4 Reasons to Source All Assembly Components from the Same Precision Machine Shop
Part buyers and engineers often assume they can save time and money on an assembly project by sourcing the components that make up their assembly from multiple shops.
But the truth is that when more than one shop is responsible for precision machining as many as 100 components for a large assembly, issues with tolerance and fitment are common. The worst part? These problems remain hidden until the shipments arrive at your door. It’s only then that you discover that the components don’t fit together and the assembly doesn’t function properly.
A little mental math reveals the high cost of inaccurately machined components. Even the slightest shift in tolerance can render an otherwise excellent part worthless if it won’t fit into the final assembly.
That’s why your best bet is to source all custom assembly components from the same precision machine shop. You can trust Area Tool & Manufacturing, Inc. to machine your components and build a perfectly functioning assembly quickly and cost-effectively.
Why Source Assembly Components from the Same Precision Machine Shop?
Most assemblies are composed of two types of components: manufactured custom parts and purchased stock components such as springs, nuts, and bolts.
Regardless of how you source the stock components (through our shop or on your own), we’ll always recommend that you have Area Tool & Manufacturing, Inc. machine your custom parts and assemble all of the necessary components here in our shop.
Here’s how this one-stop approach benefits our customers:
1. Your team stays focused on high-value internal projects
If you choose to build your own assembly, you’ll receive all of your stock and custom parts just as you ordered them.
You can’t get quality assurance on an assembly that’s never been, well, assembled. Should you encounter any tolerance or fitment issues, you’ll be responsible for identifying them and correcting them on your own—a timely and costly effort that detracts from higher-value tasks.
2. We identify assembly issues before they become a bigger problem
It’s not uncommon for multiple engineers to work on a project. If one engineer calculates tolerances one way and another approaches them differently, these slight discrepancies can prevent the components in an assembly from fitting together perfectly.
When you trust the Area Tool & Manufacturing, Inc. team to machine your custom parts and complete the assembly, we can make adjustments during the manufacturing process, troubleshooting issues along the way and fixing them immediately.
3. Your assembly receives multiple points of inspection
At Area Tool & Manufacturing, Inc., we perform numerous inspections at different stages of the manufacturing and assembly process. This approach ensures that all fitments are correct well before we’ve reached the final inspection.
As a result, we can perform the final inspection with confidence that each stock and custom component will fit properly when assembled—a certainty we can’t claim when we don’t oversee the total start-to-finish process.
4. We provide Design for Assembly (DFA) support
Every customer is encouraged to dialogue with us at the start of a project to discuss any potential gaps between design and manufacturing.
In one recent example, we collaborated with a new engineer working for one of our valued medical industry customers. This engineer provided in-depth insight into the purpose of the final assembly and the problems it was intended to solve, which allowed us to guide him toward solutions for faster and more cost-effective precision machining services.
As machinists, we bring a different perspective to engineering and design goals, providing DFA guidance before a single resource has been used, before a single dollar has been spent, and before a single error has inadvertently occurred.
Get Complete Assemblies from Area Tool & Manufacturing, Inc.
We know you work hard to design exceptional assemblies, and we want to help you get precisely what you want and need to achieve your goals and serve your own customers. Throughout diverse industries, our customers have come to know us as the shop they can trust when they need an assembly to work perfectly the first time.
We can be that trusted A-to-Z shop for your company, too!
