It was a busy day and I didn’t think to check back on this post until just a bit ago. I’ll be happy to answer the questions.
First, my name is Andy Schlotter. If anyone would like to contact me directly, the contact page on jobshopblog.com connects to my email which is
[email protected].
By way of further introduction, I started jobshopblog.com a little more than a month ago. My experience in our industry started as I’ve described in a couple of my blog posts on Saturdays and over summers in the late 70’s – with a broom in one hand and a rag in the other.
Also… thanks to this forum, I got quite a few responses from shops. Believe it or not, Facebook (of all places) is the highest source of responses. There isn’t the pushback, but the pushback is fine and it is definitely a fair trade to be able to know it is coming from people in the industry. It takes an incredibly long time for a new website to be “found.” If not for the ability to reach out on forums like this
To answer the questions:
1) For “digger doug” – I saw what you did with my link in your response. Clever. I wish you didn’t do it, but clever nonetheless. Anyway - There is no cut for me. I’ve never made my living in the industry on the sales end, but I’ve been on plenty of sales calls riding with my reps and in support of existing Customers.
As hard as it may be to believe, this effort comes from my honest belief that it is a needed and underserved avenue for CNC Job Shops – both large and small. Over the years I have routinely put shops together when I was unable to help someone. I never asked for anything from it but I managed to make a lot of great connections and build up a lot of good will.
If you read my link before trashing it, you may have seen a call at the end for web designers. What I ultimately envision will take resources I do not have to develop. I believe we need a web-based platform for shop-to-shop trade. Having spent my life in the industry, I am aware of the roadblocks that prevent shops from working in cooperation with each other. I think I can get around them. If I can find the right partners, I believe it can be a very lucrative endeavor and provide a needed service to the industry.
“Carbide Bob’s response was true. Sales reps get paid. In my own experience, I was always very happy to pay them. It meant I was making money. He was also correct that nobody wants a middleman. Regarding making money, there are areas in which I ultimately plan to offer consulting services. They are not rolled out yet because my site is new and because I’ve wanted to spend time getting some content up on the site. I’m hoping that the shops I work with have a positive experience and come to me if they ever need the services I’ll be offering. As I said at the start, I’m also hoping to attract partners for developing the larger project.
So, as crazy as it may seem to you, I’m creating a database of suppliers, will be reaching out to them to get an understanding of their capabilities, checking their websites, making sure they have a clear understanding of what I’ll be doing so their expectations are aligned with my actions and then linking them with “buyer” shops that I have yet to solicit because I wanted to have willing suppliers at the ready before soliciting shops that could use capacity help. I’ll be doing this as a service with no expectations of anything other than building a network of good will with the belief (supported by past experience) that it will be a worthwhile endeavor.
Regarding Bob’s correct “middleman” comment, my experience tells me that a middleman is needed in this case. Any sales rep that tried to make their living on shop-to-shop trade would starve to death. The traditional barrier of trust is huge. Only via the internet with a national reach could anyone possibly find a couple hundred (if you’re lucky) interested shops out of the many thousands of shops out there. Trying to make sales calls in search of these shops would be a fool’s errand. Thanks to the internet, linking a shop from Utah in need of 100 diggerdougs (or widgets, if you prefer) from 6061-T6 bar with a shop from North Carolina that has open VMC capacity and the ability to get in the machine with them in a couple of days is a possible and useful service that I see no evidence is being provided – not matter what the “cut.” Once (and if) the traditional trust barrier is broken (something the platform I envision would do), I believe there is a huge untapped capacity to be had.
To Keith’s comment about the “coach,” I do consider it working as a team and I think it is an important way to think. Rather than the coach, I see it as more of the Special Teams Coordinator. The offense and defense will play most of the game, but every once in a while the outcome special teams can make a difference.
2) “Wheelieking” wants to know what makes me an expert – my resume? Nothing. I’m just a guy with an idea that I think could add value, my friend. Like everyone else, I have experiences from over the years. I don’t suggest for a second that the experiences make me an expert. In fact, I learn a lot of new things every day.
3) JS noted that this is an idea put forward a few years ago. That made me smile. At the bottom of the Blog page at my site is my Purpose Statement and some commentary about it (I’d link but I’ve seen what happens to links here). Here is an excerpt:
“A rare few people are able to break new ground in this world. The rest of us have a choice to either delude ourselves into thinking we are "special" and spend a lifetime trying to prove it, happily live our lives without giving any of it a second thought, or embrace our "normalness" and have the humility to apply the lessons learned from the ground breakers to make our lives and the lives around us better.
I'm in the last group. Nothing on these pages will break new ground. Instead, these pages will try to put ground already broken into a perspective that can be used to create a Continuous Improvement environment in our CNC Machine Shops that will make them more efficient and less stressful places to work in, manage and own.”
4) Comatose seems to be buzzword sensitive and took an “Industry 4.0” shot. That made me smile, too. I’ve written about it. I happen to think “Industry 4.0” is preferable to “Internet of Things” for pinning the buzzword meter, but no matter how you describe it, I am of the view that it is important. I think it is among the things in the very near future of our industry that is going to separates the “haves” from the “have nots” in our industry.
Anyway – I appreciate the opportunity to share my idea and I especially appreciate the shops that replied.
All the best - Andy