In general, Machine Shops are famous for driving their customers crazy.  We do things like:

• Offering volume discounts, simply to save on setups

(which leads to delaying/batching orders, obsolescence, forecasting further and further out, hesitating before implementing revision changes, etc.)

• Over-promising AND under-delivering

(this unreliable delivery leads to increased safety stocks, increased inventory, increased carrying costs, expediting, etc.)

• Quoting long lead times

(which leads to customers contracting with multiple machine shops to reduce dependency, protecting themselves with more inventory, slow response to actual needs, the hassles of dealing with multiple vendors, etc.)

• Scheduling based on who is screaming loudest

(which leads the customer to actively managing the vendor, time spent expediting, etc.)

• Producing an inferior product

(which leads to emergencies, delays in getting needed parts, poor performance for our customer’s customers, etc.)

These challenges create dilemmas that force compromise.  Should you order early due to long lead times or delay the order to improve flexibility?  Do you order more to buffer against unreliable delivery or order less because demand is unpredictable?  You can’t get the product you need in time.  Should you use an alternative part?  A customer asks for a rush order but the long supplier lead time forces you to reconsider and a sales opportunity is lost.  We believe that there is no need to compromise.

See what makes Atom Jet Industries different – check out our Accelerated Delivery program

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“MUST WE LIVE WITH PART SHORTAGE EMERGENCIES?”, by Barry LaRocque, Co-owner Atom Jet Industries