Three plant costs at a Livonia, MI shop can go to funding partners for pricing: tooling a customer pays for only after it signs off on sample parts, a wire EDM machine on a lease, and welders with a plasma cutting table on a loan. Each of the three goes to funding partners through Lakebridge Finance, and the partner that answers names its own terms. All figures in the cases are invented.
The invented tooling gap is a timing problem, so a line draw carries it until the customer pays. The invented EDM lease plus its purchase option costs more than a loan over the same 48 months but keeps the option of handing the machine back. The welders and the plasma table sit on one four-year equipment loan.
Manufacturing plant loan for tooling a customer pays for at sample sign-off: a Livonia, MI supplier's gap
When a customer pays for a new part's tooling only after it signs off on the first production samples, the plant carries the toolmaker's bills in between. Illustration only, invented figures: a Livonia, MI parts supplier orders a $47,300 mold from an outside toolmaker, paying half on day 0 and half on day 60 at tryout, and the customer pays the tooling invoice on day 105.
Drawn on a line of credit at a 13.8% annual rate, the first invented $23,650.00 is out 105 days and costs $938.87 in simple interest; the second is out 45 days and costs $402.37. The invented gap costs $1,341.24 in all, and the line is clear the day the customer pays.
If the customer's payment slips by 15 days, both invented draws stay out longer, and the added interest comes to $268.26. That figure is worth knowing before the plant agrees to the customer's payment terms on the tooling.
Because the customer ends up owning the mold, the line fits better than an equipment loan here; a machine the plant keeps is a different case.
Leasing a wire EDM machine at a Livonia, MI tool and die shop: the payments and the choices at month 48
A machinery lease lets the shop use the machine for a fixed monthly payment while the leasing company keeps title. Illustration only, invented figures: a Livonia, MI tool and die shop leases a $148,600 wire EDM machine at $3,465 a month for 48 months, with the option to buy it at the end for 10% of the price, $14,860.00 in this invented case.
At month 48 the shop picks one of three paths: pay the invented $14,860.00 and own the machine, hand it back, or ask to renew at terms set then. Bought out, the invented lease totals $181,180.00.
An equipment loan for the same $148,600 at a 9.9% annual rate over 48 months costs $3,761.75 a month and $180,564.00 in all in this invented example, $616.00 less than the lease with its purchase option paid. What the lease adds is a way out: if the shop's work moves away from wire EDM, it returns the machine and the invented total stops at $166,320.00. The machine's power supply and any water or filter hookups are property work outside this site.
Financing a welding machine in Wayne County, MI: two pulse MIG welders and a plasma cutting table
A welder is equipment, and a funding partner may finance it alone or on one quote with other shop machines. Illustration only, invented figures: a Wayne County, MI fabricator buys 2 pulse MIG welders at $7,940 each and a plasma cutting table at $38,700, $54,580 together.
Four years at a 10.65% annual rate put the invented welding package at $1,401.39 per month, which works out to $67,266.72 by the last of the 48 invented debits, $12,686.72 of it the price of the money. A term loan could carry the same package together with a cost the machines cannot secure, such as operator training.
A single welder works the same way at a smaller size. In a second invented case, one $4,385 TIG welder on a 24-month loan at a 13.1% annual rate costs $208.68 a month and $623.32 in interest; a shop that would rather not open an agreement for that little could draw it on a line instead.
The table's power drop and its exhaust ductwork are property work outside this site; the request names the welders, the table and their delivery.
Manufacturing equipment loan services and the fabricated metal count in Wayne County, MI
Machine shops and metal fabricators are counted under fabricated metal product manufacturing (NAICS 332). County Business Patterns found 333 of these employer establishments in Wayne County, MI for 2023, and 114 of them, or 34.2%, had fewer than five employees.
ZIP Code Business Patterns put 52 fabricated metal establishments at ZIP 48150 addresses in 2023.
Nonemployer Statistics listed 104 fabricated metal businesses with no paid employees in Wayne County, MI for 2024. The manufacturing page covers pallet racking, a resin order and an inspection machine, and the blog holds other trades' cases.
By Lakebridge Finance · Updated
