STEADY AS SHE GOES

Jerry Broughman, president and CEO of Controlled Turning Inc. (Jackson, MI), has been at the helm since the company was founded 30 years ago. Today, CTI has 26 employees, occupies 7,500 sq ft and operates an array of CNC turning and milling equipment, mostly for short run jobs ? a lot of short run jobs.

Last year 40,000 different types of parts went through the shop ? a lot of variety, diversity and changeover. "Our growth is slow on purpose," Broughman says. "We like to grow in step with our customers' needs. We're not the kind of operation that throws money at things and hopes something works. We take our lead from our customers."

Broughman describes how the company does tooling for the auto industry ? not parts for cars, but rather for tooling to make components for cars. CTI also does hydraulic and pneumatic components, along with medical and dental components.

Machined materials include virtually all forms of ferric and non-ferric material, mild steel, medium alloys, stainless and tool steels, brass and aluminum. "When we pick up a new customer, we grow to fill his needs at that moment," explains Broughman. "Our plans for this coming year are to expand by 3000 sq ft, providing the growth is still there. We were going to do this last year, but we ran out of time and then the weather got to us."

However, when it comes to upgrading technology, that's a different issue entirely. Broughman says the company constantly looks at new equipment, both as additions and replacements. They replace controls on a regular basis. "We use nothing but Fanuc controls and drives," he says, "and Fanuc offers an update every year, so we upgrade about every four or five years."

It's been two to three years since Broughman bought three machines from GBI Cincinnati, Inc.(Cincinnati, OH), a Feeler FV-760 CNC vertical machining center and two Feeler FTC-20 CNC turning centers. "We'd had a relationship with Methods and Equipment Associates (Livonia, MI) going back to 1985, and we always called them in when we needed something new," remarks Broughman. "They began representing GBI Cincinnati and introduced us to the Feeler line. We needed some additional capacity in turning and milling, and our Methods guy suggested we try the Feelers."

One FTC-20 replaced an older machine and the other FTC-20 and the FV-760 were additions to his arsenal of 15 CNC machines. The FV-760 is a 40 taper, 10 hp, 8000 rpm VMC with 30 in x 16.5 in x 20 in travel (X, Y and Z) and linear guideways. Table size is 35 in x 16.5 in with a 660 lb load capacity.

Rapids are 944 in/min (X, Y and Z), positioning accuracy is ±0.0004 in and repeatability is ±0.0002 in. The 18-tool carousel has a tool-to-tool change of 7 sec. The two FTC-20 CNC turning centers have an 8 in chuck diameter, 20 hp, 4500 rpm with a spindle bore of 2.44 in and a bar capacity of 2.04 in. Travels are 7.9 in (X) and 14.96 (Z) with rapids of 944 in/min (X and Z) and repeatability of ±0.00012 in (X) and ±0.0002 in (Z).

The FTC-20s use linear guideways and a max swing over bed of 22 in. Max turning diameter is 13.8 in and turning length is 13.5 in. The turret has 8 tools (12 optional) with bi-directional rotation with a 0.3 sec index time (1.2 sec 180 deg index). They have an MT4 tailstock.

Broughman says that the new machines have run 20 hours a day since they "hit the ground." CTI operates two ten-hour shifts five days and two six-hour shifts on Saturday. "These machine tools are very compact and have a very small footprint, which is one of the things we need due to our shop being very tight on floor space. We pack our machines in wall-to-wall and waste very little space."

The FTC-20s run parts from 1 in to 15 in diameter. The FV-760 runs anything up to an 18 in cube. They hold 0.0004 in on turned parts. Hole patterns on the mill have been within 0.0001 in, point-to-point, at all times. Surface finishes are very good.

The machines run anywhere from a single part to as high as 5500 piece runs. "We currently have a 14,000 piece part run which is a simple screw, but we run parts that require three turning operations followed by four milling operations," explains Broughman. "Some of these jobs are very complicated, but others are really very simple."

