10… and the stories behind their success

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10… and the stories behind their success

BEST MACHINE SHOPS

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CONTENTS

D E PA R T M E N T S

F E A T U R E S

ON THE COVER

33 MACHINE TOOLSMaterial made for medical.

3 8 TOOLING & FIXTURINGHigh-feed milling, less boring.

43 SOFTWARE & CONTROLSCharting new paths for greater consistency.

V I E W P O I N T S

6 COMMENTARY

8 GOVERNMENT MATTERS

10 NTMA NOTES

48 CUTTING TOOL APPLICATIONS

AMERICAN MACHINIST(ISSN 104-7958), founded 1877, is published monthly by Penton Media, Inc., 9800 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park, KS 66202-2216.

Telephone: 216.696.7000. Fax: 216.931.9524. Printed in U.S.A. Copyright© 2009 by Penton Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Periodicals Postage Paid at Shawnee Mission KS and at addi-tional mailing offices. Can. GST #R126431964. Canada Post International Publications Mail (Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement Number 40612608). Canada return address: Bleuchip International PO Box 25542, London ON N6C 6B2 POST-MASTER: send address changes to American Machinist, Penton Media Customer Service, P.O. Box 2136, Skokie, IL 60076-7836 European delivery: Editeur Responsable (Belgique), Christian Desmet, Vuurgatstraat 92, 3090 Overijse, Belgique. Subscriptions: Solicited at no charge in the U.S. from corporate executives, manufacturing and manufactur-ing engineering managers, and manufacturing engineers in qualified metalworking plants. All others may subscribe at $90 per year or $140 for two years (single issue: $8) in the U.S. Canadian subscriptions: $100 per year or $170 for two years (single issue: $9). All other countries: $125 per year or $195 for two years (single issue: $12).Send subscription payments to Penton Media, Inc., Subscription Lockbox, P.O. Box 2135, Skokie, IL 60076-7835. Please allow 6-8 weeks to process order. Air mail available on request. Direct all paid subscription inquiries to 847.763.9670.

READER SERV ICE

45 AM PRODUCT EXPRESS

47 ADVERTISER INDEX

APHELION PRECISION TECHNOLOGIES

Tough materials, complex parts, tight tolerances. ............................ 12

ASHLAND TECHNOLOGIES INC.

“One-stop” shop with a marketing edge. ........................................ 14

KINNER MANUFACTURING

Exploiting an undervalued market. ................................................. 16

KIRSAN ENGINEERING INC.

Very good partners ......................................................................... 18

KVK PRECISION SPECIALTIES INC.

Constant focus on continuous improvement. .................................20

M&S PRECISION MACHINING INC.

Managing data to maximize understanding ...................................22

MINI MACHINE INC.

Transferring specialties to new markets. .........................................24

PRECISION AEROSPACE CORP.

Setting sights, and standards, high. ................................................26

THAYER MANUFACTURING LLC

Fostering excellent customer relationships. ....................................28

VALLEY TOOL INC.

Traditional values, today’s technology ...........................................30

Hundreds of shops … many great achievements … but just 10 ‘best.’

2 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

Des

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by

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E D I T O R I A L M I S S I O N :American Machinist empowers self-determined m a c h i n e s h o p o w n e r s a n d m a n a g e r s to control their future. It does this by sharing tools, insights and best practices that managers use to embrace technology, innovate and systematically improve operations. American Machinist facilitates the leap from survival to growth for a community of owners and managers who operate metalworking businesses in the context of a global manufacturing economy.

AMERICAN MACHINIST I Volume 153 I Number 11 I November 2009

Bill GibbsFounder/President

“Jay Leno knows cars. He even has his own repair and restoration shop, called “Big Dog Garage,”

a 17,000 sq. ft. facility filled with state-of-the-art technology, including a high performance CNC

mill with rotary axis, driven by GibbsCAM software—advancements that help his people quickly

and easily custom-fabricate parts. GibbsCAM can provide you with the same powerful capability

and wide range of support to create real-world programs for YOUR parts and YOUR machines.”

“We would never havetried to make some ofthese parts withoutGibbsCAM and CNC.”

— Jay Leno

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Cimatron Technologies /CimatronEIntegrated CAD/CAM for Mold & Die, Design and Manufacturing

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A D V E R T I S I N G S A L E S S T A F F

Daniel Pels 330 N. Wabash Ave., #2300, Chicago, IL, 60611 216.255.2846, Fax: 312.595.0295, daniel.pels@penton.comAK / AR / AZ / CA / CO / HI / IA / ID / IL / IN / KS / KY / MI / MN/ MO / MT / ND / NE / NM / NV / OH / OK / OR / SD / TN / UT / WA / WI / WV /WY

Bob Scofield 400 Morris Ave. Ste 268, Denville, NJ 07834 973-400-1790, Fax: 973-794-0093, bob.scofield@penton.comAL / CT / DC / DE / FL / GA / LA / MA / MD / MS / ME / NC / NH / NJ / Long Island / NY / PA / RI / SC / TX / VA / VT

Kathy Savage205.669.7161, kathy.savage@penton.comInside Sales/Classified

Lutz Krampitz, Krampitz Verlags-vertretung, Im Schlenk 34, D 47055 Duisburg, Germany. 49.203.4568.266/267; Fax: 49.203.4568.538 e-mail: krampitz@krampitzVv.de Austria-Germany-Switzerland

Cesare Casiraghi, President, Casiraghi Pubblicità Internazionale, Via Cardano 81 22100 Como (Italia). Phone: 011.39.031.261407; Fax: 011.39.031.261380 e-mail: cesare@casiraghi.info, oliver@casiraghi. info, diego@casiraghi.infoItaly

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Shivaji Bhattacharjee, Information and Education Services Pvt, Ltd., Regd. & Head Office: 1st floor, 30-B, Ber Sarai Village, Behind South Indian Temple, Haus Khas, New Delhi – 110016 India. 91.11.2686.7005; Fax: 91.11.2652.6055 e-mail: bh.shivaji@gmail.comIndia

Yoshinori Ikeda, Managing Director, and Hiro Okawa, Director of Sales, Pacific Business, Inc., Matsuda Bldg., 2-4-6, Nihonbashi Kayabacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0025, Japan. 81.3.3661.6138; Fax: 81.3.3661.6139Japan

Young Sang Jo, Biscom, Room 1232, Gwanghwamoon Officia Bldg., 163, 1-Ga, Shinmoon-Ro, Jongro-Gu, Seoul Korea 110-999. 82.2.739.7840; Fax: 82.2.732.3662Korea Kelly Wang, Ringier Trade Publishing LTD, 9F-2, No. 200 Shongming Rd., North District, Taichung City,Taiwan 404, Phone: 886423297318, Fax: 886423107167, e-mail: kwong@ringier.com.hkTaiwan/China

Production: Fax: 913-981-5685 List Rental: Walter Karl 2 Blue Hill Plaza, Pearl River, NY 10965; Curvin Lovejoy, 845.732.7262, curvin.lovejoy@walterkarl,com Reprints: Penton Reprints: 1.888.858.8851 e-mail:reprints@pentonreprints.com, Contact: Traci Mueller Customer Service information: Penton Media Customer Service, PO Box 2136, Skokie, IL 60076-7836 Phone: 866-505-7173 Paid Subscription information: Penton Media Customer Service, PO Box 2135, Skokie, IL 60076-7835 Subscriptions: Phone: 847.763.9670 or fax: 847.763.9670 E-mail: americanmachinist@halldata.com Subscription form: http://www.submag.com/sub/aj?pk=eajmag

E D I T O R I A L S T A F F

P E N T O N C O R P O R A T E O F F I C E R S :

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Sharon RowlandsSharon.Rowlands@penton.com

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER/EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

Jean Cliftonjean.clifton@penton.com

EDITOR Robert Brooks

2 1 6 . 9 3 1 . 9 4 5 0r o b e r t . b r o o k s @ p e n t o n . c o m

SENIOR EDITOR Charles Bates

2 1 6 . 9 3 1 . 9 3 1 3c h u c k . b a t e s @ p e n t o n . c o m

ASSOCIATE EDITOR James J. Benes2 1 6 . 9 3 1 . 9 6 8 4

j a m e s . b e n e s @ p e n t o n . c o m

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Peter Alpern

2 1 6 . 9 3 1 . 9 2 4 4p e t e r . a l p e r n @ p e n t o n . c o m

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Bernadette Vielhaber

2 1 6 . 9 3 1 . 9 3 7 7b e r n a d e t t e . v i e l h a b e r @ p e n t o n . c o m

ART DIRECTOR Nickolas Dankovich

2 1 6 . 9 3 1 . 9 4 8 8n i c k . d a n k o v i c h @ p e n t o n . c o m

GROUP CONTENT DIRECTOR Steve Minter

2 1 6 . 9 3 1 . 9 2 8 1s t e v e . m i n t e r @ p e n t o n . c o m

B U S I N E S S S T A F F

MARKETING MANAGER .................................... Victoria AndersAUDIENCE MARKETING MANAGER ................... Jessica MartinezONLINE MARKETING & SALES MANAGER ................ Jonathan BurgerONLINE MARKETING & SALES DIRECTOR ............. Michael MadejPRODUCTION COORDINATOR ........................ Karen RichardsonVICE PRESIDENT / GROUP PUBLISHER, MANUFACTURING & SUPPLY GROUP CHAIN GROUP....John DiPaolaSENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, PENTON INDUSTRIAL GROUP ..............................Bob MacArthur

PUBLISHERRon Lowy

2 1 6 . 9 3 1 . 9 3 5 9r o n . l o w y @ p e n t o n . c o m

Corporate Offices: Penton Media Inc., 249 West 17th St., New York, NY, 10011

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERDaniel Pels

3 1 2 . 8 4 0 . 8 4 4 4d a n i e l . p e l s @ p e n t o n . c o m

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A Haas horizontal machining center.Twin pallet changer. Full 4th axis. Smart.

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Your shop, but a lot more efficient.

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“The realization that we are not unique in the difficulties we face. That we do many similar things that the most successful companies

do. It increased motivation to stick to the path we’re on.”—2008 Machine Shop Workshop Attendee

“Variety of topics. Quality of presentations. Opportunity to

discuss with other attendees afterward.”—2008 Machine Shop Workshop Attendee

Cleveland, Ohio April 21-22, 2010

Save the Date

We don’t pick the 10 Best Shops that are spotlighted in this issue: they select themselves. Their standing reflects their exceptional

performances in AM’s annual Benchmarks for Machine Shops survey. Each of them sought to confirm their standing among their peers, and by demonstrating their accomplishments against others they set the standards.

Now we know these are North America’s outstanding machine shops for 2009, and their accomplishments are all the more admirable because they have been made in the face of a fearful economic downturn.

One confounding aspect of this recession is that it has spared no one: Everyone feels the effects of weak

demand. Everyone looks anxiously for something to build upon. Yet, the 2009 Best Shops demonstrate that there is always a way to improve one’s performance. They are succeeding in spite of the challenges. Some of them rely on management strategy, as in the way they

arrange their shops or organize their workers. Others emphasize marketing techniques, as in ways to

target customers or apply machining capabilities. All of them recognize they must be versatile in both skills and strategies to be available

and capable when circumstances change, or opportunities appear. In other words, they are the Best Shops in part because they are so creative.

Of course, machining is a creative science, but the 2009 Best Shops remind us how much success results from originality. From high-precision bladed products to thrill-ride components, to medical devices and low-lead brass plumbing fixtures, they develop products that need to be developed, to supply markets that need to be defined. They make changes happen, and their success speeds the advances of others.

They reward their customers, their investors, and their workers with that success, but its notable that they didn’t seek recognition, only confirmation. And so, we can observe that the most notable, the most admirable characteristic of the 10 Best Shops is their determination to grow and prosper, even if determination is the only resource available to them.

