What should you open before touring a tool shop?
Meet the designers before you fall in love with the EDM. Average the last three years. Confirm file ownership. Asset floor on iron is real when the book is thin.
Designer and moldmaker bench. CAD/CAM seats and file ownership. EDM and 5-axis list. Customer tooling in house that is not yours. Backlog by tool versus by production. Percentage-of-completion. Warranty on tools that failed in the press.
| Buyer tab | Open it | If it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Earnings | Tax returns under every add-back | Stop |
| tooling / dies / molds pile | designers met before the EDM is praised | Rewrite the buybox |
| Capital | Path that fits the file | Do not tour |
| People | customer tools kept off OLV | Price a hire |
How does SBA or cash still fail on a tooling / dies / molds plant?
Tool-shop pegs die on percentage-of-completion and customer tools in the cage. Those tools are usually bailment, not OLV. Write classes: shop-owned materials, WIP on seller-owned tools, billed-not-shipped, and customer property (off the peg). A peak-year tool that is 80% complete in the owner's head is how the true-up starts. Average the cycle before you argue the peg.
EDM, 5-axis, spotting presses. CAD/CAM seats and file ownership. Iron OLV can dominate when the book is thin. Useful-life comments are broker practice. The design file is the IP — confirm assignment.
Which tooling / dies / molds peg and capex fights belong in the first letter?
Open designers met before the EDM is praised before you tour a tool shop. A clean tooling / dies / molds bay does not replace that tab. If the file cannot produce it, rewrite the buybox. File custody is climate, not permission to skip the work. Put “designers met before the EDM is praised” on this tool shop buy list.
Underwrite customer tools kept off OLV the way a lender will on this tooling / dies / molds file. Finding it in week eleven is a retrade, not a surprise. SBA 7(a) still caps at $5 million (Source: SBA). The tab still has to fit the box on a tool shop. Put “customer tools kept off OLV” on this tool shop buy list.
Put POC stages that a traveler can prove in the first letter. Tour last. HedgeStone will not invent a tooling / dies / molds listing so you can skip that order. A tool shop buybox that cannot name this item is not ready for a plant visit. Put “POC stages that a traveler can prove” on this tool shop buy list.
Capital has to match the file. File-assignment risk priced is how tooling / dies / molds deals die after LOI when nobody opened the tab. Do not apply a neighbor-process multiple because the phrase sounded national. Put “file-assignment risk priced” on this tool shop buy list.
People risk on tooling / dies / molds often shows up as lumpy bookings averaged. Price a hire before you argue the cell. Jason Taken is a business broker. He will not walk a tool shop floor while this item is still a slide. Put “lumpy bookings averaged” on this tool shop buy list.
Working-capital fights on a tool shop start when one-designer shops modeled as training periods is undefined. Write the method into the letter. Bench gravity is useful climate. It is not a reason to skip the peg definition. Put “one-designer shops modeled as training periods” on this tool shop buy list.
If seats and file custody checked fails, rewrite the tool shop buybox before you fall in love with a CIM photo. Cycle average does not authorize a hope multiple. Tour last. Put “seats and file custody checked” on this tool shop buy list.
A first-time tooling / dies / molds buyer often tours first and reads production-parts P&L split out later. Reverse that. The letter should already assume the ugly version of this item. Put “production-parts P&L split out” on this tool shop buy list.
Ask who owns warranty tickets on failed tools aged on this tool shop — seller, customer, or folklore. Ownership mistakes become peg mistakes. Write the answer before you count inventory. Put “warranty tickets on failed tools aged” on this tool shop buy list.
Phase I still belongs on many tooling / dies / molds plants even when the teaser is about iron OLV compared honestly to earnings. Environmental cost does not wait for a pretty machine list. Counsel and a credentialed environmental professional own that lane. Put “iron OLV compared honestly to earnings” on this tool shop buy list.
Ninety-day risk after close on tooling / dies / molds is often peak year refused as the base. If the owner is the only person who can do that work, price a consulting week or a hire in the letter. Put “peak year refused as the base” on this tool shop buy list.
After the first five tabs, a tooling / dies / molds buyer should know whether CAD hygiene asked in week one kills the deal. If you still do not know, you toured too early. Book the call with a folder, not a photo. Put “CAD hygiene asked in week one” on this tool shop buy list.
Write a kill rule for file-assignment risk priced in the tooling / dies / molds buybox. If the rule is “we will see on the tour,” you do not have a buybox. Bench gravity is not a kill rule. Put “file-assignment risk priced” on this tool shop buy list.
If a lender cannot underwrite lumpy bookings averaged, you should not tour the tool shop. Ask the capital path first. Cycle average does not create a borrowing base. Put “lumpy bookings averaged” on this tool shop buy list.
Bring a tool shop process list that already includes one-designer shops modeled as training periods. A buyer who cannot name the item will waste a plant visit. Bailment honesty is not the process list. Put “one-designer shops modeled as training periods” on this tool shop buy list.
Inventory and WIP arguments on tooling / dies / molds often hide inside seats and file custody checked. Demand a class definition before you accept a peg. File custody is not a class. Put “seats and file custody checked” on this tool shop buy list.
A second tool shop (a platform add) still has to pass production-parts P&L split out. The first plant’s folklore does not transfer. Bench gravity does not transfer either. Put “production-parts P&L split out” on this tool shop buy list.
Do not model warranty tickets on failed tools aged as the seller’s problem after close. On tooling / dies / molds, it becomes yours the day you wire. Write the cost into the letter. Cycle average is not a reserve. Put “warranty tickets on failed tools aged” on this tool shop buy list.
Your first tooling / dies / molds LOI should already mention iron OLV compared honestly to earnings. Finding it after exclusivity is how retrades start. Bailment honesty is poor LOI language. Put “iron OLV compared honestly to earnings” on this tool shop buy list.
After you close a tooling / dies / molds plant, peak year refused as the base is an operating fact, not a CIM line. Budget the first ninety days as if the ugly version is true. File custody is not a ninety-day plan. Put “peak year refused as the base” on this tool shop buy list.
Foreign-buyer calendars (CFIUS, ITAR notice) do not pause because CAD hygiene asked in week one looked domestic. Read the clocks before exclusivity on a tooling / dies / molds plant. Bench gravity is not a clock. Put “CAD hygiene asked in week one” on this tool shop buy list.
Job-cost versus quote is the tooling / dies / molds earnings test. Designers met before the EDM is praised is how that test usually fails. Open it before you model synergy. Cycle average is not synergy. Put “designers met before the EDM is praised” on this tool shop buy list.
Red flags on tooling / dies / molds are specific. “I did not like the vibe” is not a flag. Customer tools kept off OLV is. Write it down. Bailment honesty is a maybe; this item is not. Put “customer tools kept off OLV” on this tool shop buy list.
When the first five tooling / dies / molds tabs survive, POC stages that a traveler can prove is the question that decides whether you keep going. If you cannot answer it, you are not done. File custody is not a sixth tab that replaces it. Put “POC stages that a traveler can prove” on this tool shop buy list.
Where does a tool shop buyer go after the first five tabs?
Parent hub: tooling, die, and mold shops. Read sell if you need the seller calendar and tooling / dies / molds valuation for the cell. Buyer pillar: buy a manufacturing business. Capital box: SBA 7(a) for manufacturing acquisitions.
This tooling / dies / molds buyer page will not publish invented listings or skip the first tabs. Counsel, a CPA, and credentialed environmental or M&E professionals own the licensed questions.