Aerotech Machining’s list of recent purchases is eye-catching: Mazak Integrex machines. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printers. A three-machine Palletech system with 44 pallets. A manual turning machine with a capacity for parts up to 320 inches.

Aerotech’s machinists determine which machines can run a pallet in its Palletech system based on the needs of the part and the availability of the machines. From there, the system itself schedules jobs for maximum efficiency. Image courtesy of Aerotech Machining.

The seeming disparity between this last machine and the others caught Modern Machine Shop’s eye. For a shop dedicated to running its smaller parts lights out, which also uses a 3D printer for some parts and double-column bridge mills for others, investing in a new manual lathe seems an odd choice. But it’s all part of the Bloomingdale, Georgia, shop’s overall plan to match the right machines to its tasks, using a breadth of systems that earned Aerotech its status as the 2025 Modern Machine Shop Top Shops Honoree in Machining Technology.

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Aerospace and Beyond

As implied in the name, Aerotech Machining has a strong focus on aerospace work, though it also highlights jobs it has undertaken in the agriculture, rail and power generation markets. Many of its machines are Mazak machine tools that use the OEM’s SmoothAI controls, which minimize vibrations by automatically optimizing speeds and feeds based on machine tool data. Beyond these, the shop maintains CNC machine tools from Okuma, Haas and Nomura; waterjet cutters from Flow and Omax; FDM printers from MakerBot; manual lathes from Kingston; and more.

CEO Joey Jones says the shop does its utmost to keep up with new manufacturing technologies and is willing to invest in employee skills to ensure it has the staff to run these technologies. The shop has an apprenticeship program that starts new hires in a classroom environment to learn essential skills before they begin learning on the shop floor. There, they work with manual machines and progress to learning CNC machines, with experienced machinists working as mentors. This willingness to work across generations is a requirement for Aerotech’s employees, with Jones saying that machinists who refuse to help the next generation learn have no place at Aerotech, no matter how skilled they are. Jones is also willing to further invest in the skills of any employee who desires to learn programming and invites CAD/CAM software companies to lead yearly workshops for Aerotech employees.

Never Crossing the (Revenue) Streams

Part of this willingness to invest comes from Jones’ awareness of the difficulties around recruiting for manufacturing experience. When the shop bought its first Mazak pallet pool in 2011, its reasoning for automation was that it needed to get more done with limited staff. But after 14 years and 25,000 hours of work on that pallet pool, the reason for its continuing to automate has evolved.

High international shipping costs mean that large parts have continued to be a successful niche for U.S. job shops, but the market for these parts can be irregular. As such, Aerotech set up a job shop area as a secondary source of revenue. But the shop needed to keep its largest machines available for large-part work and ensure this secondary revenue stream wouldn’t take employees needed in the large-part department during demand peaks. In short, Aerotech needed its high-mix department to be heavy on automation.

Today, the job shop area has four Mazak Integrex multitasking machines that enable Aerotech to produces parts complete in one setup, as well as a Mazak QuickTurn 500MY with 160 inches between centers — a size Jones says is good for producing agricultural parts. The shop also uses a half-dozen five-axis Haas VMCs, as well as two Okuma VMCs meant for hard milling and difficult materials.

But the jewels of Aerotech’s smaller part setups are its two Palletech systems. One of these is a four-axis Mazak HCN-5000 attached to 12 pallets, while the other is a three-machine system with another four-axis Mazak HCN-5000 and two five-axis Mazak Variaxis i800 NEOs. Every machine on this latter 44-pallet system system has a tool changer for a combined 400-tool capacity. Jones says this three-machine system only needs two employees to run it, as once pallets and programs are loaded, the Palletech system controls when each program runs to maximize efficiency.

To ensure that its job shop succeeds as a secondary stream of revenue while not pulling machinists away from large-part production, Aerotech invests in machines with strong done-in-one capability or automation options. Image courtesy of Eli Plaskett.

Big Parts Call for Big Machines

Thus far, the shop has been able to keep its palletized and automated machine workflow separate from its large-part workflow. Machines carrying out Aerotech’s large-part work include two Mazak FJV-60/120s, which have capacities of 60 inches by 120 inches and which the shop tasks to run linear parts. These machines have a progressive fixturing system to help the shop efficiently tackle three operations at a time. Blanks move into the op. 1 fixture, then are run again in the op. 2 fixture and once more in the op. 3 fixture —with new blanks set up right behind them, so that each time the operators open the doors, they remove a complete part.

Aerotech also uses two profilers: a Mazak Vortex 815/120-II with a 100-horsepower spindle and 32-inch by 120-inch travels, and a larger Vortex 1400 with 55-inch by 165-inch travels. Even larger is the shop’s Mazak SVC 2000L/200 VMC, which sports 20-inch by 200-inch travels. Aerotech produces wing spars on this last machine, using the larger work area to set up four wing spars at a time and reduce overall setup time. The machine’s X-axis rapid traverse rate of 4,725 inches per minute also helps maintain low positioning times on the long X-axis.

But the longest parts the shop produces do not run on its fleet of CNC machines. Jones gives an example of one shaft part that was 22 feet in length with an eight-inch diameter. Finding a CNC machine large enough to handle the job would prove a challenge, and financing it against the frequency of this kind of job would prove even more difficult. Instead, the shop uses a Kingston manual lathe it recently bought, leveraging its 40-inch by 320-inch travels. While the expense of a CNC machine would have made these jobs unprofitable, the lower cost of the manual machine was far simpler to finance, and has paid dividends by making these more infrequent jobs possible.

This isn’t the first time Aerotech Machining’s strategies have caught Modern Machine Shop’s attention. In 2023, Eli Plaskett visited the shop to discuss how it has succeeded in aerospace machining for over 30 years under the eye of founder and CEO Joey Jones. Image courtesy of Eli Plaskett.

Versatility Through Technology

CNC and conventional mills and lathes are powerful tools, but Aerotech also invests in a wider range of technology to grant it more versatility. Beyond the waterjet machines and 3D printers mentioned earlier, Aerotech recently replaced its propane-powered forklifts with new battery-powered ones. Jones is pleased about the efficiency of these new forklifts, as they have less-frequent maintenance requirements and eliminate the need to order propane bottles.

The shop has also invested heavily into its quality lab. The positive air pressure lab is maintained between 68 and 71° Fahrenheit year-round to ensure consistency on its two CMMs. The smaller of the two is a Mitutoyo machine with a 39-inch by 58-inch capacity, while its larger Brown & Sharpe cousin has a 48-inch by 120-inch capacity. The two are joined by a Hexagon Absolute Arm 85 measuring arm the shop bought at IMTS 2024 for increased measurement flexibility. At the time of MMS’s last visit to the shop, Aerotech was also in the midst of constructing a tool room, for which it had already bought a Lyndex-Nikken tool presetter to assist in job preparations.

It’s this forward-thinking approach to technology that helps the shop succeed, both during upturns in its favored niche — Jones speaks of recurring jobs that saw sudden upticks from monthly orders of three or four parts to orders of 50 each month — and in its secondary revenue streams during the lean times. It keeps its feet firmly in both the realm of automated CNC machining and the world of manual machining, using each and expanding to other technologies when necessary, always with an eye to the future.