FROM THE E D I TOR

Versatility, creativity, determination

6 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

Robert BrooksEditor-in-Chief robert.brooks@penton.com

Concept Tool and Mold

veryone seems to agree that our nation’s healthcare system needs to be

When I was working at the

adopted the opposite game plan with regard to healthcare reform.

First as a candidate, and then as President, Barack Obama promised that he would reform the healthcare system without raising the taxes of anyone who made less than $250,000 per year. He also promised not to add any new debt to our nation’s deficit. This promise cannot be fulfilled, unless the President intended for us to interpret his words in a way that restricts their meaning narrowly to income tax rates alone, thereby failing to include all the additional revenue-raisers that would be required to pay the cost of covering an additional 30 million currently uninsured people (a price tag of approximately $1 trillion over the next decade.)

Now, the Democratic Congress is faced with, at the very least, living up to the letter (if not the spirit) of the President’s promises. They must find new ways to raise revenue while not technically raising taxes. Yet, most of the added revenue-raisers being discussed in Congress would, in fact, impose on many Americans

“hidden” tax increases in the form of higher costs passed on to them by health insurers and providers.

Without getting into the details of the House of Representatives’ so-called “public option” versus the Senate’s so-called “healthcare insurance exchange” plans, the biggest problem faced by Congress is how to pay for a system that attempts to cover those 30 million additional people while at the same time outlawing such cost-cutting insurance company practices as refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions, or dropping “expensive” patients from coverage. However one feels about the moral aspects of such practices, new mandates restricting these insurance-company operating rules are not likely to lower the cost of insurance to the general public.

Meanwhile, the largest revenue-raiser proposed by both Houses of Congress is to eliminate “waste, fraud, and abuse” from Medicare, which the Congress estimates would save approximately $500 billion over the ten-year planning cycle. If this cost cutting were possible, one wonders why such measures have not already been taken. More telling, however, is a comment from someone who was involved in a similar legislative process during the Clinton administration.

In a recent television appearance, Lawrence O’Donnell, who during the last healthcare reform effort,

in 1994, was Senate Finance Committee Chairman Daniel P. Moynihan’s Chief of Staff, admitted that when the Finance Committee ran out of revenue-raising ideas, they simply asserted without any analytical basis that the remainder of savings would come from eliminating “waste, fraud, and abuse” — leaving the operational details of that admonition vague. If the the current bill’s elusive $500 billion in savings is not found, either taxes or the deficit will be increased. But, that will happen slowly over the next decade, and therefore without much notice.

The greatest concern for smaller manufacturers ought to be a House proposal to raise revenue by increasing taxes on individuals making $250,000 and above. If no exception is granted to small businesses, those taxes also will fall on S Corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships, and other pass-through entities that file individual income taxes. Add to that possibilty the proposed eight-percent payroll tax penalty for not offering health insurance, and many smaller companies are unlikely to survive the new revenue structure envisioned by Congress to fund healthcare reform.

At this writing healthcare reform is still a work in progress. But, it is legislation that bears close watching because it could have profound effects both on the competitiveness of U.S. companies and the fiscal health of our nation.

GOVERNMENT MATTERS

You can help revitalize U.S. manufacturing! Send this page to your Congressman, local and state government leaders, or your local newspaper editor. Add your own comments on the importance of manufacturing innovation to the health of our economy. Your comments are also welcome at pfreedenberg@AMTonline.org

B Y D R . P A U L F R E E D E N B E R G

What kind of healthcare reform are we likely to see?> >

Vice President-Government Relations, AMT—The Association For Manufacturing Technology

8 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

Ereformed, but that is where the agreement ends.

Commerce Department for Secretary Malcolm Baldridge, his advice to me for managing my department was “under-promise and over-deliver.” Unfortunately, President Obama seems to have

SHARE OUR STRENGTHwww.investinyorkshire.com/share

We’re energising the nuclear industry.

Preventing dark times. The power of alternative energy.

NTMA NOTES

B Y J A M E S R . G R O S M A N N

JAMES R. GROSMANN IS MARKETING DIRECTOR FOR THE NATIONAL TOOLING & MACHINING ASSOCIATION

’d like to use this month’s column to advise readers about current happenings in Washington. If, as

citizens, we don’t pay attention to what our representatives are doing, our country will be lost.

• As of this writing the Senate Finance Committee has voted to pass the healthcare legislation sponsored by Senator Baucus. This bill will mandate that all employers provide health-insurance benefits. One of the bill’s less-reported aspects mandates individuals to buy health insurance, too. If you don’t wish to buy the insurance, Uncle Sam will tax you to pay for it, and if you don’t pay the tax you will have committed a felony. In other words, you can go to jail if you don’t buy health insurance. Companies that don’t supply the required level of health insurance will be charged a surtax for each employee. Some estimates put this charge at up to 40% of the cost of the health insurance.

The Baucus bill faces several obstacles. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has 150 Democrats who main-tain that the surtax won’t last: They want an income tax on individuals making $500,000 or more.

The cost of the Baucus bill is estimated at $829 billion. The President states that this bill will not add to the deficit. Can anyone tell me when the last time a government cost estimate was accurate? As I recall, Social Security was supposed to cost no more than $40 million. The Estate Tax was supposed to be a temporary tax.

This bill does nothing to address the major cause of rising healthcare costs: the legal liabilities that manufacturers and providers must fund add billions to the cost of healthcare — an aspect of the present system that is

defended by trial lawyers. • The American Clean Energy

and Security Act (“Cap and Trade”) passed in the House but its supporters say the measure won’t do much to affect global climate change. It will increase U.S. energy costs as electricity, gas and oil prices rise to pay for the additional production and delivery costs. Countries like China and India say they will not adopt similar regulations, but are supporting efforts to pass them here.

If the Cap and Trade regulations are enacted, some estimates put the number of U.S. jobs relocating offshore as high as 10 million jobs.

• The Employee Free Choice Act (Card Check) is said to be dead for now, but we need to keep an eye on it. There are rumors that labor unions will give up on the aspect that would eliminate secret-ballot elections, but remain steadfast on the rest of the bill.

Card Check would allow a union to organize a workplace if it can get a majority of workers to sign cards calling for a vote. Instead of the current 30-day campaign period for such organizing elections, employers would have just nine days to educate their employees prior to voting. Why the rush? Can’t union organizers debate their arguments openly and honestly? In a free society, people have a right to all the facts before making a decision!

A version of the bill still calls for a mandated two-year union contract if no agreement is reached after 120 days. This gives the union no reason to compromise. We expect labor backers to call for a quick vote in order to thwart opposition.

• Here is some good news: The NTMA has been working for years to draft a U.S. Manufacturing

Policy. Our NTMA/PMA One Voice efforts have been working on this issue, and recently we were invited into discussions about a Manufacturing Policy. Some won’t like to hear this, but one reason China has been able to expand so significantly is that it has a national manufacturing policy. If you want to sell something in China, you must make all or part of it in China. The U.S. is the only industrialized nation without such a policy. By being at the table of these discussions, the NTMA/PMA One Voice group hopes to have a positive influence for the future of all U.S. manufacturing.

• Also, the estate tax is back on the table. Congress doesn’t want to be seen as allowing a huge tax increase to take place as the estate tax reverts back to its 2000 level. Our hope is that we can get the amount of exemption raised, or that we can get the current levels extended for another year. Section 179, for expensing equipment, is due to expire along with the net operating loss legislation and the R&D tax credit. All these bills must be extended until we can get them made permanent.

Our Congress is out of control. They seem to think they have a blank check to spend any amount they want. They’re passing legislation just to say they have — a dangerous way to make laws. Next year, we must elect officials that will stand up for manufacturing. If you haven’t joined a national trade group that is fighting to support manufacturing, do it now! We can’t wait any longer!

Contact James R. Grosmann at the National Tooling & Machining Assn., jgrosmann@ntma.org.

citwou

FipaspbiprOasbu

Legislative advocacy update> >

10 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

911AMA10.indd 10 10/27/09 1:37:28 PM

I

Aphelion Precision Technologies

Ashland Technologies, Inc.

Kinner Manufacturing

Kirsan Engineering

KVK Precision Specialists, Inc.

M&S Precision Machining, Inc.

MiniMachine, Inc.

Precision Aerospace

Thayer Manufacturing

Valley Tool

Congratulations!2009

10 Best Machine ShopWinners

These companies were selected through American Machinist’s Machine Shop Benchmarks program based on their elite operating metrics, along with site visits and interviews by the American Machinist editorial team. They represent an ideal in manufacturing: machine shops that make strategic use of accepted principles for improvement in order to thrive and compete in a global marketplace.

SAVE THE DATE! Learn from the 10 Best Machine Shops at the 2010 Machine Shop Workshop, April 21-22, Cleveland, Ohio. For more details, visit www.machineshopworkshop.com

Aphe l i on P rec i s i on Techno l og i es

Everyone at Aphelion Preci-sion Technologies “loves” titanium. That’s because the 65-employee contract machining shop has gained

something of a reputation for taking on the jobs that others wouldn’t even consider attempting, most of which in-volve highly complex titanium parts.

About 80 percent of the shop’s work serves the aerospace and defense mar-kets, while 15 percent supports optics such as laser targeting and satellite sys-tems. The balance of work is in medical.

Besides titanium, Aphelion ma-

According to Gene Kline, vice pres-

12 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

Making 'Rooms' for Machining SHOP THRIVES ON TOUGH MATERIALS, COMPLEX PARTS AND TIGHT TOLERANCES.

By Charles Bates I senior editor

Special temperature-controlled rooms allow Aphelion Precision Technologies to achieve extremely tight part tolerances.

chines aluminum, stainless, tungsten and nickel-based alloy parts. Most in-volve multi-axis machining and toler-ances held in the millionths of an inch range. These include components for the F-18 fighter jet, the Tomahawk missile and Apache helicopter.

ident of operations at Aphelion, what makes it possible to hold extremely close tolerances in such tough mate-rial as titanium are the shop’s several temperature-controlled, totally en-closed rooms. While the whole shop is air conditioned, these special rooms

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 13

have sensors mounted on their walls, and temperatures never vary more than +/- 0.5 degrees F.

“Being able to machine in temper-ature-controlled rooms eliminates the problem of part-size fluctuation. And when trying to hold tolerances in the millionths, you can’t have room tem-peratures varying by full degrees at a time,” said Kline.

Part volumes at Aphelion vary from prototype jobs of one to five pieces to those requiring a couple thousand pieces. But, it’s not a huge production shop, and typical production volumes are between 100 and 500 pieces.

Every job gets assigned to a proj-ect manager and process engineer. The two of them determine the best way to process the particular job through the shop.

The manufacturing area is set up in cells of three or four machines and organized by process, such as milling, EDM or turning. Parts move from one cell to the next, with appropriate pro-grams stored on the shop’s network.

Production managers make sure parts flow smoothly around the shop, as does the production planner who coordinates scheduling. A manufac-turing production manager ensures that parts continue to move according to a schedule, and he works closely

with the process engineers.A part’s most dominant required pro-

cess or its critical features often deter-mine which process engineer gets the project. Each cell has a process engineer who then is in charge not only for set up, but also for programming the job.

According to Kline, the shop used to have one main programmer but found it tough to rely so heavily on one per-son. If the programmer was gone for a week, for instance, jobs would bottle-neck, or the programmer would end up working 80 hours a week to catch up upon his return. To eliminate this problem, the shop trains its set up guys to also program jobs.

“The most significant advantage of doing this is that we not only increase output, but we are able to take on more difficult jobs. In the past, we would take on a couple of difficult jobs, and from the get-go, we would know that, from a programming standpoint, and even a setup stand-point, we would be overloaded to take on other jobs,” explained Kline.

Training to program gave set-up personnel an opportunity to advance from a professional standpoint and in pay scale. Each one is accountable for his cell, and in the case of parts with longer cycle times, floating operators will help him out, so he can move to

another cell. The shop has about 10 floating operators who work mostly second and third shifts.

