Big Rocks Engineering

"𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞."

That's what a customer told me after we'd been working together for a while.

They're a small manufacturer — maybe 20 to 40 people — building boat trailers for some of the biggest boat brands in North America. They'd tried hiring a full-time engineer and couldn't make it work. The cost didn't justify the output at their volume.

So instead, they called us when they needed us. We'd update the 3D models so they could program their lasers and plasma cutters. Fix a dimension that was off before they ran the parts. Help them try a design change before committing to tooling.

No salary. No benefits. No overhead. Just the engineering hours they actually needed, when they needed them.

If your shop could use engineering support but can't justify a full-time hire, that's exactly the gap we're built to fill.

Contact us today: https://bigrocksengineering.com/contact-us

If your offshore manufacturer keeps missing the mark, the easy assumption is that they're the problem.

Sometimes that's true. But more often, the real issue is what you handed them.

A sketch isn't a specification. A sample part isn't a drawing package. An email description isn't a work instruction.

We worked with a consumer products company selling through major retailers. Every time they handed a new concept to their manufacturer overseas, something got lost. The product came back close — but not right.

The fix wasn't a new supplier. It was documentation.

We created the full technical package: 3D models, engineering drawings,and assembly instructions. Same supplier. Better results. Because the communication was finally clear.

Before you switch vendors, ask whether the problem is the supplier — or the brief you handed them. https://bigrocksengineering.com/contact-us

Most of our customers don't realize they can get it all done in one place.

They come to us for engineering. Then they find out we also have metal fabrication, precision machining, tool and die, and powder coating — all under the same roof of companies, all in central Missouri.

That matters more than it sounds.

When your engineer is connected to your fabricator, and your fabricator is connected to your finisher, things don't fall through the cracks. Tolerances get caught earlier. Lead times get compressed. You're not managing four vendor relationships — you're making one call.

Here's what the Big Rocks Manufacturing family covers:

✔ Big Rocks Engineering — reverse engineering, CAD, technical documentation
✔ Mack Hils Metal Fabrication — laser cutting, forming, welding, stamping
✔ CED Precision Machining — CNC milling, turning, waterjet, 25+ years in precision work
✔ Roberts Tool & Die Company — tool and die, metal stamping, CNC machining since 1984
✔ Total Powder Coat & Finish, LLC. — batch and automated powder coating, warehousing, logistics

If you've been piecing together a supply chain from five different vendors, there might be a simpler way.

👉 Mike Hill | Big Rocks Engineering | (314) 649-0610

A lot of manufacturers think they own their product.

They make it. They sell it. They've been running it for years.

But if I asked you to hand me the 3D model, the tolerance drawing and the quality inspection document for your top-selling part right now — could you?

If the answer is no, you don't fully own it. Your supplier does.

That matters the moment you want to get a second quote, bring production in-house, change suppliers because quality slipped, or show a customer you have documented quality standards.

Owning your specs means having portable documentation that doesn't live inside someone else's system. It means you can pick up your work and take it anywhere.

That's what reverse engineering is actually for. Not just copying a part — restoring ownership.
https://bigrocksengineering.com/contact-us