Executive Summary
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SHOP PROFILES
This year, survey submissions from 277 shop principals
(company owners or managers) were used in the cal-
culations for our ffth annual Top Shops benchmarking
program. Their businesses break into the following three
categories:
• Approximately 46 percent are job shops (independent
shops that primarily perform short-run and other
non-repeating work).
• Approximately 38 percent are contract shops
(independent shops that primarily have contracts for
repeating part numbers).
• Approximately 16 percent are captive shops in a
manufacturing company.
Here are some key takeaways:
Top industries—The top industries served by this year's
Top Shops were aerospace (46 percent), machinery/equipment
manufacturing (44 percent), and medical and military (both at
29 percent). Other leading markets for Top Shops include
automotive, oil/gas, and hydraulic/mechanical component
manufacturing.
Total parts produced—The median number of total parts
produced in 2014 was 35,000 for Top Shops and 25,500 for
other shops.
Typical batch size—The median batch size for Top Shops is
slightly higher than other shops (50 compared to 37). However,
both of these values demonstrate the high-mix/low-volume nature
of machining work that is common today.
Industry Spotlight:
Top Shops Serving the Aerospace Industry
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0
2012
45.2%
2013
55.6%
2014
46.2%
27.5%
2011 2010
37.8%