“Once we gave everybody the op-portunity to grow and expand them-selves, the inner politics of ‘I’m not sharing information with the next guy’ went away. We have nothing but team players now, and that has been a major achievement spanning the past five to six years,” said Kline. “No one is worried that if they share what they know, someone will take their job.”

In addition to training set-up guys to program, too, Kline indicated that implementing project managers sets the shop apart from its competitors.

He explained that parts are quite in-volved, extremely expensive, and don’t lend themselves well to being farmed out. On top of that, the shop can only use approved shops and ones that work to Aphelion’s high standards.

However, the choices in the immedi-ate area are limited. And when the shop does farm out work, project managers deal with those outside vendors.

“With all our overall experienced and trained employees, we have an un-canny ability to troubleshoot potential problem areas in a project prior to even starting it. This allows us to minimize errors before they happen. We also rely heavily on our quality lab for this,” said Kline. He added that the shop’s highly skilled quality lab also will work with customers at the development stages of a job to ensure the best outcomes.

Its operating principals and prac-tices are paying off for Aphelion. Be-sides being the recipient of the Small Business Administration’s Subcontrac-tor of the Year award for Region 5 and Lockheed Martin’s 2009 Supplier of the Year award, the shop continues to grow and expects to end 2009 well into the black. It has also invested in new machines and new capabilities.

For example, recently it purchased four new pieces of equipment, a Makino 5-axis machining center and a Makino 3-axis machine, a Hardinge Precision lathe with live tooling, and a Mori Seiki lathe with live tooling. And, it added another temperature-controlled room. In total, the shop in-vested over $1 million.

In addition to the new machines, Aphelion added aluminum vacuum brazing and aluminum heat treating to its list of capabilities. <<

Aphelion Precision Technologies specializes in complex components and those made from tough materials such as titanium.

Ash land Techno l og i es I nc .

In 2009 INC Magazine ranked Ashland Technologies Inc. (www.ash-tec.com) as the fastest-grow-ing manufacturer in the state of Pennsylvania and the 55th fast-

est-growing manufacturer in the U.S. The annual ranking is based on reve-nue growth from 2005 through 2008. During this time period, Ash-Tec has grown at a rate of 218.4 %.

Founded in 1996, Ash-Tec relocated to a 46,000 sq ft facility in 2007 in Hegins, Pa., that allowed the company to broaden its array of services and increase its capacity.

Bill Wydra, Jr. is president of Ash-Tec. His background and expertise is in marketing not machining. He has little involvement with decisions con-cerning machinery and operations in

the shop. The decision about what equipment to acquire is made on the shop floor by the manufacturing team. Wydra defined his role to his manu-facturing team by saying, “I’ll get the business, and you do the work.”

Ash-Tec operates as a business. It’s common for shops to be founded by machinists who are excellent at their trade but don’t have the time or ap-propriate skill sets to build a busi-ness around their core expertise. “Most shops seem to cap out at a size of about eight employees, or so, because this is all they can effectively manage," Wydra said. "We are differ-ent because we have a management team that operates our shop as a busi-ness. This makes a big difference with customers and with employees."

“Many shops are excellent at making things, but they don’t have a marketing-oriented front end to the business,” said Joe Walton, president of Walton Consul-tants and a long-time business advisor to Ash-Tec. “In the global marketplace, a shop must be able to find new business and not just to live off of old or current customers, or they will fail.”

Ash-Tec employees benefit from this business approach because man-agement has put in place the systems and procedures that remove every ob-stacle that detracts from an employee’s ability to do his or her job.

“We are customer centric,” Wydra explained. “Once we understand a cus-tomer’s needs, we make our machines fit those needs or immediately buy new equipment that does. For exam-

14 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

"We Run It as a Business." A SUCCESFUL BLEND OF MARKETING AND 'ONE-STOP' MANUFACTURING.

By Jim Benes I associate editor

Ashland Technologies employees and President Bill Wydra, Jr. (red shirt).

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 15

ple, when we started manufacturing a rifle comprised of 27 different parts we would deliver a batch set of fifty parts at a time to the customer for assembly. This created problems because the cus-tomer would periodically be overloaded by the assembly operation. Now, we manufacture the components in a one-piece-flow manner to deliver complete rifle kits to them on a daily basis. This change in operations eliminated a major problem for our customer, increased their ability to have steady, reliable sales and greatly increased cash flow for both companies.”

The culture within the shop results in all employees sharing a focus on customer service. Ash-Tec has devel-oped a strong sense of esprit de corpsamong its 38 employees through con-stant communication and frequent off-site social get-togethers.

Customers and employees have bought into the Ash-Tec corporate vision, which is to duplicate the capabilities of the Hegins facility in 20 other locations by 2020. These addi-tional plants will be exact replicas of the current facility; all machines will be the same and even tooling draw-ers will be identical. Wydra explains, “Having the same brand of equip-ment throughout helps us standard-ize our training, become more flex-ible with scheduling, and allows us to invest in an in-house maintenance technician who knows our equipment inside and out. All of which have a measurable benefit to customers and our bottom line.”

All employees were involved in the creation of this ambitious goal. The company is investigating opportuni-ties to locate plants in Orlando and the Raleigh-Durham area. These areas are attractive because they are strate-gic locations to serve the company’s core customer base — the amusement park/rides and food service industries.

The Hegins facility is designed to be a one-stop provider for almost everything its core markets need. Its equipment in-cludes extensive machining, fabricat-ing, assembly and finishing capabilities. Recently the company installed a 23.5-ft long powder-coating booth. “By in-stalling this powder-coating capability in-house, we were able to completely round out our services making Ash-Tec the simple solution for a customer look-ing for a ‘one-stop shop’ for all their

needs,” observed Roger Strohecker, manufacturing manager.

Ash-Tec is the dominant manu-facturer of trains for wooden roller coasters. “Each roller-coaster car con-tains about 1,600 components that have to be machined, finished, fabri-cated, powder coated, assembled and inspected before it can be delivered. There is no way we could accomplish this without our ‘one-stop-shop’ capa-bility,” Wydra said.

The ability to completely manu-facture and assemble products in the plant has led to impressive production time and cost savings. “We can deliver complete products and assemblies in half the time of our competitors,” Wydra said. “Also, by eliminating a major portion of the part-handling re-quirement when dealing with outside suppliers, we have reduced associated handling costs by 334 percent.”

Ash-Tec has invested in equipment that is not running all the time. This “excess-capacity” strategy has al-lowed the company to handle work-load surges and to respond quickly to customer opportunities. This is one of the reasons Ash-Tec has enjoyed ex-ceptional growth: the company dou-bled its labor revenue from 2007 to 2008. Labor revenue — the charge for the labor content of a project without consideration of material costs — is the yardstick by which the company measures its profitability. This value-added metric focuses on the efficiency and effectiveness of its people and manufacturing procedures.

Wydra’s shop, like many others, ex-periences periodic surging and waning of workloads and was challenged by

inserting new first-run parts into an unpredictable schedule. Since their goal is to continue growing, aggressively, finding a good solution to new custom-ers and new first-run parts was essen-tial. To help address this, they formed a separate development group with dedicated equipment and staff. Now, instead of 4- to 5-week turnaround, this group has their new first-run part lead time down to 4 to 5 days. When the job repeats, a separate production team of supervisors will engage and determine the most efficient, cost-effec-tive manufacturing process to reduce set-up and cycle time.

A second function of the “Design/Engineering Group,” as they call it, is to perform “Design for Manufactur-ing” reviews for customers. The group analyzes a customer’s product from a machining and fabricating standpoint and suggests design changes to enhance manufacturability. This results in sub-stantial savings, helping their custom-ers become more competitive.

A third responsibility of the Design/Engineering team is full-service prod-uct design for customers. For example, while on his honeymoon in Hawaii, Wydra noticed a long line of custom-ers at an outdoor food stand waiting to order Puka Dogs — a Hawaiian-style hot dog. He discussed the obvious potential for increased business with the owner and offered the services of Ash-Tec to build him a production hot dog grill, from scratch. Starting with a napkin drawing, the new grill designed by Ash-Tec’s Mark Mensch now cooks two perfectly grilled dogs every 15 sec-onds. The eatery owners now want to franchise this operation, resulting in 15 additional design projects, includ-ing a scaled-down kiosk-sized grill. This is an example of how Wydra’s marketing skills and Ash-Tec’s design and manufacturing capabilities have worked hand-in-hand not only to expand their business, but that of their customer as well.

Although the development group required a considerable financial out-lay for their dedicated equipment and extensive 3D modeling software, it has enhanced Ash-Tec’s profitability, com-petitiveness and customer service. “Our belief is that by partnering with our cus-tomers to make them as competitive as possible, we will also reap the rewards down the road,” Wydra said. <<

K inne r Manufac tu r i ng

Signs of 14-hour days, no weekends, are strewn everywhere. Shelves are lined with blade parts of every kind ‚ for fans and

compressors, for impellers of dozens of sizes and shapes.

But, stuffed in a nook between two shelves lie indications suggesting other-wise. Two racing dirt bikes, still caked with dried mud, have yet to be cleaned from rides the previous evening.

These days, free time for even their most passionate pursuits isn’t easy for Ray Kinner and Max Luna. The

brothers’ two-year-old shop, Kinner Manufacturing, requires more hours than there are in a day and more days than are available in a week.

“It makes for some ridiculous hours,” said Ray Kinner. “But, you do it because you love your shop and you love what you’re doing.”

In the short time of its existence, Kinner Manufacturing has established a presence in what the brothers sensed to be a highly undervalued market: manufacturing bladed products for fans, compressors, pumps and tur-bines. The shop addresses industries

16 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

Modestly Making a Big ImpressionA TWO-YEAR-OLD BUSINESS ADDRESSES A NEED IN AN UNDER-VALUED NICHE — BUILDING BLADED PARTS FOR SEVERAL CRITICAL INDUSTRIES.

By Peter Alpern I associate editor

Max Luna, Nikki Kinner, and Ray Kinner have maximized their resources and ingenuity to establish an impressive operation.

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 17

across a wide spectrum, from power generation to agriculture to cryogen-ics, producing blades, vanes, BLISKs, IBRs, radial and axial impellers, dif-fusers, rotor shafts and hubs.

It has required the ability to mo-bilize operations quickly, adjust on the fly, and respond to any number of events that couldn’t have been pre-dicted. Barely a year after launching the company and signing the papers on new capital equipment, Kinner Manu-facturing confronted an epic economic recession, while still facing years of payments for initial startup costs.

With a limited budget, Ray and Max have been able to maximize their re-sources and establish an impressive operation. One of the critical stages in manufacturing impellers is heating the metal in an industrial oven. But, unable to afford the $10,000 price point, Max turned to Craigslist. There, he found a used pizza oven the seller was offering for $500; he paid less than half that.

For carbide boring bars, Ray found a steal on EBay. Max snared two air con-ditioning units from a paint contractor he met one weekend in San Francisco. They even bartered for the installation.

“If you have the energy and the de-sire and you have the tools and exper-tise, you can find solutions to a lot of problems,” said Max.

Kinner Manufacturing’s operations are fairly modest, consisting of two five-axis mills, and a balancer. The most aggressive initial investment, said Max, was to purchase a Concepts NREC suite (www.conceptsnrec.com). The software, he explained, al-lows them to produce complex blade geometry that otherwise wouldn’t be possible on their machines.

“For us, the software is the trick because it allows us to manipulate it and come up with amazing cutting strategies,” said Max. “But in the end, it’s still a matter of telling the software what to do. You still have to have high-quality tools and be able to know what you’re doing. That’s the only way you can compete with China.”

There have been some helpful breaks along the way. Kinner Manu-facturing was ready to sign a deal for a new piece of equipment last winter that at the last minute fell through. Had the purchase been completed, the company’s finances might have hit the breaking point over the last year.

