Page 28 - 2020cnc10-11

Expedite’s milling department ranges from standard to high speed vertical mills. Their Matsuura H-Plus-405 horizontal is a 10-pallet cell system with 240 tools.
things they find it. If the numbers make sense, they buy it straight away. When they saw the trend of more and more complex parts coming from their customers, they knew adding a YCM 5th axis machining center was the best way to adapt to the new challenges. “Adding the YMC 5 axis machine a year and a half ago gained us a lot of capabilities,” tells Martin.” But, as the guy who wears the HR hat, it also left us scrambling to find good people to program and run it. When it comes to the talent pool we have to compete locally with companies like Apple and Tesla.” So instead of watching them take who they want, Expedite began to implement their own extensive in-house training program focusing on the 5- axis and Swiss machines. They’ve found enough similarities between the 5 axis and the Swiss machines to successfully cross train on a variety of machine tools. “First we invest in good equipment, then we invest in our employees,” continues Yousuff. “Our employees are as important as our customers and having them trained and educated in the latest advances in machine tools and software is a big part of our success. Everyone has a different skill set, but everyone can improve on what they do. By cross training and educating, employees grow as we grow. It increases value to us as a company, increases value to our customers, and increases value to them as individuals.” “Training was a big part of my career,” adds Orlando. “My past employers helped me to achieve more as a machinist. I ate up the opportunity to learn and so do our employees. Employees are our biggest asset. Our employees keep our customers happy by making great parts, offering great service and so forth. They are the first and last line of defense and the more they know the better we are at servicing our clients. Martin has played a big part in the decision to really put forth time, effort and dollars into employees we see with great potential. He is a lot younger than Yousuff and having a fresh outlook and younger perspective really enhances our management team.” The frequency of training has improved drastically
recently. What once might be annually is now quarterly and so forth. With the information fresh in everyone’s minds, employees retain it much better. The biggest aspect of their in-house training as of late is as simple as trying harder. “We laugh about trying harder, but it’s true,” explains Martin. “How you go about continued education makes a big difference. They see management’s commitment and effort and that is reciprocated back to us.” “We also really listen to our employees,” tells Yousuff. “They know where we need improvement, and they come to us with aspirations of advancement. Having the best trained, most versatile employees is a win for everyone. A perfect example of how our cross-training program paid off is one of our medical customers manufactures Covid test kits. We were able to shuffle people around who don’t normally run the Swiss machines into that department and add extra shifts. Added production helped our customer help us as a country. If we didn’t cross train, then this wouldn’t have been possible.”
Covid hit Expedite Precision Works Inc. right out of the gate with an employee’s relative testing positive for the virus. Even though they are an essential business, they shut down for 2 weeks so everyone could be tested before returning. After self-quarantine and negative test results, employees could come back to work. CNC West Magazine conducted this interview via Zoom during that time with Yousuff, Martin and Orlando all in different locations. It was early in the lockdown, and admittedly Orlando’s first Zoom meeting. “Initially, as a company we looked at the
26 www.CNC-West.com
CNC WEST October/November 2020
Orlando - Yousuff - Martin - All via Zoom during a self-imposed Covid lock-down