by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Every RFQ that lands in your inbox carries a signal. Most shops treat quoting as a reactive task — calculate cost, add markup, send price. But the real leverage lives in the pattern across hundreds of quotes: which materials consistently win at what margin, where...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Every shop knows the sinking feeling: you win a job at what looks like a healthy margin, only to watch it evaporate because setup took twice as long as expected. The culprit is rarely material or machine time — it’s setup. And setup looks completely different...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Every shop knows the feeling: a customer needs parts yesterday, they’ll pay a premium, and the order looks like easy money. But rush orders have a habit of turning profitable jobs into margin killers once you account for the real costs.The problem isn’t...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
If your quotes feel competitive but your margins keep shrinking, the problem often starts with an underestimated machine hour rate. Many digital manufacturers use a simple formula — purchase price divided by expected hours — and stop there. That approach misses the...
by Chris Anjel | Aug 26, 2026 | Uncategorized
Most shops can quote the machine time for a CNC part or a 3D print within a few percent. Where quotes go sideways is everything that happens after the machine stops: support removal, heat treatment, tumbling, bead blasting, anodizing coordination, CMM inspection,...