Such a small operation, in such a specialized field, puts a great deal of emphasis on the skills and talents of its owners. Ray, who began working in his father’s machine shop at the age of 11, continually tries to refine the processes on his impellers. In a recent case, a 16–in. diameter impeller took 12 hours to machine. The challenge, he said, was cutting the 3.5-in. impel-lers, which are long and thin.

Using a combination of high-speed tools, tool holders, switching carbides, and taking various approaches with the geometries, Ray was able to reach a higher rate of material removal, with better chip control. Within two months, the process was down to two hours.

Unlike a more established shop, Kinner Manufacturing is still in the process of developing its customer base. It began offering to produce fin-ished castings, along with prototype work, and reverse engineered parts.

There are no plans for upgrades in new capital machinery for Kinner Manufacturing. Instead, Max said he would like to address the most glaring source of geographical inefficiency in blade manufacturing: spin pit testing.

A spin pit is a lead-enclosed facility in which an impeller is run at 115% of its maximum operating speed in order to test its integrity. Only one such fa-cility resides on the West Coast. Most of Kinner Manufacturing’s products are shipped cross-country to spin pits in either Massachusetts or Pennsylva-nia, at a premium cost, and delivery delay of at least three weeks.

“We see a need to establish a spin pit facility on the west coast,” said Max. “There aren’t many of them. I would guess there are less than a 1,000 in the world. The thing is they’re very expen-sive. And, the insurance is very high to have one. There’s a huge need and we think we can address it.” <<

Kinner Manufacturing recently cut the process time for a 16-in. diameter impeller from 12 hours to 2 hours.

K i r san Eng inee r i ng

Business is good at Kirsan Engineering, but it can always make room for more. The shop thrives on repeat contract work from

over 20 customers. However, just six or seven of those customers make up 90 percent of the shop’s business, and Kirsan Engineering likes it that way.

Jerry Ring, general manager at Kir-san, said that for his shop, he’d rather have a few top customers that he can focus his service on. That way, Kirsan builds relationships with its custom-

ers and can better service them. While business is holding steady, Kirsan is constantly in the process of developing new customers; its goal is to add three or four new ones per year.

Kirsan serves markets such as aerospace, mining, defense, and med-ical. Their sales have grown over 30 percent each year for the past seven years. The shop also serves custom-ers involved in wheel services, brake lathe, and wheel balancing com-ponents. Additionally, Kirsan has customers in the power-generation

18 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

When 'Less' Turns Out to Be 'More'PARTNERING WITH A FEW REALLY GOOD CUSTOMERS CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

By Charles Bates I senior editor

Besides its contract manufacturing operations, Kirsan Engineering is now marketing two products it developed for in-house use, a saw loading system and self-contained power workholding unit.

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 19

industry and in the production of pos-itive-displacement flow meters. It also manufactures components for its par-ent company Ocenco Inc., a producer of self-contained breathing apparatus.

Most of Kirsan’s customers submit blanket orders, followed by periodic releases of jobs. They are not really P.O.s, but rather more along the lines of long-term agreements.

Customers place release orders un-til a previously agreed upon quantity is filled. For a few of its customers, the shop provides consignment inventory/inventory management, delivering parts a few times per week or “vendor managed inventory.”

Job volumes for customers range from 100 to 250,000 parts per year, with the average single job running between 25 and 300 pieces. Kirsan’s main processes include mostly milling and multi-tasking turn-milling. Ring believes there are a few key factors that set his shop apart from the com-petition. These include developing/training its workforce, standardizing on one brand of machine tools, and proper tooling management.

In the past, Kirsan purchased ma-chines based on tool room work, and had a hodgepodge of different ma-chine types and brands on its shop floor. Now, the shop has standardized on Mazak machines.

“The benefit of staying with one tool manufacturer allows machinist’s to move from a lathe to a horizontal with less training. They are more com-fortable with the program codes, and the screen layout is very similar for the machines. The other benefit is ma-chine maintenance. Machine problems that might arise are more similar, and navigating them is easier. For instance, whether it’s a lathe, horizontal, or verti-cal, the machines have similar parts, drives and motors” explained Ring.

The shop’s current machines, as compared with its previous ones, help reduce part cost, which customers routinely demand. Newer high-effi-ciency horizontal machining centers and multi-tasking turning centers with part feeders make it possible to pro-cess parts differently than the shop had in the past. The new machines use automatic part loaders and are able to finish the parts in one operation.

Efficiency levels, once below 60 percent for the shop’s old vertical

machines, now run over 90 percent for its horizontal machining centers. These machines, said Ring, can always be running, and he indicated that the shop is slowly moving away from us-ing vertical machining centers. How-ever, the shop does keep some simple machines around because, Ring said, “The shop is not going to run simple less-complex parts on a quarter-mil-lion-dollar machine. That would put a higher burden and rate on a lower-dollar part. Simple parts call for sim-ple machines, and if volumes are high enough, they justify keeping some ba-sic machines around.”

Kirsan employs 51 people, and at one point, operated 24/7, which was tough to do on weekends. By cultivat-

ing its machinists with in-house soft-ware training and off-site training of-fered by machine tool suppliers, Kirsan has greatly improved its capabilities. Machinists are supplied with laptops for training at home, and the shop pays for completed training courses.

The philosophy is that the more high-level machinists a shop has, the less overall labor is needed. In addi-tion, Ring said the higher-level ma-chinists seem to be more reliable be-cause they “invest in” the company and become better team players, ver-sus just being an “employee.”

Technically, Kirsan still operates 24/7, but on weekends, employees scheduled to work have the luxury of coming in as needed to make sure machines are loaded with raw material and remain running. Thus, the shop gains an en-tire weekend worth of production with minimal labor cost without having a

fully manned weekend shift.“Weekends used to require a full

shift’s worth of employees. Now one person can keep many machines going without spending the whole day at the shop,” said Ring. “Of course you have to have machines with the capabilities to run unattended for this to work.”

Kirsan organizes its machines into cells, and each one has an assigned co-ordinator on first shift. On second and third shifts, one coordinator oversees all the cells. This is because first shift is for setting up machines, processing proto-type parts and one-off jobs, while the off shifts involve basically tending machines that are already set up and running.

Kirsan has also greatly reduced its tooling cost to about 2 percent of shop sales by working more closely with tooling suppliers and implementing a full time tooling person.

Along with standardizing with one tooling supplier, the shop established an internal inventory system that links to the tooling supplier. They also in-corporated a vending-machine system that keeps all tooling in one central-ized place, not scattered around in in-dividual tool boxes.

In addition to contract manufactur-ing, Kirsan offers customers full-time engineering services and strives to team up and partner with customers. Its en-gineering capabilities have also paid off in terms of product development.

When business slowed a bit in 2009, Kirsan marketed two products which it designed for its own use. One is a bar-loading system for band saws, the other a self-contained power unit for workholding applications.

The bar loading system eliminates the need to move and load bar stock, bundles of stock or tubing using a jib or gantry crane. Instead shops can use a forklift to load sawing material. By using the loader, one operator easily keeps two saws fed with stock and has time to also balance parts and load/un-load deburring machines at Kirsan.

Kirsan’s self-contained power unit (SCPU) is a hydraulically powered fix-turing system, but it has no external hydraulic reservoir, pump or hoses. Instead, a shop’s CNC machine tool’s spindle itself activates the system using a special tool, with no modifications necessary to the machine. This also re-duces labor requirements and can eas-ily allow robotic implementation. <<

KVK P rec i s i on Spec i a l t i es I nc .

The KVK Precision Special-ties Inc. (www.kvkpreci-sion.com) operations in Shenandoah, Virginia are impressive. The company

is comprised of four facilities at the Shenandoah campus and another shop remote from this site for a total of 270,000 sq ft of manufacturing space. Within these shops are over 80 preci-sion CNC machining centers, including EDM, a Toyoda FMS System with 48 800-mm pallets to serve four FA 800 machining centers, a complete Trumph FMS laser and punch cell, and an auto-

mated powder-coating line.KVK has 72 employees who work

four 10-hour shifts per week. Revenue in 2008 was $22 million. Although business is off somewhat due to the current economic down-turn, the last three years have been the best ever for KVK.

The company’s growth is the result of President Jeff Vaughan’s background, training, approach to business and his sense of duty and responsibility. Vaughan grew up in the Shenandoah Valley. He was al-ways interested in making things, so

10-year old Vaughan started hanging out after school at the facilities of a gentleman who ran a woodwork-ing shop and a metalworking shop. However, to avoid the woodworking dust, he shifted his interest to metal-working, which he found to be much more to his liking. By the time he was 13, his fascination with machines led the budding machinist from sweeping floors to running a cut-off saw, then to a lathe and, finally, a vertical mill.

During his high-school years, Vaughan worked summers in the Shenandoah shop beside three

20 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

A Man Who Loves to Make Things WITH ENERGY, TECHNICAL SKILL, FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND A DEDICATION TO DEVELOPING AN OUTSTANDING WORKFORCE, JEFF VAUGHAN HAS BUILT AN IMPRESSIVE MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISE.

By Jim Benes I associate editor

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 21

German toolmakers. He became fas-cinated with the tool-making craft and during high school prepared himself for a career as a toolmaker. After earning an associate’s degree in mechanical engineering at night at a local community college, Vaughan left the Shenandoah machine shop and joined a much larger manufacturer that offered him an apprenticeship, leading to a toolmaker’s certification. There, he gained valuable experience with a variety of large, sophisticated production equipment.

By the time the impatient and ener-getic Vaughan was 20 he had worked at two fairly large manufacturing plants. However, he grew disillusioned with his slow financial progress, and the poor work ethic that prevailed there as a consequence of a promotion policy based on seniority rather than skill and ability. He decided he could do much better operating his own job shop. When he built a home for his wife and new child, the first floor would be a machine shop.

Vaughan risked everything he owned to borrow $25,000 to pur-chase a cut-off saw, a vertical mill and a lathe to start his machine shop. He knocked on doors in the Shenandoah Valley and generated work from several food-service operations in the area, and the companies where he had worked previously.

The shop prospered and soon Vaughan became overloaded with work. In 1977, after three years of operating the shop himself, he part-nered with two toolmakers he had previously supervised to form KVK Precision Specialties Inc. Their asso-ciation lasted a year-and-a-half before Vaughan bought out his partners.

He developed an ambitious five-year business plan and moved the op-eration to a building in Shenandoah he had converted to a machine shop. As KVK progressed it outgrew its fa-cility, so Vaughan acquired the seven-acre parcel that is the company’s cur-rent location.

After 18 months KVK’s new 30,000-sq ft building was expanded with a 3,000-sq ft steel bay. Before long the growing company acquired a 12,000-sq ft building across the street from the original plant, which has been expanded three times to its pres-ent 43,000-sq ft size.

All of this capacity was dedicated to machining, but in 1996 Vaughan also had a need for fabrication capabilities to meet expanding customer needs.

Earlier this year, Vaughan acquired a 20,000-sq ft carbide grinding shop — Objective Industries — about an hour from Shenandoah. “The ex-tremely precise work this facility does is mostly for the medical and aero-space industries,” Vaughan said. “The workforce at this shop is highly spe-cialized, and my role is to energize the operation and grow the business. My daughter, who recently joined KVK, is being groomed to manage this shop.”

Initially KVK manufactured rather

small components that did not entail particularly tight tolerances. But as the company grew, Vaughan focused on small runs of larger, higher preci-sion parts. The usual job quantity at KVK is 25 parts. This means, of course, that the machine tools he needs for such work are very expensive. “We have never cut cor-ners when it came to buying the best machine tools, tooling and gauging equipment,” he said.

Although most of the work at the company involves the manufacture of components and subassemblies, KVK produces a complete brake system for a major manufacturer that it ships directly to end users.

Vaughan recognizes that the core competency of many of his large cus-tomers is not manufacturing, but rather product design and marketing. With its wide range of capabilities, these customers look to KVK to provide the manufacturing focus that they lack.

