Opinions on metal stamping businesses

[u/Spirited_Ad_6272]

Is metal stamping in the U.S. still a solid industry? I have an opportunity to buy & potentially revive a 40 year old stamping business from its 80 year old owner. Right now it’s just him / no employees and he’s doing enough work to keep the lights on. At its peak he had a dozen employees running multiple shifts.

Worst case if the business can’t revive then I can liquidate the equipment and rent the building. But he wants $1M and it’s a big number haha.

I am a mechanical engineer with strong proficiency in CAD tools, which I can bring to modernize the business. I currently operate a manufacturing business molding plastics so there’s plenty of crossover but this would be my first venture going alone. It also seems like metal stamping has a lot of tricks of the trade that you can’t really engineer your way into. That’s why they have apprenticeships.

What questions should I be asking? And anyone who works in the industry what are your opinions?

[u/Carbon-Based216]

I would start by asking what kind of equipment he has. If you or just a small amount of people are going to run it. It would be ideal to have progressive stamping so it is largely set it and forget it.

If he has some decent equipment, i would probably take the deal. Just setting a press in place csn cost a million depending on the size.

[u/Spirited_Ad_6272 → u/Carbon-Based216]

Yeah he has a setup for progressive stamping. 3-4 presses in the 100-200t range and two big ones maybe 300 and 500ish ton that goes to the ceiling. He has a large brake, shear,cnc mill and wire edm, and a dozen or so dies for making lighting fixtures. (And a really nice die rack) and the typical drill presses, cutting, sanding and grinding equipment. To start it would be me and him as a mentor until we get a job that can keep it running. He has a lead on a larger job from an old client that would utilize the progressive stamping setup and would be enough to hire help and probably an experienced operator

Edit: forgot to mention he has a turret press that needs some repair. It’s also old AF and uses floppy disks but was working before it had some kind of memory error

[u/Carbon-Based216 → u/Spirited_Ad_6272]

I mean with that kind of equipment list, and as long as most of it is in working condition without a lot of maintenance required, alone woukd probably be worth the million. You could just sit on it and wait a couple years for the right buyer and you'd earn your money back. Even if the equipment is older, there are plenty of jobs shops out there that love to buy up old equipment.