Are Industrial market place's like Xometry worth the time for finding new work

[kyle0800]

I changed the title of the thread because this is really what I was going for but I didn't know about Xometry or industrial market places until I got some feedback from the original thread. I heard of the idea from a coworker that has 40+ years of experience in machining he couldn't remember the websites and I looked around online but couldn't find anything.

Now I know that they are called industrial market places, and Xometry is one example. Does anyone know of any other industrial market places? And what are your thoughts on them?

Most people are saying they are a waste of time, and I would agree that working local is better but if your in a pinch for work is it worth trying?

 

[Larry Dickman]

De ja vu? Seems like I've seen this thread before.

 

[Garwood]

Why do you think you want to do this? That's what I want to know.

Never, ever, did I ever wake up and think "I really want to start a job shop for Xometry work so I can be the cheapest bidder and work cheaper than everyone else!"

Sales is #1 most important. Making parts is easy. If you can't sell do not start a business that depends on selling.

 

[kyle0800]

HaHa,
Yeah Monty Python's great! He had a sketch for everything.
And as I said I've read some of the other threads on here but like I said I never saw anyone mention "job auctions" I'm not sure what they are called but if there is someone out there who has heard of them it would be greatly appreciated if they share some information.

 

[kyle0800]

Why do you think you want to do this? That's what I want to know.

Never, ever, did I ever wake up and think "I really want to start a job shop for Xometry work so I can be the cheapest bidder and work cheaper than everyone else!"

Sales is #1 most important. Making parts is easy. If you can't sell do not start a business that depends on selling.

Someone looking to have a product made is always going to look for the cheapest manufacture... Why do you think everything is going overseas?? And sometimes you have to start with what you can get even if its cheap work until you get a reputation.
And are you here to provide constructive feedback or do you just troll everyone? I've read other replies by you and your pretty F-----g negative.

 

[Garwood]

Someone looking to have a product made is always going to look for the cheapest manufacture... Why do you think everything is going overseas?? And sometimes you have to start with what you can get even if its cheap work until you get a reputation.
And are you here to provide constructive feedback or do you just troll everyone? I've read other replies by you and your pretty F-----g negative.

Ride your unicorn into a rainbow of Xometry work!

I am more than happy to not offer advice. You clearly have it figured out. A superb business plan- Be the cheapest guy and win all the best customers! Report back in 5 years how this plan works out.

 

[kazlx]

If you're asking this question, you are nowhere near ready to start a shop. There's plenty of work out there. Get started, do good work and deliver on time and word will spread.

 

[kyle0800]

Ride your unicorn into a rainbow of Xometry work!

I am more than happy to not offer advice. You clearly have it figured out. A superb business plan- Be the cheapest guy and win all the best customers! Report back in 5 years how this plan works out.

Garwood have you ever had your own shop? And what is Xometry?

I certainly am not riding a unicorn on a rainbow, and I certainly did not grow up being fed from a silver spoon. I grew up on a farm, we did everything the hard way, manual labor, early mornings, late nights, I know things don’t always go as planned, that happens a lot in farming. I’ve worked for everything I have, I went to school for machining, have been working as a machinist and now I have the ambition to start my business and I’m just looking for some advice. Why do I have to write out my whole business plan here? I am mostly just wondering if anyone has heard of the “job auctions” that my coworker mentioned.

 

[kyle0800]

I guess this is not the right place to ask this question.

No offense to anyone on here, I’ve read other threads and there are a lot of smart guys on here that know what they are doing as far as machining goes. But I guess how many machinist actually deal with finding jobs unless they own their own shop? And most machinist don’t, they work for someone else, and the way companies are structured depending on the shop it’s either the owner, manager or a sales rep that finds jobs not a machinist, so I guess this is not the right place to ask this question.

 

[Garwood]

Garwood have you ever had your own shop? And what is Xometry?

For the last 17 years I have. Xometry is where machine shops take their dreams to die.

