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Making the investment

Posted: Fri, Sep 26 2008, 10:20PM
by mark e hall
Hey folks,
I'm looking for advise on this design sharing and production sharing Co-op.
I am talking to an old friend that may be interested in a partnership.
He owns a bus shop that does bus interiors. I own a small one man cabinet shop.
We both can see the benefits of owning a CNC machine.
It will save him tons of money and it will help me to diversify my business.
I am looking for info that will tell me if this Co-op will help pay for this machine.
We need some concreate info to take to the bank. If you are interested in helping us,
please resond. We would be forever greatful.
You can contact me on this forum or e-mail me at markhall4@aol.com
Thanks for your help.
Mark Hall

Re: Making the investment

Posted: Mon, Sep 29 2008, 10:20PM
by mark e hall
It's me again,
Maybe I need to be a little clearer on my request.
I would like to here from those of you that are participating in production sharing.
I would like to know how many of you are using the services of those with Thermwood CNC's,
and how many of you with Thermwood CNC's are servicing the e-cabinet family.
In ATL. GA. at the IWF show, I was told about a guy that has a Thermwood in a 1200 Sq.foot shop and produced $400,00.00 last year machining parts. This sounds like a no brainer to me to buy one of these money making machines. But is it to good to be true.
I e-mailed about 40 different shops that have their names posted to this web page. I had one call me back. He said that he loves his machine, he loves the company (Thermwood) but has got notta from production sharing.
I read some of the other post on this fourm about this topic, and it seems to me, that my desire is to be one of the few that will hopefully own one of these machines and take full advantage of this market.
but I will need your help.
Anybody care to share?
Thanks again,
Mark Hall.

Re: Making the investment

Posted: Tue, Sep 30 2008, 6:57AM
by Rick Palechuk
Where on the planet would you be doing this cutting service?

Re: Making the investment

Posted: Tue, Sep 30 2008, 9:41PM
by mark e hall
Hey Rick,
Good question. Either my shop in Westmoreland Tn. which is an hour north of Nashville, TN.
Or at my friends Bus shop in White House, Tn. which is 35 min. west of me.
We haven't gotten to the point of nailing down the details of this merger. I am do the ivestigating/Market research which is where you guy's can help.
I'm trying to do first things first. Right now there is talk about putting it at his shop.
He and I talked a little today about this endevor,and we agreed that we will be driving up to see the folks at Thermwood soon to have them do a demo for us.
Thanks for the responce.
Mark.

Re: Making the investment

Posted: Fri, Oct 03 2008, 8:11AM
by Dan Voges
Hey Mark,

I'm not sure if you are aware or not, but there is a list of production sharing members listed on the website already. To see this on the ecabinetsystems.com website, Go to the menu bar on the far left; there you should see an option for "Production Sharing". Click on that and it will take you to a page that describes it. Just below the menu on the left, there is a map. If you click on that map it brings up a map of the US. The states that are colored yellow have members signed up in and the ones that are white do not. If you click on a yellow state, it shows you a list of companies in that state who are participating in production sharing. Clicking on a company gives you their contact info and what services/products they specialize in as well as what they are willing to do.

I hope this helps!

Re: Making the investment

Posted: Mon, Oct 06 2008, 9:15PM
by mark e hall
Thanks Dan,
I have done just that. I have e-mailed around 40 different production sharing companies in the US.
This was about 2-3 weeks ago, and to date I have received two responces. and its not sounding good.
I know that I have a market right out my back door. I could go out and cold call shops in the Nashville area, however it would be nice to get on this web site and contact the 25,000+ registered users that I understand we have. Or that is you have. I know that I will have to be proactive at this and I plan to do just that. the info I'm looking for is the amount of business people are experiencing. Which will help us make the decision on if this system is going to help pay for this investment.
I have been doing my share of research by reading the thermwood brochures, the book "cell based furniture", and this web site. My hopes are to talk to people that have been in the trenches with their machine and this Co-op. unfortunatly if you look at how many people are reading this messages and how few are responding isn't encouraging. In all fairness the viewers may not have my answers.
My next step is to contact all the production sharing folks. there is power in numbers. and I guess I will have to play the odds.
Thanks again for the advice.
Sincerely,
Mark Hall

Re: Making the investment

Posted: Tue, Oct 07 2008, 6:59AM
by Kerry Fullington
Mark,

I think the shops that are doing well with Production Sharing are those that actively pursue that business. I don't think you could just put out your shingle on the Thermwood web site and expect the business to start rolling in.
It looks like you are in a good area to get some Production Sharing work.

Kerry

Re: Making the investment

Posted: Tue, Oct 07 2008, 3:06PM
by FredHirsch
Mark,
I'll jump in here. We are on the production sharing list for Phoenix, AZ. A pretty sizable market... I have done little production sharing, but I have also done NOTHING to pursue it. Over the years, I've met a couple of other production sharing shops. Just what Kerry said, the ones who do well with it, have worked hard to cultivate that market.
Thanks,
Fred

Re: Making the investment

Posted: Tue, Oct 07 2008, 10:00PM
by mark e hall
Thanks Guy's for your responce.
I do plan to work hard at this and be proactive. I may be in a unique situation with this partnership.
With the Good lords help this will be a success.
Mark Hall.