Most metal fabricating companies that come up in a typical online search for the best metal fabricators use similar machines to offer a similar range of services such as laser cutting, welding, powder coating, assembly, tapping, and waterjet cutting, as well as a variety of CNC and traditional machining services.
Some companies try to be all things to all people and claim to offer every type of metalworking process under the sun to show up in as many online searches as possible and attract as many inquiries as possible. In reality, a lot of them often perform very few of these services in-house and sub out many of these services to other metal shops. In trying to be all things to all people, this approach invites delays, uncertainty, and price markups at every step.
We realized years ago that we can provide better service, faster lead times, and nearly perfect quality control if we stopped trying to be all things to all people. We were doing metal cutting, drilling, and forming for a ductwork manufacturer and outsourcing the shearing and bending since our in-house equipment lineup wasn’t big enough at the time. The margins were tight for this commodity-type of work so there was no room for errors, delays, or miscommunications with vendors that could cut into the project’s earnings.
We thought about bringing this work in-house but that would have meant investing not just in the equipment but also in a slate of ancillary safety equipment along with extra staff training and increased safety risk. Bringing it in-house didn’t make much more sense than continuing to take on this type of work.
Rather than offer as many metals manufacturing services as we could fit in our facility, we decided to focus on our strengths: helping OEMs and other companies design and manufacture metal parts and complete products, and then assemble, package, and manage the delivery. Then we invested in the equipment we needed to offer the exact mix of in-house services needed to serve these companies as a trusted partner.
This turnkey approach takes advantage of our decades of experience in metal fabrication and in a variety of secondary operations, as well as in sourcing material, controlling inventory, and managing logistics – whether in Pennsylvania or globally.
This creates a streamlined process that has allowed our staff to become highly skilled at specialized tasks and helps projects move smoothly through the process from one department to another, design to delivery. It also enables us to stock critical materials used for many similar jobs in quantity so we’re somewhat insulated from supply shocks. The end result is a clean, efficient, traceable workflow with a reduced cost structure that we can pass along as reduced pricing.
This way, we can be all things to some people – and our customers seem to appreciate this approach.
For a free quote on your project, call (610) 921-0012, info@tabindustries.com.