Sassy Engines is primarily known for producing engines used in the sport of tractor pulling. A bold decision made by the management in early 2017 has put the company into the fabricating world. This step was taken because waiting on smaller fabricated parts for weeks on end caused major delays. And so, considering how they have been doing recently in terms of business, the decision turned out to be a great one.
A brief look at the main issue
Identifying Sassy Engines as just another engine would be belittling what they actually are. Engines designed by them have made it into over 40 NTPA championships (National Tractor Pullers Association). The company boasts fantastic engines and great experience in the field, as they have been around since 1998. Furthermore, they do not let that expertise go to waste as they use it to great effect when selling parts and making accurate recommendations and combinations to customers. This helped ensure a trustworthy and reliable business. However, they were not without problems. Orders placed on smaller parts to be supplied by other local shops often caused delays. This is unacceptable for a company known for their promptness. And so, at the beginning of 2017, they took matters into their own hands and purchased a plasma cutting table.
Changes brought on by the cutter
Relying on local shops for custom parts made things difficult for Sassy Engines to the point where it affected project scheduling. And so the purchase of the Swift-Cut pro Plasma 48 table returned some power to the engine-makers. This allows them to internally conduct metal bending, metal rolling and cuts similar to laser cutting for metal fabrication, stainless steel fabrication, aluminium fabrication or even steel fabrication to make parts. Joe Bosworth, the man in charge of operating the machine, faced a huge hurdle. Previously, had had no experience operating machinery this complex and had relied on manual tools for fabricating purposes. However, after some help from the Swift-Cut support team and his own perseverance, he was able to transfer required designs into the PC-controlled machine and produce parts as needed. This has significantly changed things as producing parts now is easier, and much faster. Bosworth had to go through hours of work preparing a design first using wood and then manually work on aluminum, which required over 15 hours of work. But now, he can pump out parts in under 4 hours with the help of the machine.
They are now independent
The shop’s production has never been as efficient. Moreover, they now have the capability to produce parts whenever they need them and produce extras if required by customers. Additionally, they have taken up helping with parts not strictly related to tractor pulling, giving them some business in terms of parts inventory. Finally, after getting more machines like the Hass CNC late and a Fadal 3-axis mill, Sassy Engines has received a massive boost in productivity and are no longer held back due to ordered parts.
