12,650 sold; cost $42.15.
Multiple suppliers on a part is not at all unusual; usually up to the Tier 1 to manage their subs. I planned fasteners on my last career stop; the T1 supplier only cold-formed parts, another supplier plated them, another supplier applied a lock patch. When complete the parts were shipped in bulk to another supplier for packaging. Then shipped to the warehousing facility. Now you know why service parts cost so much.
They may not have been "made exact in every way" as the T1 supplier for a production part may not be the supplier for the service part. For example the molding house that set up to continuously produce 200 bumpers per week may not be interested 20 per month for service. They send the tooling back and you find a short-run molder to do it; the part will fit and work but may not look exactly the same. A supplier of CNC parts may run them on the latest machining center for production, when non-current they may use an older, slower machine for short runs. Same supplier, but parts may not be exactly the same as production.
