If you offer metal fabricating, laser cutting, stamping, and/or other metals manufacturing services, it may seem conterintuitive to consider outsourcing your key services to other manufacturers – even to competitors. But lets explore three situations when outsourcing your signature service or secondary services may result in a dramatic spike in sales, profits, and customer satisfaction.
Outsource Before Hiring
Your metal shop is bustling with activity and orders are pouring in faster than you can get them out the door. Is it time to hire more people? Possibly. But finding and hiring dependable people who will show up every day and take the job as seriously as you do has become quite a challenge, even when paying increasingly solid wages with benefits. And most new hires are unable to jump right in and help with welding, bending, forming, or machining without weeks of training. Further, your best people need to be diverted from getting their work done to training the new hires. To keep your orders getting out the door on schedule without risking delays or quality control issues, consider outsourcing. A reliable manufacturing partner can help you manage overflows and meet deadlines while you look for the right people to bring on board.
Outsource Before Buying Equipment
When faced with overflowing orders or with quote requests for services you don’t offer, it’s common for metal shop owners to investigate buying equipment. Adding a press brake, laser cutter, CNC machine, or other equipment instantly adds production capacity but often at a substantial financial commitment. And once the new machine comes online, do you have the recurring business and skilled staff to keep it from sitting idle while you come up with the monthly payment? This situation invites another opportunity for outsourcing. Partnering with a trusted metals manufacturer provides extra capacity in the short term and allows access to a range of other services. By outsourcing, you can also accept a wider range of orders and continue to meet lead times before committing to investments in new machinery and equipment.
Outsource to Match Capacity with Lead Times
Balancing the inherent conflict between production capacity and meeting fast lead times for delivery is a fundamental challenge in manufacturing efficiency. Achieving maximum capacity utilization typically involves large quantity orders for a reduced cost per part but if the production lines are always occupied then taking on new customers or squeezing in urgent orders with fast lead times becomes very difficult. Yet leaving expensive machines idle just in case a rush order or a smaller quantity order comes in, or in case a large quote that has been on the table for six months comes in, would confound nearly anyone responsible for profits and losses. Outsourcing to a reputable metalworking partner like TAB Industries provides the agility needed to continue capitalizing on the low cost of large production runs while also being able to take on other jobs that demand fast turnaround times.
Outsourcing Success Story
When we launched our TAB Wrapper Tornado orbital stretch wrapper line, we initially outsourced production of a number of metal parts to a nearby laser cutting company. After the pallet stretch wrapper sales took off, we invested in our own laser cutting machine and now manufacture more than 90 percent of the parts in our Reading, PA facility. However, we still maintain a healthy relationship with our laser cutting partner for any overflow capacity.
Learn more about TAB turnkey manufacturing services here.
For a free quote on your project, call (610) 921-0012, info@tabindustries.com.