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
- 10% rejection
- Initially price
- Farmed out → new vendor didn’t perform
- Tried “in house” → didn’t work
- 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 - Annual contract → able to continue proactive cost reduction/efficiency reduction
a.Expanded relationship – low rejection rate, less than 0.01%
UPT Housing
- 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 - 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 - 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 - 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
- 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 - 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 - 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
- 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 - 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 - 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 - 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