Our Sites

Growing the business within the confines of a small shop

Laser cut parts ready to be unloaded.

A lot of small shops focus on growth and attempt to expand at their own pace. When they start to see significant growth, many, like ours, realize that being a “small” shop is exactly what might be holding us back. Having the skill to grow is a whole different ballgame than having the space to grow.

We currently are experiencing these growing pains at our shop and have been for quite a while. Sometimes you just have to make it work with what you have.

The day always begins at Barnes MetalCrafters with someone raising the large overhead door and moving the work truck out of the way. It usually is right in the middle of the shop and inhibiting the flow of material in and out. This act often is accompanied by someone asking what the weather forecast is for that day, in case we need to store anything outside during work hours.

Each day consists of Tetris-like maneuvers to make room for employees and workspace. We typically order metal for specific jobs, since we are limited on material storage space. Large pallets often are staged by the laser, and this requires planning to match cut sheets and job hierarchy.

If your shop is like ours, work often changes on-the-fly, so the forklift is always needed to stack and move metal. With more space, we wouldn’t experience some of the staging problems we have, and jobs would flow a little smoother. As it stands now, material often stacks up instead of out.

Our production slows in many cases because we have such a small shop. Employees often are right on top of one another. Everything just keeps getting tighter.

Many times one person needs to be called off his job to make room for the next job to get past his work area. This usually doesn’t take long, but it is still lost time that could be better spent with a welding helmet down.

The forklift is often handled very methodically, with inches to spare, when a lot of material and work are in the shop. Seeing our shop full is always a good thing that lets us sleep a little better at night, but this doesn’t make the problems go away.

My dad, Tim Martin, has done a great job filling the space we have with quality people and quality machines. The problem now is that we need more room for more machines and possibly more people. Many shops face problems like this, and it’s something that has to be worked through, with a plan of course. The bigger problem is that there never really is a right time to make a major change, such as a move.

If your city or town is like ours, you don’t have a whole lot of choices when it comes to buildings to pursue. Most are overpriced, rundown, in a bad area, or have support beams every 20 feet.

Beginning stages of a jig for the welding robot.

We are going to have to bite the bullet eventually and find a way to increase space. There are many benefits to working in a small shop compared to a large company, but limited square footage is not one of them. You can still have a “small” shop in a big building without being a large company.

We’ve outgrown our building. It’s as simple as that. We need room to grow and fill more space with quality people and machines. Is your company in a similar situation?

All images courtesy of Barnes MetalCrafters.

About the Author
Barnes MetalCrafters

Nick Martin

2121 Industrial Park Drive SE

Wilson, NC, 27893

252-291-0925