According to Vaughan, one of the problems in dealing with large

customers is the high turnover rate among purchasing personnel. The re-sult is a lack of understanding about the skill and technology it takes to produce precision parts. His response is to encourage them to visit KVK, where they can learn about preci-sion manufacturing first-hand. “I’m up-front with my customers and prospects and tell them my target is to realize a 15-percent profit on their job,” Vaughan said. “Some think this is too high, but those who have an appreciation of KVK’s capabilities are comfortable with this target. Commu-nicating my profit goal helps to iden-tify who I should be doing business with, and who I should forget about.”

Vaughan has partnered with many of his customers via three- to five-year contracts that guarantee quality, delivery and labor costs during that period. The only variable is material costs. This approach has been success-ful because as KVK gains experience with a job it becomes more efficient and effective, cycle times are reduced and throughput increases.

Vaughan says an important asset is the knowledge that cutting tool manufacturers possess and are anxious to share with companies like KVK. Over the years the company has been particularly close to Mori Seiki and its technology developments. KVK has partnered with J&H Machine Tools Inc., headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina and the Southeast’s largest machine-tool distributor, to ap-ply Mori Seiki technology to manufac-turing opportunities at the company.

Vaughan has three business priori-ties: first, to ensure that his employees are up-to-date and trained in the lat-est manufacturing technology that is appropriate for the shop; second, to keep current in payments for machine tools; and third, to pay the utilities required for his operations.

“I am dedicated to providing my staff with better apprentice training than I had,” Vaughan said. “This is why I concentrate on training and exposure to the latest equipment and technologies.” Vaughan started attend-ing the International Manufacturing Technology Show in 1976, and has attended every IMTS since then. He now takes 10 to 20 of his staff to each show to expose them to the broad range of technologies exhibited. <<

M&S P rec i s i on Mach in i ng , I n c .

Even if you’ve never been to Greensburg, Indiana, ev-erything there would seem familiar. It’s a Midwestern town with plenty of solid

old commercial building, handsome Victorian and Craftsman homes, sev-eral churches, and a square anchored by a 19th Century courthouse.

But, even if it’s familiar every town is different. One of Greensburg’s quirks is a tree growing through the court-house roof, as apparently it has done for many decades. There isn’t much evidence of the global recession in Greensburg, and the sky-high tree is a fitting image for growth, or durability, or vitality — all of which apply also to M&S Precision Machining, Inc.

You might also think you’re familiar with M&S Precision Machining, but a closer look at its production processes and its personnel also reveals why it’s among AM’s Best Shops for 2009.

The shop was established just 15 years ago, in a garage according to John Semyen, whose title is Vice President for Advanced Planning and Business De-velopment. His role, however, is more specific: Semyen provides the insight and oversight that has M&S Precision growing through the downturn.

“We never stop looking for new business,” Semyen explains, and as a consequence it is machining products for a wide range of markets: automo-tive, defense, plumbing fixtures, as well as finishing services for foundries and forgers.

In 2001 M&S moved from its first site to a 5,000-sq ft location, where it continued to machine premium-quality brass and aluminum fixtures for Delta Faucet, a mainstay cus-tomer. That site was expanded later to 11,500 sq ft, but the need for more

workspace remained. In April 2007, the shop purchased and moved into its current facility. It has 75,000 sq ft of manufacturing space, plus 7.5 acres of adjacent open space that Semyen

points to for expansion.The move was keyed by M&S Preci-

sion’s decision to diversify its customer base. That began after new investors purchased the company in 2005, with

22 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

Expanding Understanding ONE SHOP IS GROWING ITS WAY THROUGH THE RECESSION BY MANAGING ITS DATA, ITS CAPABILITIES, AND ITS PROGRESS THOROUGHLY — AND EFFECTIVELY.

By Robert Brooks I editor

A wide portfolio of turning and machining centers fill the 75,000-sq ft machine shop, allowing M&S Precision to supply a range of customers thanks to comprehensive data management.

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 23

John Semyen arriving in 2006.The expansive plant appears to be a

wide open space, but it houses numer-ous bar turning centers and a variety of horizontal and vertical machining cen-ters in 2-, 4-, 5-, 6-, and 8-axis configu-rations, from a checklist of major sup-pliers. Positing that he believes there’s no longer any such thing as a “bad CNC machine,” Semyen states with conviction that he prefers not to “lock in” to a single equipment source. “I buy the equipment that suits the job.”

In addition to the turning and ma-chining functions, the processes at M&S demand several bar feeders, automatic cut-off saws, inline parts washers, and even two six-axis robots for some of the work cells.

Establishing the production cells was a critical factor in the decision to relocate. The cells magnify the po-tential for productivity. “I have one operator that runs four machines, and each machine is running a different product,” the v.p. explained. “The bot-tom line to the buyer is cost.”

Call it “cost” or “productivity,” but by either label M&S Precision is in-creasing its performance standard and gaining the attention of manufacturers.

One is ThyssenKrupp Bilstein, a global manufacturer of automotive shock absorbers, for which M&S ma-chines seal packs. This line of business warrants more than a work cell: the shop has set up a separate, climate-controlled production center with four CNC lathes. It’s a commitment that won the business away from a German machine shop that had been producing the seal packs on single in-dexing machine for several decades.

Launched at M&S last December, the Bilstein line produced 1.2 million parts through its first eight months. “When I was discussing it with the customer, he told me: ‘John, they’re producing one (seal pack) every 12 seconds; you’re run-ning them on four machines and you’re producing one every 60 seconds. ’

“I said: ‘No, We’re producing one every 15 seconds, because we’re run-ning four machines.’ They were using a $1.5-million indexer to produce one (seal pack) every 12 seconds; our four machines cost $500,000.”

In addition, the distinct machining centers allow M&S to produce four different styles of the product, and at about one-third of the investment cost.

The successful start of the Thyssen-Krupp Bilstein line may allow M&S to build its presence in the automotive market. Semyen describes how a recog-nizable list of OEMs and Tier One au-tomotive firms have audited the shop in recent months, because the weak economy has forced them to locate new suppliers. “They’ve all been knocking on our door now because we’re stable, we’re economically viable, and we have the room to expand,” he explained.

Nor do such audits present much concern. M&S Precision is rich in pro-duction and performance data, and can document its capabilities to within one hour in some instances.

There are three primary databases, one for gauging capabilities, another for tracking production, and one more for scrap volumes. “I can segregate (data) by part number or by machine, and identify what the issues are, and then we have the data available by product,

as well,” according to Semyen. Further, the information allows

M&S to maintain a thorough quality-control program. A Six Sigma black belt, Semyen began implementing that approach once he arrived in 2006. “We started to incorporate some of the standard techniques, like the ‘5 Whys,’ gathering data, and avoiding what I like to call ‘calibrating gut feeling’.”

That’s his description of the guess-ing game that starts once a problem emerges and no one can identify its particular cause. “We’ve been gath-ering significant amounts of data on all our various products and all our equipment to see how our equipment is, identifying where the issues are within our equipment, and in some cases moving specific products off that

equipment to other equipment,” he re-ported. The shop relies heavily on SPC systems to measure capabilities as well as to interpret output data.

In the works is a plan to fit every CNC with a computer and dual-screen display to show the work or-der, production report, and SPC data in real time. The data will be drawn directly from the CNCs’ gauges and will track performance automatically. Such a system is already in place for the Bilstein production area.

This will have obvious benefits to customer service, as it will allow M&S to report progress on orders, to incorpo-rate changes more effectively, or even to convey cost-saving opportunities to the customer — a notion Semyen does not dismiss. “A lot of companies may im-prove their process, and bank the ben-efits, and while there’s nothing wrong with that we will improve the process and bank part of the benefits, and pass some savings on to our customer.”

The benefit to M&S Precision is in the clear understanding it gains of its capabilities. An ongoing application of that understanding is seen in the shop’s progress at machining low-lead brass (C2745) plumbing fixtures, in tune to emerging safety standards in California and Vermont (and perhaps eventually nationwide.)

The high-end plumbing fixtures machined from brass rod continue to be a core line of business for M&S. As that market shifts toward new mate-rial standards, the shop aggressively developed the capability to machine the low-lead product.

Working with the new grade of brass, they ran tests for various products, ad-justing and adapting the tooling, differ-ent coatings and geometries on the tool-ing, feeds and speeds. It matters, because C2745 is much harder than brass.

“We’ve spent probably 12 months do-ing just R&D work, at our own expense,” Semyen recalled. But, he added that when the orders began to arrive “we did our first low-lead brass part from launch to PPAP within three weeks.”

Undoubtedly there is more growth ahead for M&S Precision. It’s growth that will be measurable not only in fa-miliar ways, like the expansion of the workspace or the rise in sales volumes. Rather, its growth will be demonstrated by the way the shop understands and maximizes its capabilities. <<

• MiniMachine, Inc. Bend, Ore. www.minimachine.com

• Number of employees — 10

• 2009 sales — N/A 2008 sales — $1.3 million

• Markets served: Medical, government, communications, military

Min iMach ine I nc .

Like so many frustrated dream-ers, Mike Rosenboom would come home at night and vent to his girlfriend about work. As a contract machinist,

Rosenboom savored his freedom and flexibility, but had little say about how operations were run. One night, his girl-friend stunned him with a suggestion: why not start a shop of their own?

The risk was daunting at the time. Nancy, whom he later married, had only $3,000 worth of savings to in-vest. They purchased a cutter and grinding machine that Rosenboom

later determined would be utterly use-less for their plans.

Through skill, shrewdness and re-silience, the fledgling shop, which the Rosenbooms called MiniMachine, Inc., grew incrementally each year. To-day, it employees 10 full-time workers and specializes in miniature precision components for the medical field.

Nearly 60% of MiniMachine’s busi-ness comes from producing cardiac catheter intervention devices, critical mechanisms in many heart surgeries. But, the shop has evolved into a preci-sion products supplier for parts with

24 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

Taking Measured Risks, One Step at a Time AFTER ESTABLISHING A STRONG PRESENCE IN THE MEDICAL FIELD, MICRO COMPONENTS SHOP VAULTS INTO NEW MARKETS.

By Peter Alpern I associate editor

• MiniMachine, Inc. Bend, Ore. www.minimachine.com

• Number of employees — 10

• 2009 sales — N/A 2008 sales — $1.3 million

• Markets served: Medical, government, communications, military

Min iMach ine I nc .

Like so many frustrated dream-ers, Mike Rosenboom would come home at night and vent to his girlfriend about work. As a contract machinist,

Rosenboom savored his freedom and flexibility, but had little say about how operations were run. One night, his girl-friend stunned him with a suggestion: why not start a shop of their own?

The risk was daunting at the time. Nancy, whom he later married, had only $3,000 worth of savings to in-vest. They purchased a cutter and grinding machine that Rosenboom

later determined would be utterly use-less for their plans.

Through skill, shrewdness and re-silience, the fledgling shop, which the Rosenbooms called MiniMachine, Inc., grew incrementally each year. To-day, it employees 10 full-time workers and specializes in miniature precision components for the medical field.

Nearly 60% of MiniMachine’s busi-ness comes from producing cardiac catheter intervention devices, critical mechanisms in many heart surgeries. But, the shop has evolved into a preci-sion products supplier for parts with

24 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

Taking Measured Risks, One Step at a Time AFTER ESTABLISHING A STRONG PRESENCE IN THE MEDICAL FIELD, MICRO COMPONENTS SHOP VAULTS INTO NEW MARKETS.

By Peter Alpern I associate editor

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 25

holes anywhere from 0.005 to 0.035 in. in diameter — or roughly as thick as a human hair.

Much of the work they do has to be viewed under a microscope. Many of the holes are only slightly larger than a flea. For this reason, MiniMa-chine has made a natural transition into providing parts for telecommu-nications systems as well as products for the defense industry. Over the next year, MiniMachine expects to receive Qualified Supplier List Manufacturer (QSLM) certification.

