When a customer brings us in to look at their production equipment, we have a choice to make: whether to upgrade existing systems or build entirely new ones. The driving principal here is the conservation of capital. And that number, the amount of money a customer is saving, is an outcome of cost balancing. That balance comes from comparing the initial cost to downstream efficiencies.

To put it simply: what’s going to cost less in the long run? Sometimes, rebuilding or retrofitting an existing system to handle a new product is cheaper than constructing an entirely new system. And sometimes, an upgrade is the right way to go. But many times, the increased cost of a new system will pay for itself. If conserving capital today means blowing it on higher operating costs in the future, that’s not the best option. Examples of this are when an upgraded system would have a longer cycle time, or an increased scrap rate, than a system designed from the ground up for the task it will be performing.

At TCA we can price both options out for you. We work out which system will be more efficient—and thus more cost effective—in the long run. It would be quicker and simpler to be a company that does one or the other—we could upgrade every system or build something new every time. But that wouldn’t result in what’s best for our clients. So we give you both options, and we find the solution that’s right for YOUR needs.