Jackson is a chemist by trade. He’d used the
inspection equipment provider’s digital microscopes
in the past, and says “he loves KEYENCE equipment.”
So, when he was approached by the local system
specialist about the company’s IM Series Instant
Measurement System, the next-generation,
automated optical comparator, Jackson welcomed
him in for a demonstration.
Once a family-owned company, Gamma was
acquired by the Chicago-based private investment
firm, Ashland Capital Partners, in March of 2017.
Since then, the company has invested heavily in
new equipment and manufacturing technology,
and during a board meeting late last year to review
department needs, Jackson was asked to define his
biggest hurdle going forward.
Transitioning teams and technologies
“Though we had some great equipment at our disposal,
we were definitely lacking the right tools to measure
There’s more to this story than finding an efficient
the smaller parts,” he says. “But even if we’d had
way to check small parts, however. Jackson was
those tools, our biggest bottleneck was a lack of
also plagued with a problem that virtually all
skilled inspectors. So, when the board asked me what
manufacturing companies can relate to: finding
I was going to do to resolve the situation, I told them
qualified people—in his case, inspectors. Fortunately, about the KEYENCE equipment, explaining that it
he soon discovered a way to address both of these
would not only solve our small parts challenges, but
issues.
was easy enough to use that we could leverage less
experienced people to operate it.”
Since 1971, Gamma Aerospace has made a name
for itself as a leader in aerospace component
The board’s response: “Why haven’t you bought it
manufacturing. With extensive machining
yet?”
capabilities as well as proficiency in deep drawing,
forming, bending, and assembly, the company has
Two new tools
attracted customers such as Boeing, Bell Helicopter,
Spirit AeroSystems, and others.
Jackson took the board’s approval and ran
with it. He ordered a KEYENCE IM Series
Instant Measurement System as well as
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WIRE NEWS September 2019 5