Bobw
Diamond
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2005
- Location
- Hatch, NM Chile capital of the WORLD
I just needed to share this because it BLEW my mind..
I've got a customer right down the street from me. He does AG processing equipment,
He started as a machine shop many many moons ago. And now he does primarily fab work.
All kinds of neat machines, that do all kinds of neat things that a person looking at
a pile of onions sitting in the grocery store could Never imagine...
For instance, the latest "New" machine is an onion bin washing station.. I've seen
them make a ton of machines that flip the onions bins (the ones that come in on the
semis, approx 4x4x3ft. Anyways, it flips the onion bin upside down, into another machine
that they make, that doles the onions out onto a conveyor, without letting them fall far
so they don't get bruised.
So this latest machine that is new, after the onions are gently placed on the conveyor,
washes the onion bin. They get dirt and mud and everything else in there, and this
cleans them, basically a car wash for onion bins. Sounds simple, but its not..
The actual story below
Customer comes to my customer last Thursday. They are putting their product into a new
type of packaging. They have the packaging, this has planned for almost a year.. The
product comes to the packaging person already weighed, the just have to grab it and
stuff it in the printed cellophane bag..
That didn't work out so well.. The bags come in a stack, and they are perforated to
a header above that screams AUTOMATION.. Like the plastic stuff at Walmart, or Alberton's
or Stop & Shop, just fancier..
Apparently, they were having a hard time getting the product into the bags.. A VERY hard,
time consuming time.. And they needed to start shipping last week.
I went down to see them(father and son) Friday morning for some reason, and their customer is there,
they already have a prototype mocked up. Its all hacked together and whatnot, but the basics were
there. Formed and bent sheet-metal, machined parts, air knife stuff, regulators, flexible hoses
etc.
BAM BAM BAM.. Able to manually fill a bag of product in about 8-10 seconds, if not less. The customer
was having a good time.. "Load it again".. BAM BAM BAM!!!! "Load it again".. BAM BAM BAM!!!!
"Load it again".. BAM BAM BAM!!!!
So we have 10 bagging stations, 50 quick change refillable bag cartridges.. I worked all day Sunday
and got all the machined parts for them for each station and the welding jig that was needed..
They got the basic sheetmetal burnt and bent on Saturday.
Welding and cleaning and powder coating were done this morning.. The Bag cartridges, I finished by
2pm..
My customer's customer will be up and running by tomorrow morning, and not at a tiny cost, but not at a huge
cost either..
Just blows my mind. Problem.. Prototype.. Manufacturing.. Put into the production line.. 5 days...
That's just so cool to be a part of..
And if you ask if they pay? They get the discount rate.. They really do.. Its generally simple work,
but it comes with the perk of thinking deeply into complex systems.. So its fun, and they are all really
good people. If there is a way to make it cheaper and better, they are all over it.. Tolerances,
though sometimes necessarily tight, are usually, "this has to fit in there." 80% of prints are on
a scratch pad. 1% have been done on an actual drafting table (they have 3 of them). and the rest is
verbal.
Do they pay?? Well, if its pass through work, where they bill for services, they get charged a
nominal hourly rate.. If its work were they have to tack it onto their already quoted price,
its a little lower. Yeah, they pay. My check is already in the bank. I've offered Net30, but
they don't want it. They've even payed up front, just because.
I'm just sharing because it was a fun one to be a part of, and the turn around time just blew my mind.
And it might be nice to hear a story of a good customer in this forum, instead of a shitty customer.
I've got a customer right down the street from me. He does AG processing equipment,
He started as a machine shop many many moons ago. And now he does primarily fab work.
All kinds of neat machines, that do all kinds of neat things that a person looking at
a pile of onions sitting in the grocery store could Never imagine...
For instance, the latest "New" machine is an onion bin washing station.. I've seen
them make a ton of machines that flip the onions bins (the ones that come in on the
semis, approx 4x4x3ft. Anyways, it flips the onion bin upside down, into another machine
that they make, that doles the onions out onto a conveyor, without letting them fall far
so they don't get bruised.
So this latest machine that is new, after the onions are gently placed on the conveyor,
washes the onion bin. They get dirt and mud and everything else in there, and this
cleans them, basically a car wash for onion bins. Sounds simple, but its not..
The actual story below
Customer comes to my customer last Thursday. They are putting their product into a new
type of packaging. They have the packaging, this has planned for almost a year.. The
product comes to the packaging person already weighed, the just have to grab it and
stuff it in the printed cellophane bag..
That didn't work out so well.. The bags come in a stack, and they are perforated to
a header above that screams AUTOMATION.. Like the plastic stuff at Walmart, or Alberton's
or Stop & Shop, just fancier..
Apparently, they were having a hard time getting the product into the bags.. A VERY hard,
time consuming time.. And they needed to start shipping last week.
I went down to see them(father and son) Friday morning for some reason, and their customer is there,
they already have a prototype mocked up. Its all hacked together and whatnot, but the basics were
there. Formed and bent sheet-metal, machined parts, air knife stuff, regulators, flexible hoses
etc.
BAM BAM BAM.. Able to manually fill a bag of product in about 8-10 seconds, if not less. The customer
was having a good time.. "Load it again".. BAM BAM BAM!!!! "Load it again".. BAM BAM BAM!!!!
"Load it again".. BAM BAM BAM!!!!
So we have 10 bagging stations, 50 quick change refillable bag cartridges.. I worked all day Sunday
and got all the machined parts for them for each station and the welding jig that was needed..
They got the basic sheetmetal burnt and bent on Saturday.
Welding and cleaning and powder coating were done this morning.. The Bag cartridges, I finished by
2pm..
My customer's customer will be up and running by tomorrow morning, and not at a tiny cost, but not at a huge
cost either..
Just blows my mind. Problem.. Prototype.. Manufacturing.. Put into the production line.. 5 days...
That's just so cool to be a part of..
And if you ask if they pay? They get the discount rate.. They really do.. Its generally simple work,
but it comes with the perk of thinking deeply into complex systems.. So its fun, and they are all really
good people. If there is a way to make it cheaper and better, they are all over it.. Tolerances,
though sometimes necessarily tight, are usually, "this has to fit in there." 80% of prints are on
a scratch pad. 1% have been done on an actual drafting table (they have 3 of them). and the rest is
verbal.
Do they pay?? Well, if its pass through work, where they bill for services, they get charged a
nominal hourly rate.. If its work were they have to tack it onto their already quoted price,
its a little lower. Yeah, they pay. My check is already in the bank. I've offered Net30, but
they don't want it. They've even payed up front, just because.
I'm just sharing because it was a fun one to be a part of, and the turn around time just blew my mind.
And it might be nice to hear a story of a good customer in this forum, instead of a shitty customer.