What the matrix actually means

A capability table that lists everything is not a capability table. These are combinations we place regularly enough to have opinions about.

Reading it: Process down, material across
What it is not: A list of machines we own

Process × material — what we can place
Process	ABS / PP	Aluminium	Steel	Zinc alloy	Mixed
Injection moulding	●	·	·	·	●
Metal stamping	·	●	●	○	●
CNC machining	○	●	●	●	●
Die casting	·	○	·	●	○
Assembly	●	●	●	●	●

●Placed routinely ○Possible, longer schedule ·Not usually taken

This shows combinations we can place with manufacturers — not equipment we own. We are not a manufacturer. See Boundaries.

Why some cells are empty

A shop being able to do it is not the same as it being right for it

Plenty of machine shops will accept a die casting enquiry and quietly subcontract it. You end up two layers from the people actually making your part, paying for both. Where we do not have a genuinely good route, the cell says so.

Material and process interact

Zinc die casting and aluminium die casting are not interchangeable skills, and a tool built for one will not simply run the other. The matrix is two-dimensional because the answer genuinely depends on both axes.

Not on the matrix at all?

Ask. If we cannot place it well we will say so, and where we can we will point you toward someone who does that process properly. That is a faster answer than a quote that quietly never firms up.

Send a drawing