We had trouble with Sentry at first as they saw what we made but didn't understand from the part manes what they were, we were able to clear it up for them with assy drawings and things have been fine. We make some automotive, dirtbike and firearms parts but nothing that holds on the wheels, brakes or makes them go boom, once they understood the parts everything was good. Desk jockeys and bean counters don't tend to understand what anything is or how it works.
I think that is the problem I am running into.
I felt good about the calls last night, but this morning as I run the phone call back through my mind I am questioning myself.
The fellow from Sentry thought a Machining Center was a big building that I had purchased and he asked if I did architectural drawings.
I struggle with being "honest". My wife has never once asked me how she looks in a particular outfit because she knows I have no interest in bending the truth. She will tell you that I am "too" honest.
So when I am asked if everything is made to print, I can't honestly answer yes. I answered that everything is made to customer specifications. I often have part A that needs to be fit to part B. I have a blueprint for part A, but part A wasn't quite machined to print anyway, so it is a moot point. I machine part B to fit part A.
Or of course, I have gotten blue prints, from the schmuck across town, to Tier 1 Automotive that was drawn on a piece of trash, with little to no information. Or even better when Tier 1 sends you a print with very little information on it, and then throws a fit because the information that was on it was wrong, and the dimensions that were not dimensioned don't fit!
Or when a customer ships me a part, in pieces, and says, we need 5 of these, we have no clue what they are made of, their kinda precise, and they need to be hard. "How soon can we have them"? How do I answer that it was made to print? I feel comfortable saying I made them to customer specification... but is that the right answer?
And I know your thinking it, so just to clarify... I am the guy that looks at an extremely complex 8 sided part with angled cross holes and stupid dimensions and moronic finish callouts for an hour and then says, yea... I think we can make that. And then stares at an 8" round, 1" thick disc for an hour and then says, yea ... I think we can make that. I over think and over complicate the simplest of tasks, which is why I tend to steer myself towards the complex.