OSH Cut
Assembly Line
What software automation means for custom fabrication
OSH Cut is a different kind of business, but is it disruptive? That’s a loaded term. It conjures imagery of arrogant technophiles sauntering into an industry, breaking and remaking it, then exiting five or 10 years later with gold-lined pockets. Manufacturing has always been about providing real, sustained physical value. Manufacturers’ “long-haul thinking” is inimical to the scale-and-exit strategy sometimes trumpeted by the world’s self-proclaimed disrupters. So, when people wonder if our business model is disruptive, it makes me wary.
Manufacturers are in some ways shielded from the chaos. There are only so many ways to make parts out of metal, and new technologies—like metal 3D printing—aren’t even remotely cost-competitive compared to more traditional processes. If that ever changes, fabricators are a single machine purchase away from taking advantage. Widespread use of fiber lasers, cobots, modern brakes, and other automation indicates that manufacturers are plugged in and evolving with technology.
To me, software automation isn’t so much a disruptive tech as it is the next logical step for manufacturing. Fabricators understand waste and how to fix it. Software really just adds new, powerful tools to the toolbox. OSH Cut isn’t unique because we are better at making metal than other shops. We’ve only been around for five years—how could we be? We also aren’t the best software company in the world. But it’s the intersection of those skill sets that has allowed us to optimize for our market niche: We can make great software, designed specifically to solve our particular problems.