Southwick Loans in Statesville, NC helps Iredell County machine shops and metal fabricators request equipment financing, inventory financing and lines of credit from funding partners. County Business Patterns counted 62 fabricated metal product manufacturers and 27 industrial machinery repair shops in the county in 2023. This page covers CNC machines, used equipment, raw material and long customer terms.
| Fabricated metal manufacturers, Iredell County, NC | 62 (CBP 2023, NAICS 332) |
|---|---|
| Employees at those plants and shops | 1,420 (CBP 2023) |
| Annual payroll | About $79.3 million (CBP 2023) |
| Industrial machinery repair shops | 27 (CBP 2023, NAICS 811310) |
| Fabricators with a ZIP 28677 address | 18 (ZBP 2023) |
| Manufacturing employers, all kinds, county | 290 (CBP 2023) |
Machines first, then material, then waiting
A machine shop or fabricator buys capacity in large pieces: a CNC mill or lathe, a laser or plasma table, a press brake, welders and saws. Each one can cost as much as a year's payroll for a small shop. Then come the materials, steel, aluminum and consumables bought for each order, and finally the wait for customers, many of whom are larger manufacturers paying on net 45 or net 60 terms.
So a shop can be full of work and short of cash at the same moment. Funding usually addresses one of those three stages.
CNC machine loans and CNC equipment financing in Iredell County, NC
A CNC machine loan is a standard equipment financing request: the machine secures it and the payment is spread over its working life. CNC machine financing options include a loan from a partner, a dealer or manufacturer program, or a lease that ends with an option to buy. Ask each to show the total cost, including tooling, rigging, installation and training if those are included.
Partners look at the machine itself (make, model, control, age) and at the work it will do: a new machine tied to a signed customer program is easier for a partner to evaluate than one bought on speculation.
Used CNC machine financing
Used machines are an option for small shops, and partners fund them, usually over shorter terms. Used CNC machine financing goes more smoothly with the serial number, spindle hours, control version, a recent inspection and a dealer invoice rather than a private sale. Auction purchases can be financed but need time for the partner to confirm the title and value.
Raw material and long customer terms
Metal for a large order can be a big outlay paid well before the customer pays. Inventory financing or a line of credit covers material bought for specific orders and is repaid when the customer pays. Partners like to see the purchase order behind the material buy.
Matching shop needs to structures
| Need | Structure |
|---|---|
| CNC mill, lathe, laser, press brake | Equipment financing |
| Steel and aluminum for a large order | Inventory financing |
| Payroll while net-60 invoices are outstanding | Line of credit |
| A larger building or a second bay | Term loan |
Metal shop loans for a whole start-up or expansion often combine several of these. The step-by-step version is in the post on financing a metal shop.
An illustrative machine purchase, with invented numbers
Illustrative only. A shop quotes a used vertical machining center at $85,000 with $7,000 for rigging and tooling. A customer has offered a parts program that would keep the machine busy part of each week. The partner will compare the monthly equipment payment against the margin on that program, and against the shop's existing deposits in case the program shrinks. Running that comparison yourself first, using the equipment calculator, shows whether the request holds together.
Fabrication in Iredell County, NC by the numbers
County Business Patterns counted 62 fabricated metal product manufacturers in Iredell County in 2023, a category that includes machine shops, with 1,420 employees and about $79.3 million in annual payroll; 37.1% had fewer than five employees. ZIP 28677 held 18 of them. The county also had 27 commercial and industrial machinery repair shops with 201 employees.
Across all manufacturing, the county counted 290 employer establishments with 12,921 employees in 2023. Nonemployer Statistics separately counted 75 fabricated metal businesses without employees in 2024, a separate count. County totals are on the Statesville, NC data page.
By Southwick Loans · Updated
