Your Custom Text Here
Business is getting better. The fabrication shop has been very busy for the majority of the year. Yes, some of the production can be attributed to our new CNC plasma table, but not all. The business environment seems to be on the steady.
Where does my optimism come from?
Read moreA fantastic video showing behind the scenes fabrication and assembly of a Tesla Model S. This makes our new CNC plasma machine look like something out of the Flintstones. The factory and the innovative methods are really cool, leaving me wanting to take a tour of the factory someday.
BTW, I love our new CNC plasma machine!
Our newest YouTube video showing the cutting process of our custom cold air boots. Our new CNC plasma machine has sliced our cut times in half helping to quicken the assembly process here in the fabrication shop.
Even though we have stepped up our game in regards to cutting sheet metal, we still kick it old school when it comes to bending all of our custom trunk duct and fittings.
Introducing our new MultiCam 1000 Series CNC plasma table!! The last few months of hard work have paid off with the full installation of our new plasma table, finishing up late last week with today being the end of our first full week of production. The table is fantastic and has already saved us time with the multiple jobs that we have already completed. With the installation of our new equipment we can provide customers with faster production times and reduced prices.
Scroll down to see some more photos of the new CNC plasma table and a video of our new toy in action.
If you have any questions about your sheet metal fabrication needs or items you may need cut, please visit our contact page to send us your requests.
If you follow this blog or our Twitter feed you have heard about our little company purchasing a new CNC plasma table. The process has been exciting, especially since it's the first time in years the business has taken steps to move forward and grow. When last I updated the optimism was flying high and I expected the machine to be running sooner than later. Sadly, it's later and the plasma still sits gathering dust waiting for the final hookup. The waiting game continues for a step down transformer, exhaust fan and final electrical installation.
My hands are tied. Everything in my control is complete and for now I am at the mercy of others to get the ball rolling again. The last word I had was this week was looking good for receiving both the transformer and exhaust fan. Whether or not I hear the glorious beeping sounds of a truck in reverse will remain to be seen.
My optimism still reigns true, but the waiting game is growing tiresome.
My naive assumption is that logistics was just another word for shipping. The actual definition from Merriam-Webster is as follows: 1 : the aspect of military science dealing with the procurement, maintenance, and transportation of military materiel, facilities, and personnel 2 : the handling of the details of an operation
So clearly, not shipping per se, just dealing with handling of details in a military sense.
Who cares! Something you may be telling yourself right about now. The above is a long winded and relatively interesting ( at least for me, because I was unaware ) way of getting to something I have thought about company wise for some time.
The reality, or non-reality of shipping our products around the country, the logistics if you will are completely foreign to me. Obviously, I understand that packages are shipped, but as far as making it viable for business is surely something new.
To date, we have shipped one, count them, one order to somewhere in the lower 50. That place was Kansas and the whole transaction was a great experience. The customer was willing to be patient with our maiden shipment and the headaches which could undermine the whole project.
I had the fabricated fittings strapped flat to be packed at the nearest UPS store, communication was good with the customer and the shipment went off without a hitch. I didn't want to deal with any complications of securing and packing, so I left it to professionals.
A few days later the package arrived to a thankful customer and a giant sigh of relief from the shipper.
Could this be a viable option for our business going forward, especially with new (expensive) equipment about to be up and running? Are the costs of shipping and time needed for packing worth the trouble? Would only advertising local shipping to a mile radius work better for a smaller company like ours? These are just a few of the questions I have been asking myself over the last few weeks.
To be perfectly honest, the shipping costs alone are something that could sink the whole idea. In order to ship a small supply air plenum and two small transitions, flat packed to Kansas, the total shipping cost was roughly $44 for packing, materials and shipping. That's a tough pill to swallow for customers that are used to free shipping from the likes of Amazon. Not to mention the fact that this was a small order of minimal size fabricated fittings. What would that shipping cost ring up on something a bit larger? Would we be looking at freight costs instead?
The UPS and FedEx commercials make the whole process seem so easy with their no nonsense marketing of packages flying all over the world with seemingly minimal problems. However, when you go to the websites of either the process can be very confusing. It's not just as simple as zip code and weight.
We are moving toward a non-localized world which depresses me as a very local business. Nevertheless, these are things we need to take into account as a business that builds items for customers. If we can find an economical way to get our products into the hands of people that need them, why shouldn't we try? The trick is not to inflate your greedy little head and understand the limitations of the business. There is one thing I have learned over the years in our very niche micro business. Getting too far ahead of the game can be disastrous in the long run, bogging you down and making everything seem insurmountable.
This doesn't mean stunt ambition, goals or growth of the company. These are the reasons we invested in our new CNC plasma table and why we have struggled with the possibility of adding shipping to our normal business repertoire.
The last few years have been a challenging time for our company, more positive then negative however in regards to understanding the business from multiple angles. Ideas like the one I have briefly outlined in this post are something that never happened for our company, keeping us stuck in neutral. The goals have changed, the attitude has changed and ideas are bandied about frequently around the shop.
Whether or not we decide shipping is viable for us is still up in the air. However, we have run a successful test and know it's something that can be done.
Logistically speaking.
