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I have a couple of heros in the business world, guys who make sense about making money. The first is W. Edwards Deming best known for his book “Out of the Crisis” and the second is Mark McCormack, who wrote “What They Don’t Teach You at the Harvard Business School.” Both of these books should be required reading for anyone in business who is out to please their customers on a long term basis.
The folks at Steel City Toolworks have done their homework when it comes to making life easier for their customers, and they would be a good example of how to do things right in either of the books I mentioned. In my previous post I talked about how well the saw was packed, and the fine adjustment screws added to the cast iron wings. I had hoped to finish putting the saw together yesterday, but the demands of the magazine business and weakness from missing lunch kept me from getting back to it until today. Here’s the first cut being made: 
I still have a few things left to do, mainly put in the extension table on the right side of the saw, and double-check the alignment of the table and the wings. What impressed me today was the number of things I didn’t need to do, and the number of extra touches that made assembly a pleasant experience rather than a frustrating one.
After assembling the saw I got out our dial indicator set to check the runout on the arbor and flange. Both of these were within .001″ so I then checked the alignment of the blade to the miter slot, and it also was within .001″. Then I checked the 90Ã?° and 45Ã?° stops on the trunnions. Steel City has provided a way to adjust these from the top of the table rather than crawling inside. I didn’t get to try this because both stops were right on the money. When I put the fence on, it too was right on.
I also didn’t have to play electrician to wire the switch or the motor. The wire leading from the switch plugs in to the motor. The other extra step that all of us were impressed with was the management of the hardware. 
Most of the time you get a bag or two of mixed nuts, bolts and screws, and you have to spend some time sorting them out and finding the parts you need for the next step. With this machine, there were several bags like the one above, with a printed list on each bag describing the parts, and a note indicating what they were for.
All in all, this is a nice little saw. You’ll be hearing more about it as we give it a thorough workout. This is the smallest saw in the Steel City line, with a 1 3/4 hp motor and a 30″ fence. The included combination blade and motor ripped 4/4 cherry with no signs of bogging down, and the quality of cut was excellent. I’ll be pushing heavier and harder stuff through it in the weeks to come.
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That’s a good question, and I’m sure a lot of people wonder about that. We haven’t seen any evidence of manufacturers sending us any "special" machines. What we get usually appears to be in the packaging it was in when it left the factory.
In this case, I spoke with Steel City on Tuesday morning, and the saw was on a truck to us that afternoon. There wouldn’t have been enough time to open the box, make all the adjustments and repack it.
I think the principals at Steel City are very serious about quality control, and are making sure they are delivering tools that exceed peoples expectations. I’m enthusiastic about what I’ve seen so far.
Bob Lang