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Decrease the Cost of Manufacturing Your Part By Up to 50%
It’s no secret that one of the biggest factors in choosing a manufacturer is price. Engineers and buyers want low-cost parts (although a low-quality part has no value at all, regardless of the price). Manufacturers want to quote low enough to acquire the customer, but not so low that their business model doesn’t work.
Inside Tips on Negotiating with Your Manufacturer
It’s no secret that one of the biggest factors in choosing a manufacturer is price. Engineers and buyers want low-cost parts (although a low-quality part has no value at all, regardless of the price). Manufacturers want to quote low enough to acquire the customer, but not so low that their business model doesn’t work.
Instead of shopping around for a rock bottom price and taking a risk on quality, talk to your manufacturer about how to decrease the price of your part. At Focused on Machining, we often work with our customers on price, especially if they’re investing in a long-term relationship with us. And a win-win-makes everybody happy.
One of the best ways to get a better deal on your part is to tell your manufacturer if you plan on repeat production. If you need parts a few times a year, even at a relatively low volume (as low as 10 pieces), a smart manufacturer should be willing to reduce the price—and if they don’t, come and talk to this Colorado machine shop instead. :)
How Repeat Production can Decrease Cost
I’m pulling back the curtain on our business to show you why our Denver machine shop is willing to reduce our prices for repeat production:
Programming, modeling, and set up leverage. We can spread out our engineering costs over more parts and a longer period of time. The expense of initial setup and machine programming is a lot cheaper when it’s spread out over 100 parts instead of 10. And once you perfect the setup and programming, subsequent part runs are much less labor-intensive.
Recurring revenue covers reduced shop rates. Who doesn’t love recurring revenue? If our shop can count on regular orders from your company, we can work with you to reduce rates. That’s revenue we didn’t have to generate by finding new customers, putting out new quotes, and designing setups for new parts.
Vendors often offer discounts on bulk or repeat orders. We have great vendors who work with us to offer discounts on materials and finishes for large orders or recurring revenue (I told you everybody loves it). We can pass those savings directly on to our customers.
Repeat production = stronger relationships. At Focused on Machining, we’re dedicated to building long-term relationships with our customers. Practically, client retention makes good business sense. But it’s more than practicality: we want to be your very own, go-to Colorado CNC machine shop—your source for manufacturing—and we do that working with our customers whenever possible.
Case Study
This is a real quote we submitted to one of our customers. When they told us they were doing repeat production and wanted to work with us, we were able to offer them a cost reduction of over 50% per piece.
If you’re submitting an RFQ for a part that will be produced more than once, don’t forget to mention repeat production! A manufacturer who really wants to partner with their customers should be willing to work with you on price.
Even better, save the hassle and reach out to us for your next repeat production job. We’ll work with you to find the best price without compromising lead time or quality.
Quotes that custom machined part buyers can depend on
When I bought Focused on Machining, one of the first things that I was going to update was our ability to quote parts faster and better than any of my competition.
When I bought Focused on Machining, one of the first things that I was going to update was our ability to quote parts faster and better than any of my competition. One of the biggest issues that most machine shops have is that one person does all the quoting. That can be scary for shops that have may have an employee on the brink of retirement with the only institutional knowledge of quoting every job that comes in. Scaling this business and understanding that our customers deserve better service was and still is a big goal of mine. As I researched companies that could help with this, I came across Paperless Parts, who has become one of our best business partners.
Paperless Parts Quoting Platform
We turn quotes around in 12-24 hours, which was largely unheard of even just a few years back in the manufacturing industry. We can also view a 3D model of the quote which we would have never been able to do before. On-time delivery is one of our core values - using this quoting software ensures that we stick to our schedule for important parts that our customers are depending on in order to be successful at their job. The back and forth on part questions and specifications between us and our customers has been cut dramatically (roughly 75%) and our internal communication has become more efficient. The software has a fantastic internal communication tool. Our customers have noticed the difference, too. Recently, one of them let me know that they had sent out a quote to 3 shops and not only did our quote come in at the best price but it also had the least amount of follow-up questions. Our specifications were spot on which also saved our customers time.
Our partnership with Paperless Parts has not only taken our business to the next level in differentiating ourselves from our competition but more importantly, has ensured that our customers always get the most accurate quote, FAST!
Justin Quinn, President
Investing in Machinery & People will Pay Dividends Back!
If you’re like me, I’m constantly thinking of how I can increase business, improve efficiency, and keep my employee morale up.
If you’re like me, I’m constantly thinking of how I can increase business, improve efficiency, and keep my employee morale up. We’ve had a crazy past few weeks here between our new machine, a day of off-site employee training, and gearing up my two girls to get back to school. We are finally starting to make chips on our new Doosan and I’m thrilled with how all our employees haven’t skipped a beat! For all of you who have installed new machines, you know what I mean. Between late nights and short fire drills, we are getting back into our rhythm and I’m excited for new opportunities at Focused on Machining (FOM).
As a business owner, investing in new equipment and my employees are two of my top priorities. For us to continue to be one of the best Colorado machine shops, I know these two things go hand in hand and our success depends on it. As we continue to build FOM and increase our machining and CNC capabilities, we are also doing some employee training which will increase shop efficiency, communication, and productivity. I’m so proud of the work this team has accomplished over the past month both in the shop and out of it. We recently took some of our employees off-site for a development day. It was great to connect with them in a setting that was different than the shop.
We are already seeing the benefits of the team building and managerial training we did. Sessions like the one we had are so important to building a team we can all trust & depend on.
