Have a Manufacturing question or a Fabrication need? Please use the form below for inquiries or custom quotes. Let our 50 plus years of Experience help you. Or if you prefer to talk to us by phone just click this link.
Carlson Manufacturing, Inc. 1495 90th St SE Kerkhoven, Minnesota 56252
You may have heard of the guy who said he had all the right answers, as long as you have the right questions.
While we do not claim to have all the right answers. Our 50 plus years of experience have given us a few answers. More importantly, they have shown us where to look for the right questions. And the right questions are really critical to finding the best manufacturing solution for your needs. A few of the right questions might be:
Quantities?
How product is used?
Expected Lifespan?
Material?
Finish?
Tooling Requirement?
Target Price?
Manufacturing Process?
The question about quantity-What are the EAU (estimated annual usage) or EAQ (estimated annual quantities). This is an important question, because it helps provide clues to several things. Among such things are it suggests if one should invest in expensive hard tooling, or look for the lowest overall cost of the project to begin with. It also may help give partial insight into selecting best materials, processes (i. e. do we need machining, metal fab or welding?) and methods (i.e. manual or cnc machining?)to be used.
The purpose of your product and how it is used can help you select an appropriate material and often, it influences the tolerances that are required. Tolerances can have a significant impact on your cost. More open tolerances typically lead to lower cost.
The expected lifespan of your product gives indication of the quality that needs to be built into the manufacturing process to achieve the desired useful life of your product.
Materials-In addition to the inputs already discussed, materials can influence not only the process used. It can also have a major impact on the overall cost.
Tooling may help lower costs if you need very large quantities, but it comes at a cost. Hard tooling is expensive. The more close tolerance your product is required to be, the higher the likelihood that some form of tooling may be required.
The required finish will influence many aspects of the job. Material, tooling, manufacturing process and cost are connected to finish. With the right information, and knowing what to look for, you can select the best finish for your product.
Target price information is extremely helpful. This information can often help shape the manufacturing process used to produce your product. Typically, the target price will impact tooling costs as well.
Manufacturing Processes. By now you are aware that all of the above are well connected to each other. Tighter tolerances may require cnc machining. Metal fab can be used for a wide range of tolerances. Welding is typically used for medium and open tolerances. Again, we can help guide you to the information you need to select a set of processes that will give you the right product with the right quality at the right price.
The better information you have, the better decisions you can make. Let our experience help you make the right choices. It is what we do. We are good at it. We are here to serve you. Contact us today.
