Manufacturing Equipment Financing in Goshen, IN: A Vacuum Lamination Press, a CNC Tube Bender and Steel Coil

A vacuum lamination press bonds skins, foam and framing into flat panels, such as sidewalls and floors for trailers and bodies. In this invented case an Elkhart County, IN panel shop prices a new press, with its controls and delivery, at $142,500.

In this invented case the $28,500 down payment lowers the monthly figure by $465.07 and the interest by $10,565.88. The shop weighs that against keeping the cash for material. Power and air lines to the press are property work, outside this site. A membrane press, a nested-base router and frame jigs are priced in an article on RV supplier equipment loans.

A coil order bought for a customer’s production schedule turns into parts and then into invoices. In this invented case a frame shop buys $63,800 of steel coil, and the parts it makes are paid for 52 days after the coil invoice is due.

Drawn on a line of credit at 12.35% a year for those 52 days, the invented $63,800 carries $1,122.53 of simple interest. A 12-month term loan at 11.9% for the same invented sum costs $5,665.57 a month and $4,186.84 in interest across the year.

The rate on the loan is lower, but the shop would pay a year of interest on material that is sold in under two months. Inventory financing is a third route when a partner takes the coil itself as collateral.

A CNC tube bender forms the tubing for frames, rails and handles from a program instead of a manual setup. In this invented case a fabrication shop finds a used bender for $54,300. Before it buys, the shop can check:

• The bend die set, the clamp and pressure dies, and the wiper die for wear
• The controller’s software version and whether the maker still supports it
• Hydraulic leaks, the pump hours and the last service record
• Test bends on the shop’s own tubing, measured against the drawing

On four years of equipment financing at 10.6%, the invented $54,300 bender has a payment of $1,392.89 and a 48-payment total of $66,858.72 ($12,558.72 of interest). A partner may set a shorter term than for a new machine or ask for an inspection report.

Parts that leave the shop for heat treating or coating come back with a vendor bill that is due before the customer pays. This invented shop uses its line at 13.05% a year for two of those bills:

• A heat-treat bill of $8,760, out for 35 days: $109.62 of simple interest
• A powder coat run of $5,140, out for 28 days: $51.46 of simple interest

Both invented draws are cleared when the customer’s payment for the finished parts arrives. A shop with several such bills open at once can ask a partner about a larger line, or a working capital loan for a longer stretch.

The draws only stay small if the customer pays on its terms. A shop can match each vendor bill to the purchase order and the invoice it belongs to, so that the line’s balance always points to parts already shipped. That record is also what a partner may ask about when the shop wants the line raised.

Elkhart County, IN had 841 manufacturing establishments with paid employees in 2023, and 18.8% of them had fewer than five employees (County Business Patterns). Their 75,910 employees earned about $4.4 billion in payroll that year. These six industries, among others, made up part of that count:

The ZIP Code Business Patterns put 69 manufacturing establishments at ZIP 46526 addresses in 2023, the ZIP named for Goshen, IN, and under one in five of them (17.4%) ran with fewer than five employees. Nonemployer Statistics listed 535 manufacturing businesses without paid employees in Elkhart County, IN for 2024. Other shop trades are on the industries page.