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Machine Shops Tennessee?

AD Design

Stainless
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Location
Tennessee USA
Company I contract at (large global corporation) has had poor quality from local go-to shop and wants to search for other shops. What I've seen/designed is mill/lathe work for production machinery that's +/- .005 for the most part. Some work can be completed on manual machines, some on 2 axis CNC. Welding capability on aluminum and SS is often part of the job, nothing critical unless called for. For tighter tolerance work they have been sending out to a shop near Green Bay (Wisc) but I believe there must be good shops closer. I haven't seen everything they farm out (fairly new there) but they do need most everything made outside as the in-house shop is minimal. Prefer in the Knoxville area just for proximity but open to other locations. I've been informed that there will be a "process" to get on the list for Autumn if they contact you. This may be an opportunity or it may be a fishing expedition by the Procurement Dept. and I wanted to be up front about that, nobody with a real shop has time to waste chasing a dead-end. All I can tell you, at this point, is the easy jobs they've been paying good money for has been lacking in quality and the other ME's are about fed up with it. Contact me here, good luck.

OBTW- Just for my own knowledge, let me know what transpires in a PM. If you get the run-around I'd like to know, or if the "Brother-In-Law" syndrome is a factor like it has been at other companies I've contracted for.
 
Forgot to add, please include list of machinery and capabilities for your shop. I have a nice welder but I wouldn't bother to list that as one of my personal capabilities. On the other hand, an older jig bore/grinder or WEDM that has some wear may be good enough for the design. Some of the shops we use have trouble with delivery schedules or have high quotes, I'd guess they're busy. State what you have and what it can do. Good luck.
 
Wonder how long it will take AD's PM box to fill up? I sent mine 2 hours after the posting pretty sure I wasn't the first.
 
Wonder how long it will take AD's PM box to fill up? I sent mine 2 hours after the posting pretty sure I wasn't the first.

-Not many responses, I guess all the shops around Oak Ridge are doing all they care to do. Chattanooga and Nashville are welcome too. I'll give it a couple more days or so before I turn this over to Procurement. It's not DOD work with many hoops to jump through. At this point it's just meat and potatoes general work that should pay decently.

Actually you were the first Bob.
 
-Not many responses, I guess all the shops around Oak Ridge are doing all they care to do. Chattanooga and Nashville are welcome too. I'll give it a couple more days or so before I turn this over to Procurement. It's not DOD work with many hoops to jump through. At this point it's just meat and potatoes general work that should pay decently.

Actually you were the first Bob.

Sending a PM now.
 
FYI, your purchasing department could be partly to blame.

Buyers love the cheapest price, and in their mind all shops have the same level of quality.

The old saying "you get what you pay for" rings true here.

Often a buyer will squeeze a new, potentially highly-qualified shop, with the prices he/she was paying at the shop that let them down.

The cheapest quotes are usually from the shops that are marginally qualified, desperate, stupid, or a combination of each. Assuming the cheapest price is from a from a highly qualified shop that has the latest-and-greatest machines and thus can sell low is just folly.

Shops like that didn't get there by selling low...
 
Often a buyer will squeeze a new, potentially highly-qualified shop, with the prices he/she was paying at the shop that let them down.

I had a guy after a while who slowly fed me jobs without getting other quotes. Although pretty much always complained about the price. I usually wasn't that far off of what he claimed to have paid before just 10-20% higher.

There was a small shaft that had a couple press fit diameters on I told him $6 each. He said he could get them for $5. I told him to go back to them. He said he didn't want to because 1/2 their parts didn't work and his company wants to trust their vendors, and just assemble the parts, not having to QC everything.

Same guy complains about my price on a custom small step pulley, said two places made them for $4.50 and I wanted $1 more. I once again told him to go to them. He said one guy went bankrupt and out of business and the other guy had an issue with over sized and tapered holes.

I always wondered if this guy really thought he had a solid argument trying to beat me down on price.
 