 

[kpotter]

I've been considering starting a shop and the one thing I'm really uncertain about is finding work, not that there isn't work out there. The hard part is how to find it if your just starting a business and aside from making phone calls and advertising and waiting for someone to call you I'm really not sure.
And I have read some of the other threads on here that are similar but I have not seen anyone mention "job auctions", which is something a coworker that has 40+ years of experience in machining mentioned. He described the "job auctions" as being like Ebay where shops could bid on a job, but instead of bidding up, it goes to whoever bids the least that is whoever is going to do the job for the cheapest. He couldn't remember the websites and I looked around online but couldn't find anything. Has anybody heard of something like this? If so where can I find them? What would be the best way to find customers?


And yes I would start as a job shop because trying to sell my own product would just add additional trouble with inventory and marketing that I wouldn't want to deal with right away.
And I would be running primarily swiss machines as I have experience setting up and programming them, and in my opinion with my experience with them, they would be good for a start up because they are great for production.

Competing with every job shop on the planet is a good way to go broke. Make a product, you can Taylor your shop around the production of your product. Trying to be everything to everyone is impossible and really expensive.

 

[jhov]

Why would you want to start a job shop without a line on customers first? Especially if you have a product to sell that you believe there is demand for. It would be far simpler to form relationships with other companies to do any work you cannot or will not do yourself than to find decent job shop customers with no business connections. It's easier to find people to pay than it is to find people to pay you.

 

[CarbideBob]

Customers, contacts , and even then it will not easy.

It's a long road.

 

[kyle0800]

For the last 17 years I have. Xometry is where machine shops take their dreams to die.

Alright, so I looked into Xometry and its basically a marketplace for industrial parts, and businesses can find manufactures through this. (Kind of like what my coworker talked about) And you’re saying that marketplaces like Xometry are not worth my time, so I would be better off finding local customers and going from there.

Thank you Garwood, and I apologize for what I said earlier, I was just a little upset, this was my first thread and all I got was smart ass responses, but this was helpful.

Thank you very much sir,

 

[Superbowl]

If you want to know about starting your own shop and getting customers, read this thread:

B&A Precision

Figured I might as well start a thread to share some of my goofy ramblings, and the opening of the new shop. Ive just about got everything lined up. Its a small industrial suite. 1350sq-ft. 250amps of 3-phase. large door. small office. and really crappy concrete. Its in a good part of town to...

www.practicalmachinist.com

I read the whole thing and it took weeks part time but it will tell exactly what you want to know.

 

[kyle0800]

Why would you want to start a job shop without a line on customers first? Especially if you have a product to sell that you believe there is demand for. It would be far simpler to form relationships with other companies to do any work you cannot or will not do yourself than to find decent job shop customers with no business connections. It's easier to find people to pay than it is to find people to pay you.

Right, that's why I am looking for customers now. I wouldn't be starting this till next spring or summer and right now I am working on figuring out if I can make this work. And finding customers is at the top of my list.

 

[kyle0800]

If you want to know about starting your own shop and getting customers, read this thread:

B&A Precision

Figured I might as well start a thread to share some of my goofy ramblings, and the opening of the new shop. Ive just about got everything lined up. Its a small industrial suite. 1350sq-ft. 250amps of 3-phase. large door. small office. and really crappy concrete. Its in a good part of town to...

www.practicalmachinist.com

I read the whole thing and it took weeks part time but it will tell exactly what you want to know.

thank you,

 

[kyle0800]

Competing with every job shop on the planet is a good way to go broke. Make a product, you can Taylor your shop around the production of your product. Trying to be everything to everyone is impossible and really expensive.

Yeah, working with local customers seems to be the best route. I was just wondering about these market places like Xometry because a coworker had talked about what must have been an industrial marketplace but he couldn't remember what it was called. And I thought it might be a way to get work if you have trouble finding local customers but based on the feedback here, its not worth the time.

 

[MCritchley]

Is this the 1,000th “ I’m starting a shop thread this year?

To the op, use the search function on this topic and you’ll have your answer in the time it takes to drink a 30 pack of Coors.

 

[john.k]

Actually,you can start a shop by offering local employers to do some part of their work for under minimum wage .....its called "outworking" and is common in some trades ......Ive seen these schemes work OK in hard times .....the OP would have to live in his shop ,to cut his expenses.