Feeler is a relatively new name in the U.S. It's a Chinese brand and some potential buyers don't want to deal with that ? forgetting that Feeler is part of the Fair Friend Group (Taipei, Taiwan), the largest manufacturer of machine tools in China and Taiwan and one of the largest machine builders in the world.

"There are actually people in this business who still think they can buy an all-American machine tool," Broughman remarks. "If you've been running machines with Fanuc controls and drives, you're already dealing with a Japanese company, and they've been proven through years of reliability and constant product updating.

"The mean time between failures for a Fanuc control is so close to nonexistent that it's ridiculous<' he continues. "So my advice in buying machine tools is to approach them all the same: Is the machine solid and stable? Is it rigid? Is it flexible? Will it meet and exceed the tolerances you need to hold? Is it highly repeatable and reliable? Is there an ample support and service staff behind it? Does it meet your requirements from a price and delivery perspective? If the answer to these questions is yes, does it matter where the machine comes from? What really matters is that it enhances your ability to get the work out and keep your customer more than just happy."

CTI's business expanded last year by about 40 percent ? one of their biggest years for growth, but the growth was all one customer. "We had to decide whether to invest in technology to meet the demand," Broughman recalls. "What if the surge was short-lived, a one-time shot that would ebb away after a few months? In the end, we decided to commit to the customer. We just couldn't turn the work down even though we were hard-pressed to put in any more hours. When we went to 20 hours a day, we added one of the FTC-20s as a replacement and the two other Feelers to address our new capacity needs. These moves enabled us to maintain production at a higher level than we were accustomed to."

Expanding that quickly was anything but comfortable. "We hadn't run at a really fast pace before that," says Broughman. "But now we operate quite differently. We stepped it up to a faster pace, and now everyone runs full tilt all time. I give credit to the amazing crew we've got. They get the job done when called upon every time. Give them the right technology and there's nothing that they can't do. For example, since the arrival of the new equipment, we've netted over $21,000 in savings in comparison with other machines we were quoted with the same capabilities. Those are quantifiable results anyone can understand."

Being in Jackson, CTI has weathered its share of the automotive-related ups and downs: the downsizing, the outsourcing, the ever-tighter squeeze on industry suppliers for lower costs and quicker deliveries. "We rode up and down through those years," admits Broughman, "but you can't stop searching for new customers, can't stop working and stop satisfying your current customer base. Needless to say, we take fewer vacations than we'd like to, but that's a small price to pay."

Broughman says the only reason the company exists is to service its customers. That's why the doors open at 6:00 AM, with office hours running through 6:00 PM. "We're never closed for long," he says. "If customers want to reach us, they can get us anytime during the day, and when they call, they speak to a real person, not an answering machine. You can find me at any time of the day. I have a cell phone on my hip, and it's there for a reason ? so you can reach me directly. And that number doesn't go into phone mail. When that number rings, I pick it up no matter what. Our customers say jump, and we say, how high?"

It's a cliché, but that's it in a nut shell. That's why CTI is still around. "That's the way it's been since the beginning, and that's the way it'll stay as long as I have anything to say about it," promises Broughman. One suspects he will have plenty to say about it. "I've been at this for 45 years, and I've seen all the changes and trends come and go in the industry. Most of it really has been exciting. And now that I'm 65, I'm taking some time to sit back and watch a young management team come into its own. But I'm not going anywhere soon.

I plan on working the rest of my life. I enjoy getting up in the morning with the purpose of being here, offering advice and sharing experience and doing what I can to help the ship ride as smoothly as possible."

Controlled Turning Inc., 1607 South Gorham Street, Jackson, MI 49203-3412, 517-782-0517.

GBI Cincinnati, Inc., 6899 Steger Drive Cincinnati, Ohio 45237, 513-841-8684, Fax: 513-841-7326, www.gbicincinnati.com.