Part-to-part consistency key to shop’s success

Dan Olsen never intended to open a machine shop. Not after completing his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering. Not after he graduated from Northeastern University with an MBA in 2008. Not even when he sold aftermarket marine components—zinc anodes, primarily—something he’d been doing throughout college.

But when prompted by requests from customers for products that their existing manufacturing supply chains were not producing, Olsen made the leap into manufacturing. “I thought, ‘This is ridiculous. Being first to market with these replacement parts is of strategic importance to a company’s success. I can make these parts myself,'” he said.

Mach Machine Inc., Hudson, Mass., had humble beginnings. Anyone who’s tried to open a machine shop knows that it requires plenty of capital investment. In Olsen’s case, however, he started with a laptop, a 1991 Hamill CNC milling machine—which, at the time, already was considered antiquated—and $10,000 from his savings. He taught himself to develop, read and write G code; machine parts; and build fixtures. “I probably wouldn’t have bought that machine if I’d known any better,” he said. “But it got us off the ground.”

Dan Olsen, president of Mach Machine, started the shop in 2011 with one machine. Mach Machine was one of the first manufacturers in Massachusetts to receive ISO 9001:2015 certification. Image courtesy of Mach Machine.

His initial goal was to support his marine business. However, it wasn’t long before his customers, including friends, began asking him to make parts for them. That was when Olsen realized he could make a go of it as a manufacturer, and he knew exactly which direction to take. The year was 2011.

“The vision for the business was repeat production work,” Olsen said. “Today, the majority of our business comes from blanket purchase orders, many of them dock-to-stock agreements. It’s that need to deliver high-quality products on a predictable basis that led us to our current equipment mix.”

The shop’s most recent machine tool acquisition was an Okuma MB-5000H horizontal machining center with a 12-pallet flexible manufacturing system (FMS), a surprising sight for a machine shop barely 7 years old. Together with a mix of Haas vertical machining centers, Okuma mill-turn lathes, TIG and MIG welders and a Sodick wire EDM, there’s little that Mach Machine can’t make.

It’s admittedly an eclectic mix but one that Olsen and his team of 12 keep running 24 hours a day, 6 days a week. Mach Machine serves a range of industries, including optics, medical, defense and aerospace. Olsen said each machine serves a purpose, adding that he’s noticed a big improvement to the bottom line since acquiring the FMS last year. It runs nonstop.

“We’re actually about to add another pallet system and probably a second horizontal,” Olsen said. “It’s truly become the heart of our business.”