“We’ve always had a really strong quality system for our medical de-vices,” says Rosenboom. “Most of the things we need are already in place. All we need to do is tweak our quality system, so there’s ultimate traceability for each and every component.”

MiniMachine has a fleet of equip-ment specializing in high-production machining, including nine screw ma-chines, each fitted with robotic load-ers that allow for 24/7 production on long-running projects.

Rosenboom estimates that the com-pany is still making payments on seven of those machines and they have no current plans for further capital equip-ment investment. However, through-out its history MiniMachine has been proactive in purchasing when a cus-tomer’s needs require it.

One of the more distinctive quali-ties about MiniMachine is its system for measuring production efficiency. In short, there are no metrics followed. Rather, the shop follows a series of distinct processes and philosophies.

Last year, MiniMachine did a gap analysis on production efficiency and found long setup times, late arrival of raw materials, lack of proper tooling and disorganized workstations, all of which combined to hinder its output efficiency.

The shop established a more struc-tured form of order processing, more involved production planning that accounts for risk assessment, rigor-ous programming and job planning, greater structure to setup and valida-tion among machinists, and finally production runs which see WIP in-spections done on the fly.

“MiniMachine is a job shop, but we do large batches,” says Dan Beougher, a quality assurance manager. “That forces us to act much like a manufac-turing organization.”

For this reason, the company set up a “radar chart” to measure its produc-tion efficiency. Shaped similar to a spi-der’s web, the chart breaks down eight categories (work order management; 5-S; QMS structure; dock arrival date to measure on-time delivery; safety; Kanban efficiency; first pass yield; and open CARS) with levels of success ranging between zero and 10.

Though firmly committed to running a tight business, Rosenboom savors the opportunity to take on challenging jobs — opportunities, he says, other shops don’t want to take. As an example, he cites a recent customer who requested titanium bone screws that would be used in orthopedic surgeries.

Upon examining the specs of what customer wanted, Rosenboom noticed it strongly resembled a standard wood

screw — albeit a high-precision one — with a fancy driving head. Machining them would require MiniMachine to use thread whirling, a process it had never used before. The company spent $10,000 for a whirling head, plus an additional $3,000 for the cutter.

The venture contained a certain degree of financial risk, but also in process terms. Machinists needed to learn a sophisticated way of machin-ing new products. But according to Rosenboom, running a successful shop means occasionally taking on calculated risks and embracing them.

“One of the problems that I see with [other shops] is their intrinsic unwilling-ness to take risks with customers,” says Rosenboom. “I think the ability of ma-chine shops to ‘push the envelope’ with technology, and come up with answers to difficult questions, is a big force in in-novation. If we don’t take risks to make our customers more competitive, they get hurt – and we get hurt.”

Taking on new applications requires a willingness to venture into the un-known. In MiniMachine’s case, it shows a shop — even one that produces tiny pieces — can take giant steps. <<

Nearly 60 percent of MiniMachine's business involves producing cardiac catheter intervention components. General Manager Mike Rosenboom and CEO Nancy Rosenboom have overseen the shop's transition into new industrial markets, such as telecommunications.

Prec i s i on Ae rospace Co rp .

Precision Aerospace Corp. is on a vertical flight plan to success. Through vertical integration, the 100-per-cent aerospace and defense

Tier Two shop continues to diversify and expand process capabilities to serve its customers better.

As a result of its vertical diversi-fication, the shop’s capabilities run the full manufacturing gamut, offer-ing everything from five-axis, EDM and Swiss style screw machining, to stamping, metal joining, assembly,

Continually increasing its capital in-

“Getting into 5-axis technology, for

26 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

Shop Goes Vertical and Soars AheadCONSTANTLY EXPANDING ITS CAPABILITIES MEETS CHANGING CUSTOMER DEMANDS.

By Charles Bates I senior editor

A typical cell at Precision Aerospace includes different types of machines and both high-end and standard machine models.

testing, and kitting. And for many of these capabilities, the shop is accredited by the National Aerospace and Defense Accreditation Program (NADCAP).

vestment in cutting-edge technology is a significant aspect of the Precision Aerospace strategy. New equipment purchases are based on in-coming work loads, but also on how the technology can streamline production operations.

example, has allowed us to reduce part cycle times, increase throughput, and

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 27

boost quality for both new and exist-ing jobs,” said Bill Hoyer, president of Precision Aerospace. “Conversely, we incorporated processes such as laser part marking, non-destructive testing, pressure testing and electromechanical assembly — not for any specific job, but to simply broaden our capabilities and expand what we can offer customers.”

The shop’s job contracts are long-term, usually up to 60 months, and often of the “blue sky” type. As long as the customer is satisfied, the skies are blue, and the shop keeps getting the job renewed.

Job releases occur at about 30 pieces per month, some as much as 2,000 per month or as few as two or three per month. Most parts are made from aluminum, stainless and exotic metals such as titanium, Inconel, and Waspal-loy. And, since most jobs involve fami-lies of parts, Precision Aerospace relies heavily on single-piece flow manufac-turing through machining cells that support entire part families.

Several different types of machines, both high-end and standard models, make up a cell at Precision Aerospace. Some parts may require a five-machine cell, while others only a two-machine cell. And because most of the jobs are long-running, cells don’t change much.

To support its cells, the shop has strategically located what it refers to as “standalone service centers.” These centers perform operations that are not conducive to a cellular environ-ment, such as lapping, deburring,

EDM and welding.Hoyer said that it takes an array

of different machines to handle the shop’s different jobs and materials. Its shop floor houses vertical machines from Haas, horizontals from Kita-mura, 5-axis machines from DMG, and turning machines from Hardinge, just to name a few.

“Our philosophy is that we need a cadre of high-end machines to satisfy the high-end work we do. But conversely, we want to run our less complex parts on less complex machines,” he said.

Most parts at Precision Aerospace fall into the 12-in.-cube range, but some may measure up into the 32-in.-cube range. The shop machines its parts from castings or raw billets, though it much prefers to work from billets.

“I am huge proponent of convinc-ing customers to go the billet route if possible,” said Hoyer. “Billets elimi-nate me having to deal with a castings supplier, latent defects not found until after a part has been machined, and with a bunch of inventory. Billets help reduce part prices, and I pass the sav-ings on to customers, especially in the case of aluminum billets. And, if a part feature needs to change, a whole new casting doesn’t have to be produced.”

The shop runs parts one of two ways, through cellular manufacturing or through what it refers to as the or-phanage, which are cells for “orphan” jobs. Those are products/parts that don’t run on a regular basis.

For increased capacity, Precision

Aerospace often machines jobs using more than one cell. The parts may not really match up with the cell, but the shop will, for instance, load the cell and run the roughing operations for all the parts overnight and unattended. Then, in the morning, the finishing work will be completed.

Certain jobs are dedicated to certain cells, but in between these jobs, the shop runs part operations that wouldn’t ordi-narily be assigned to that particular cell. After the lights-out operations are com-pleted, the part returns to its dedicated cell for the rest of its processing.

In any given month, as many as 1,800 different jobs can move through Preci-sion Aerospace. To schedule and manage part flow, the shop relies on a JobBoss ERP system. Internal metrics such as defect levels (PPMs), part quality, safety efficiencies and indirect charge time are tracked also. Department leaders oversee scheduling of multiple cells and are there to solve any problems that may arise.

Quality control is mandatory at Precision Aerospace: the shop has nine CMMs and conducts a lot of in-process inspection. Machinists check parts during manufacturing accord-ing to a sampling plan, and some or-ders are 100-percent inspected. The shop also has a Level 3 non-destruc-tive tester on staff.

To keep up with the latest manufac-turing and machining techniques, the shop sends machinists and engineers out for training, usually at an equip-ment supplier’s facility. According to Hoyer, in the past three business quar-ters, the shop has conducted 47 train-ing events, some entailing leadership skills and cross training.

Machinists at Precision Aerospace set up and run the shop’s machining cells. There are three levels of machin-ists based on skills. The highest level, level three, involves more set-up skills than levels one and two.

Level two machinists can do some set-up, while those in level one basi-cally run production and work on first shift because there is more support for them. Level three machinists, on the other hand, can be used on the weekends because they are more self-sufficient. Fortunately, level one and level two machinists can improve their skills through training and advance to level three standing. <<

”Orphan” jobs, those that don’t run on a regular basis, are machined in “orphan” cells at Precision Aerospace.

Thaye r Manufac tu r i ng

Each and every month, sev-eral thousand business cards flow out of Thayer Manufac tu r ing . They aren’t printed on fine stock

paper with special fonts. Instead, they are precision metal pieces that might go into a medical device or aircraft seat. Each piece, said Kelley Pate, gen-eral manager at Thayer, is a reflection of his shop’s skill and quality.

Pate picks up a finished piece, ad-mires it, and said, “I tell our guys, ‘If you had the last $100 in your pocket, would you spend it on this part?’”

Taking a sense of personal pride in every job has come to define Pate’s philosophy for Thayer Manufacturing, ever since 1988 when Pate and his wife, Melissa, launched the company in their garage, with a manual mill and lathe.

Today, Thayer Manufacturing resides in a 6,000-sq.-ft. facility that houses 10 machines and nine employees. The shop produces an average of 2,500 parts cov-ering 60 part numbers each month for various Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers that touch into the aerospace, military and medical markets, with light work in au-tomotive. That diversity isn’t by acci-

28 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

Shop Bears Signature on Every PieceFOSTERING A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP WITH CUSTOMERS BRINGS NEW BUSINESS, EVEN IN A DOWN ECONOMY.

By Peter Alpern I associate editor

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 29

dent. Pate has made it a point to have a hand in multiple markets, with no single customer accounting for greater than 45 percent of his capacity.

Though Thayer Manufacturing thrives on repeat work, it’s been highly successful at luring new business, even during an unusually tough economy. Pate credits their emphasis on value-added services for this achievement.

As an example, he cites engineer-ing work done for a recent customer. Thayer Manufacturing had been producing the head and body for a medical device called a laryngoscope, which is a lighted tube doctors use to see the interior of a patient’s larynx. A customer explained that one of the most common problems doctors run into with laryngoscopes is accidentally loosening the head while maneuvering the device into a patient’s throat.

Thayer Manufacturing offered to en-gineer for the customer, free of charge, a thread that turned to the left — in the opposite direction — which would make it less likely to loosen during a procedure. More importantly, Pate’s shop refined its manufacturing process to reduce a seven-step operation down to one, with a live tooling lathe.

“Non-cost engineering helps us to

build a better relationship with the customer because they know they can trust us, and that we’re looking out for their well being,” said Pate. “Even if the customer is on the other side of the country, I think it’s important to take a trip out there and sit down with him, talk, and let him know that we’re there for them. It provides something that phone calls and email cannot.”

Opportunity doesn’t always pres-ent itself in obvious ways, said Pate. One of Thayer Manufacturing’s best accounts emerged as a result of a com-plete stranger dropping by the shop on a whim and asking if Pate could weld a new sprocket and shaft. Impressed by

the work, the man introduced himself and mentioned he worked for a main-tenance company for a medical outfit. He returned several weeks later with more work. Fast-forward eight years, and Thayer Manufacturing has nur-tured that account into a $550,000-per-year customer.

“We’re getting a lot of people that walk in because, say, they have a busted part on their tractor,” said Pate. “Eco-nomic times are hard, so there comes a point in time where it’s cheaper to have a machine shop make the part, rather than buy a new machine. So we’ve been doing a lot of reverse engi-neering and remanufacturing.”

Recently, Thayer Manufacturing had to remanufacture a pump shaft for an antiquated Domino’s Pizza tray washer that dated back to the 1960s. With no blueprints available, Pate said they had to study the components and reverse engineer a new set of parts. Now, Domino’s now wants Thayer Manufacturing to engineer a new se-ries of tray washers.

“This is walk-in stuff,” said Pate. “He was a guy who looked us up in the phone book and, believe it or not, was referred to us by another shop that doesn’t accept walk-ins. You never know where your next bite of food’s going to come from.”

