Function Over Form

The discrete parts industry in the United States is far more diverse than the public commonly understands, with a variety of facilities that run the gamut of size and complexity, with most manufacturers producing a variety of parts using a combination of CNC and traditional machines. However, in my years with Modern Machine Shop, I regularly find that the diversity of machine shops in size, equipment and industries served belies a commonality that often goes unappreciated. 

On my recent travels, I visited two Georgia shops that, on the surface, could not be any more different. Aerotech Machining in Savannah, Georgia, is — as its name suggests — an aerospace manufacturer with dozens of employees that relies on multi-axis CNC machines to produce a variety of complex parts. On the other hand, Montalvo Machine in Statham, Georgia, is a one-person job shop running a couple traditional lathes and a bench mill out of a facility the size of a barn.

Featured Content

Robotic Cells Transform Archery Bow Manufacturing Efficiency READ MORE

When Will We See Humanoid Robots on the Manufacturing Floor? READ MORE

10 Tips for Dressing Your Grinding Wheel READ MORE

Aerotech is equipped with several large thre- and five-axis Mazak milling machines, as well as mill-turn machines. Here we can see multiple Mazak five-axis mills connected to a Palletech palletized automation system.
Source: Aerotech Machining

The differences are obvious, with older lathes contrasting against the slick designs of Mazak mill-turn machines and the homey collection of children’s toys on tool shelves standing out in comparison to the strictly professional atmosphere of the larger shop. Outsiders to the industry might not recognize that the people in cubicles at Aerotech’s programming office could be in the same industry as Mason Montalvo, owner of Montalvo Machine, who designs CAD files on Autodesk’s Fusion software on a PC he built and at a desk he crafted and shares with his wife above the shop. Then Aerotech CEO Joey Jones introduced me to his son — an engineering student at a local university who intends to join the company — and I remember that in this industry you can be hard-pressed to find a business that isn’t a family business.

While Montalvo’s family makes its mark on his shop obvious, Aerotech is just as personal a venture for Jones, who makes a point of ensuring his company is a place where employees can grow and feel valued. He regularly assists employee with their education, offering training and mentorships to help people grow. Even while I was visiting the facility, the longest-tenured machinist was mentoring a green worker on running conventional lathes, something for which the newbie volunteered. But what about machinists who feel protective of their hard-earned skills, who want to keep an edge over their coworkers by keeping knowledge to themselves? “I’ve known great machinists like that, and they have no place here,” Jones says. “If you aren’t going to help lift up the next generation of machinists, if you’re not going to do your best to help the people around you grow, you aren’t a good fit for Aerotech.”

Mason Montalvo designed and built this steady rest to fit his LeBlond manual lathe. His ingenuity and love of solving problems himself drove him to start his own machine shop.

On the other hand, while Aerotech’s dedication to excellence was obvious in the quality of technology on display, Montalvo’s dedication is obvious in the ingenuity on display. When, for example, he needed a steady rest for certain parts, he reverse-engineered top-of-the-line examples, then designed and built himself one custom-fit to his LeBlond manual lathe. “I probably spent $7,000 in labor on that,” he says, “so I can see why they’re so expensive.” He does not regret the experience, however, as the drive to build that rest is similar to the drive that pushed him to start his own business. “It’s the challenge. I want to do it to say I can.” 

If anything, the major difference between them is that shops face different challenges as they grow in size. Tool vending machines, for example, are only useful once a large enough workforce is using cutting tools and other consumables in the shop. ERP software is likewise only needed because the variety of systems that develop to create sense out of the chaos of managing dozens of employees and hundreds of customers benefit from a central solution to organize the organization systems. These are challenges that require as much ingenuity as engineering the right fixture for a difficult part, but we do not always recognize this fact.

While shops grow in complexity as they grow in size, every shop depends on the ingenuity and hard work of its employees. At large shops, the ingenuity is spread out, with machinists, programmers and administrators all tackling different challenges to keep parts moving through at a tremendous pace. At a one-man shop, those challenges all fall on one person — hopefully, someone who revels in the challenge like Montalvo does. But the great pleasure of writing for MMS is meeting people like Montalvo and Jones, who revel in these challenges and do their best to uplift the people around them, and I find people like that in every kind of shop I have seen.