Laser Guided Businessman

Posted 55 weeks ago by Ignite Cornwall

The Laser Guided Businessman

Many aspiring entrepreneurs look far and wide for business ideas. Inspiration can come from big corporations, Silicon Valley startups, new product development – the list goes on. Or they can come from the world on your doorstep. We each face dozens of problems every day, many of which have become so commonly accepted that they’re overlooked entirely. Looking at our day-to-day lives with a fresh and critical eye can sometimes reveal the most logical business ideas of all.

This was the case for John Forde. Kiwi born and bred, John started out as an injection mould toolmaker and precision engineer. In this industry his expertise grew until he could fabricate or repair pretty much anything mechanical. As a man at the pinnacle of the DIY food chain, it pained him somewhat when he had to call on someone else to repair something. This was the case when it came to precision welding. 

“There was one welder we used time and time again, simply because he was so much better than the competition.” 

As the years passed, John and his team racked up a hefty bill on welding repairs. Then came the advent of laser welding, which blew the competition out of the water.

“It’s just so accurate. Whereas before a good welder worked to a 3mm degree of accuracy, all of a sudden we could get welds down to 0.2mm. It was astonishing. The only problem was the travel to the workshop.’ 

This new standard of welding meant that John and the team had to transport their expensive tooling for up to 3 hours to a laser welder only to return a day or two later to collect. In their quest for the highest possible standards this was the only option.  John explained that there was a glaring gap in the market for a mobile solution:

“Some tooling can weigh in at over 10 tons, so there’s no way it can be easily moved from the workshop. It struck me that if someone could laser weld with a mobile setup, they’d be offering something unique to a quality that simply can’t be matched by traditional welding techniques.”

At this juncture all entrepreneurs are faced with a stiff challenge - whether or not to take the leap. John bit the bullet and invested in a state of the art laser welder and an intensive training course to ensure he could deliver to the best of the equipment’s ability.  A brave move, but one that set him apart in a marketplace still dominated by traditional MIG and TIG welding.

However, it still remains the case that mobile laser welding is new to this industry and that John’s target audience doesn’t yet appreciate the accuracy offered by his service. The challenge now is to get his potential clients to open their eyes to a problem that they didn’t know existed. This is where many marketing campaigns fail. We are after all, creatures of habit, and convincing people to change the way they spend can prove the biggest challenge of all.

Forde intends to combat this through a healthy dose of good old integrity.

“I can’t stand it when people let you down. I pride myself in doing what I say I’ll do and getting it done on time. I hope this will be the route to picking up more clients and showing people that ‘Laser Welding Services’ can offer incredible welding and a rock solid service.’

The formation of Laser Welding Services is a classic example of business development based on a niche problem. It seems likely that John will continue to build on his high growth business through his innovative approach to problem solving and strong focus on a quality service.

With this example in mind it’s worth considering, what problems do you or your company face on a daily basis, and why are you putting up with it?