Reduce Setup Time, Improve Production Throughput, Reduce Scrap

TCI Precision Metals will be showing its precision Machine-Ready Blanks capabilities to sporting and shooting industry manufacturers at the Shot Show 2020, Las Vegas, NE, January 2--21, Palazzo Ballroom, 5th Floor Venetian Hotel Meeting Rooms, booth 51437.

“Machine-Ready Blanks from TCI Precision Metals helps manufacturers increase throughput up to 25% allowing them to ship finished parts fast and get paid quicker,” said Ben Belzer, President.  With a single purchase order customers receive custom precision blanks ready to load directly into their CNC machining centers.  Precision blanks eliminate the need for in-house sawing, grinding, flattening, squaring operations and outside processing.  Each blank arrives deburred, clean and to customer specifications – guaranteed as close as +/- .0005” dimensionally and as close as .0002” flatness, squareness, and parallelism.  “Customers can use the time they previously spent in setup and prep for more productive use of CNC machining centers, adding to their bottom-line profitability.  And with our ability to consistently produce close tolerance, flat blanks, part movement is reduced, improving overall quality, added Belzer.”

  1. Improve working conditions for your employee’s health and safety.
  2. Reduce your Company’s footprint on the environment, including energy consumption, process improvement, and material handling.
  3. Shorten turnaround time on customer orders.
  4. Increase capacity and efficiency to better support customers.
  5. Expand capabilities to increase your value to customers.
  6. Improve quality by using the latest technology.

Here at TCI Precision Metals reinvesting in our business has never been a question.  Like most, our challenge has always been WHAT, WHERE, HOW MUCH, and WHEN to invest? Of course, there is always repair, maintenance and overhaul going on, but I’m talking about capital investment.  New equipment, technology, facilities, and human resources to make it all work.

As a family business, we have always maintained the philosophy, if you take care of the Company, the Company will take care of you.  If you subscribe to this thinking and apply some simple logic, it will help guide you in making important reinvestment decisions.

For us, WHAT and WHERE to reinvest is pretty straight forward. We recognize our business is made up of three key elements: customers, employees, and equipment.  All three are interlaced and require the utmost care and attention. As an example, the following are reinvestment's TCI Precision Metals has made over the last 12-months:

HOW MUCH and WHEN to reinvest in your shop will fluctuate based on the inherent ebbs and flows of the manufacturing industry.  Most companies tend to reserve 25-30% of annual profits for taxes and reinvestment purposes, which is why for many, the end-of-the-year is a popular time to assess and invest.

Thanks for reading -

Ben

TCI spokesperson.  The THV800 is designed to shorten customer lead time and handle increasing demand for Custom Machine-Ready Blanks.  TCI Machine-Ready Blanks are milled in width and length using the THV800's specially designed twin spindle, in one set up instead of two.  More-West.  More-Southwest.  More-Midwest.  More-Southeast.  More-Northeast.

New Feature-Added Blanks from TCI Precision Metals provide customers near-net Machine-Ready Blanks that include one or more features.  Feature-Added Blanks eliminates the need for material prep and can include drill, bore, turn, mill, rough and hog out features as specified. More-Southwest.  More-Southeast.

TCI Precision Metals, today, announced the installation of its newest high tech milling machine.  The new Amada, THV800 is the latest in precision duplex milling and adds to the line of optimized milling machines used by TCI Precision Metals in the production of Machine-Ready Blanks.  More

It seems a lot of folks these days ares caught up in the promise of lights-out machining and manufacturing.  The term alone conjures up images of a dark factory, fully automated and requiring no human presence on-site. Reality is somewhere in between lights-on and lights-out, with the concept being more of a philosophy than a specific process.

There are many shops capable of running lights-out production, but very few do it exclusively.  In most cases workers are necessary to set up tombstones, remove completed parts, and keep an eye on quality.  Reducing overhead, and a drive to increase productivity continues to push the concept forward, and motivate the development of technology to support it.

When considering lights-out or semi-lights-out machining it is important to maintain a practical perspective.  The finished part must be consistent with the quality of your shop and meet customer expectations. Lights-out does not have to be an all or nothing proposition; some processes are very difficult to remove direct human interaction from them, and attempting to do so can push consistent performance and quality to the brink.

There are many variables that must be considered and overcome before you can start turning the lights-out:

Material selection is probably one of the biggest factors in determining lights-out feasibility.  Softer materials like 6061 aluminum, brass and certain plastics will not wear down the tool as fast and do not tend to produce long wiry chips that can build up or bird-nest. On the other hand, harder materials, like 304 stainless is difficult to machine and has a tendency to wear and damage tools, and produce wiry chips.  Supper alloys, like Titanium, should never be machined unattended.

At TCI we provide consistent, close tolerance, Machine-Ready Blanks suitable for lights-on, human interaction, lights-off robotic handling, or anywhere in between.  The key is, Precision Machine-Ready Blanks show up clean, deburred, and ready to go directly from your receiving dock into your machining center. Machine-Ready Blanks eliminate material prep, and because they are identical blank-to-blank, fixturing is quick and easy - reducing cycle time, chip-to-chip.

