I'm in a funny situation. I'm working with 3 people. The two owners have 9 machines. 5 CNC Samsung lathes (one has milling abilities), and 4 CNC milling machines (Haas Mini Mill, Haas VF2, Haas VF3, and Okuma 5-axis) We have A LOT of downtime and there is a ton of overhead.

You may wonder how this is possible. The owners were working with one customer for 8 years, and had steady work. They made parts in their garage, with only machine payments and both operated two machines. Their customer supplied them with the programs, and did not require any quality inspection. They were pumping out parts and making a pretty penny. They decided to move into their own shop 3 years ago and were doing well, however they were ignoring their own development and focusing on making parts (each of the owners working 7 days a week). A year and a half ago, their main customer offered to buy them out. This year, their main customer basically let them go as it increased its internal manufacturing after the two owners decided to buy themselves a 5-axis for Christmas.

I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and was lucky enough to find this job last year after leaving a failing manufacturing software startup I took a risk on joining. My role for my current company involves programming using MasterCAM, building a quality management system database and process documents, setting up machines, running parts, and reaching out to customers. I've started sales by sticking to their market and contacting as many OEMs as possible who similar components to what they have been manufacturing. I have gained some traction locally and started using an online site that distributes some prototypes, however they have so much overhead in their machines the owners really just want a copy big contracts they can use to keep the machines moving.

One of my difficulties is finding a competitive pricing range. I have a hard time gauging how much to charge for programming time, setup time, and machining time. Also, I do not really know how fast some people are at programming so sometimes our prices are extremely high. The owner's tried quoting something two weeks ago and ended up making $6 per hour on shop time. The customer loved it, but.. Anyway, I'm in a funny situation.