Our Mission
To produce the most difficult machined components with the ability to respond quickly and have a quality management system per ISO 9001 & AS9100 to assure that a quality product is delivered on time. We have state of the art equipment that keeps us on the leading edge of industry technology. Our business employs a solid, dependable and highly skilled work force with a can-do attitude and enthusiasm for their craft.
Most customers come to us because they are frustrated with the performance of their current suppliers.
For some it is the challenge of getting low volume runs produced in a timely manner.
Others have concerns about whether their current supplier has the expertise and/or the right machine tools to produce their critical complex hardware.
Some may be angry because they have experienced long delays due to the supplier not being able to handle the complexity of the work.
Some get upset when their schedule becomes compromised due to lack of communication from their suppliers.
Still others come to us because they cannot find a supplier willing to work with exotic hard to machine materials.
Are any of these issues relative to your business?
We Specialize in:
- Extreme Precision
- Prototype and Production
- Assemblies & Fixtures
- Tooling
- 3D Machining
- 4 & 5 Axis Machining
- The ability to process the most
- Difficult to machine exotic alloys
Automation Lifesaver: A silicon Valley Job Shop Switches to an Automated 5-axis System to Save its Life.
A few years back, two problems slammed the Silicon Valley with an almost deadly one-two punch. First there was the giant sucking sound of most of the high-volume machining business rushing offshore. Second there was the post-911 recession that took building vacancies in the valley from only 1,000,000 sq ft to nearly 100,000,000 sq ft in less than a year.
But for Joe Munich, president and founder of Santa Clara, CA’s High Speed CNC, Inc.—a job shop specializing in producing highly complex, close-tolerance parts for the aerospace, medical, semiconductor, recreation and other industries—the blows hurt, but were not fatal.
“Our survival was no accident,” he says. “We survived, and we’re now thriving, because basically, from the time I started this business in 1991, I did two things. I worked hard, and I saved my money. As a result, when the recession hit, I was able to hang on.”
“But for Joe Munich, president and founder of Santa Clara, CA’s High Speed CNC, Inc.—a job shop specializing in producing highly complex, close-tolerance parts for the aerospace, medical, semiconductor, recreation and other industries—the blows hurt, but were not fatal. “Our survival was no accident,” he says. “We survived, and we’re now thriving, because basically, from the time I started this business in 1991, I did two things. I worked hard, and I saved my money. As a result, when the recession hit, I was able to hang on.””
“We’ve always had a loyal staff of experienced employees, and I didn’t want to lose any of their experience. Next, I figured that I might as well use the slow time to finally get organized, to make my shop stand apart from the one down the street. That meant changes in our internal systems and changes in the way we cut metal.”
“With the slowdown caused by the recession, I figured that now was the perfect time to get our internal systems running right. I wanted the best customers, who would pay top dollar for our work, so I went the ISO route. With a consultant coming over once a week, it took us about a year to implement it and get certified. It was expensive, but it’s been well worth it. We’re a different, better shop now that can give our customers the paper trail and the assurances they need. Having our ISO certification let’s customers know we have it together. They’re not afraid to do business with us. Our certification is a great selling point.”
“We were lucky in one way,” he explains. “We had a lot of repeat low-volume work. The problem was we were running it all on standalone machines, no automation. Setup time was killing us. We were like all the other shops running standalone machines. I wanted to do my jobs in one setup, if possible. Some of my jobs had setup times of ten to twelve hours. I wanted to drastically reduce those setup times and turn around jobs faster. If the job down the street delivered in three weeks, I wanted to deliver in one. In today’s competitive marketplace, I believe that’s the only solution.”
The Variaxis 630-5X
The Variaxis 630 5 axis VMC has a highly-rigid, built-in tilting rotary table, unique to the Variaxis series.
“The tilting table allows us to machine work pieces with complex contours and features in a single machine setup,” Munich says. “With the Variaxis I can machine five sides of a cube, then run the other side through automatically on the next pallet. The machine spindle virtually never stops running. Plus, it’s extremely accurate and is very fast. We’ve reduced cycle times somewhat over our standalone five-axis mill, but where the Variaxis shines is in setup.”
Munich purchased the machine with the optional dual pallet system and a 120-tool changer. The result has been major savings in setup and turnaround times.
“We were getting these jobs, little parts, but very complex with angled faces,” Munich says. “Setting up to run them took us anywhere from eight to twelve hours. It was a killer. But that was because we had only twenty-one tools on the standalones. We were constantly stopping, changing tools, stopping and changing. It was eating us up. On the Variaxis the same job can be set up in one to four hours. That’s big-time savings.”
Increased Productivity
Another area of savings with the dual-pallet Variaxis has been its ability to free up manpower for other tasks.
“With my other machines, I might get four or five hours of run time, but then we have to stop and tune them up again. Something falls out of tolerance. Then we’re down again. That never happens with the Variaxis.”
“We run the Variaxis two shifts,” he says. “We’re producing better, higher quality parts now than ever before. We program parts during the day using our own proprietary programming software, plus we save the longer running parts to run at night. The main thing is to keep the Variaxis spindle turning, and we do.”
Automation Lifesaver
"It’s made me very competitive in high-dollar-value work. I have customers all over the country now, which tells me that I’m now competitive with anyone in the United States. That’s a great feeling.”
“Mazak's philosophy is to get the part done in one operation, reduce the inventory, increase throughput and slash lead times. And now that’s my philosophy, too.”
Excerpts taken from Automation Lifesaver: A silicon Valley Job Shop Switches to an Automated 5-axis System to Save its Life. CNC West Online. February/March 2006. Vol. XXIV No.3