Building Growth: Medical Manufacturing

Diversified company invests in equipment and employees to expand and target new markets.

Dynomax Inc. is taking self sufficiency to a new level. For example, while machine tool builders often use their machines to produce parts for making other machines, Dynomax stands out by building machines for its own contract part manufacturing operation.

Courtesy of All images: A. Richter

Dynomax built nearly all of the machines used at its Lincolnshire, Ill., contract manufacturing facility.

Learn more about Dynomax Inc.

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The company designs, engineers and builds machine tools and spindles at its Wheeling, Ill., headquarters, where it also machines components, primarily for the aerospace industry. At its Lincolnshire, Ill., facility, which Dynomax expanded into about a year ago, the company performs contract manufacturing with those machines, as well as some from other builders. “We try to do as much in-house as possible,” said Matt Mahon, Lincolnshire operations general manager.

“I like to think of our place as the guinea pig,” he added. “Everything is designed, engineered and fabricated in Wheeling, and they send it over to us to prove it out.”

Primary Sectors

The 42,000-sq.-ft. Lincolnshire location is geared toward producing aerospace and defense parts with runs up to 100,000 or more, but the company serves other industries and is increasing its capacity to meet the growing demand for medical devices. For example, the company recently purchased several Swiss-style machines for manufacturing components made of aluminum alloys, titanium, stainless steel and other metals, including exotics.

“We don’t shy away from anything,” Mahon said, adding that the term “job shop” doesn’t really apply to the engineering-based company. “With our business plans for expansion, the sky’s the limit.”

He noted that the machines the company makes, many of which are custom, are either sent to customers’ facilities or, if they prefer, to Dynomax for outsourcing the parts production. Dynomax is able to hold tolerances of 0.0001 ” and produce walls as thin as 0.010 “, according to Mahon. “It’s a challenge, but we combat that with technology.”

Dynomax recently purchased several Swiss-style machines, such as this one equipped with a bar loader, to help meet the growing demand for medical parts.

One area of investment is tool presetting. Mahon explained: “Everything is machined to order, so when we get a purchase order in, we program it offline in a separate department with dedicated programmers. The job then gets sent to a tooling station where all the tools are preset in toolholders, which are then sent to each individual workstation so the setup crew only has to focus on loading the tools and proving out the program at each operation. Roaming inspectors conduct in-process inspection.”

The company also invests in vision measurement equipment and coordinate measuring machines to make sure it is meeting the customer’s requirements on the part drawing and 6-axis robots for performing unattended machining. Dynomax is a full-scale robotics integrator, according to Mark Zic, director of business development. “We focus on end-of-arm tooling for automated material removal, which is more complex than pick-and-place,” he said.

Worker Training

Throughout the entire company, Dynomax has hired about 100 new employees during the last 2 years to double its headcount. About 50 people work at the Lincolnshire facility, which operates two shifts. About of a quarter of the shop floor is available for expansion.

As the company expands, Mahon noted that finding workers with the needed skills is a challenge. Dynomax started an apprenticeship program about a year ago to address that.