Solutions

At Machining Concepts in Erie, our customers say that if you want a machined part done right the first time, call Machining Concepts.

Our experienced team helps our customers find value-added solutions to their toughest machining problems. In turn, we focus on minimizing machining operations and reducing scrap inventory and total part costs.

The results speak for themselves – the best parts at less cost. Contact Us

Case Studies

Nozzle Block

  1. 10% rejection
  2. Initially price
  3. Farmed out → new vendor didn’t perform
  4. Tried “in house” → didn’t work
  5. Back to Production/Engineering
    a. Learned what was critical
    b. Issues with Production
    c. Invested in new machine
    i. Figured out how to make consistent
  6. Annual contract → able to continue proactive cost reduction/efficiency reduction
    a.Expanded relationship – low rejection rate, less than 0.01%

 UPT Housing

  1. Issue
    a. Can’t have irregularities in surface → explosion
    b. Surface quality – porosity is showing up on surface of UPT housing
    c. Machined “in house” → having problems
    d. Started with foundry
    e. Company (Sunburst) who these housings went to for sub-assembly came to us to help solve the problem
  2. Approach
    a. Used new cutter on casting that Lincoln made → new type of cutter wiped the surface while it cut
    b. Assumed they were using a free cutting (little friction) that didn’t give the right performance
    c. Engineers from FMC came to see how we cut it
  3. Solution
    a. Helped them redesign fixture to machine most critical surface last
    b. Most critical dimensions cut at the same time → giving consistency
    c. Eliminated an operation
    d. Improved quality and reliability
  4. Result
    a. Now they receive 100% good parts
    b. We took over relationship with casting vendor to improve casting results → quality/consistency
    c. Reduced real scrap for them and us
    d. Improved quality due to machining process

Valve

  1. Issue
    a.  Contacted by foundry
    i. Their customer needed to single source machining and castings
    b. Foundry doesn’t have a machine shop
    c.  Outsourced
    d. Issue with holding part
    i. Multiple machining processes needed
  2. Approach & Solution
    a. Worked with foundry to modify casting
    b. Added a lug to be able to machine on multi-axis that could mill, drill and machine
    c. Had to figure out how to improve quality and consistency
    d. Researched and found a specialty tool to reduce machine time
  3. Results
    a. Cost reduction for both them and us
    b. Almost zero rejections
    c. More consistent process
    d. Less scrap → 10% less
    e. Improved reliability for their product

High Pressure Valve

  1. Issue
    a. Needed adapters at small lot quantities with competitive pricing
    b. Over 500 variations of adapter families
    i. Sizes, threads, configurations, materials
    c. Couldn’t find a consistent supplier
    d. Need JIT supplier
  2. Approach
    a. Set up a cell for the product line
    b. Did standardized tooling → reduced setup time
    c. Within 2-3 days can make any part needed
  3. Solution
    a. Needed to start managing an inventory for customer
    b. Started trending/tracking usage to manage blanket orders internally
    c. Partnered with buyers to manage inventory for them
  4. Result
    a. Internal management of over 4 buyers
    b. Better inventory control
    c. Improved on-time deliveries
    d. Can turn around orders in very short time if demand spikes
    e. We’ve learned to improve inventory/JIT for other customers
    i. Processes
    ii. Scheduling
    f. Reduced cost for smaller lot sizes and families of parts