Why Outsource First Step Processing?

Here at Plasma Cutting Services, we offer first step steel processing services including hi-def plasma cutting, plate burning, fiber laser cutting and CNC press braking to customers that need to outsource first step processing services. 

How does outsourcing cut cost?

As we are kicking off Q2 of 2023 (hard to believe), businesses large and small are dealing with inflationary pressures on rising costs. With all of the talk of a recession and astonishing high interest rates, businesses are trimming up, cutting overhead expenses, and locking down. Fabrication businesses or OEMs that manufacture steel parts or assemblies can benefit from outsourcing services that wouldn’t make sense for them to keep in house.

Why would it not make sense for a company to “do it all” so to speak under its own roof? Today’s fabrication equipment is becoming more and more technologically advanced, and expensive. If your company cannot keep a machine busy all of the time (or the operator), it may not be worth having that machine using capital and resources that you could use somewhere else to increase your bottom line. A decent industrial plasma table system will cost approx. $300,000 today. If they depreciate on a 10 year schedule there goes 30K a year down the drain not to mention the interest, maintenance costs, operator cost, space in your facility, etc. It takes lots of production volume to keep a machine like that busy and paying for itself.

Even if you do have plate burners, lasers, and brakes in house, bottlenecks can certainly happen. Maybe you are in crunch time and one of your machines is down or your welders aren’t getting enough parts to keep them busy. Maybe you only need extra machine capacity for a month out of the year. You can supplement your production by utilizing our fabrication services to increase your bottom line without having to buy another piece of fabrication equipment. Our goal here at Plasma Cutting Services is to simply have additional capacity for our customers when they need it.

Repeat high volume plate orders or one-off prototype runs; it doesn’t make a difference to us. We are here to serve the steel industry any way we can.

 Hesitant to Outsource? Don’t Worry…

When outsourcing, it is absolutely critical to find the best manufacturing partner, and that doesn’t mean to always order from the lowest bidder. The goal when outsourcing steel processing is to find a supplier that integrates seamlessly with your own production, otherwise, disaster can strike. The key is communication. Very clear communication about pricing, scheduling, and quality needs to exist between the supplier and the customer. The supplier must be upfront and proactive in identifying issues before production. Here at Plasma Cutting Services, we run informal DFM checks; we will not quote a job unless we can manufacture it.

When lead times are calculated, we would much rather under promise and over deliver than have late orders and unhappy customers, even if it means losing an order. We do everything in our power to meet deadlines. Our employees in the shop make things happen and they don’t mind staying late and putting in overtime if it means getting that rush order shipped out on time!  If for some reason we fall short in terms of out of tolerance parts or late orders, we will often cut our customer credits to settle the issue.

Plasma Cutting Services is not a large company, and we don’t want to be. One of our goals is that we want to always know the names of our customers so we can better each serve them. Communication with us is prompt and any issues that may arise will be resolved quickly. We don’t put you on hold, send you to a virtual assistant, or tell you to browse the knowledge base. What a terrible way to conduct business.

We aren’t promising perfection, but we are promising that our customers will be well taken care of. Don’t you need a supplier like that?

Behind on a hot order or do you have a bottleneck in your steel cutting or bending departments? We can help you out!

Send plate cutting or bending RFQs to sales@steelplatefabrication.com or fill out our RFQ form here.