Case Study
Aerospace Shop Triples Efficiency Rate with Methods Automation
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Problem
TurboTech Machining struggled to reach the speed, feeds, and quality need for their precision aerospace components. Existing mills failed to achieve desired tolerances, and that risked impacting final customer products. Needing to achieve their own standards and satisfy customer contracts, they sought a new path forward.
Solution
Enter the Methods Automation Plus K60 system. The innovative solution combines the medium-bed FANUC RoboDrill with an automated carousel system featuring 60 part/part carrier positions. The Plus K60's capacity combined with five-axis cutting and automation checked every box for the TurboTech Machining team, and even offered a few surprises along the way.
Results
- Efficiency rate improved to 90%
- Reduced on cost per part and cost per square foot
- Unattended and 24-hour machining
The journey from machinist to CEO is never a straight line. The path is cut through years of experience on the floor learning the arts of what is possible first as an operator, then a team leader and, ultimately, a business leader. Today, Chris Lencioni puts those years into practice as the CEO of TurboTech Machining, LLC.
Located in Rancho Cucamonga, California, TurboTech is a full-service CNC shop producing precision aerospace, defense, commercial, and medical components.
www.turbotechllc.com
“I started off as just a machine operator at a nearby company. I needed a job, and by chance, took the job and fell in love with it,” Lencioni said. “I started out by running a machine, but as I grew into the job, I really came to enjoy the work. The timing and running of machines, being efficient and, of course, making quality parts in the processes.
Lencioni found his calling. He quickly rose to a general managerial position at the shop. Not long after, he made the leap into entrepreneurship by opening TurboTech Machining in 2015.
“After doing the general manager job for a few years, I felt like it was time for me to see how good I actually was. I wanted to put myself to the test and either succeed or fail trying. I wanted to prove to myself how good I thought I was and translate that into my own business,” Lencioni detailed.
“We started off in a really small shop—about 1000 square feet. We had one mill and one working lathe. We were small, but I felt if we produced high quality work, the orders would keep coming.”
Lencioni’s intuition proved correct. Not long after opening the first facility, TurboTech upsized to 3,300 square feet in 2017 with additional machines. The shop again doubled in size to 6,600 square feet by the end of the 2019.
NAVIGATING THE COVID DISRUPTION
After years of upward trajectory, COVID arrived and threw business planning into flux. As CEO, Lencioni’s team looked to him to navigate through the pandemic.
“As an aerospace shop, COVID really forced us to change our thinking. Cancellations were coming in from everywhere. My team and I knew we had to figure out a plan. Where would we get income to keep going?” Lencioni described.
“We mostly attack fairly common materials like titanium, nickel-based alloys, stainless, and of course, we’re always cutting a lot of aluminum. We started working with a local biomedical equipment manufacturer to produce aluminum blocks that go into ventilators,” Lencioni explained. “Not only did that catapult us into the medical device industry, but it really reinforced for me that our business had to be more recession-proof.”
In diversifying their industry bases, soon after came a diversification of the equipment on TurboTech Machining’s floor.
“We were struggling with another brand of machine. Just couldn’t get the feeds and speeds we desired. To that point, I had limited knowledge of what Methods offered,” Lencioni said.
“But I knew [Methods Sales Engineer] Troy [Lunde] from previous stops and knew Troy had the skills to look at a part and honestly give us a no-nonsense recommendation on what machine could get us the results we wanted. He didn’t just try to sell us another piece of equipment.”
ENTER THE FANUC ROBODRILL AND METHODS AUTOMATION
“What I saw at his shop was that about 90% of what came off his mills could fit in the palm of your hand,” Lunde said. “And in California where every square foot of real estate means real money, I knew a solution that would maximize their real estate and their production would be the best bang for their buck.”
Enter the Methods Plus K60 system. The innovative solution combines the medium-bed FANUC RoboDrill with an automated carousel system featuring 60 part/part carrier positions. The Plus K60’s capacity combined with five-axis cutting and automation checked every box for Lencioni.
“There were one or two here who questioned the tool holders on a RoboDrill, but that BT30 taper… there is nothing that restricts us. There’s nothing to be intimidated by with the BT30. There’s nothing we’ve thrown at the RoboDrill that’s stopped us. We even had to switch parts off other five-axis 40 taper machines that weren’t performing and put them on a RoboDrill. And to top it off, we got a taste of how we could actually run 24 hours a day unattended.”
The multiple Plus K60 systems opened doors for TurboTech to evaluate how else Methods’ portfolio could support the business. The RoboDrill solutions were soon followed by the arrival of the 3-axis Methods MV 600H and the five-axis Yasda PX30i.
“We like to differentiate ourselves on what we’ve been doing with Methods,” Lencioni said. “We now have automated five-axis systems, dedicated robotics, and we’re running multiple palletized machines unattended. Combined with same-day or next-day service, we’re getting a level of support to keep our machines running at their maximum efficiency and uptime.”