Starting a CNC job Shop.

As I said in my last entry there is quite an investment in starting a CNC job shop. You can minimize that investment by starting small. When I started RayGinn I had some friends in the business that I could bounce some ideas off and get some short run work. I borrowed time on a friends vertical CNC until I could buy my own. Great friends were key for me in starting RayGinn Mfg.

Buying an established CNC shop is another alternative. You can find shops for sale by looking in trade magazines or on the internet under commercial real estate but most likely none of these will be in your area. So what I would do is start by just knocking on doors of small job shops in your area. You will find quite a few older shop owners out there close to retirement or well past retirement who would sell their business to the right person and for the right dollars. Some shop owners will sell to employees or family so they can stay involved, don't be afraid to ask the owner of the shop you work for. That is how my wife and I purchased our first CNC job shop.

Now you have to decide what you will specialize in, like milling, turning, EDM or grinding. Make sure you start with what your are good at. Starting with something your not that familiar with will cost you a lot of time and most important a lot of money. Once you have an idea of what you are going to specialize in it's a good idea to test the waters for customers. If you can not find any customers, then your haven't lost to much. Some of my customers were from cold contacts and being in the right place at the right time. But by far my most productive customers have come from word of mouth. My name is my best asset. I will elaborate more on the importance of how you treat your customers at a later time.

If you decide to start from scratch, first thing you need is an address to start from. Try to keep it close to home or at your home if your town allows. The reason for this is you will be there many hours. Going home once in a while for a break or to remember what the wife and kids look like is a necessity. Make sure you get the right space, a good floor is very important, 4 inches minimum of reinforced concrete is a must for any machine to make accurate cuts. It should have 3 phase power, most machines run with 220 volts 3 phase power. There is an alternative that is available called a phase converter, but I don't recommend this because the power is not as reliable and may cause damage to your machines and the converters are expensive. You also want to make sure you have a garage door large enough to move your equipment through. Having neighbors that are not residential and who don't mind the noise helps also.

Next time I will talk more about setting up you shop.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contribute. It will help make this blog better.