One way to make a living in the job shop area is to keep adding new equipment and use it on difficult materials and difficult parts. A firm that follows this strategy, Tapemation Machining Inc. (Scotts Valley, CA) has been updating its CNC equipment for more than a decade. Two of the company's newer pieces of equipment are a five-axis 1995-model Mazak H/V 800 machining center and a five-axis 1997-model Anayak HM 7000 universal machining center.

The Mazak features 48 X 46 X 42"(1.2 X 1.2 x 1.1 m) X,Y, and Z axes, 90 deg A, 360 deg B, 50-hp (37-kW), 4000-rpm Cat 50 spindle, 80-tool ATC, dual 32" (0.8 m) pallet changer, through-spindle coolant, M32 control, and an all-angle head that machines horizontally, vertically, and any angle in between. The Anayak features 244 X 60 X 48-(6.2 X 1.5 X 1.2m) X, Y and Z axes, a 48" diameter tilting rotary table, 360 X 90o, all angle 30hp (22-kW) head, 60-tool ATC, and Fanuc 16 control.

"We handle a wide variety of materials," says Tapemation's general manager Bruce Erickson, "including titanium, aluminum, ultra-high-strength steels, and all of the common metals. We are also an approved source for fracture-critical, level 1/submarinesafe, high-strength components." "We do full-contouring five-axis machining," says Erickson, "and we have the latest computer software to program machine tools. These software packages undergo regular maintenance by software companies, which periodically provide product updates. We've always had the latest in CNC support. Our main software is SurfCAM [Surfware Inc.] in the fiveaxis package, which is easy to use and has low maintenance. We are in the process of trying to get more efficient in the shop by getting jobs up and running sooner. This efficiency push involves going right from our programming department into the tool crib to have everything set for the machinist when the job hits the floor."'
Tapemation's QC program is ISO 9000 certified, and inspection equipment includes a laser-calibrated 157" (4 m) long CMM, which had its software upgraded twice. "We have full volumetric service on the CMM," says Erickson. Tapemation has, in addition to its modem machine shop, fabrication facilities with welders certified to MIL STD 248D, 278F,1595A, and 2219.

A classic niche for a job shop is to work in very small lot sizes on difficult parts. That approach works well for Preferred Machining Corp. (Englewood, CO). Ray Flaharty, general manager of Preferred Machining points out: "We are on the leading edge of machining technology, but we're not on the leading edge of production work because we're not a production shop-we only run short jobs. We do best with one or two of a kind."

Almost all of Preferred's work runs on CNC equipment. Other than two engine lathes and three conventional mills, all the company's machines are CNC. Two full-time programmers keep the equipment going. "Our machines are relatively new and constantly updated," says Flaharty. "We mostly do four-axis machining, and sometimes five axis. The five-axis jobs are more specialized, and we don't have five-axis tilting-head machines." A horizontal boring mill with a tilting rotary table under CNC control allows Preferred to do six-axis machining, but they don't do much work of that sort. Part sizes range from very small to apiece 90 X 119" (2.3 X 3 m) that runs on a big horizontal boring mill. The company handles stainless steel, Hastelloy, aluminum, titanium, and just about anything the customer has.

At Preferred, the work keeps three CMMs busy. "The largest," says Flaharty, "accommodates a piece 84 X 104 X 36" (2.1 X 2.6 X 0.9 m) deep. We comply with MIL STD 45208A because of all the government work we do."

Another way to make a company stand out in the market is to do work others can't or won't handle. A job shop known for its ability to machine difficult metals can probably find a place in the sun. Certainly Godwin Machine Works Inc. (Houston) sees its ability to handle complex machining of exotic materials as a big plus. Michael Corliss, vice president operations and general manager, says: "We specialize in the exotic stuff, such as nickel-base alloys, titanium, and beryllium copper, that most people don't touch." And how does a job shop acquire that kind of capability? "We learned to handle these materials by working closely with cuttingtool and machine tool manufacturers who have us demo and test prototype products," says Corliss. "So we're always on the leading edge of cutting tool technology."

New Machines, New Capabilities

Mori Seiki and Okuma Howa VMCs, Okuma Howa and Toyoda HMCs, and Mori Seiki lathes are among the machines at Godwin. "We're continually buying new equipment to stay up to date," says Corliss. "All of our machining centers have four-axis rotary tables, which gives us simultaneous four-axis capability. We have some five-axis capability, and we can do some positioning with the fiveaxis head and cut five axes, but can't cut five of them simultaneously. We also have controllers capable of hooking up 15 axes at one time."