may officially place the order at any time. To do so, simply give us a call at (713) 849-4000 and let us know that you are from Johnson Engineering. We will have your quotation on record so as long as you do not have to make any changes, all you will have to do is provide us with a final quantity. We are excited to be a part of this project with you. Please let me know if you have any further questions. Thank you for choosing Coiling Technologies. -Jane Smith Customer Service Coiling Technologies, Inc. 7777 Wright Road Houston, TX 77041 Toll Free: (800) 969-2645 Tel: (713) 849-4000 Fax: (713) 849-2645

Order Confirmation Dear Ms. Smith, That looks great, thank you. I will forward the quote to our shipping director, Jim Thomas, immediately. He will call to place the order with the correct quantity as soon as possible. Thank you for your time on this project; I look forward to doing business in the future. Best Regards -Eric Gutterson Design Engineer, Research & Development Johnson Engineering 100 Inventor Street Boston, MA 02115 Tel: (555) 342-5366 Cell: (555) 466-2911 NOTICE: ALL INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS EMAIL IS OWNED BY JOHNSON ENGINEERING AND CANNOT BE SHARED BEYOND ITS RECIPIENT WITHOUT CONSENT.

The Follow-Up Dear Eric, On behalf of Coiling Technologies, I wanted to follow up on how your new torsion spring is performing. We hope that it has been successful for its purpose, and we hope the project as a whole is going smoothly. We like to receive feedback in order to ensure we are doing the best we can to fit your needs. Or, if all is well and the spring is performing, we love to hear that too! Depending on the situation, we even have the opportunity to share your success story on our website, and/or elsewhere here at Coiling Technologies. This can benefit us both, but it is at your own discretion due to the non-disclosure agreement. In addition, if you are ever in need of a replacement, or perhaps a spring fitting different dimensions, we hope that you consider Coiling Technologies. Please enjoy the rest of your day; we look forward to hearing an update. -Jane Smith Customer Service Coiling Technologies, Inc. 7777 Wright Road Houston, TX 77041 Toll Free: (800) 969-2645 Tel: (713) 849-4000 Fax: (713) 849-2645

References: Torsion Springs. Coiling Technologies, Incorporated, 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. http://www.coilingtech.com/torsion-springs/>.