October 2018

MacKay Manufacturing reduces leadtimes with ESPRIT and Tsugami
Combining the power of ESPRIT and Tsugami has proved to be a boon for MacKay
Manufacturing, reducing the time the company takes to machine complex parts.
Founded in 1986, MacKay Manufacturing is a job shop that produces high-performancemachined parts and sub-assemblies, with a focus on aerospace parts, surgicalinstruments and devices. The company has more than 135 employees at its Spokane,
Washington, facility, where it also runs a two-year on-the-job training program to makesure its machinists get the experience they need to take on the company’s complicatedprojects.

“We can now machine thispart in three minutes andmake a far better part than
we had previously. We
couldn’t have done thiswithout ESPRIT and theirtechnical support, nor could
we have done this without
the capability of the Tsugami
lathe.”
Gabe Compton, Manufacturing Supervisor

At any given time, MacKay has between 400 and 600 work orders in progress. Job
quantities can range from a one-off prototype part to several thousand pieces,machined in common metals like aluminum, titanium and stainless steel, as well as
more exotic materials like ToughMet and ceramic plastics. The parts MacKay makes
are typically complex and made with challenging materials, requiring tight tolerances,
special certifications and efficient prototyping. MacKay places a high emphasis on
oversight and maintaining robust documentation control and production process
tracking to assure customers that it has purchased the correct raw materials and isproperly utilizing them during each step of the manufacturing process.
MacKay’s production department runs 17 mills — 11 horizontal Leblond Makinomachining centers with 5-axis capabilities, three vertical Mori Seiki mills and twoWillemin-Macodel 408MTs. It also runs 16 lathes and Swiss-style turning machines,including three Tsugami 20 mm Swiss-type screw machines with IEMCA BOSS 325 barfeeders, a Tsugami MU26, and five Tsugami 32 mm Swiss-type turning centers withdual spindles and independent turrets, live tooling and thread whirling options, and anLNS Hydrobar feeder. The prototype department has six Mori Seiki vertical mills, twowire EDMs, three Bridgeport mills and three lathes of its own.
To efficiently cut small parts, MacKay purchased its first 20 mm screw-type Tsugami
machine in 1998. “We chose Tsugami because they have a reputation for being reliable,durable machines — and they’ve proved that to be true,” says MacKay’s manufacturing
supervisor, Gabe Compton. “We also chose Tsugami because of their excellent
customer service and their relationship with the Tsugami/Rem Sales distributor Ellison© 2018 DP Technology Corp. All right reserved.

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Technologies, with whom we were already affiliated.” (Rem Sales is the North American
importer of Tsugami machine tools and sells Tsugami machines via national distribution
channels and direct sales agents.) Tsugami also offered MacKay the opportunity tostandardize its machinery, a necessity for a rapidly growing company.

L-tip part for a device used in endoscopic surgeries
programmed with ESPRIT and machined on aTsugami BO326.

MacKay began using ESPRIT in early 2010 on a Mori Seiki machine and now runs fiveseats of the CAM system to generate code for multiple machines, including the Tsugami
lathes. “ESPRIT solved an issue common to many shops: how can we get a better,more efficient program to the production floor and do it before the job is ready to start?”says Compton. “We are now able to preprogram the parts before they are scheduled togo into the machine. This has proved to be far more productive than programming thejob at the machine, which takes up valuable time that could be used to manufactureparts. Now we have the tools staged and setup sheets created before the job isscheduled to run. We just have to load the code, set the tools and go.”
The pairing of ESPRIT and Tsugami has been beneficial for MacKay. “The Tsugami
lathes allow us to meet the requirements for increased parts production. Their relative
ease of use and durability have given us the ability to meet growing demand,” Compton
explains. “At the same time, we’ve been able to use ESPRIT to reduce the time spent
programming at the machines. This helps us reduce our lead times for customers.”

Screw machinist programming an adjustment
screw for a medical device.

For example, MacKay makes a small L-tip part for a device used in endoscopic
surgeries. MacKay initially ran the part as a lathe blank, meaning that it would run all of
the round features and then send the part to the milling department to cut the “L” shape.
The lathe blank ran for a minute and a half on the Tsugami BS20 and then for an
additional five minutes on a mill. In the years since taking on the project, the company
has brought on new cutting tool technology and speeder heads; combined with anincreasing knowledge of what is possible on the Tsugami BO326-II and within ESPRIT,
MacKay felt confident enough last year to take on the challenge of making the partusing only a BO326-II.
“We can now machine this part in three minutes and make a far better part than we hadpreviously. We have since taken on two other parts in this part family and make thementirely on the lathe as well,” Compton says. “We couldn’t have done this without
ESPRIT and their technical support, nor could we have done this without the capabilityof the Tsugami lathe.”Modified handle and adapter programmed withESPRIT and machined on a Tsugami BO326.

As MacKay looks to the future, the focus is on growth and meeting customer needs ontime, while maintaining the highest quality in the industry. “Being a job shop and having
the capability and certifications to make just about anything for anyone, the futureseems bright for us here at MacKay,” Compton concludes.

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Camarillo, CA
93012 USAespritcam.com
esprit@dptechnology.com© 2018 DP Technology Corp. All right reserved.

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