From Today's Medical Developments Magazine, January/February 2013.

From Tooling & Production, November 2012.

From Modern Machine Shop, December 2012.

From Manufacturing Engineering, October 2012.

Implementing a multitasking machine with new CAM software enabled setup and production time reductions for the shop.

Taylor Forge Engineered Systems knew an investment in GibbsCAM software would pay off after witnessing a customer edit a program in 15 minutes, and then horizontally mill the part in 45 minutes.

A Machining-Programming Expert Solves Tough Cycle-time Challenges with GibbsCAM.

How Avmat Aviation Materials Management started their own in house machining operation and made it successful.

R.A. Miller Industries (RAMI; Grand Haven, MI) began making antennas for the military in 1956, eventually expanding antenna production to the automotive industry (for long-haul trucks), as well as to the general aviation and marine markets.

When a client has a tight delivery timeline, the best companies deliver no matter what the obstacles. Obstacles are exactly what Rolls-Royce Canada’s Marine division in Vancouver (Vancouver Facility) faced when it needed to machine, assemble and deliver two controllable pitch propeller hubs for a ferry that was to be in drydock for only two weeks.

Problem: Need to respond quickly and flexibly to customer needs
Solution: GibbsCAM CAM software from Gibbs & Associates
Results: Faster, easier programming

With the economy barely showing signs of recovery and the demand for goods and services still depressed, one could wonder about the reasoning behind starting a manufacturing business, and probably find no encouragement. Not so for Paul Beckwith, founder of TraTek Inc. (Noblesville, IN). Beckwith claims to have no secret formula for starting a specialized machining operation in a difficult economy, but he has clear advantages.

When Weatherford International Ltd. bought Oil Country Manufacturing, creating Weatherford Oil Country Manufacturing, the job shop was forced to step up production threefold. One of their major challenges was finding a CAM package that allowed them to use Weatherford's corporate CAD standard, Pro/Engineer, while still allowing them to use geometry from their company standard, Ashlar-Vellum's Graphite.

Shops don’t necessarily need five-axis machine tools to take advantage of five-axis programming strategies. Consider the experience of tunneling equipment manufacturer Akkerman Inc., a shop that uses five-axis CAM software to great effect for programming rotary fourth-axis machining operations. In fact, the company credits that software, GibbsCAM from Gibbs and Associates (Moorpark, California), for boosting flexibility, simplifying the machining of its most complex parts and reducing programming time.

Center Rock Inc., the company that made the rock drills used to free the Chilean miners last year, is exploring the right level of multitask machining. Just because the company can produce some of its bits with very few setups, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it should.

The mark of a successful job shop is the ability to meet and exceed client needs, whatever the project on the floor. KDM Oilfield Manufacturing of Nisku, Alberta, went a step above and beyond that when it invested in a new 5-axis machine to help a client get out of a bind.

At Norfolk Specialties, GibbsCAM’s plunge roughing routines have cut machining time in half and quadrupled tool life. The second shop, Ouverson Engineering and Machine, enjoys similar benefits. On one job, for example, the technique improved tool life by approx­imately 88 percent and halved cycle time.

Well-honed CNC programming skills and automated programming of multitasking machines (MTM) have enabled Sunnen Products Company (St. Louis) to increase production for two of its complex tool families.

Mendell, Inc. has come a long way since its founding in 1965. Their growth is related to having good employee knowledge of medical device manufacturing, being meticulous about accuracy, being driven to get things done, and having a speedy design-to-production process.

Most contract manufacturers are generally satisfied to produce high-quality products on time to customer specifications and at a profit. At Goleta, CA’s 66-year-old Neal Feay Company, however, one additional major requirement has been added.

Sometimes the need for one shop to turn a job around in a matter of days is brought on by the failure of another shop to deliver on its much longer production schedule. EMC Precision Machining (Elyria, Ohio) delivers in these situations, taking on jobs that other shops have not been able to complete in time.

Performance Tool and Die (PTD), a leading tooling provider for the automotive, agriculture, and recreation industries, was looking for ways to decrease forces on the material during cutting, increase tool life, and reduce cycle time—seemingly contradictory objectives.

Paul Precision Machine (Tulsa, OK) investigated and purchased GibbsCAM for use on their Doosan turning centers. With software and machines working together, they wanted to remove wasted labor and make parts in a single-machine operation.

In collaboration with software developer Gibbs and Associates, the Mori Seiki laboratories ensured that the popular GibbsCAM software could go beyond programming the Mori Seiki NT and NZ multi-tasking machines upon their introductions.

As a supplier to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Next Intent manufactured components for robotic vehicles that have been exploring the surface of Mars. GibbsCAM CAM software played an important role in the shop’s ability to machine these vehicles’ complex components.

Machine shops prioritize different challenges daily, but some challenged are more critical than others. Precise Products Corporation (Minneapolis) was faced with a challenge when one of its original customers asked the company to reduce the cost of a family of parts or risk losing the job.

