How often is your shop lacking business?

davidsmith · Jan 3, 2023

How often do you have idle capacity in your shop due to a lack of orders? I am interested in learning what steps you have taken to keep your machines running? Are you willing to accept lower-margin business from online marketplaces to generate extra income and pay for operating expenses?

yoke · Jan 3, 2023

I am willing to cut my shop rate if the project will be buying more than few hundred hours but only for current customers. If I was slow I would be looking for better customers, not try and outbid everyone else on the internet.

Ox · Jan 3, 2023

If I ever got "slow" I would prolly look at my Oxy-Doo list and see where to start on that.
(after a nap)

----------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Garwood · Jan 3, 2023

davidsmith said:
How often do you have idle capacity in your shop due to a lack of orders? I am interested in learning what steps you have taken to keep your machines running? Are you willing to accept lower-margin business from online marketplaces to generate extra income and pay for operating expenses?

I use idle time to improve the shop and develop new products. I would rather spend my own money working on internal projects than do low margin work just to run machines.

john.k · Jan 3, 2023

my method.....have something else you can do .....I always had 3 or 4 different things on the go .....if you dont want to go outside the shop ,then have a product that you can do when work is lacking.........dont have an idle shop when customers call round ....close the door and do something onsite .

DouglasJRizzo · Jan 4, 2023

davidsmith said:
How often do you have idle capacity in your shop due to a lack of orders? I am interested in learning what steps you have taken to keep your machines running? Are you willing to accept lower-margin business from online marketplaces to generate extra income and pay for operating expenses?

It's usually enough to keep spindle's turning. If the work load gets a little light, that's when I mill additional jaw blanks, fixtures, and such. Sometimes PM gets performed a little early as the machine isn't tied up with a revenue job.

Strostkovy · Jan 4, 2023

We never run into a lack of work, we run into work that took too long and now we have no money and no shop time to sell.
Mostly due to equipment or personnel issues. We build our own products so we can't blame customers.

jccaclimber · Jan 4, 2023

Not quite idle, but I knew one guy who ran all the programs at 70% to save on tooling any time he got within a week or two of having an idle station.

Conrad Hoffman · Jan 4, 2023

Not an owner but my guess is if you cut your rates and get known for cheap, you'll have a hard time getting them back up again. Expenses are fixed so when you cut your rates it comes entirely 100% out of your profits.

mhajicek · Jan 4, 2023

The urgency of my queue occasionally relaxes to the point where I can catch a breath. Then the clients ask to move up delivery dates of current orders while adding more.

Bondo · Jan 4, 2023

As I do fabrication, my idle time is different then others here. I don't really have much idle time, except for the occasional 1/2 days. We work a lot of weekends as well.

I keep an ongoing list of things to do, which seems like nothing ever gets done because we are always working. The list includes everything from move parts bins to put a gutter over top the shed door.... really need to get that gutter done from 2015. Lol

Strostkovy · Jan 4, 2023

Bondo said:
As I do fabrication, my idle time is different then others here. I don't really have much idle time, except for the occasional 1/2 days. We work a lot of weekends as well.

I keep an ongoing list of things to do, which seems like nothing ever gets done because we are always working. The list includes everything from move parts bins to put a gutter over top the shed door.... really need to get that gutter done from 2015. Lol

We formed the aluminum panels for our awning two years before we put any of it up. Only put up 1/3 of it so far.

F35Machinist · Jan 5, 2023

I never have idle workers, but often machines will be idle. If all of the machines were fully utilized, then I would probably have to buy more. It is much harder, riskier and more expensive to take on more workers.

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How often is your shop lacking business?

davidsmith

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yoke

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Ox

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Garwood

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DouglasJRizzo

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Strostkovy

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Conrad Hoffman

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mhajicek

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Bondo

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Strostkovy

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F35Machinist

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