By Brian McKay
Does your business manufacture products? And does it make stuff out of metal? If so, it's highly likely that you outsource that side of things to a third party. After all; they just act as an extension of your business, right?
Yes, outsourcing metal fabrication to other companies offers an array of benefits. But, there is a strong case to bring that back in-house. In today's blog post, I'm going to share with you some reasons why it makes sense to do that instead:
More control
Perhaps the biggest advantage of in-house metal fabrication has to be the control factor. When you pay someone else to cut and weld metal for you, there isn't much control that you have over the process. For example, you can't observe the cutting and welding practices of the technicians. And you won't know if they are carrying out your instructions 100% of the time.
With in-house fabrication, you have complete control over the entire process. Plus, your staff can tell you if there are better ways of performing certain tasks. An outsourced fabrication firm won't tell you that; all they are interested in is your money!
A boost to the local economy
One of the downsides to outsourcing metal fabrication is you aren't hiring local talent. Many firms outsource to providers located in the other side of the world, for example!
As a business owner, you should be looking at ways to increase your ethical profile. One such way to do that is by hiring more locals to work for you. Believe it or not, there will be plenty of skilled workers that can fabricate metal for your firm.
Some sceptics will argue that local metalwork is expensive. But, let's consider the following scenario. If you outsource to a third-party, they might not be fabricating metal as per your wishes. As a result, you could end up selling inferior manufactured products to your customers. And that could spell potential losses for your business.
Hiring local talent might cost more than outsourcing. But, consumers are willing to pay more for high-quality products. It's a win-win situation in anyone's book.
Fabrication costs are low
If the cost of fabricating metal in-house is putting you off, stop right there. You may not know it, but the costs could be lower than you think! Equipment such as Tactical CNC plasma tables are affordable and won't put a dent in your cash flow.
And lower property values mean leasing bigger premises won't be as expensive as it used to be.
You'll encourage new ideas to help grow your business
Metalworkers take pride in the work that they do. It doesn't matter if they build simple or complex metal structures each day. Working with metal is akin to drawing or painting. It's a creative process that takes a lot of skill and dedication to do right.
Because the people you'll hire are creative, they could help your business in other ways too. For example, they can make suggestions on how to improve existing designs. Or they could mock up new prototypes that solve specific problems.
As a business, you can reward those employees for their creative ideas and grow your firm at the same time! So, whatever your business model, isn’t it time you brought metal fabrication back in-house?
Brian McKay is a co-founder of zenruption. He has a B.A. in Political Science from Gonzaga University and an M.B.A. from Boise State University (yes that blue field). His goal in life is to look out for the regular guy and bring as much knowledge and change to this world as he can. His purpose in founding Zenruption was to do just that and help craft the world he wants his daughter to inherit. Please feel free to email him any feedback or article ideas at [email protected]. On twitter: @brianmckay71
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/briguy71