These are sobering times, with talk of a jobless recovery and a U.S. econ-omy still recovering from last year’s shock. At one point Thayer Manufac-turing had to reduce some employees to part-time service and bring them in only when there was work to be done. The shop even cut back to four-day weeks earlier this year. Many shops, Pate said, are desperate for work of any kind, but he warns of the danger of losing money on any job.

“A shop can’t cut its own throat just to get a job,” said Pate. “The philosophy of, ‘Well, at least I’ve got my machines running,’ doesn’t work if you’re in a negative cash flow. You have to be thin on the profits when the times are tough and never lose money on a job. You have to take care of your business.” <<

Above: The threads of an aerospace shoulder screw are measured. Left: Kelley and Melissa Pate have run Thayer Manufacturing since 1988, producing on average 2,500 parts per month.

Va l l ey Too l I n c .

Cayce Washington ada-mantly believes he is living the “American dream.” He comes from a modest back-ground: After working in

a local grocery store for several years, Washington took a job in a machine shop at age 21 and loved the work. At age 24, he advanced into the shop foreman position, and one year later, in 1997, through owner financing, pur-chased the company where he worked.

Now the shop is known as Valley Tool Inc., with Washington serving as president and a working owner. To his surprise, the “new” shop began turning a profit as soon as its first three months of operation, and has been doing so ever since – growing from a six-man opera-

tion to its current fifty-plus employees.Valley Tool manufactures custom

tooling (repair and part replacement), custom fixturing (both for gauging and workholding) and custom gauges for general manufacturing, dies and form tools. Its major markets include aero-space, medical, oil and gas, firearms, au-tomotive, commercial heating and cool-ing and heavy equipment. Work/jobs, percentage wise, are distributed evenly among these various markets, and being that diversified has helped sustain the shop through tough economic times.

According to Washington, the shop’s philosophy is to use everything, both equipment and employees, to its max-imum potential and to “take care of what takes care of you.” With that said,

30 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

An American Dream ShopHIGHLY SKILLED EMPLOYEES AND AN OVERALL "GO-GETTER" ATTITUDE LEAD TO SUCCESS.

By Charles Bates I senior editor

Valley Tool makes sure its manufacturing areas provide all necessary job supplies for lean efficient operations.

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 31

the first thing he did was re-organize the shop so that employees weren’t constantly searching for the supplies and tooling they need for their work.

“What we tried to do was give ev-eryone the tools they needed, basically by establishing a toolcrib and tool cab-inets strategically located near work areas. At the time, we called what we did ‘structural organization’ and didn’t realize we were actually incorporating lean,” explained Washington.

To get the full potential out of its equipment, Valley Tool relies on a rigorous maintenance schedule, and it tries not to “beat up” its machine tools. For example, a machine’s man-ufacturer’s suggested maximum cut depth may be 0.250 in., but the shop will stay below that amount.

Washington said that doing so may add a little production time to each part, but it saves the machine in the long run. He acknowledged that pushing a ma-chine may make money, but inevitably the extra revenue has to be invested into replacing worn out equipment.

How the shop stays competitive while still preserving its equipment in-tegrity is by investing in new technol-ogy. Most of its production equipment is less than five years old, and Wash-ington strongly believes in re-investing in the company. He added that newer technology provides reliability and more-consistent repeatability.

Job volumes are relatively small at Valley Tool, where a 200-piece order is considered “large.” Average job sizes are between two and five parts, but in most cases, these parts are extremely high-precision products.

When jobs come in, the customer is usually in an emergency situation and needs the part right away. Because of this, job setups must be fast and ef-ficient, and quite often Valley Tool will make extra parts for inventory when it knows an order will eventually repeat.

Further minimizing set-up time and adding to efficiency, 90 percent of Val-ley Tool’s machinists have extensive manual machine experience, so they are quite familiar with machine set-up. They also do their own program-ming and run the jobs.

“In a production environment, one guy doing nothing but programming may be the way to go. But in our envi-ronment, where quality is mandatory, we would run that one guy crazy,”

commented Washington. “Plus, the way we operate eliminates any finger pointing between a main programmer and the machine set-up person.”

Getting machinists to this level takes a lot of in-house training and sending people to school, according to Wash-ington. And, he added that it requires highly intelligent people to start with. The shop hires all types of workers, but usually they can determine within a short time which ones will or will not be able to handle the assignments.

“We need machinists who can go from one type of machine to the next and understand the programming parameters of each machine. So we also do a great deal of cross-training,” Washington said.

Jobs flow through Valley Tool smoothly thanks to a shop foreman. This person oversees jobs, directs workflow, makes sure jobs stay on schedule, and answers any questions concerning a particular job. He also determines which of the shop’s lead men are assigned which jobs. For ex-ample, if 90 percent of a part’s features involve turning, the shop foreman is-sues the job to a lead man who is more oriented toward turning work.

The shop foreman also prepares quotes for new orders, and acts as an in-house liaison between the customer and the shop. He will then consult with production point men located throughout the shop to determine job schedules. Basically, the shop has a point man for each of its types of manufacturing/machining operations.

However, both point men and the shop foreman are active on the shop floor with production activities.

In-process quality control is a must at Valley Tool. Each machinist at each process area/department is responsi-ble for ensuring that the operation he performed on a part is correct accord-ing to the part print. Then, he must sign off to that fact before the part can move on to the next operation.

When a part is completed, a qual-ity manager audits and documents all critical dimensions and how they were measured. As a result of its quality-control process, Valley Tool’s scrap rate is less than 1 percent, and the tar-get is zero percent.

According to Washington, what sets Valley Tool apart from its compe-tition, in addition to its highly skilled and motivated employees, is the shop’s rural location, which translates to very little turnover in personnel. He pointed out that having perhaps four or five shops within a 20-mile radius is quite unlike a shop in a metropolitan area where machinists can quit and start again at a nearby shop.

“It’s good to be in the country,” said Washington. “Our rural setting and work atmosphere contribute to a continuity between a core group of people. We treat them right, pay a fair wage, and respond to their needs. They, in turn, are expected to be here every day, on time, and to do their jobs. But, most importantly, we do put families first, and our employees don’t take advantage of that. <<

A highly skilled and motivated workforce sets Valley Tool apart from its competition.

32 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

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Modeling + CAM for Faster Automated Toolpaths

Mastercam® for SolidWorks® com-bines the world’s leading modeling software with the world’s most wide-ly-used CAM software. Now you can program parts directly in SolidWorks, using toolpaths and machining strat-egies preferred the most by shops around the world.Mastercam for SolidWorks includes a suite of the most sought-after cutting strategies, including High Speed Ma-chining (HSM) toolpaths. In addition, Mastercam for SolidWorks delivers a powerful set of automated toolpaths that get parts off the machine faster, with little or no handwork.

E D I T E D B Y C H A R L E S B AT E S I S E N I O R E D I T O R

M A C H I N E T O O L S

Healthcare dominates the market for silicone

materials from Shin-Etsu Silicones of America Inc. (www.shinetsusilicones.com)), a U.S. subsidiary of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd. in Japan. The material’s innate physical properties make it ideal for modern medical product applications, and Eric Bishop, North American

marketing manager, expounded on those properties at a Liquid Silicone Injection Molding Symposium.

When asked “why silicone,” Bishop answered that the material displays broad thermal stability from – 65 degrees F. to 500 degrees F. with additives. He also mentioned that it is electrically and thermally nonconductive,

A Perfect Medical Material

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 33

The healthcare industry has proven to be a shot in the arm for silicone injection-molded parts.

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M A C H I N E T O O L S

34 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

naturally elastomeric, and offers a wide range of hardnesses.

Because silicone is chemically inert, it doesn’t react with blood or pharmaceuticals and can be safely cleaned in a dishwasher, said Bishop. He added that the material is naturally translucent but can be colored for quick identification for medical operating room applications.

Shin-Etsu’s key silicone grades for healthcare include KE1950, KEG2000, KE2090/2095 Select-Hesive, KEG2003 and KE2004 Series. The KE2004 Series combines low-end durometer (5-20: Shore-A) with enhanced physical properties and processing control. Its low-hardness/high tear strength combination allows manufacturers to achieve a soft feel without sacrificing strength,

generating excessive flash, or tearing during demolding. In addition, the company offers an anti-microbial Liquid Injection Molding System (LIMS) product.

Transitioning to the integrated processes of silicone manufacturing for medical components, Bishop pointed out that the LIMS process is a closed-loop, automated system that minimizes the risk of contamination. He further noted that using his company’s Select-Hesive LIMS, multi-component parts could be molded in a single 2-shot injection process that improves consistency and increases productivity. Also, when proper planning, tooling, and machinery are combined, flash-free molded parts are possible for eliminating the need for post operations. <<

The Barnes Bore Honing & Finishing

Systems (www.barneshoning.com) HH line of horizontal spindle bore-honing machines sport rigid structural box beam base designs, combined with easy access open-face configurations, that make the machines ideal for very long

and/or very heavy components, such as those found in oil-patch and military applications.

The machine’s spindle structure and power, and its clamping and tool design aspects are all engineered to work well with both conventional and superabrasive

tooling. Honing tool expansion can be activated with either hydraulic or servo-motor drives. All aspects of the tooling expansion are totally programmable. Updated features include an Allen Bradley PLC control interfaced with an operator-friendly color touch screen panel. <<

Oil-patch Bore Honing

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M A C H I N E T O O L S

36 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

High-Brilliance Laser technology is quickly becoming common and

desirable as it essentially simplifies the generation and management of the laser beam. Specifically, when used for sheet metal, plate or pipe cutting, the power requirements of the system are substantially less, while attainable cutting parameters are comparable to a traditional CO2 laser generator.

Two Italian companies Campana Livio S.r.l. and Finsomac S.r.l produce the High-Brilliance Laser technology. Cy Laser LLC (www.cy-laser.com) sells and services Cy Laser High Brilliance Laser systems in North America.

Cy Laser High-Brilliance Laser systems cut 20-mm mild steel, 10-mm stainless steel, 10-mm aluminum, and can be employed to cut brass and copper. In addition, the higher-quality laser beam produced can be carried through a fiber optic cable to eliminate the need for complex and costly mirror sets. Consequently, High-Brilliance laser systems are virtually maintenance free.

The system’s laser cutting head is extremely simple, consisting of one focalizing lens, and there is no need to maintain and swap cutting heads when changing set up.

Since High-Brilliance laser systems use fiber optic laser sources, the systems present many advantages over traditional laser sources. For example, there can be high power generated within a reduced overall perimeter/layout of equipment, high system yield, less power needed for cooling, no moving components and no laser gas.

High-Brilliance Laser systems incorporate fiber optic laser sources.

Brilliant Laser Technology

E D I T E D B Y J I M B E N E S I A S S O C I A T E E D I T O R

T O O L I N G & F I X T U R I N G

C U T T I N G P R O D U C T S

38 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

Ace Precision Industries of Akron, Ohio, produces several variations of small components

for mining equipment, such as cowl arms and traction reducer cases. The company recently invested in a single-spindle Niigata HD80 horizontal machining center that enables them to run larger parts with high feed/speed capabilities. Initially, Ace transferred the conventional tooling and methodology it had been using to the new equipment. The process worked, but was not opti-

mizing the capabilities of the Niigata. Distributor George Whalley Co. of

Cleveland has been a one-stop resource for Ace’s tooling needs. Larry Wragg, the George Whalley representative, together with Tom Batchelor, Seco Tools Inc. (www.secotools.com) application expert, suggested that Ace try using a Seco Power Turbo, a heavy-duty square shoulder mill designed to provide maximum metal-removal with free-cutting inserts.

“The cowl arms are made of

A514 steel that is flame-cut to shape, but the hardening caused by this process has always made these components tough on tooling,” Tom Stugymer, manufacturing manager at Ace, said. “We were eager to make improvements.”