While I’m ranting on about professional development, I hope many of you will check out the Rocky Mountain Tooling & Machining (RMTMA) Fall Conference that is happening at the Hartwig Facility on Thursday, October 8. The RMTMA board has worked hard to bring you some great sessions that would benefit a novice machinist to the experienced CEO. You can attend in person or join us virtually. Check out RMTMA.org for more details.
Keep investing in your shop & people!
Justin Quinn, President
Managing Family Time While Running a Machine Shop During COVID-19
In our new world where many of us in manufacturing are considered essential and critical, how are you and your family making it work? Are your kids going back to school? What does that look like?
In our new world where many of us in manufacturing are considered essential and critical, how are you and your family making it work? Are your kids going back to school? What does that look like? Are they wearing masks, are they social distancing? If you have young children as I do, I think we can agree that very few understand social distancing. As my wife gets her classroom ready for 20 kindergartners (she’s doing God’s work), I can’t help but wonder what safety protocols will be instituted with such young children.
There are a ton of articles about work-life balance and how important it is to find this middle ground. With that, what does work/life balance look like during COVID-19 with so many people working from home with kids of all ages? My team and I are still at the shop every day but I know many friends and colleagues that are at home who may be experiencing a less than balanced life right now when work and family time collide in the same dwelling. In a world where we are supposed to be on and available all the time- how do we consistently try and separate the two?
To help combat some of these issues, my family and I have made it a point that our evenings will be spent together with little to no shop talk. My two daughters greet me at the door every evening with cheers and squealing, it’s my favorite time of day. The challenge for me is to be done with work at that point in time and focus on those two immediately and fully. They have so much to share about their day, what game they’re playing, or what new toy they got. I find it is extremely important to fully absorb into their world for some time and just be with them without any distractions. Quality over quantity is my motto for weekend time. As a business owner, the work will always be there, and being available sometimes means 24/7- especially over the last few weeks while we’ve been installing our new Doosan NHP 4000. With that said, I’ve found that I can make some great connections with my family if I put my phone away for an hour or so and have some clear and honest expectations that I have to be available at times I may not want to be.
With COVID still impacting our lives, we’d love to hear from our friends and customers on how you continue to deal with what we all probably thought would be over by now. Be well and stay healthy.
Justin Quinn, President
Machinery Investment & the importance of technology
It’s Christmas day here at Focused on Machining! Yes, I know, it is only July but we’ve just set up our newest machine- the Doosan LPS II Series with a brand new NHP4000 horizontal.
It’s Christmas day here at Focused on Machining! Yes, I know, it is only July but we’ve just set up our newest machine- the Doosan LPS II Series with a brand new NHP4000 horizontal. Our team is eager and fired up to see what new capabilities we will be able to offer our current clients and new customers too! If you are like our organization, this is what we thrive on- taking on new projects, expanding our machining capabilities, and figuring out how we can further help our partners with whatever manufactured parts they need made.
This machine has many favorable capabilities- the pallet size of 400mm, it can run lights out manufacturing, it’s extremely user friendly and registers basic information for flexible machining & manufacturing, it allows up to 800mm in material diameter, and can typically be installed in one day. It is also space saving with a compact design. The new machine will help our customers by being able to more efficiently setup custom jobs and make prototype manufactured parts. This new machine and expanded hours of operation will allow us to reduce turn time for customers that need parts now, with the goal of turning orders in days or a couple weeks. FOM will also be better able to support small batch production runs that include many different part numbers. We can run these parts all simultaneously which will complete an entire order all at once vs. making one part number at a time.
When I took this business over in 2016, I was adamant that we kept up on the latest machine technology and tooling. This industry continues to evolve and premier technology from just yesterday, could be obsolete today. Let us help you with your next project- we can quote your custom job today!
Justin Quinn, President
American Made Manufacturing & The Effort to Re-shore
When I bought Focused on Machining in 2016 I knew it would be imperative to immerse myself and my business in all things machining, manufaPride of ownership means something to me. As many of you may already know, I served in the Air Force as a Flying Crew Chief from 2002-2008.
Pride of ownership means something to me. As many of you may already know, I served in the Air Force as a Flying Crew Chief from 2002-2008. I traveled across the globe but primarily in Europe and the Middle East and maintained and repaired the C-17 aircraft for missions that flew all over the world. In my service to our country, I met many amazing people and learned about culture firsthand. It is an experience that changed me and enhanced my appreciation for our country, our capacity, and what American made stands for.
Here at Focused on Machining, our CNC machining services are being used in defense, transportation, food and beverage, and aerospace industries. Every day we are building our custom machining capacity, utilizing the latest CNC technology, and ensuring that quality is NEVER compromised and I can tell you from experience, that is not the case in other parts of the world. Reshoring much of our supply chain & manufacturing capabilities to the states makes sense for several reasons. Given our current situation with COVID-19, having outsourced suppliers that are not in proximity means parts may not be made on time because of delays in getting materials and shipping completed parts. Manufacturing in America also secures steady, well-paid careers in local machine shops that are in extremely high demand. Ask one machine shop in the Denver area and I guarantee they are all looking to add skilled labor on their shop floor! Data collected by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) & National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA) points out that people with a CNC certificate typically make more money than an entry-level college graduate- and you don’t have thousands of dollars in loans to pay back. For every dollar spent in manufacturing, $2.74 is spent in our US economy (National Association of Manufacturers).
We are open, we have the manufacturing capacity, and the quality of our parts made here will never be compromised. Let us custom quote your next manufacturing job today!
Justin Quinn, President