Foundry, forge and tool-room work goes to the shop that shows what it has already made.

“Our page says what we do in general and not what we can take on”

Weight range, grade, alloy, tonnage, press size or the kind of tool we build decides whether a drawing fits our shop. When the page leaves these out, the engineer with a specific part moves to a shop that lists them.

“We cannot price what we have not seen”

The enquiry arrives as a phone photo, a part number or a request for a rate per piece. Without a drawing or model, a grade and a quantity, any number we give is a guess, and the shop that guessed fastest gets the drawing.

“Our quote gets read as one number”

Die, pattern, mould or fixture cost, steel, design hours, machining, testing and the price per piece sit inside it in different proportions. The buyer sees our total next to another shop's total and does not see what each includes.

“Buyers do not know why a new part takes the time it does”

A design review, the tool build, a trial and a sample all come before the first lot. If nobody has explained that sequence, a delay at the buyer's press or in an approval is remembered as ours.

“Our best parts and tools never reach a buyer”

The hardest forging, the cleanest casting or the toughest tool leaves in a lorry. Nobody photographs it, so the site shows a furnace, a machine or a stock image and a new buyer sees nothing of the work.

“The proof we have is not shown”

Test certificates, inspection reports, trial notes and try-out results exist for the parts we send. A buyer who has not seen any of them before ordering has to take our word that the shop checks its work.