Shops have reported increases in throughput by as much as 25% using Machine-Ready Blanks.  In my opinion, at the end of the day, it really comes down to improving productivity without sacrificing quality, lights-on or lights-out.

Thanks for reading; we’ll keep the lights-on for you.

Ben

TCI Precision Metals has announced the installation of its newest high tech milling machine. The new Amada, THV800 is the latest in precision duplex milling and adds to the line of optimized milling machines used by TCI Precision Metals in the production of Machine-Ready Blanks. The THV800 will continue to shorten customer lead time and handle increasing demand for Custom Machine-Ready Blanks. More...

TCI Precision Metals, Gardena, Calif., has installed an Amada THV800 duplex milling machine for the production of its Machine-Ready Blanks™.  The blanks are milled in width and length, using the machine’s twin spindle, in one setup instead of two. One or more blanks can be produced together, up to the machine’s overall dimensional capacity of 16.93 by 16.93 by 9.6 in.  Custom blanks can be furnished as close as +/-0.0005 in. dimensionally and as close as 0.0002 in. in flatness, squareness, and parallelism. More...

Waterjet Cutting

OMAX 80X Series Waterjet

TCI Precision Metals offers precision waterjet cutting services using the lasted precision CAD cut abrasive jet technology available. Our Omax 80X waterjet machine with patented Tilt-A-Jet head provides precision finished edge cuts that are guaranteed to be square.

Tilt-A-Jet head guarantees a square finished edge

The speed, precision, and flexibility of waterjet cutting make it an excellent choice for cutting virtual any type of material, including stainless steel, cast iron bronze, copper, aluminum plate, plastic and more.

Located in Gardena, California, TCI Precision Metals maintains more than 500,000 lbs. plate and sheet inventory for quick turnaround of waterjet cut parts, either across town or across the country.

Waterjet cutting offers many advantages

Sustainability

TCI Precision Metals waterjet cutting is environmentally friendly and sustainable.  Waterjet creates less scrap, uses less electricity than conventional cutting methods, and the water and garnet used for cutting is completely recycled.

TCI Precision Metals offers precision waterjet cutting on any of the following materials

Customers of all types rely on TCI Precision Metals for fast, high precision waterjet cutting

Our OMAX 80X waterjet, with patented Tilt-A-Jet head, provides incredible cutting tolerances from any CAD file.  And our waterjet machine operators are second to none and able to handle any project. To learn more about TCI Precision Metals and the benefits of waterjet cutting for your business, contact us or request a quote, today.

Highest Precision and fastest Abrasivejet Waterjet in the Industry

TCI Precision Metals today announced the installation of the new OMAX 80X waterjet machining center.  The new machine is faster and more accurate compared to any abrasive jet waterjet in the industry, which will help TCI Precision Metals shorten customer lead times, provide greater cutting efficiency, and reduce prices for the waterjet cutting services. 

 Waterjet cutting is a great choice for many applications:  it does not create heat-affected zones or mechanical stresses; there are no tool changes and minimal fixturing, which  reduces set up by 50% or more; the edge cuts are satin-smooth reducing secondary operations; and the whole process is environmentally green, with quiet, clean operation and low electrical consumption.

OMAX waterjet machining centers are recognized as being highly accurate, flexible, and efficient.  With its Tilt-A-Jet cutting head technology, the model 80X produces high precision, finished edge cuts that are square, with no edge tapper, which is a problem with many other waterjet matching centers.    With a cutting Travel of 13’4″ x 6’8″, Z-Axis Travel 8″, and overall table size of 15’0″ x 7’5″, the 80X is very versatile. 

TCI Precision Metals is now capable of waterjet cutting a wide range of materials and thicknesses, from metals and composites to glass and plastics.  As a machine-ready metals distributor with over 500,000 lbs of material in stock, including several grades of aluminum and stainless steel sheet and plate stock, as well as other alloys, TCI Precision Metals can deliver quick turnaround, coast-to-coast.

“At TCI Precision Metals we add value to every part we ship, whether we supply the material or use customer supplied stock,” said Ben Belzer, President of TCI Precision Metals.”

Founded in 1956, TCI Precision Metals is a family-owned, wholesale, Machine-Ready Metals Distributor, producing precision cut parts and Machine-Ready Blanks from aluminum, stainless steel, and other alloys. Sawing, Waterjet Cutting, Grinding, Milling and Finishing operations with the added benefit of being a plate and sheet distributor make TCI Precision Metals a one-stops shop for value-added metal services. TCI Precision Metals offers customers rough CNC milling and turning services when large amounts of material need to be removed or features added to solid parts or castings. Complete-to-print components can also be produced.  TCI serves the needs of the medical, oil & gas, aerospace, industrial equipment, defense, food packaging, semiconductor, and many other industries. 

Skip to content