I have to agree with several comments above. There's been more than one company I contracted for that had some problems with outside shops supplying parts. New shops that were on the prospective list were visited by management personnel with no shop experience that had no idea what constituted the capability of a shop. The reports I would get back from those visits left me with the conclusion that they just wanted a day out away from work on a "fact finding" junket where they could be taken to lunch and appear to be important to somebody. There are sometimes factors in play that have absolutely nothing to do with the work itself. Going to Italy to review the machinery but you don't know anything about machinery? I'll also have to agree that using some other shop to beat down the prices of another is far too prevalent, as if all things are equal but the price. While I do admire what accounting/purchasing does for a business I do sometimes wish the bean counters would get more information to qualify their opinions before rendering a decision.

"Not everything that counts can be counted, not everything that can be counted counts."
 
That needs to go alongside the :

"Figgers don't lie, but liars figger"

line...

Not the same, but where one doesn't fit, the other'n might! :D



... now if I could just remember it when the op porn tunity arrives..... :o


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

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
I have to agree with several comments above. There's been more than one company I contracted for that had some problems with outside shops supplying parts. New shops that were on the prospective list were visited by management personnel with no shop experience that had no idea what constituted the capability of a shop. The reports I would get back from those visits left me with the conclusion that they just wanted a day out away from work on a "fact finding" junket where they could be taken to lunch and appear to be important to somebody. There are sometimes factors in play that have absolutely nothing to do with the work itself. Going to Italy to review the machinery but you don't know anything about machinery? I'll also have to agree that using some other shop to beat down the prices of another is far too prevalent, as if all things are equal but the price. While I do admire what accounting/purchasing does for a business I do sometimes wish the bean counters would get more information to qualify their opinions before rendering a decision.

"Not everything that counts can be counted, not everything that can be counted counts."

The stories I could tell! :D

My experience is "those" guys have a fancy degree (related or not seemed irrelevant) that allows them to make decisions they aren't qualified to make, all the while belittling the 'guys on the floor' with the knowledge to make said decisions, but can't because they have no "degree" stating they can! :crazy:

edit: The part about Italy and machinery is especially true for me! Was not Italy, but a foreign country about 20hrs flight time away... A really big shot (:rolleyes5:) traveled there for one day (yes ONE day) to give some stupid BS speech and then went straight back home. Business class no less as we had the same flight for the first leg of trip. What a colossal waste of money! And I couldn't get an upgrade from coach (not first class, but the one with "extended" leg room?) even though I was there somewhat regularly and stayed for almost 3 weeks at a time. :angry:
 
It's been 11 days since I posted on behalf of the large corporation I contract at. I initiated an interoffice message this morning to find out the status of the list of shops that had submitted themselves here. After about 4-5 back-n-forth messages I got a rather vague impression that the list wasn't of any great interest to the Procurement Dept. I was not attempting to elevate my position, I don't feel the need to do that for anyone or any company I'm employed at. I saw/heard complaints with the current shop and thought some of you folks could do a better job, simple as that. I cannot know the motivation behind the request for other shops and the casual indifference to the list I gathered but I've seen this sort of thing before. I would like to offer my personal apology to any of your that did take time to contact me. I'm sorry if I wasted your time but if you've been in manufacturing for a while you know how these things go sometimes. If you are contacted then great but this is at least the second time I've contacted people here about work (2 different companies I contracted for) that got quotes and then went nowhere. I would be pleased if they did contact you but I wouldn't hold my breath. Sorry fellas.
 
AD,

You might look at Quality Machining Services, LLC down here in Cleveland. They've done good work for us before.

Well, crap, I can't get the link to work. If you look them up on maps or the web they come up. They're on Old Tasso Road down here in Cleveland.
 
I believe he meant Cleveland, Tn. as that's much closer than the others and we sorta know each other through the board. The "Old Tasso Rd." location was the giveaway one would only know if you're a local.
 








 
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