Good morning and thank you Rich, Karl, Peter, and Joe for chiming in here.
Shawn,
You should certainly at least consider a vertical panel saw during this evaluation process. I had one in my shop years ago [wish I had had a Striebig though;)] and it's really the best way to process panels, especially for a small to mid-sized shop. Striebig is the world's best vertical saw - it's all they have ever built. Swiss quality and precision.
Yes, every shop needs a good-quality tablesaw for ripping bevels, but sliders take up a TON of space for panel processing. So, if you cut a lot of panels, think about how much space you're giving up in that 4,000 sq ft shop when there is a better way to do it and save a lot of floor space.
Striebigs saws:
1. Very safe (blade is completely shrouded during the cut)
2. Incredibly accurate (cuts within 0.004" across diagonals)
3. Extremely durable (we have MANY 25-30+ yr-old saws out there still
running daily)
4. Saves tons of space compared to a slider (only takes up about 4' off the
wall)
5. One-man operation: vertical loading/unloading, you can rotate a
sheet end-over-end easily while it's on the frame, and you're moving the
saw over the sheet surface, rather than moving the whole sheet over
stationary blade on a table saw or slider
Scroll down through that page in the link. You'll see customer success stories, more information, and our lesson series on YouTube.
Please let us know if you'd like any more info!