Hiring Laser Cutting Services Vs Setting Up Your Laser Cutting Process - Which is better?
Since the advent of laser technology, the world has experienced many benefits of laser cutting such as greater accuracy, lesser wastage of scraps, versatile cutting options, and more compared to traditional cutting techniques.
With rapidly increasing dependency on laser cutting, one might be confused about whether to buy a laser machine and set up their own cutting process or to hire laser cutting services as and when needs arise.
Let's compare some important factors that will help you choose between hiring a laser cutting service and setting up a laser cutting process:
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Investment Cost:
While some basic laser cutting machines are moderately priced, high-end laser cutters are fairly expensive. Since buying cheap machines can yield low-quality results, it is always advisable to invest heavily in laser cutting machines. Depending on the needs of your business, you might need laser cutting machines for cutting, drilling, engraving, and more. In that case, you would need to buy different types of laser cutting machines like plasma cutting machines, water-jet cutting machines, etc. This would cost you more money to get your laser cutting setup ready. On the other hand, the investment cost of hiring laser cutting services is restricted to the cost of procuring raw materials.
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Electricity Cost:
If you are planning to start a laser cutting division in your company, you also must factor in the cost of electricity that will be utilized by laser cutting machines. However, you don't have to worry about electricity costs when you outsource the project to laser cutting services as their charges are generally all-inclusive.
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Skilled Labor Charges:
Operating a laser cutting machine requires skill and understanding that only trained professionals possess. When you hire a laser cutting service, these skilled machine operators are a part of the package that you pay for. However, if you are setting your laser cutting facility, then you need to pay for experienced personnel who can either operate the machine or train others to operate.
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Frequency of Use:
Another factor that you can't overlook is how often you would need the laser cutting machines. If your laser cutting needs are few and far in between, then it makes good sense to hire laser cutting services as the need arises.
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Maintenance Charges:
Even though there are very few moving parts in a laser machine as compared to a conventional cutting machine, you would still need to allocate some money for its maintenance. But if you are hiring a laser cutting service, then you don't have to be bothered about maintenance charges
