When it comes to machining wood components, production speed can equal profit—the more components produced and sold, the bigger the bottom line. Barry Schaefer, president of Automated Routing Inc., knows this lesson well.
In an effort to control costs, Schaefer invested in older equipment for his production process. “We were buying older equipment and the technology just wasn’t there,” he said. “Those machines did not have the speed that we needed. We soon noticed that we could not be competitive in our pricing because the machines were outdated. So, we went out and invested in a Thermwood CNC router. We spent $140,000 on it and it really opened our eyes. We learned that we can really make some good money producing components. So, we actually went out and bought another model, this time with a 4’ x 8’ table. It wasn’t long before we had enough work for that machine and we bought the next model up the line, the Model 42.”
When mass producing components, speed makes a difference. “We have a couple of CNC routers that run one thousand, two hundred inches per minute and then we have three of them that run four thousand, two hundred inches per minute and we notice the difference daily by the amount of product being manufactured on these machines. You can imagine the difference at the end of the week.”
Schaefer says the actual routing speed is not as important as the indexing speed. “You want the machine to get from point A to point B as fast as it can. You can’t have the tool running in the air. It needs to be in the material as much as possible. These machines are getting faster and faster, and the controllers these days are just so much more intelligent. You can do so much more with them. The only thing holding speed back now is safety. Those tables will get you if you aren’t careful. Today’s CNC routers are very accurate and the repeatability is great.”
Schaefer should know a little about CNC router operation—he uses nine in his current operation. In fact, that is all his company uses. You will not find any sanding equipment, finishing lines or cut-to-size equipment when you walk through the facility at ARI. “A lot of people may own these machines, but they do not know how to run them,” he said. “We specialize in getting high production and quality from our CNC routers.”
“This market we are in is good for us right now,” he said. “I do not believe there are a lot of companies out there offering the services that we do—at least not around here. So, demand for us is very high and we are turning work down because we are so busy.”
Before running out and making a substantial investment in CNC technology, a manufacturer should be able to forecast the future. “Before investing in equipment like this I would suggest that a manufacturer have a decent relationship with his customer. He has to see that there will be enough work in his customer’s future to warrant the investment in expensive equipment,” Schaefer said.
ARI, located in St. Meinrad, Indiana, got its start in Schaefer’s garage with the $2,000 purchase of the smallest CNC router made by Thermwood in 1993. Kimball International, a producer of television parts, kitchen cabinets, home furnishings, pianos, organs and pool tables, was the first company to contact Schaefer about machining some television cabinets for Mitsubishi. “Kimball was happy with our work and began asking me for more and more. After a while, semi-trucks were unloading material at my house and my neighbors were wondering what was happening,” Schaefer said.
Today, the company has 32,000 square feet and 31 employees. ARI produces approximately 60 trailer loads of material per week. ARI has a revolving schedule with Kimball. “I just keep manufacturing parts and shipping truckloads to them every day. For any other customer, we usually have a two to three week period to turn parts around,” Schaefer said.
Overall, Schaefer expects the company to gross $3 million this year. Approximately one-third of that gross is attributed to a growing plastic machining service offered by ARI. The company is producing high-density polyethylene (HDPE) dividers.
“A company called us from Michigan and asked if we could machine plastic. We asked ourselves ‘why not’ and then we were off and running. It is a fast growing section of our business right now,” Schaefer said. “Machining plastics is virtually the same as wood. The only thing that changes is the tooling. We use acrylic cutters for plastics.”
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