Insights

Welding, grinding, hardware, masking, coating and inspection often cost more than cutting. See how design choices drive sheet metal fabrication cost.

A design for manufacturing review brings process knowledge into the design while geometry, materials and tolerances can still be changed without reworking production tooling

In injection molding, a poor-fit program is expensive long before the first part is shot. Mold size, press capacity, resin, geometry, tooling, volume and quality requirements all decide whether a program belongs in your shop. Here's how to evaluate them before tooling begins.

A part can be technically manufacturable and still be unnecessarily expensive or difficult to produce. The difference usually comes down to design decisions made before anyone who makes parts for a living looked at the geometry, tolerances and production requirements.

Selling to everyone wastes time and margin. How machine shops define their ideal customer, and use it to market, sell and quote smarter.