We are a precision shop handling complex CNC machining for aerospace and defense.
You have a big mission to accomplish and we sweat the small stuff so you can achieve that mission. By doing everything in our power to plan, order, make, assemble and inspect you get your parts when you need them.
- We work for the aerospace and defense industry.
- We work on parts that fit within a 1 x 1 x 1 foot cube.
- We work with aluminum, titanium, or steel.
- The only prototype or development work we do is for our existing customers.
- Most of our parts are made from castings, and require post machining testing, painting or assembly.
Your peace of mind is our goal.
1. Pre-production planning
Everything we do revolves around on-time delivery to you.
Engines, guidance, avoidance, actuation and pressure-control systems all depend on our components to work right. These components, often made from castings, typically require 16 to 32 weeks lead time and require greater engineering to meet customer requirements. Most necessitate post-machining, special processing and assembly. Needless to say, the pre-production planning phase is important to timely delivery within budget.
Automation increases efficiency and reduces the cost of scheduling.
Our planning system is the heartbeat of the company. Most companies our size don’t use enterprise resource planning software (e.g., SAP, Oracle, etc). Because a great percentage of our parts are managed to volatile demand, using enterprise resource planning software (ERP) makes our process more efficient and accurate. Now, we can input forecast data; run a planning simulation; and receive recommendations. Of course, this doesn’t remove the need for human interaction but it makes it more efficient.
Being proactive prevents a catastrophic shortage.
If you don’t have a partner who can look into the crystal ball and anticipate changing market and environmental conditions, you risk losing time.
The variables are infinite and the puzzle is finicky. One missed piece and the downtime at stake is unacceptable to you; and a call we don’t ever want to have to make. To that end, we plan for the various parts to arrive on time, and we anticipate bottlenecks and changed demands.
Pre-production planning is critical to getting your parts when you need them.
2. Order long-lead material and stock
Making parts from wrought material and delivering on time to a firm purchase order is easy. Making parts from long lead items such as castings and delivering on time to a forecast is not. To manage this type of work successfully requires a totally different infrastructure.
By being plugged into forecast data from our customers our ERP system helps us to anticipate hardware needs. If there is a drop-in or schedule change, we have the ability to respond accordingly rather than tell you you have to wait an extra 12 weeks because we don’t have castings in stock. By continually monitoring data from our customers we do our best to ensure that required long lead items don’t affect your delivery requirements.
For over 30 years we’ve been buying and managing long lead items required for precision machine parts. We take accountability for our business partners meeting their deadlines so you can rest easy and focus on your bigger mission.
3. Production
Everything comes together at production. We have the most talented machinists, engineers, and planners in the business. Our project management system ensures collaboration across these departments and minimizes the need for meetings, and keeps everyone’s parts moving toward their delivery dates.
Random events are out of your control.
Our daily routine is never routine and we always aim to be responsive. Our ERP and project management software help us manage a day full of change orders with special requests, drop-ins, and pull-ins. If we counted on things to go as planned, we’d be scrambling, but we don’t and therefore, we aren’t. Balls are constantly being moved so we’re hitting dates and deadlines while accommodating change.
Our agility means we can be in sync with you.
4. Outside processing
Relationships with key suppliers are very important to us, and to you. From the foundries who pour our castings to the companies that process parts, our vendors are trusted partners with whom we’ve worked for decades. They don’t force us to make excuses. In fact, we don’t do business with businesses who do. We work hard to understand their constraints so we are a success together. When we meet with our partners, we aren’t asking what they can do for us. We are asking what more we can do to make sure we can be a success.
To do this, we spend time cultivating that relationship – ensuring we are aligned in values and quality. When we have that mutual respect, we also gain mutual reliance. Their success means our success and likewise, all of which translates to us delivering your parts when you need them.
5. Assemble
Great attention to detail goes into the assembly phase. We don’t want to find out at the last minute we are missing or have the wrong piece of hardware. Nor do you. Our core competency is managing the paperwork, the overhead, and the process.
6. Inspect
There is zero room for error in aerospace manufacturing. People’s lives are at stake. If a random mistake happens in any of the preceding steps, inspection is the last opportunity to catch the error.
We sell much more than “parts;” we sell paperwork. You get the pedigree – documentation that says it’s all right.
Our competitors see this phase as a necessary evil. We see it as an opportunity to find things that wouldn’t be acceptable and ensure the documentation we provide you will meet you and your customers’ requirements.
What do we do with the knowledge and lessons learned?
For some, this phase is lip service. But for us, learning and improving from our mistakes is in our ethos. Our culture is based on doing the right thing. To that end, we invest a lot of time and money improving our systems and protocols. Our documentation protocol is intense and is engaged at every level of our business from our best practices to lessons learned.
