Equipment investment
We have been using a Gunnar computerized mat cutter
since the shop opened in 2002. This equipment has
easily paid for itself both in terms of productivity
and quality. The Gunnar is a Swiss-made piece of
equipment and it has never failed us.
But the dependency this has created is not a good
business practice. If this equipment were to fail, we
would have to resort to hand-cutting the mats. We've
done this before and it works, but it is slow and
manually cutting a mat is an easy thing to screw up.
That being said, a computerized mat cutter is an
expensive piece of equipment. It doesn't pay to
purchase cheap equipment if it is going to fail or
become inaccurate.
We opted for a Valiani. The Valiani is a substantial
piece of equipment. It is larger and more rugged than
the Gunnar is and it is of Italian origin.
Italian engineering is much different than Swiss
engineering. The Swiss like minimalist design and the
Italians like over-engineered designs.
We intend to keep the Gunnar and use the Valiani for
larger projects.