DEDICATED TO EXCELLENCE: SERVICE • QUALITY • INNOVATION
ESTABLISHED 1953
By Dr. Shahrukh Irani
Bio: Dr. Irani is the president of Lean and Flexible, LLC, a consulting company that he started in 2014 to deliver consulting and training services in Lean for manufacturers. He’s writing this article for our All Metals blog as a guest contributor, drawing on his years of experience to help our readers avoid common pitfalls in choosing a job shop.
Too often, businesses treat job shops as interchangeable. They send out blanket RFQs, choose the lowest price or fastest turnaround, and then move on. But I’ve seen countless projects derailed by partnerships with shops that weren’t thoroughly evaluated. What sounded good in the quote often turns out to be overpromising, leading to delays and even reworks due to poor quality.
Having worked with such a wide range of manufacturers in my consulting career, I know firsthand just how much job shops can vary in capabilities, attention to detail, quality control, customer service, and more.
To achieve the best results, you need a clear plan to evaluate your options and find the best job shop for your project. I’ve created the attached checklist as a starting point for your evaluations—download it to start your process, and read on to learn how to best employ this tool.
While OEMs and large customers typically conduct formal audits before selecting a supplier, many small and mid-sized companies are unsure what to look for. This checklist is the result of my years of consulting experience and is designed to help you identify the important factors behind a good job shop.
It’s important to realize that this list isn’t one-size-fits-all. You may not need to consider all of these factors, and no single sheet metal fab or precision machine shop can check every box. In my work with All Metals Fabricating, for example, I’ve seen how well-organized and efficient the company is across their range of capabilities, from metal fabrication to CNC turning services—but even they wouldn’t claim to meet all the criteria here.
Instead, you should use this checklist as a guide. Consider which items are most important to your specific needs, and tailor your own customized list to evaluate potential partners as you search for the best job shop for your project.
The checklist is organized into several critical categories, including:
Not all of these categories will apply equally to every buyer. For example, if you’re only sourcing prototype parts and expansion is unlikely, long-term contract manufacturing may not be important as you search for the best job shop for your needs. (But don’t forget that you may eventually transition into production, and it’s sometimes a smoother process if you work with the same manufacturer.)
However, as you consider which questions don’t apply to your search, I always encourage businesses not to overlook so-called “soft” factors. Every business can understand why quality management systems would be important to their products—but management involvement and employee engagement, for instance, can be just as critical. In my time working on Lean principles, I’ve seen that engaged leadership always correlates with a manufacturer’s performance. Understanding a job shop holistically can give you the best insight into its underlying reliability.
By evaluating job shops against a clear set of criteria and comparing them on an apples-to-apples basis, you’ll improve your chances of finding the best job shop to deliver high-quality results on your project.
Use this checklist as a starting point, customize it to your specific needs, and conduct your own audits, whether formal or informal. Then, you can be sure you’ve done everything you can to find the right metal manufacturing company as a partner.
I should also note that, since I’m writing this on All Metals Fabricating’s blog, you can always contact them as part of your search to discuss your needs or request a quote.
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