The Jobs No One Wants Are the Ones We’re Built For
Every machine shop loves to talk about big-volume runs, aerospace certifications, and state-of-the-art equipment. But there’s another side of manufacturing. The side that’s full of oddball parts, last-minute orders, and “can you just take a look at this?” requests.
That’s the side we live on.
At Mills Machine Works, we’ve built our reputation on doing the jobs most shops pass on. The weird ones. The tight-deadline ones. The “nobody else can make it” ones.
And that’s exactly why our customers keep coming back.
Not Every Part Fits the Mold—But We Know How to Make It
Some of the best work we do doesn’t come from a spreadsheet. It comes from someone picking up the phone and saying:
“It’s only 4 parts, but we need them fast.”
“This part was designed years ago—can you reverse engineer it?”
“Our usual shop said this tolerance is too tight for their setup.”
“We need to prototype this and see if it even works.”
“Can you help us figure out why this part keeps failing?”
These aren’t jobs most shops brag about.
But they’re the exact jobs we’re built to take on.
What Makes Us Different
We're not a production house chasing the biggest PO. We're a problem-solving machine shop with the tools, team, and mindset to get it done, even when it's hard.
Here’s what that looks like:
✅ Quick-turn capacity for small batches and rush jobs
✅ A team that knows how to ask the right questions
✅ Willingness to work from sketches, broken parts, or old prints
✅ Experience across materials most shops avoid
✅ Full inspection, documentation, and attention to detail—no matter the job size
We're the shop people call when they’ve run out of options—and we take pride in that.
A Real Example
A customer came to us recently with a low-volume, tight-tolerance job that had already failed twice at other shops. It wasn’t glamorous: a small aluminum housing with a deep bore, odd geometry, and a short lead time.
We studied the print, asked about the function, adjusted the fixturing, and made it work. No drama. No excuses. Just a finished part delivered on time, and a very relieved customer.
Final Thought
We’re not afraid of hard jobs, short runs, or strange requests.
That’s where we do our best work.
So if you’ve got a part sitting on your desk that no one wants to touch—or you’re tired of being told “we don’t have time for that”—just send it to us.
👉 We’ll quote it. We’ll think through it. We’ll make it right.