by Lina Martinez
If you’re particularly in the retail or commercial product industries, you know that manufacturing is everything. It's not about marketing so much as it is making a fantastic world-beating product. In these industries, if the products you make a phenomenal, they’ll sell themselves. But that drags up the question, what’s more important the materials or the tools? Well, both are important but tools are more long-term. Therefore the inherently take up the position as the main priority of your businessMaterials can change, get better overtime and become cheaper. However it's the tools that mould those materials into the products you want to sell. But commercial tools are not easy to come by. If we’re talking about the best in class, they will come from a select few companies which are not cheap and they are sometimes difficult to find.
Going to the show
The first place you need to shop around in is a trade show. Whatever kind of industry you’re in, you need to go to an industry trade show where all the biggest names will be. They attend these shows to stake their claim as the best, compete with their rivals but to also unveil new products. Everybody starts off small and before a business can build its manufacturing facility it needs tools; otherwise you just have an empty building. Go to trade shows and look for the machines, tools and vehicles that you’ll need to create the products you intend to sell. Business exhibitions are great for setting up meetings and showing interest in various companies that can help you but trade shows are where you get to watch demonstrations of tools being used.
Utilize manufacturing services
Making products requires a lot more than just a manufacturing facility. You need the skills, employees and knowledge of the craft that brings materials to life. Small businesses need to slowly build up these things but in the meantime you can utilize the manufacturing services of an industry expert. For example, if your business is in the aerospace industry you will want to speak with a company that offers services as well as services such as TJ Aerospace. They offer services like sheet metal fabrication, assembly, kitting and testing. However they also have services such as in-house fixturing and tooling. If you don’t possess the tools to assemble your products then you can use their manufacturing facility and services to bring your product to life. They also do testing so you can see the strength of your product as well.
Used but effective
Industrial tools are often put up for auction after just one use. Commercial companies might have taken on a special project which they did not have the right tools for and was just a one-off. You can go to industrial tool auctions where tools that are almost as good as new are bid for by anyone who wants them.
You could get a digger or a conveyor belt at an industrial tool auction, all manner of things are available to fill your manufacturing facility with. However utilize the services of industry experts where you need precise and knowledgeable work done.
