Guides / Winning Work
The One Page That Gets a Heavy Shop Onto the Shortlist
September 22, 2026
Open ten heavy machine shop websites and nine of them will tell you they offer precision large part machining with a commitment to quality. None of that is checkable, so a buyer trying to decide whether you can make their three tonne housing learns nothing and moves on.
The fix is not better writing. It is publishing numbers.
Lead with the machine table
The single most valuable block on a heavy shop website is a table of machines. One row per machine, and these columns:
| Column | Why the buyer needs it |
|---|---|
| Machine and model | Lets them look up the specification themselves |
| Type | Boring mill, gantry, VTL, horizontal lathe, machining centre |
| Table size | Does the part sit on it |
| Travel X / Y / Z | Does the tool reach the features |
| Rated table load | Can it carry the part |
| Spindle taper and power | Can it rough at a sensible rate |
| Quill or W-axis extension | Can it reach into deep bores |
| Right angle head available | Can it reach a vertical wall |
For a vertical lathe, swing and maximum height under the rail. For a horizontal lathe, swing and distance between centres.
This table is checkable, it is specific, and it makes you findable for searches that name a size rather than a service.
Then the numbers that are not on the machine plate
Crane capacity per bay, with hook height. The most commonly missing number on heavy shop websites and one of the first a careful buyer checks.
Door dimensions and the heaviest part you have shipped. Especially if you serve buyers who need oversized transport.
Stress relief oven internal dimensions, or the partner’s, and the transport time each way. On large fabrications the oven often decides feasibility before the machine does.
Floor loading, if you do floor plate work.
Then the process steps, marked in house or partnered
A simple two column list. Welding, weld inspection, stress relief, heat treatment, machining, grinding, honing, balancing, painting, preservation, assembly.
Buyers are counting how many steps leave your building. Being honest about a partnered step costs you nothing. Being vague costs you the enquiry, because the buyer assumes the worst.
Then how you prove a large part
State the equipment and the method. In-process probing on the machine, laser tracker, portable arm, precision level, bore gauges. Say that you record measurement temperature.
This paragraph separates shops that have thought about measuring a four metre part from shops that have not, and buyers on tight span tolerances read it carefully. See inspecting large machined parts.
Then evidence, without claims
Photographs of real parts on your real machines, with a scale reference. A person, a pallet, anything that gives size. Caption each one with the envelope, the weight and the material. No logos, no customer names unless you have permission.
One captioned photo of a 4 metre weldment on the table outperforms a page of superlatives, because it answers the question the buyer actually has.
What to leave out
- Adjectives without numbers: precision, quality, state of the art, world class
- Stock photography of machines you do not own
- A mission statement
- Hourly rates
- Certifications you do not hold, or badges implying accreditation you cannot evidence
- “Any size, any material”, which reads as nobody has ever tested us
Structure it for search as well as for people
Buyers search their constraint, not your service. Give each of these its own heading with real content underneath and you start appearing for the searches that matter:
- Largest part we machine, by machine class
- Horizontal boring capability, with bore range and depth
- Gantry milling capability, with table and travel
- Vertical turning capability, with swing
- Materials we cut regularly
- Industries we work for
- On-site and portable machining, if you offer it
Each of those is a real search with real intent behind it, and almost nobody serves them with specifics.
A page you can write this week
Machine table. Crane and door numbers. Process steps, in house or partnered. Measurement method. Six captioned photographs. No adjectives.
It is an afternoon of work and a phone call to whoever knows the crane ratings. It will outperform everything else on your site.
What to do next
Get the machine plate data for every heavy machine you own, add the crane rating per bay, and publish it as a table. Then check how many of your competitors have done the same. That gap is your opportunity, and it will not stay open forever.
Related for shops: what a buyer checks before they send you a drawing and how buyers actually find a shop.
Frequently asked questions
Does publishing my machine list help competitors?
Your competitors already know what you own. Machine dealers, service engineers and operators all move between shops. The only people the secrecy keeps out are buyers trying to work out whether you fit.
Should I publish an hourly rate?
No. Rates without scope invite the wrong comparison. Publish what you can make, not what you charge, and let the quote carry the price.
What if my biggest part so far is smaller than the work I want?
Say what you have done and state the machine's rating separately. Buyers understand the difference between proven and rated, and inventing history is the fastest way to lose a customer permanently.
Need a quote for a part like this?
Send the drawing with the envelope and finished weight. We match you with up to 3 shops that take parts this size and reply within 24 business hours.
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