Production Machining

JUN 2017

Production Machining - Your access to the precision machining industrial buyer.

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productionmachining.com :: 17 Helping Precision Machine Shops Be More ProducƟve and Proftable Your purpose is more than making products, so why isn't your focus? I think that as managers we are confused between what we sell, what we think our customers are buying and what our purpose is. Why shouldn't we focus on the products that we make instead of the products we sell? After all, that's what our customers buy from us, right? If the customer isn't buying products from us, what exactly are they buying? Making products is what we do, whether large or small lots, high or low complexity, or from cam automatics or multi-axis CNC machines. Making high precision components for our customers using a range of technologies is what we do, but it is actually just a portion of what we do, and just a portion of the reason why our customers buy from us. We are more than economic organizations. We are community organizations as well (though in industry, they like to say "supply chain," rather than community). But we have a role to play in our community—our community of customers, suppliers and employees. It is impossible to argue that our purpose doesn't somehow involve products. We ship products and get paid for them, but that is not the end of the story. Products can be purchased from a number of suppliers, locally as well as globally. U.S. Census says there are approximately 3,682 precision machining shops in the U.S. alone. A recent study we did on a sample of PMPA shops indicates that PMPA active and associate shops make up about 6.4 percent of industry, and yet we produce almost 15 percent of the industry's shipments. Clearly, there is something more going on than just making great parts. Getting Back to Community It is my belief that our shops provide a higher value than just the utility of our parts. Our shops play a key role in their communities of suppliers, customers and employees. That key role is to be a provider of values to our community beyond the mere function of our products. I believe our customers buy products from us because of our service. Expand Your Focus from Products to Service By Miles Free – Director of Technology and Industry Research Continues on page 20 Service is What Customers Really Want Service is what our customers really want and why they purchase their parts from us. Their experience with our service gives them confidence on our promises and deliverables. In every transaction there is risk because of a number of factors both known and unknown. Our customers choose us because they are confident we will serve them and meet their needs. Customers do not purchase from us based on low price if we cannot ship the products they need in time for them to use. The price they will pay will be the price that meets their requirement to be served the parts when they need them. It is our service that decides their choice of source, not price, if the need for parts is immediate. While the business press loves to talk about supply chains, what they are really talking about are the communities of people. A supply chain is a community of people that wants to get the job done and serve the community with newer and better technologies. We all take satisfaction at our role in making the world a better place because of what it is that we do, and of course, we want to deal with people that share our values. An attitude of service shows to our commercial partners in production that we too are made of the right stuff, and our organization and products will meet their needs because we made the effort to understand and deliver on their needs.

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