BobCDT
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Playing the devils advocate a little here. Obtaining a good ROI on CAD is far more difficult than an ROI of a mill. I'm not sure what the difference in cost is to outsource design. Generally speaking this cost will be close to bringing it in house. Figure cost of equipment, labor for scanning and designing? What you really gain is control of form.it's significantly a better investment to get CAD before CAM. at least CAD is somewhat related to what a technician was doing. CAM is ...just another add on to the technician's repertoire and if someone is getting into it completely as a newbie, it can be stressful to handle both.
Send it out to the many milling centers around, and focus on CAD first
A mill will really generate profiles provided you do the needed units. Scan and design without milling will be less profitable.
I do not disagree with the concept of "focus on CAD first". Longer term, I think labs will need the output device to remain viable.