I became good friends with Ernie Husted. They have great customer service, and their software guys will keep up with it until they figure it out. We’ ve always complimented each other very well.”
A & M builds many tools that require measurement of tight tolerances. One of the tools they make is a jig- a tool that guides another tool to perform a specific task accurately and repeatedly, acting as a template or guide for precise operations. For example, imagine a custom jig designed to guide a drill to make holes in a table to accept six legs. The jig tool / fixture can then be used to quickly build 1,000 of the same tables with accurately-drilled holes for the legs added during assembly.
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A & M can produce large quantities of products for a customer with a fixture that drills 1,000 holes in an airplane wing. Or, they can make one specified tool for a customer. Ellis said one thing that’ s nice about the industry is that the cost of their equipment has come down. He cited a laser tracker, for which he once paid $ 300,000, would now cost $ 80,000.
Ellis said the combination of their skills and the Verisurf software is a great match for solving customer problems.“ Most of our problem-solving is how we approach the jobs; our strength is to utilize the software to minimize the re-work.”
Regarding competition, Ellis also said that while he does see competition in this space, his age, experience, and the company’ s competence can outperform much of it. He cited how many people with his skill set have retired, so he brings that experience to the table.
Of course, one seasoned team member at A & M is the Operations Manager, Adam Stenerson. He has been with the company for 10 years, and before that, he worked with other manufacturers, which led to a fulfilling 32-year career.
Stenerson said,“ We do tooling well.” The customers send a drawing of a tool or jig showing how they want it to work.“ If there will be issues, we make sure to fix them.” But otherwise, he said, they build to print.
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