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Owner Resources
Machine shop and manufacturing insurance guides in owner resources, written and reviewed by Nate Jones, CPCU.
- Owner Resources
How to Market a Machine Shop: Buyers, Capabilities, Federal Work
How to market a machine shop: pick target customers, write a capabilities statement, build a site engineers can use, and register for federal work.
- Owner Resources
How to Quote CNC Jobs: Drawings, Time, Terms, and Hidden Costs
How to quote CNC jobs: read the drawing and tolerances, estimate setup and cycle time, price material and outside work, and check the terms you accept.
- Owner Resources
How to Start a Machine Shop: From First Machine to First Customer
How to start a machine shop: register the business, choose your first CNC machines, set up guarding and lockout, win first customers, and insure the shop.
- Owner Resources
How to Start a Metal Fabrication Business: Setup, Safety, Insurance
How to start a metal fabrication business: register it, equip the floor, follow OSHA hot-work rules, qualify welders, and insure the work you install.
- Owner Resources
ITAR Registration for Machine Shops: Who Must Register and How
ITAR registration for machine shops: who must register with DDTC, why one defense article is enough, how the DS-2032 is filed, and how the fee tiers work.
- Owner Resources
ISO 9001 for Machine Shops: Certification and the 2026 Edition
ISO 9001 for machine shops: what the standard covers, why ISO 9001:2026 replaced the 2015 edition, and how a certification body, not ISO, certifies a shop.
- Owner Resources
How to Sell a Machine Shop: Planning, Buyers, Valuation, Closing
How to sell a machine shop: plan the timing, organize records, understand value, reach the right buyers, handle the IRS rules, and keep insurance intact.
- Owner Resources
Business Continuity and Equipment Breakdown Planning
When a critical machine goes down, production stops. Redundancy, critical spares, cross-training, and a continuity plan turn a breakdown into a delay.
- Owner Resources
Automation for Small Machine Shops: Where to Start
How a small machine shop starts with one automated cell — robotic part-tending, lights-out runtime, and codifying a retiring machinist’s knowledge.
- Owner Resources
Hiring and Retaining Skilled Machinists
The skilled-labor shortage is manufacturers’ top challenge. How machine shops source, train, and keep CNC machinists, welders, and controls talent.
- Owner Resources
How Certifications Drive Manufacturing Business Valuation
Why AS9100, NADCAP, ISO 13485, and ITAR move a machine shop’s valuation multiple more than size does — the certification moat, explained for owners.
- Owner Resources
How to Prepare Your Manufacturing Business for Sale
What moves a machine shop or manufacturer’s sale multiple in the year or two before a sale — certifications, concentration, management, clean books.
- Owner Resources
How to Reduce Manufacturing Workers Comp Costs
Workers comp is a cost a machine shop can move — safety programs, class codes, claims management, and the experience mod that rewards a safer floor.
- Owner Resources
Reducing Customer Concentration as a Manufacturer
Why one customer carrying most of your revenue is both an operating risk and a valuation discount — and how to diversify the book.
- Owner Resources
The Reshoring Opportunity for Machine Shops
Reshoring is pushing work down to tier suppliers. How an independent machine shop positions for the ripple — and why capacity is the real constraint.
- Owner Resources
SDE vs EBITDA: How Manufacturers Are Valued by Earnings
How SDE and EBITDA differ for valuing a machine shop or manufacturer, which earnings measure fits which size, and the crossover where buyers switch.
- Owner Resources
What Insurance Do Your Manufacturing Customers Require?
What customers and OEMs require of a manufacturer’s insurance — COIs, additional-insured status, minimum limits, waivers, and primary wording.
- Owner Resources
What Is My Machine Shop or Manufacturing Business Worth?
What drives a machine shop or manufacturer’s value — certifications, backlog, customer concentration — and the SDE and EBITDA multiples buyers use.
- Owner Resources
Who Buys Machine Shops and Manufacturers? The Buyer Landscape
Who buys machine shops and manufacturers — owner-operators, SBA buyers, private-equity add-ons and platforms, public strategics — and how each values you.
Have a question about your shop or plant?
Talk to a specialist who writes the machine-shop and manufacturing class, or start a quote.