I only took it as an estimate Buzz Definately wont be holding you to it!!
I do say in my post that the initial outlay one would have thought would have been covered resonably quickly (usually part of the business plan to purchase large pieces of kit) and seeing as GM have had this process of bat making in place for a while now you'd have thought it would have shown in the prices being charged?
Bear in mind that these machines are put in to ultimately save labour and other overheads.
Bearing in mind that you generally aren't in business to make a loss, and the Grays, who are by all accounts a reasonably large batmaker, only make a profit of £780,000 across all their sporting brands, then you start to see why the prices are where they are.
It's simply not a terribly profitable industry, and even with the CNC machining, you have a very large capital outlay and not a large profit margin. The business plan on those machines that GM use will see the capital outlay recovered over 5-10 years and although it will reduce labour overheads, it still hits the bottom line somehow. Any large manufacturer (Newb, Hunts, GM, GN) will be doing some level of machine based preparation.
So where does this leave us? Well, it seems that the reality is, as Dave says, that price doesn't guarantee you quality, but equally, neither does brand. Also that direct sales reduces purchase price, but as AndySAF has discovered, managing the business on your own with the publicity that has been endowed from things such as AOC testing requires you to grow your team to account for it, and that also comes at some form of cost.
Ultimately batmaking is a business that sells a product and as with all manufacturing industries, unless that product makes a profit, there is little point in continuing.
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Topic: Can i have all the prices of the forum sponsors here in one topic... (Read 11171 times)