Straight to the Pointe

Pointe Precision creates opportunity with new machines and skilled employees.

Courtesy of All images: DMG/Mori Seiki USA

Guy Treutel (left) and Steve Gagas review drawings for a job running on a Mori Seiki NH5000.

For Pointe Precision Inc., a full-service machine shop in Plover, Wis., customer demand for high-volume part production, tight tolerances and fast turnaround is a welcome challenge.

“I tell customers the benefit of working with us is that we’re a one-stop shop,” said Scot Barton, vice president of sales and operations for Pointe Precision. “We’re responsible for everything. Our only supply chain consists of the different departments within our four walls; that’s how we guarantee quality.”

Pointe Precision occupies a climate-controlled, 60,000-sq.-ft. facility with more than 85 pieces of CNC equipment. Founded in 1995, the company employs 130 employees, many of whom have been with the shop since its inception.

With a range of capabilities—including grinding, milling, thread grinding, drilling, multiaxis turning, Swiss-style machining, laser marking, nondestructive testing and manual and machine deburring—Pointe offers customers reliability and quick turnaround. The shop focuses on aerospace, but also serves the automotive, medical, recreational and industrial manufacturing industries.

A Tight Community

Pointe Precision was born from turbulence and change—and the take-charge attitude that gave the company its start still binds it together today.

“When we started the business, I was working as a general manager for a larger company in the community; they decided to close the facility and move its operations to the company’s headquarters,” explained Joe Kinsella Sr., Pointe Precision’s founder, president and CEO. “We saw the opportunity to start anew—keep the experienced employees within the community and continue to do business. It was a win-win situation. We had the experience, so we were able to market that. It’s been a people-driven success.”

Joe Kinsella Jr. handles inside sales for the company, and Joe Sr. includes his wife, Cindy, and younger son Dan in board of directors meetings so they can also be involved.

“In a community our size, it’s nice to have family involvement,” Joe Sr. said. “The larger the organization, the more difficult it becomes to be on the floor talking to the people who work for you. At Pointe, we have more transparency; decisions can be made much more quickly.”

That management style translates to employee confidence, Barton said. “Joe Sr. empowers employees and managers to make decisions. That makes employees feel more engaged in the day-to-day operation of Pointe Precision and in its success.”

Machine Advantage

A range of specialty services and a full complement of machine tools have helped build the company’s reputation. Pointe Precision has four Mori Seiki NZ2000 machines, nine Mori Seiki horizontal machining centers, three Mori Seiki vertical machining centers and six other Mori Seiki 2- and 4-axis lathes. Because maintaining control over a customer’s order is an important differentiator for Pointe, the NZs in particular have played a critical role in the company’s strategy.

“The NZ brought us a new technology,” Barton said. “It’s faster, and we can get more work done. The multitasking capabilities of the machine allow us to do things in a single operation that previously took a lot of multiple-fixture operations.”

Brad Cisewski (left) and President and CEO Joe Kinsella Sr. discuss metrics within one of the five quick-response manufacturing cells at Pointe Precision.

According to Engineering Manager Sam Crueger, the decision to standardize on new machine purchases from DMG/Mori Seiki USA has boosted more than just reliability. Crueger said: “Our operators are better able to move from machine to machine. This gives us the flexibility to move operators where the work is. The NZs have allowed us to not only be faster, but to do those single-operation applications. The quality is better when a part can be completed on a single machine.”

Flying High

Approximately 80 percent of Pointe Precision’s business comes from the aerospace industry. As that industry begins its economic recovery, the NZ machines are giving Pointe a competitive edge.

“Along with all shops involved in aerospace, we experienced the downturn,” Barton said. “We’re at a huge advantage, however, because we invested in new equipment when our competitors were hunkering down.”

High-volume locking rings made on one of Pointe Precision’s four Mori Seiki NZ2000 mill/turn centers.

As a result, the shop is extremely busy. The company’s NZs are at full capacity, and Pointe is considering new equipment purchases.