A lot of the work we do at Tedco starts with one part. Sometimes it is a prototype for a new design. Sometimes it is a replacement part that may only ever be made once. Other times it is the first of many—a part that eventually becomes a regular production order. We like all of them.
Prototype and one-off work has always been an important part of Tedco. There is something rewarding about taking a drawing, an idea, or even an old part that needs to be duplicated and figuring out how to make it. At the same time, we have watched many of those first parts grow into something much bigger. A prototype may become a run of 10 or 50. Some eventually become hundreds of parts, while others turn into components we make every month. 
Over the years, we have also had the opportunity to work with companies when they were developing their first products or were still relatively small. Some of those companies grew considerably, and it has been rewarding to continue making parts for them along the way.
But growth in quantity has never changed the value of the original work. A one-off part can require just as much thought, skill, and problem-solving as a production run of hundreds. In many cases, it requires more.
This month marks 39 years since Tedco opened its doors. Our equipment has changed, our capabilities have grown, and today we may run larger quantities than we once did—but we still make the prototypes, the small runs, the oddball parts, and the one-piece jobs right alongside our regular production work. Whether a customer needs one or hundreds, it still starts the same way: Someone needs a part made.
Thirty-nine years in, you might think we have seen just about every kind of sheet metal part there is. We haven’t. One of the things that still makes this work interesting is that no two days at Tedco are quite the same. On any given day, we may be working on a one-piece prototype, a small run of parts, a difficult forming job that takes some figuring out, and a repeat production order that we make month after month. 
Some jobs start with a drawing and a question: Can you make this? Others come back to us again and again, sometimes growing from just a few pieces into much larger quantities.
That mix has become a big part of what Tedco looks like today. We still enjoy the challenge of the unusual jobs—the parts that require some thought, a special setup, or a different way of approaching the work. At the same time, we have customers who depend on us for regular production, and we take just as much pride in keeping those parts consistent from one order to the next.
After 39 years, the equipment has changed and the type of work has grown, but one thing hasn’t: another part is always coming through the door, giving us something new to figure out.
