Step up your machining game by utilizing tools such as trunnion tables and growing your manufacturing business through partnerships with other companies! Jason Zenger and Nick Goellner join Stan Martin - Kentucky entrepreneur and owner of Martin Manufacturing in this inspiring episode of MakingChips. Many call him “Stan the Trunnion Man,” and rightly so. Realizing how much time he and his team were spending handling projects and parts themselves inspired Stan to streamline the trunnion table for optimal performance - for his own shop and for the entire Metal Working Nation.
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Stan says that the reason he found himself and his team in the trunnion table business is because he is a lazy machinist. He knew that manually handling every part was wasting time and energy when it could all be done by a machine. Using CNC machines and trunnion tables, Stan began creating his own product line.
Stan explains that most companies still look at trunnion tables as only useful for certain jobs. While they are standardized to meet the specifications of certain projects and parts, it is rare that a manufacturing business will see a job only once or twice. More likely, they will need the same parts made over and over, increasing the practicality and efficiency of a tool like the trunnion table. Instead of having someone on the shop floor spending their time clamping, unclamping, reversing, and rotating every set of parts, you simply place the material onto the trunnion table and let it do the work for you. The result is a precise, consistent, and perfect job every time.
Stan understands the need to create an atmosphere of support, consistency, and ease for his customers. Instead of going straight to the larger work holding companies, he focused on meeting the needs of job shops first and coming alongside each and every customer. Stan and his team make it a priority to ensure that every customer understands how, when, and where to use their trunnion tables. Some are built to optimize vertical machinery, while others are built to compliment a rotary table. Stan explains that his team goes the extra mile to produce a ready-to-use trunnion table for their customers. If a customer sends them a rotary table, they will put work holding onto the trunnion, mount it, and hand it back to the customer - ready to make chips.
Partnerships not only supply you with the tools, resources, and skills that your own team doesn’t possess - they allows your business to grow. Partnerships can extend to supply chains, manufacturing partnerships, application engineering, sales, and so forth.
Stan believes that partnerships are vital. The only way to grow as a company is to not be selfish. Working with others creates a larger and more diverse pool of ideas and jobs. Collaborative efforts can be an excellent learning and growing experience for everyone involved. Obviously, you want to make sure that whoever you are partnering with is trustworthy and produces consistently excellent work. There should always be honest and open communication.
Stan discusses the need to continually evaluate the processes and tools you are using - and producing - within your business and partnerships. Customers want convenience and excellence, creating a full-time need for assessment and improvement. For Stan’s business, this meant creating standardized kits as well as offering custom lengths on their trunnion tables.
From a small manufacturing business to one of the leading manufacturing companies, Stan and the team at Martin Manufacturing understand the necessity for optimal machining performance, caring customer service, and allowing other companies to partner and spread the knowledge and resources they have to offer.
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