Buyers have a tough job in the world of manufacturing: they need to keep costs for parts low without compromising quality. It’s a catch-22, and the risk of partnering with the wrong shop is high.
That’s because with most shops, you’re stuck playing by their rules. They’ll give you an attractive quote early on to get your business, then surprise you with added costs down the road.
No one understands your predicament quite like Ketchie. Members of our leadership team, including our President Courtney Silver, spent years working as buyers before joining our precision machine shop. We’ve felt the pressure you feel to reduce costs, and we don’t want you to feel that pressure with us.
Instead of forcing buyers to play by our rules, we work within your rules.
At Ketchie, we care most about building trust and maintaining lasting relationships with our customers. We always go the extra mile, and we’re constantly searching for innovative ways to deliver high-quality parts more cost-effectively.
3 Ways Ketchie Helps Reduce Costs for Buyers
We believe the best manufacturing solutions make both sides feel like they’re winning. We’re proactive about saving customers time and money—and our solutions to common problems usually make our lives easier, too.
1. Consolidating orders.
We excel at machining complex parts. But complex parts can require a lot of time-consuming setup, and they have the tendency to slow us down on the shop floor. To overcome this inefficiency, we consolidate orders whenever possible.
If we have a customer who can only order 6 parts at a time, but we know they’re going to order more eventually, we’ll run 12 parts and hold onto the rest until they need them. This type of arrangement saves time and money on both sides But it requires mutual trust between us and a customer.
If you’re willing to commit to more parts via a signed blanket purchase order or stocking agreement, we’re happy to consolidate your order. You get great pricing without having to hold extra inventory, and you’ll receive your next order of parts right away because they’ll be ready and waiting for you.
2. Competitive material sourcing.
Most shops source from their go-to vendors without a second thought because it’s easiest for them. But we take the time to analyze quotes on raw material to find the best deals for customers.
Getting competitive quotes on machined castings and forgings in particular can be a long process. It involves more than simply attaching a drawing and asking for a quick estimate. We have to clearly convey properties like part age and weight, as well as the type of tooling. We may also need to submit pictures.
But we’re happy to source materials differently than other shops because we know it helps our customers.
3. Machining efficiency.
Our culture of continuous improvement motivates us to increase productivity so we can continue growing our business. We’re always finding ways to improve CNC machining efficiency—and then passing the time and cost savings onto customers whenever we can.
For a recent project, we upgraded a machine to reduce cycle time from 3.75 minutes to just 1 minute on our mill, with 8 parts on a single fixture. We cut the full 30-minute cycle time down to just 8 minutes!
If you’re looking for a precision machine shop that will meet you where you’re at, count on Ketchie. We understand buyers’ goals—and their frustrations. We’ll work with you to get you high-quality parts at a reasonable cost. Request a quote from a shop you can trust today!
Comments