If you’re a shop owner in aerospace, medical, defense, or the semiconductor industries (or any other regulated industry for that matter), you know the struggle of chasing repeat production work and being stuck with those one-off jobs. Sure, it keeps the machines running, but it’s a hamster wheel that never ends. So what if you could win repeat production work that’s steady, reliable, and easier to manage?
Here’s why repeat production work is the holy grail for your shop—and what you need to do to win it.
Why Production Work is King
1.Recurring Revenue: You know that feeling when a solid job comes through and covers your overhead for the month? Now imagine getting that kind of revenue on a regular basis with production contracts or LTAs. With production work, you’re not chasing the next job every week—you’ve got steady, predictable income coming in to keep the lights on and the machines humming.
2. Process Refinement & Margins: With repeat work, your shop can really dial in the process. That means you’re shaving off time and costs, and when you do that, your margins start to look a whole lot better. You’re not constantly programming new parts or figuring out setups every time. The more you run a job, the better you get at it.
3. Forecasting and Growth: Knowing you’ve got repeat work in the pipeline helps you plan staffing, machine purchases, and other growth investments. No more guessing how many machinists to hire or whether to pull the trigger on that shiny new CNC machine. You’ve got data to back it up.
4. Less-Skilled Labor: Let’s face it, the ultra-skilled machinists are hard to find (and even harder to keep). With production work, you don’t need as much specialized skill to run the jobs. Your top guys can focus on the harder stuff while the production work hums along with your more junior staff.
5. Automation: This is where the fun starts. With repeat work, it’s much easier to justify investing in robotics and automation. That means machines can run unattended overnight, so you’re making money even while you sleep.
How to Transition to a Production Shop
Okay, hopefully, you’re sold on why production work rocks, but how do you get it? Let’s break down the steps to turn your shop into a production machine.
1.Position Yourself as a Full-Service Manufacturer: It may be time to rethink how you present your business. If “Tool & Die” is in your name, customers will think you’re a one-off shop that doesn’t handle production volumes. Maybe it’s time for a rebrand. Take a hard look at your website, brochures, and any other marketing materials. If you’ve got pictures of single-part jobs on there, people won’t believe you’re a production shop. Showcase your capability to handle both prototypes and production. Speaking of which…
2.Offer Prototype Services: This might sound counterintuitive, but hear me out. Offering prototyping is the key to winning production work. Many companies want to test the waters with prototypes before committing to a full production run. My shop, Pro CNC, had an entire division dedicated to prototypes, just to capture that work. And here’s the thing: companies usually hand the production contract to the shop that did the prototype.
A pro tip—don’t mix prototypes and production on the same machines. It screws up your scheduling and lead times. Keep them separate, if possible, or run prototypes during a different shift or on dedicated pallets.
3. Get the Pricing Right for Volume: To win production work, you need to sharpen your pencil on the quoting side. Understand your costs at volume—machine rates, labor percentages, and unattended run times. You may have to offer thinner margins on high-volume work, but the upside is better machine utilization. Instead of your machines sitting idle most of the time in a low-volume, high-mix environment, they’ll be cranking out parts day and night.
It’s worth asking your customers for feedback or target pricing. Sometimes, getting that intel can help you fine-tune your approach to quoting and land the work.
4. Sell Your QMS/BMS: Buyers in regulated industries—especially aerospace, defense, and medical—aren’t just buying parts; they’re buying peace of mind. They want to know your shop is rock-solid, and that’s where your Quality Management System (QMS) or Business Management System (BMS) comes in. Companies without solid systems can’t hide the chaos when that customer comes for an audit, and a fancy website or new machines won’t be enough to win their confidence. Those buyers need to have conviction that your shop will deliver that critical work week in and week out because your systems almost make it inevitable!
5. Target High-Volume Customers: It’s all about going after the right type of work. Let’s take aerospace as an example: You only need one set of landing gear per plane, but you need hundreds of seat components. So, instead of chasing the landing gear maker, target the seat manufacturer. Another tip? Look for companies that are hiring machinists. It might mean they can’t keep up with their own internal demand and need to outsource…to you!
How Can ProShop Help?
ProShop’s paperless and deeply integrated ERP, QMS and MES, create an incredibly robust operating system that many clients use as a highly effective sales tool. In fact, when they can get a prospect to visit, or get on a virtual meeting, much of the meeting is a tour/demo of how they use ProShop to run their business which typically “blows customers away” and really changes the conversation to one where there is a lot more interest from the prospect in doing business with the shop. When the customer realizes that your shop has a much more mature operating system (QMS/BMS) than they likely do, it puts you on a much more level footing in the conversation. Here is one client example.
Here are a couple of other real-world examples:
Marzilli Machine had a big meeting with a customer to win more production work. After describing for them how they use ProShop, the customer wanted to see more, so Marzilli’s owner casted from his cell phone to the client conference room TV and gave a live demo of their BMS on the spot! It blew the client away and they ended up winning a big chunk of production work.
Another customer of ours had a week-long audit from a branch of the military and 2 prime contractors. 15 people in total there to audit our client! They impressed the auditors so much that they were approved for production immediately, rather than R&D work which was the goal of the visit. One auditor commented in all his years of auditing, that was the smoothest audit he’s ever been a part of.
Wrapping it Up:
By making these changes, even shops stuck in the low-volume, high-mix grind can transition into production work. And trust me, when you’re running repeat production, your machines are working harder, your business is growing faster, and life gets a whole lot easier. It’s not just about the bottom line—it’s about giving you the kind of shop that runs like a well-oiled machine, even when you’re not there.
