Bead blasting is celebrated (or at least it should be!) as a low-cost way to clean or remove surface deposits and increase a metal’s looks and surface properties.
Bead blasting services are great for finishing metals like aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium. But are you doing in a way that will benefit your bottom line?
Hopefully you’ve already concluded that bead blasting services are better than those of sand blasting. Your next step is to decide whether getting them in-house or through a contractor is the best investment.
Bead Blasting Services / In-House
Labor
By insisting on in-house bead blasting, your company will have to spend time and money training employees to use the equipment.
If you only plan on bead blasting a few times, what’s the point when you can “rent” the service on an as-needed basis? With contracted services, your outside help will assume all the associated cost burdens.
If you do decide to DIY, bead blasting poses little to no health or safety hazards for your crew, so you won’t need to worry about insurance claims and such.
Materials
You’ll have large startup expenses if you don’t already own a bead blasting machine. You’ll also have to regularly pay up for beads if you want to keep using the equipment.
Just like with training workers, buying a machine is pretty silly if you’re not going to need it much.
That said, glass bead blasting is relatively inexpensive. Glass beads are cheap to make, and you can reuse them 30 or so times. So your manufacturer isn’t incurring a huge cost it’ll dump on you.
Experience
As with any other industry, an experienced crew will always outperform someone new to the concept. Contracted bead blasting services with the right manufacturer will ensure a quality product, not leave you hoping for the best. That way you’re getting your money’s worth instead of spending for extra materials or labor hours because your guys messed up.
For example, your manufacturer can watch out for potential issues like flash corrosion, which occurs when air moisture rapidly oxidizes a freshly exposed piece of metal following blasting. A bead-blasting expert also know how to handle contamination risks in staining or rusting.
If you happen to be of the lucky few who already have an employee with bead blasting chops, then feel free to keep the process internal rather than paying for an outside partner.
And, of course, a manufacturer you’ve worked with previously may not offer bead blasting services at all. Make sure you’re partnered with an all-in-one manufacturer to get every service you need in one stop and conserve your costs!
Time Efficiency
Keeping your bead blasting in-house means no transporting components back and forth and no waiting in line for your manufacturer to get to you. And any problems that come up during the process will probably be handled more rapidly in-house rather than outside your walls.
A longer response time results in lost production. You can’t make money while your product is sitting there unfinished.
Fortunately, you can also get around transportation delays by working with a full-service partner. It might be able to reduce your time to market by condensing the whole process!
Measure Your Needs
How big is your operation and how often will you need bead blasting services? Frequent use of contracted help may prove costly in the long run. But if you want the job done right and are willing to partner with your manufacturer in other areas of your project (design, packing, etc.), contracted bead blasting may be best for you.
