Tooling and molding equipment supplier PCS Co. has added machinery from Mori, an NHX6300 horizonal milling machine and DMV 115 vertical milling machine, that will improve its productivity.
"Mori machines give us the latest technology, the best innovation that they have and that's on the market today," said Derrick Jones, vice president of sales for PCS. "Anybody that doesn't have their current generation is going to be behind."
The new equipment improves lead times and increases capacity by 20 percent or more. PCS is analyzing productivity on the shop floor and adding more employees to support the new additions. PCS is also exploring intuitive automation with Mori to implement on the new machines.
The new machines can handle higher speed and high rigidity compared with past models, the company said.
PCS has been working with Mori for more than 10 years, making new additions to the facility a seamless transition. With similar controls, employees are already familiar with, training is expected to be easy.
An apprenticeship program provides a three-year apprenticeship program, along with a structured plan for journeymen. Currently there are two participants going through the program, but PCS is looking to add more.
"I would say our competitive advantage is just our really skilled labor force that can run these machines across functionally and we just have really great people," Angela Elsey, president of PCS.
The company also has rolled out a new online ejector housing configurator, leading to more flexibility and security while ordering online. The process is now more user-friendly for customers deciding what components are wanted and get issued more seamlessly.
Another configurator featured is the new F.I.T.S. (fast interchangeable tooling system) that PCS has made to work with the inserts that are compatible with PCS frames.
"We've been working on our configurators nonstop, we're always looking voice of customer how do we improve our configurators," Elsey said. "A few years ago, it would take us three days to turn around a quote we can now turn it around in an hour because our configurator is so interactive."