by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
You quoted the material, the machine time, the tooling, and the finishing. The job ships, the invoice goes out, and somehow the margin is thinner than expected. The culprit? Fixturing and workholding — the custom soft jaws, vacuum tables, modular fixture plates,...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Walk into any digital manufacturing shop and you’ll hear the same complaint: machines sitting idle while overhead keeps ticking. Industry data suggests most service bureaus and job shops operate at 40-60% capacity utilization. That’s a lot of depreciating...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Most shops can quote a single process in their sleep. CNC milling? You know your machine hour rate, tooling, and setup time. Laser cutting? Nesting yield and pierce time are second nature. But the jobs that actually grow revenue — the ones that keep machines running...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Most digital manufacturers have a solid handle on quoting the primary build — machine time, material, and setup for a CNC job or 3D print. Where margins evaporate is everything that happens after the part comes off the machine: support removal, media blasting,...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
You sent the quote. The customer opened it. Then… nothing. No reply, no questions, no PO. Two weeks later you notice the RFQ went cold and the job went to a competitor who simply checked in.This scenario plays out daily in digital manufacturing shops. The...
