I have been quoting 4 to 5 months on the lead time. We have doubled production in the past year, but orders have increased even more. We have worked with a couple companies in the past to help us produce some of our cnc machined parts. (dadoed guard sides) They were not able to keep up with our demand for a few different reason, so now we are just starting out with a brand new company. They seem like they will help us out, but we have only received the test batch of parts so far from them. That should decrease our lead time soon. Fingers crossed.
There are three of us working here now. Even my brand new shop isn't large enough to handle any more employees.
On a side note, earlier this week, I had to turn down an offer from a large company that makes green tools. They wanted to become a distributor for their brand of shark guards. It hurt my heart to tell them that distribution is not my problem, but that production is. With this new company making parts for us, we are very close to maxed out in production capabilities in this shop.
Any large increase in production would have to be a much larger investment than what I have done to date. That or give up control of production to a much larger factory. It is still a niche market, so if you flood that niche, it might eventually dry up and it would likely fail. Maybe not, but it would be risky as most investments are.
Splitters and riving knives have a much lower lead time. 2 to 4 weeks. I have a small amount of stock on some of those, so it might be immediate.
There are three of us working here now. Even my brand new shop isn't large enough to handle any more employees.
On a side note, earlier this week, I had to turn down an offer from a large company that makes green tools. They wanted to become a distributor for their brand of shark guards. It hurt my heart to tell them that distribution is not my problem, but that production is. With this new company making parts for us, we are very close to maxed out in production capabilities in this shop.
Any large increase in production would have to be a much larger investment than what I have done to date. That or give up control of production to a much larger factory. It is still a niche market, so if you flood that niche, it might eventually dry up and it would likely fail. Maybe not, but it would be risky as most investments are.
Splitters and riving knives have a much lower lead time. 2 to 4 weeks. I have a small amount of stock on some of those, so it might be immediate.
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