A handful of our customers have recently experienced rapid success, and as a result, our work orders have increased by 250% since December! We’re thrilled for these customers and honored to be part of their achievements. However, sudden growth can be both a blessing and a curse for sheet metal shops.
On the one hand, an influx of work strains our current resources and can delay lead times. On the other hand, it creates more revenue that we can channel back into the company and put toward improving our services.
All Metals Fabricating believes in integrity through transparency, so we want to acknowledge that our lead times have been longer than our customers are used to. In this period of growth, we recommend ordering in advance to grant our sheet metal shop the flexibility to plan ahead and deliver parts when you need them.
Here’s a look at what we’re doing to satisfy increased demand while continuing to provide the high caliber of service customers have come to expect from our Texas sheet metal fabrication company.
In our position, many shops would go on a hiring spree, recruiting the first few applicants who could do the bare minimum or pulling from a temp agency until they could find suitable permanent workers.
But that approach doesn’t cut it for our Texas sheet metal fabrication company.
We are actively hiring. However, we’re taking the time to vet candidates through multiple interviews, including a working interview where the candidate works in the shop alongside our team for a half day. This multi-step process ensures that anyone we hire fits seamlessly into our team’s culture and aligns with our core values, including going above and beyond for customers.
At AMF, we expect each person we hire to be invested in the company long-term. Our hope is that every employee will stay with us for the rest of their career and continue caring for our customers for years to come. The fact is that temporary workers don’t have that mindset and wouldn’t apply the same energy or passion to their work.
Yes, lead times may be longer than usual during this process. But we refuse to sacrifice quality for a fast turnaround. Frankly, we value our customers and their products too much to have just anyone creating their custom fabrications.
We’re working diligently to expand our team with people who will serve our customers well into the future, and you can rest assured that our lead times will return to normal soon. Please know that we deeply appreciate your patience and understanding.
Fortunately, our shop has already taken steps toward accommodating a higher demand.
Most years, we set an achievable annual growth target of 10%, which allows us to be faithful and excellent to our customers while growing with them. After all, a cornerstone of our business is the belief that when we take care of customers, our customers will take care of us in return.
However, due to the unprecedented new growth we’ve experienced, we’ve found ourselves expanding our services far beyond what we normally would in a year.
In 2024 alone, our Texas sheet metal fabrication company has:
We’ve also significantly increased our automation utilization, especially for bending and cutting services. Our long-term plan has always been to become the most automated shop in the world, and with this growth, we’re closer than ever to reaching that goal.
We appreciate your patience as we expand our services and capabilities with intention. Please know we’re doing everything possible to reduce our lead times while maintaining efficient, quality production.
Our team is working around the clock to deliver orders as usual, but if there’s an order you know you’ll need, help us out by requesting a quote as early as possible. We also recognize that’s not always possible and commit to working with you as normal—with 100% of our efforts.
