Why Pointe Precision is a 20+ Year LNS Customer

Point Precision and LNS North America

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Engineering Manager Eric Trzebiatowski and Application Engineer Nick Blaskey are used to tackling challenges from Pointe Precision, Inc.’s customers, and dealing with today’s competitive manufacturing climate.

The company’s 170 employees machine precision parts ranging from aerospace actuator housings and fuel nozzles to components of medical instruments and orthopedic rods. They perform milling, turning, grinding, heat treating and more in their Plover, Wisconsin CNC shop. They also use 3D printing to create custom fixtures and instrument stands.

“I think what sets us apart from other job shops is that we love a good challenge and work hard to find the best solutions for our customers. We have a step-by-step process that begins with our machinists and engineers working together to determine the most cost-effective way to make a new part before we quote the job. We can do a wide range of operations in-house and have the latest CNC technologies, but it’s our people that make the greatest difference.

Quality people is also an important reason we like working with LNS. Their people are knowledgeable, responsive and dedicated to good service. For example, when they installed a bar feeder on our latest CNC machine, they made modifications on the spot so we could run shorter than normal pieces of bar stock. They can do this because they’re as knowledgeable about the various brands of CNC machines in our shop as they are of their own products.

Currently we have 8, LNS Quick Load Servo S3 automatic bar feeders and recently added 4 of the newer Quick Load Servo S3 T models. Many of the parts we make are from ½” to 3” diameter aluminum, 300 and 400 stainless steel, and Inconel bar stock.

We practice continuous process improvement and look for opportunities to perform multiple operations on one machine to reduce the number of times a part is touched. Sometimes this adds to the cycle time, but ultimately improves throughput. One way the LNS bar feeders help enhance the process is by saving 3 – 4 minutes of setup time through the built-in Part Library that holds the programs for hundreds of parts.

This lets machine operators call up a part program for a job run instead of entering all of the diameter, length and shape data each time. As a result, changeovers are really easy because there are no manual adjustments, it’s all automatic. This feature and the fact that the machines are so reliable let us run jobs unattended.

The LNS Turbo hinge-belt chip conveyors and ChipBLASTER high-pressure coolant systems are also very dependable. The ChipBLASTER chiller keeps coolant tempratures right where we need them to so we can hold tight tolerances even when cutting hard-to-machine materials.

All our LNS machines run trouble-free with just normal maintenance. Like any shop we want to minimize downtime. With LNS, if we need a replacement part, we get it the next day, and technical service is very efficient. When we upgraded the software on our older bar feeders, they made the changes and had us back up and running in less than an hour. They’re also proactive, letting us know when upgrades or modifications are coming that can improve performance.

All of this is why we’ve been an LNS customer for more than 20 years. With reliable products, rock-solid quality and excellent technical support, there’s no reason to shop around.”