Moving Up To CNC Swiss Screw Machines

Three new CNC Swiss machines in 18 months have provided real growth for this Illinois shop.

by Leo Rakowski

CNC Swiss screw machines can get your shop moving in profitable new directions. Just ask Keith Pflum, president of Precision-Tek Mfg., Inc., a Swiss screw machine shop located in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Until about 2 years ago, Precision-Tek's production equipment consisted primarily of 2-dozen Swiss automatic screw machines, which are great for relatively uncomplicated, turned parts with large length-to-diameter ratios. However, according to Mr. Pflum, most of that kind of work has gone overseas. Increasingly, the shop found itself quoting more sophisticated parts that required cross-drilling, tapping, milling and similar work, which the shop had to handle as secondary machining operations.

"We weren't competitive," Mr. Pflum recalls. "The prices that we quoted included the additional setups, machining operations and the extra part handling needed to produce the parts. We weren't getting the work. When we'd follow up with calls to the customers, they would tell us that our quotes were 20 percent to 30 percent higher than those from other shops."

Some jobs were so complex that the shop declined to quote them. However, Mr. Pflum kept a file of those jobs, and as the file grew, it was becoming increasingly obvious that he lacked the equipment needed to compete for what appeared to be, in most cases, very profitable jobs.

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