The Dude
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2010
- Location
- Portland, OR
So I heard about these guys on The Fabricator (article in their magazine). When my local laser cutter when to a $250 minimum (which, in some ways, I understand), I thought I'd give them a try. A whole $29 minimum (per material). I can design a part, upload it (DXF or other formats), get pricing (you can vary material and qty to see $/pc) and order it within 15 minutes. The parts I just ordered on the attached photo (shims of two different materials and a custom spanner wrench that was the same material as the thicker shim) were a total of a whole $84 with shipping. Comes in totally clean and usually less than one week. I've made about 6 orders and only had one glitch (when they were still very new) and they paid for overnight shipping.
So, fabricators, beware! They've obviously figured out a quoting/pricing process that is completely automated (until the parts get too large/heavy for normal packaging and shipping). I doubt there is any human involvement until the package is handed off to FedEx (that could even be automated).
Now machinists, be careful! It's only going to be a matter of time before someone can upload a file format for certain parts and this process will be automated, or at least sped-up from manually processing a quote. In regard to some of the more recent postings, this is related to the fact that any company that wants to remain competitive and/or grow should make sure they have an efficient and effective quoting process. Just getting quotes fast and accurate these days is a huge factor in remaining competitive.
Now, if your business is something you consider a hobby and don't really care if competition takes you out, no big deal. But then I'd also ask, why the hell are you wasting time on an internet forum? Aren't these supposed to be where you can ask a question or give good advice? Are you just going to post something to try and prove that I'm wrong (I'm fine with that as well)? The main reason I'm posting this is to make people aware as it could also come from overseas and I fully support manufacturing in the US (or other countries that pay and treat employees well). I'm not doing it to start an argument, I'll let everyone else waste time on that.
The Dude
So, fabricators, beware! They've obviously figured out a quoting/pricing process that is completely automated (until the parts get too large/heavy for normal packaging and shipping). I doubt there is any human involvement until the package is handed off to FedEx (that could even be automated).
Now machinists, be careful! It's only going to be a matter of time before someone can upload a file format for certain parts and this process will be automated, or at least sped-up from manually processing a quote. In regard to some of the more recent postings, this is related to the fact that any company that wants to remain competitive and/or grow should make sure they have an efficient and effective quoting process. Just getting quotes fast and accurate these days is a huge factor in remaining competitive.
Now, if your business is something you consider a hobby and don't really care if competition takes you out, no big deal. But then I'd also ask, why the hell are you wasting time on an internet forum? Aren't these supposed to be where you can ask a question or give good advice? Are you just going to post something to try and prove that I'm wrong (I'm fine with that as well)? The main reason I'm posting this is to make people aware as it could also come from overseas and I fully support manufacturing in the US (or other countries that pay and treat employees well). I'm not doing it to start an argument, I'll let everyone else waste time on that.
The Dude