Laser cutter investment unlocks growth for Stoaked
When you're building high-end, custom metal furniture, control over the manufacturing process is key. For Stoaked, a growing online business based in the South-West, outsourced laser cutting was fast becoming a bottleneck - pushing up lead times, limiting flexibility, and slowing down the release of new designs.
The solution was clear, but not easy - bring laser cutting in-house.
With support from Made Smarter, Stoaked was able to invest in a new laser cutter, set up the infrastructure around it, and get production up and running in just a few weeks.
The impact has been immediate:
- Laser cut parts are now costing 50% less than outsourced components
- Manufacturing lead times have reduced from weeks to days
- Faster turnaround has enabled new high-margin products to be developed, increasing turnover and profit
- Issues and tight deadlines involving plate components can now be resolved immediately, improving customer service
- A new team member has been hired to support demand and free up time for further product development
With thanks to all these efficiencies and the increased skills and knowledge, the team have now been able to create a new business, WP Nesting. This is a new software company offering automated nesting-based pricing for laser-cutting businesses, with no comparable services currently on the market due to the technical complexity involved.
Taking control of this critical step hasn’t just improved day-to-day operations - it’s created headroom for growth, opened up opportunities to take on subcontract work, and laid the groundwork for future local job creation.
Support from Made Smarter helped de-risk the investment, turning a major cost into a practical next step. A strong example of how focused investment, applied in the right place, can unlock real, bottom-line benefits.
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