In the first two parts of our Case Study Series with Flying-S (“API Services Helps Flying-S Unlock Their Machine Tool’s Full Potential” and “API Services: Who to Call to Repair a Damaged Machine Tool”), we discussed how API’s partnership with C.R. Onsrud allowed Flying-S to unlock new applications with their gantry that dramatically expanded their capabilities and restore function to a used gantry that was damaged in transit. With both of these machines running, and Flying-S leveraging as much productivity from them as possible, it became important for them to follow a routine preventative maintenance program, and they knew they wanted API Services to be a part of that program. During one such maintenance check, API Services found an error in the machine. As Flying-S’ partner, API Services was able to stay onsite and:
- Restore the gantry’s performance
- Expedite the compensation to meet a deadline during a holiday
- Return and compensate the machine again when it lost function
After API Services compensated Flying-S’ first C.R. Onsrud gantry and helped repair their second after it was damaged during transit, Flying-S established a routine preventative maintenance program to ensure their machines could continually meet the tolerances their work for Aerospace and Military manufacturing demanded. And their first call in establishing their upkeep plan, Flying-S’ first call was to API Services.
“There’s a lot of machine tool services that come to your facility and perform work and they’re very expensive and they perform their work, and they move on. But what we found with API was that the problems that they helped us fix were not easy, and they often times spent a lot of time not only figuring out the problem but then having to fix that problem,” says Peter Bowman, Manufacturing Engineer at Flying-S. “We immediately struck up a friendship with them. And when I say collaboration, I really mean that. I had one of their Application Engineers, his wife brought me banana bread. I mean, we have this relationship where they’re here working on our equipment as part of our team, they might as well have flying S shirts on.”
And with this extended partnership came a level of trust and understanding. So, when API Services was onsite for a routine check, and they found a problem, Flying-S trusted API Services’ diagnosis, and API Services was able to expedite the repair during a snowy holiday to help their partner get their machine running again to meet a tight deadline the following week. Without any additional fees, API Services came onsite, performed a full Volumetric Error Compensation (VEC) on the machine, and left it ready to run the part Flying-S needed to make.
Shortly after API Services left, however, the team at Flying-S found new errors with the machine, even though it hadn’t crashed. A lesser partnership may have been put to the test. But API and Flying-S had built real trust. API believed the machine hadn’t crashed. Flying-S believed it was working after the first compensation. Instead of passing blame, they rolled up their sleeves and worked together to fix the problem.
“They had just spent all this time helping us get it to where it was running. And now it’s not again. And for us that was pretty difficult,” says Peter. “We really needed the machine, and we didn’t really know what the problem was. They were willing to come back in, and they were even willing to put skin in the game and work with us on the cost of this volumetric repair that they needed to do. And I mean, what better partnership can you have than someone that’s willing to come in and help you get the problem fixed? We still don’t know exactly why it happened, but I do know that in the end, the very next week, I was able to make parts.”
For Flying-S, the dedicated, expedited support of API Services has been everything. “The work envelopes in our case is 40 feet. That’s a lot of space for us. And there’s a lot of room for error there,” says Peter. “And for me, it’s my responsibility to make sure that these machines are working. That’s where it’s really, really important to have people like API and their expertise and be able to fix the problems that we may have to arise. So far, there’s not been an issue that we’ve had that API has not been able to fix.”
This content was originally published on the API website.
