What is a Job Shop?
For many manufacturing and commercial processes, businesses need small batches of various custom products or items produced to their exact specifications. Since these jobs require an explicit process flow and creation, finding a job shop that can construct these custom parts satisfactory is critical. No matter if you are a tool shop, tech startup, printing company, or global business, quick-turn job shops like API/AMS offer machining and fabrication to build exactly what you want to your individual requirements.
A Wide Array of Equipment
Job shops are traditionally characterized by similar equipment being grouped together for ease of use, which also allows for minimal costs to the customer, as it can cut down on handling and process inventories. By utilizing a wide array of equipment that is already on hand in the shop, instead of custom equipment for each job, a job shop such as API/AMS can be flexible and change the machine setups easily. Though job shops can’t always beat the price of larger run producers, the quality and customization, along with timeliness and attentiveness of detail by a highly trained and flexible staff, make them an excellent choice for many businesses’ needs.
Staffing is Key
The staff at job shops are also very important to the success of how these businesses operate, and API/AMS is no different. By hiring highly skilled employees who can work with many different kinds of machines, from assembly and fabrication, welding, laser and water jet cutting to CNC turning and milling, customers are assured high-quality and personalized attention of many skilled eyes on their specific needs.
How a Job Shop can Operate
As bids comes in for projects, a job shop’s highly trained technicians and managers help come up with the correct price for the job. They also create a job sheet and schematic, or blueprint, and then a job is put on the production floor. Once a job hits the floor, the workforce keeps track of their time and updates the job sheet on a regular basis to account for labor costs. They also help compile records for any potential future jobs and any possible variations it might have. These job sheets are often called tickets, and they can follow a job around the shop, indicating what time and tasks have been done with each process.
Quality and Customer Satisfaction
Most job shops produce highly custom items and offer their excellence in quality and customer interaction. A job shop usually has limited raw materials on hand, but frequently can help customers source many resources when they are needed. Most customers bring their own materials that they want fabricated into their specific final items.
Many successful manufacturers started out as job shops and became larger as their process of manufacturing was refined and grew. For small businesses, startups, and other entrepreneurs, jobs shops offer a flexible and creative way to see their products or parts come to life without having their own manufacturing machines and workforces.
API/AMS is one of the best job shops in Portland, and we stand behind that with over 30 years of experience. Please contact us today to see how our job shop can help your business.