Kevin Binkert of Standard Metal Products (SMP), in San Francisco, California, started out producing mechanical contraptions that had no purpose other than challenge the creators and amaze audiences at art festivals and large-scale robotics exhibitions. SMP's work is still amazing audiences, but their diverse capabilities are what keep them busy in a tough economy.

Multi-axis machining is so different from 3-axis machining at times that it can be daunting. A North Carolina community college is teaching that the costs and fears can be overcome with training, simple modification to 3-axis machines and simulation software.

By late 2001, High Tech Components (Broussard, LA) had several manual machines and three CNC machines, where it faced new challenges related to programming. The CNCs had to be programmed manually, making complex parts cumbersome to program.

While Accutech Machine’s (Salt Lake City) new Mori Seiki multitasking NT has provided notable production advantages, it’s the preliminary programming work that Steve Russell (programmer and machine operator) does in GibbsCAM that really makes this machine the success it is for the company.

Rather than complicated geometry or other production issues, the greatest difficulties at Bucyrus International (Milwaukee, WI) often involve setup and changeover between operations—the actual moving and positioning of these monstrous workpieces.

In a private garage in Burbank, Calif., three people repair, restore and maintain a fleet of vehicles for a well-known motoring enthusiast. This is Big Dog Garage, The Tonight Show Host Jay Leno’s passion and playground, where his crew keeps vehicles roadworthy.

In 2001, after moving to a new facility and having success with its lathe and elementary software, Robby Gordon’s SR Machining (Anaheim, CA) purchased a mill. To drive it, and allow for future expansion, they chose the lathe and four-axis mill modules of GibbsCAM from Gibbs and Associates.

GibbsCAM (and a 21-tool, 3-axis Fanuc Robodrill CNC machining center) are featured and credited for the machining of over 30 assemblies from 6061-T65 aluminum billet, many of them prominent in the award-winning ’67 Mustang Reactor.

With a used Fadal 4020 HT, a Haas 20 × 50 VF4, JobBoss , QuickBooks and GibbsCAM Cobalt Enterprises started machining in September 2004. By the end of December, Cobalt had done $69,000 in business, and was moving fast.

David Jordan of Inverse Solutions, Inc. (Pleasanton, CA) went looking for software that could read a solid, and program directly from the solid. “It had to be easy to learn,” he says. “Another big thing for me at the time was what kind of support we could get.”

To handle new jobs, Chris Nachtmann learned NC programming with the aid of GibbsCAM Production Mill. “It was easy to learn, and helped me save the business,” acknowledges Nachtmann. “I learned to model and machine everything with wire-frame geometry and really cranked out parts.”

Star Metal Products (Westlake, OH) needed the accuracy of a horizontal CNC, but found the cost prohibitive. The company thought a trunnion added to its VMC would provide the rotary capability with the trunnion supported on both ends. It turned out the firm was more than 10 years ahead of its time.

In 2000, Blue Chip (Ramsey, MN) had taken on the job of developing a machining process for a boat propeller manufacturer. “I knew we could do the job,” says Founder Rick Denny, “but we needed an advanced CAM system to handle the surface machining. That’s why we decided to purchase GibbsCAM.”

Ed Pink Racing Engines (EPRE; Van Nuys, CA) purchased a VF3 VMC from Haas  Automation Inc. with Haas CNC control to help them manufacture parts on a timely and consistent basis. In order to take full advantage of the machine, they needed the right software.

Engineers and designers at Polaris Industries (Medina, MN) develop their designs in Parametric Technology Corps (PTC) Pro/Engineer software and then hand them off to the development machinist in the fabrication shop, who is responsible for making the designs a reality using GibbsCAM.

Rick Harp—founder-president of Carlsbad, CA’s Innovative Medical Designs Inc., a company that designs and produces tools for use by the medical device industry—literally took the admonition, “Physician, heal thyself,” to heart.

Since Pacific Tool Inc. (Redmond, Washington) opened its doors in the late 1960s, the tool and die shop has built a reputation for its ability to handle jobs involving multiple machining operations.The multiple operations typically required several setups on several different machine tools. Setup costs were tolerable when they could be spread over large job runs, but in recent years the shop has seen a dramatic decline in average order size. Customers began placing smaller orders on a more frequent basis. The smaller orders resulted in a greater number of setups, which dragged down uptime on the shop's machines. The company was not about to turn its back on the multiple-operation jobs that were its specialty. However, it needed to reduce setups to remain competitive....

Ed Ingram started Plasticraft Manufacturing in 1972 as a small plastic molding facility, and today it employs more than 120 people in its 175,000-square foot Alabama facility—running three shifts five days a week. A newer plant in Iowa, created primarily to better service a key customer, employs an additional 40 people. The company does the majority of its work for the office furniture industry, designing and building nearly 80 percent of its molds in-house. However, there was a time when Plasticraft had a large and profitable business in the power tool industry. Then, out of the blue, the power tool industry moved 95 percent of its work to China, virtually overnight.