LIGHTS OUT

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The one rule: every shop optimizes ONE thing and starves another. Pick what you hoard. Pick what you'll go without. That's your strategy.

• Specialization (Business tab, after Day 5) — declare a lane. Permanent. Pays a bonus on matching jobs. A focused shop beats a generalist.
• Certs (Certs tab) — AS9100, ISO 13485, ITAR, NADCAP. Slow + costly, but they're the keys to the high-paying tiers and the SpaceX ladder. NADCAP alone is +20% pay.
• Suppliers (Suppliers tab) — buy from the same supplier to build rapport → up to 20% off material. Commit to volume for a faster climb; miss it and they remember.
• Relationships (Clients tab) — ship on time, build the relationship. At 80+, a client sends premium work with NO bidding. Ship late or scrap a part and you torch it.
• Machines — more machines = more parallel work, but more power + payroll. Buy the operator too, or the machine sits idle.
• Terms (Business tab) — COD pays now at −5%. Net-30 pays +18% in 30 days. Net-60 pays +30% in 60. Float the receivables only if you can survive the wait.
• Margin (job cards) — pay minus material. Green % jobs are your money-makers. A pricey job with a huge material bill can pay worse than a cheap one.

1. Aerospace Boutique — few parts, insane margins. Tight tolerances, exotic metal, certs, SpaceX. Tiny throughput; one scrapped part ruins a day.
2. Volume Generalist — win on parts/day, not margin. Many machines + operators, cheap aluminum, kanban, overage. Razor margins; a stalled line bleeds you.
3. Lean Operator (Hard Mode) — stay in the garage, no payroll, no rent, ironman. Always solvent, never flashy. You'll cap out of the prestige race — that's the trade.
4. Vertical Integration — own the building, own the maintenance, depend on no one. Huge capex, slow to break even, unbeatable if you survive the build-out.
5. Reputation Premium — clients come to you. Never the cheapest, the most trusted. Fragile — one late ship on a key account and the referrals dry up.
6. Deal-Maker — make money on the contract, not the metal. BD person, overage, terms arbitrage, bidding. BD's $600/day is dead weight until the deal flow justifies it.

Boutique opener: Run starter jobs → save to $5k → buy the Hance VR-2 CNC → hire a CNC programmer → declare Aerospace (Day 5) → hire a Quality Tech → apply AS9100 → chase rocket jobs → NADCAP → owned building → SpaceX Primary.

Volume opener: Run starter jobs → declare Automotive (Day 5) → take everything, build supplier rapport → lease the bigger shop → buy a 2nd Bridgewell + a 2nd Hance (and their operators) → lock in kanban contracts → turn on overage → run the line.

Specialization picks your jobs. Certs unlock the high tiers. Suppliers cut your costs. Relationships feed you no-bid premium work. Terms decide whether you grow or stay liquid. Layout (drag your machines tight to Shipping — click the LAYOUT badge for ROB's best move) makes every job faster. Stack the right four and you've got a strategy. Stack the wrong four and you bleed slow.

Automate yourself out of every job: operators run the machines → a foreman runs the floor → executives run the shop → and one day it runs lights-out while you sleep. That's the name on the door.

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