The part is 62-in. long by 34-in. wide by 4.5-in. thick. Seven steps are required to produce the component. Seco initially concentrated on the first step — roughing a bore area that is 4.5-in. deep with an inside diameter

HIGH-FEED MILLING CUTS BORING TIME AND COST

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americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 39

range of 25 in. to 36 in. Ace had been using a 32-insert endmill to hog out the metal, which was taking over an hour on average, but they knew this method worked.

Given the speed capability of the Niigata, and considering the space constraints of the enclosed machine, Batchelor was confident they could improve the process with a helical interpolation method using Seco’s high feed milling cutter. In addition to being enclosed, the Niigata machines have internal tool changers, making it nearly impossible to get a big boring head inside the machine. “Even though conventional wisdom says we should be boring a hole, we can’t get a boring bar inside the machine due to the tool changer,” explained Stugymer. “Thus, our need to develop a more efficient method.”

High-feed milling (HFM) quickly removes a lot of material. With HFM, the cutting forces are directed axially back into the spindle. This method provides outstanding performance

Cowl arm production begins with machining a bore 4.5-in. deep and from 25-in. to 36-in. inside diameter.

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40 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

T O O L I N G & F I X T U R I N G

when machining with large overhangs. “Ace was using a helical endmill

with 32 inserts,” Batchelor said. “We applied a 4-in. diameter, high-feed mill using 218.19 inserts in Seco’s Duratomic grade MP2500.”

With this switch, the boring time

was reduced by over 50 percent, to only 28 minutes. “Plus, this cutter only requires seven inserts, versus thirty-two.” Stugymer added. “So, we cut the machining time in half with one-quarter the number of inserts.”

Another aspect Seco thought it could

improve operations involved the boring of two corners for stress-relief where the rod connects to the round cowl head. Ace had been machining a 1.1875-in. radius using a boring bar, because a correct-sized diameter cutter did not exist for this operation. To tackle this

T O O L I N G & W O R K H O L D I N G

Schunk Inc. (www.schunk.com)has extended its toolholder

product range with the introduction of the new Sino-R that is well suited for heavy-duty metal cutting and rough milling. The universal toolholder is based on the expansion technology system with a solid body as a pressure medium and is quickly clamped using a simple actuation key. This saves the user set-up time and reduces unproductive machine down-times.

The interaction of high radial rigidity and good dampening characteristics is a special highlight that reduces machining noises and increases the smooth running of the tool. This results in high service life of the tool and surface quality of the workpiece.

Toolholder For Heavy Cutting

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 41

task, Seco made a 2.375-in. diameter Power Turbo mill with five teeth using the M14 geometry in grade F40M.

This new Power Turbo mill reduced machining time from 50 minutes to 5 minutes. Again, a plunging methodology was employed by taking

0.100-in. steps in many passes with no more than 0.05-in. depth-of-cut per pass to produce a 1.1875-in. corner radius. Spindle speed remained constant at 804 rpm, but the feedrate increased from 0.015 ipr to 0.283 ipr.

Ace is now able to manufacture

about one cowl arm per day. With the switch to Power Turbo, the company saves about $28,000 per year just in machining cost on the component. This does not account for the reduced number of inserts now needed to complete the first boring operation. <<

This eliminates unwanted chatter marks that frequently appear with conventional toolholder systems and expensive reworking.

Sino-R holds tools securely, thanks to maximum torque transmission of 850 Nm, at a clamping diameter of 32 mm. Also, with the use of intermediate sleeves the toolholder can be used flexibly, and almost all common shank diameters can be clamped. The toolholders are precision-balanced to protect both the machine spindle and the lip of the tool.<<

Aline of bits that will not fall out when inserted into a six-

point socket has been introduced by Bondhus Corp. (www.bondhus.com). ProHold Socket bits are half the cost of traditional socket bits because users can utilize them with their own six-point sockets, and Protanium steel makes each bit up to 20% stronger than competing tools, said the company. Two non-magnetic

buttons on the sides of each bit locks it securely into the socket.

All ProHold Socket bits carry the Bondhus lifetime warranty and feature the ProGuard finish, which offers five times more corrosion protection when compared with competitor finishes. A full range of inch, metric and star tools are available.

Bits turn standard socket into bit holder

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E D I T E D B Y R O B E R T B R O O K S I E D I T O R

S O F T W A R E & C O N T R O L S

Mastercam X4, a new release from CNC Software

(www.mastercam.com), introduces a cutting motion called Dynamic Machin-ing that the developer said adapts toolpaths to create more consistent processing, constantly.

This new motion is said to work equally well with “closed” and “open” parts, creating efficient entry methods and customizable entry speeds and feeds.

CNC Software emphasized that the new technique allows shops to use the entire tool flute length, increasing machine flexibility and saving production time and cost. Also, Dynamic Machining is designed to take a full depth cut, so the need for multiple depth cuts may be eliminated

in many instances.Another aspect of this de-

velopment is flexibility in tool retraction, to keep the tool down in smaller components and to allow rapid retraction on larger parts.

There also is a “micro lift” option that allows slight retraction off the bottom when moving to the next cut, decreasing the level of heat in the part and aiding chip evacuation.

Recently, CNC Software also introduced a new part-modeling and EDM programming software, Mastercam X4 Wire. For modeling parts, each geometric piece is “live” so programmers can modify them quickly to achieve a desired shape.

For programming, X4 Wire has streamlined features for 2- and 4-axis

machining, including 2-axis contouring (with or without taper angle), no-core cutting, and straight and tapered cutting (with or without land) from either direction.

More new program features include contouring for multiple parts using a single window selection; automatic wirepath corner filleting; and an ability to

create lead-ins and lead-outs with optional lead trimming. Programmers can create tabs automatically with user-definable stop types. There is also an optional No Drop Out tab.

CNC Software says Mastercam X4 Wire creates new efficiencies that will reduce programmer interaction and increase machining flexibility. <<

Charting New Paths for More ConsistencyIntroducing “Dynamic Machining;” plus, part modeling and EDM programming functions get streamlined

americanmachinist.com I NOVEMBER 2009 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I 43

According to CNC Software, its new cutting motion works equally well with “closed” and “open” parts, creating efficient entry methods and customizable entry speeds and feeds.

>> on 46

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46 I AMERICAN MACHINIST I NOVEMBER 2009 I americanmachinist.com

CNC Metal Fabrication Inc., in Toronto, builds electronic instrument

cabinets. It acquired its first JETCAM Expert CAD/CAM software (www.jetcam.com) license with a Finn-Power press in 1992, but also acquired other CAM

systems with other machines that, over time, needed consolidating.

Chandrakant Patel, Engineering Manager explained; “We’ve replaced the first Finn-Power twice since 1992, and with each new Finn-Power machine we’ve

90% scrap reduction, with high-performance nesting

used JETCAM without problems. We had an old CAM system that was driving another punching machine, but this had no automatic tooling capability and was difficult to use.”

Another system also proved too difficult to learn and did not have the same level of functionality as JETCAM for parts that require both laser and punching operations, and thus needed programming on two separate systems.

By this time CNC Metal had used JETCAM Expert with high-performance rectangular nesting to drive three Finn-Power punch presses and a Danobat punch press. After replacing the Mitsubishi with a newer model they standardized on JETCAM, and purchased postprocessors for their two licenses to drive the new laser.

Comparing JETCAM to the two other systems, Patel cited several examples of savings resulting from efficiencies the software has delivered. “The biggest saving has been in programming time. The old system had no auto-tooling, so tooling up punched parts is 50-70% faster now, with programming reduced overall by around 30%. Although most of our runs are short, our sheet utilization has improved by up to 20%, which has reduced our scrap levels by up to 90%.”

He said JETCAM’s ablity to store tooling data on the part, not the nest, means the shop can store both punch and laser information, and then generate a nest for any of the machines immediately. Patel said newer features have further reduced programming time and improved the quality and speed of getting to a finished part.

>> from 43

This Toronto shop manufactures cabinets for electronic instruments. It uses a single CAM system to drive different brands and types of machines, and no longer reuses its CNC pro-grams: the programs are nested “just in time.”

AD INDEX

ADVERTISER PAGE

2L Inc. .....................................................................................................33

Allied Machine & Engrg Corp ..........................................................34, 35

American Machinist ........................................................................... 6, 11

ATI Industrial Automation .....................................................................38

Delcam International, Ltd. .....................................................................40

Faro Technologies ...................................................................................37

Gibbs and Associates ..............................................................................3

Gradient Lens Corp. . .............................................................................39

Haas Automation, Inc. .............................................................................5

Iscar Metals, Inc. .................................................................................. BC

Mastercam, CNC Software, Inc. ............................................................46

Mfg.com .................................................................................................44

Monster Tool ...........................................................................................43

Mori Seiki America .............................................................................. IFC

Omega Engineering Inc. .........................................................................1

Rockford Ettco Procunier .......................................................................48

Sandvik Coromant Co. . ...................................................................... IBC

Scientific Cutting Tools, Inc. ...................................................................41

Sentry Insurance ....................................................................................42

Southwestern Industries Inc. ..................................................................7

Suhner Industrial Products Corp. .........................................................33

Taiwan External Trade Development Council ......................................36

Yorkshire Forward ....................................................................................9

This index is a service to readers. Every effort is made to maintain accuracy, but AMERICAN MACHINIST cannot

assume responsibility for errors or omissions.

AM PRODUCT EXPRESS ADVERTISINGPage 45

Send all AM PRODUCT EXPRESS advertisements to: CLASSIFIED DEPT., Penton Media, Inc., 1300 E. 9th Street, Cleveland, OH

44114-1503.

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Even with advanced equipment and techniques, the basic mechanics of forming a chip

remain the same. As the cutting tool engages the workpiece, the material directly ahead of the tool is sheared and deformed under tremendous pressure. The deformed material then seeks to relieve its stressed condition by fracturing and flowing into the space above the tool in the form of a chip.

The deformation of a work material means that enough force has been exerted by the tool to permanently reshape or fracture the work material. If a material is reshaped, it is said to have exceeded its plastic limit. A chip is a combination of reshaping and fracturing. The deformed chip is separated from the parent material by

fracture. The cutting action and chip formation can be more easily analyzed if the edge of the tool is perpendicular to the relative motion of the material.

When a solid bar is turned, there are three forces acting on the cutting tool: tangential, longitudinal, and radial.

Regardless of the tool being used or the metal being cut, chip forming occurs by “plastic deformation,” which can be visualized as shearing. That is when a metal is subjected to a load exceeding its elastic limit. The crystals of the metal elongate through slipping or shearing, which takes place within the crystals and between adjacent crystals.

Most practical cutting operations, such as turning and milling, involve two or more cutting edges inclined at various angles to the direction of the cut. However, the basic mechanism of cutting can be explained by analyzing cutting done with a single cutting edge.

Chip formation is simplest when a continuous chip is formed in orthogonal cutting. In oblique cutting, a single, straight cutting edge is inclined in the direction of tool travel. This causes changes in the direction of chip flow up the face of the tool. When the cutting edge is inclined, the chip flows across the tool face with a sideways movement that produces a helical form of chip.

Metalcutting chips are classified into three basic types: discontinuous chips, continuous chips, and continuous chips with a built-up edge.

Tool life is one of the most important economic considerations in metalcutting. The different wear mechanisms, as well as the different phenomena contributing to cutting tool attrition, depend on the multitude of cutting conditions and especially on the cutting speeds and fluids.

B Y G E O R G E S C H N E I D E R J R . I C M f g E , C M f g T , L S M E

C U T T I N G T O O L A P P L I C AT I O N S

Chapter 2: Metal Removal Methods

A turning toolholder insert generating a chip. (Photo by courtesy of Kennametal Inc.)

Each month American Machinist presents an abstract of George Schneider’s essential handbook to machine tool materials, principles, and designs. For a complete summary of each chapter, visit www.americanmachinist.com

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