News

As Seen In Aerospace Manufacturing and Design Magazine.

TCI Precision Metals ships custom, precision Machine-Ready Blanks throughout the U.S., saving shop owners time and money, while increasing production capacity by 25% or more.  Machine-Ready Blanks are ready to be placed directly onto the customer’s machining centers, eliminating time consuming prep work. Based on using customer provided data, practical experience, and simulation software, TCI has effectively calculated the actual time and resources required to prepare machine-ready material to spec from rough stock. This includes sawing, squaring, grinding/milling to tolerances of +/- .0005” dimensionally and .0002” flatness, squareness, and parallelism. Actual productivity gains vary depending on job specifications, but the results of this in depth analysis reveals many shops gain as much as 25% capacity using Machine-Ready Blanks, without adding equipment or people.

Additional value of using Machine-Ready Blanks is realized by shop owners who consider, often unrecognized, costs associated with prepping materials.

Direct labor cost, plus benefits and workers’ comp
Unnecessary wear and tear of equipment, paid for, or not
Facility costs and general overhead
Tool costs
Waste
“There is a small premium to be paid on the front end for Machine-Ready Blanks versus buying rough stock,” says John Belzer, president of TCI Precision Metals, “but the time savings and increased shop capacity more than justify the expense. In order to manage customer quality, part price and delivery expectations shops have to become more efficient. It is all about shipping and getting paid faster.  This is where Machine-Ready Blanks make economic sense.”