Johnson Precision Inc. is boosting its mold-making capability with the addition of three new machining centers.
``The whole reason is to get parts built quicker and to keep at bay the overseas challenge,'' said Richard St. Onge, president and chief executive officer.
The Amherst, N.H., custom mold maker and molder completed a two-year upgrade with the installation of the new machinery in mid-July. The latest additions are two Fanuc Robodrills and a Doosan S280N.
St. Onge said the high-speed machining boosts its mold-making and custom machining services. Johnson Precision also has three Mitsubishi wire electric discharge machines, three Mitsubishi vertical computer numerically controlled EDMs, a Fanuc high-speed miller and other milling machines. Overall, the equipment is worth more than $3 million, he said.
The company formed in 1982 as a mold maker and added injection molding in 1984. Molding now accounts for about 75 percent of the company's $6 million in sales.
Johnson Precision is ISO 9001 certified with 68 employees at its 46,600-square-foot facility. Fourteen of the workers are toolmakers.
He said the company makes one-, two-, four- and eight-cavity molds for customers wanting to make 500-500,000 components or more a year. St. Onge said about 65 percent of the work is medical-related, but Johnson Precision also does electronic and other contract work.
The company does laser marking and microscopic TIG welding. The supplemental services, according to St. Onge, help compress the firm's timetable, as items do not have to be outsourced.
``We really want our existing customers to feel that they don't need to use the Chinese influence to be competitive,'' said St. Onge.
He said that as a specialist in insert molding, Johnson Precision uses machined subcomponents for some projects. In the past, it had waited for some components from customer-specified vendors, but now it does the entire project in-house and usually in less time, he said.
