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For small job shops and machine shops
These are the jobs that back up when the shop gets slammed. Each page names one problem in plain words, shows what it costs you and why it keeps happening.
Shop bottleneck 1 of 9
In a high-mix shop, machine shop quoting comes down to whoever knows how to price setups and run times. When that's one or two people, every RFQ waits its turn on their desk.
Shop bottleneck 2 of 9
Machine shop RFQs come in by email, phone and customer portal, and they all land with the same few people. When the floor gets busy, nobody watches the inbox, and some of it never gets an answer.
Read more: RFQs and emails fall through the cracks Book a call
Shop bottleneck 3 of 9
A customer sends an RFQ for a part you know you've run. The old quote, the traveler and the real run times are out there somewhere, and nobody can find them fast enough to use.
Shop bottleneck 4 of 9
If your machine shop scheduling happens on a whiteboard or in a spreadsheet, you know how fast it goes stale. A hot job comes in, a machine goes down, and the board is wrong by lunch.
Shop bottleneck 5 of 9
The CNC setup sheet covers the basics. The person who ran the job last knows the rest: the offsets that work, the fixture that holds, the feature that always needs a second look. When they're out, or they retire, that know-how goes with them.
Read more: Setup know-how lives in people's heads Book a call
Shop bottleneck 6 of 9
Your inspector can check the part faster than anyone can write it up. Ballooning the print, filling in the first article inspection report and matching each measurement to its feature is slow, careful work, and it lands on the same few people.
Read more: First article paperwork takes too long Book a call
Shop bottleneck 7 of 9
A customer emails to ask where their order is. Someone stops what they're doing, walks the floor or checks the board, and writes back. Then the next email comes in, asking the same thing about another job.
Read more: Customers keep asking where's my part Book a call
Shop bottleneck 8 of 9
When your shop gets slammed, the bookkeeping is the first thing to go. Accounts don't get reconciled, the monthly P&L doesn't come out, and you're running the shop on gut feel.
Shop bottleneck 9 of 9
Your biggest customer wants you to be ISO 9001 or AS9100 certified. Now there's a quality manual to keep up, forms to fill in, records to file and a scramble before every audit, all done by the people who also make the parts.
Book a call and tell me what backs up first in your shop. You'll talk with me, Kevin Kirchner, and I'll listen before I suggest anything.
