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Garner Products manufactures brackets, coils, frames, plastic bezels, PVC holders, PVC tubes, gate pins, wire up all the electronics, make harnesses, and so forth. They even custom cut and make the shipping containers and shoot product photos and videos ensuring quality every step of the way.
One of Audiolab’sfirst products was the TD-1B. It was sold to the radio stations to degauss tapes in the 350 coercivity range and cost $77. Coercivity for current data storage solutions is around 5000. “Our top-of-the-line NSA Listed TS-1XT unit has been evaluated by the NSA and sanctioned to erase top secret data. It produces approximately 20,000 gauss,” describes Vice President Michelle Stofan. “There are only 12 other products in the world that hold that kind of certification. The TS-1XT operates like a camera flash where the energy is stored up and then released in a burst.”
Backin 1959, the original TD-1B was mostly manufactured on site. They wound the coils, filled it with tar, machined parts, and assembled everything. “Only the box and label were outsourced back in the day,” details Ron. “That is still our practice now.” Having control of the process has always been important to Garner Products. Their level of vertical integration gives them flexibility and adaptability to better serve their customers. Garner Products got their first CNC machine back in 2003, a remanufactured Fadal 4020. “Our first Fadal is still out there running,” touts machine shop manager Justin Stofan. “It’s machine #1 and has a 4th axis table on it now.” “We had manual machines from nearly the beginning,” adds Ron. “But as a small company I get really excited about getting new equipment that makes all our lives and products better.” “He isn’t kidding,” jokes Michelle. “Ask him about how much he loves the cherry picker and forklift. The forklift was almost on our family Christmas card that year.” “She’s right,” smiles Ron. “Improving processes or capabilities on anything
bigger and more interesting than the floor jack is awesome.” The shop consists of a Flow water jet, a Hyundai WIA L 150A lathe, Fadal 3020 and 4020 mills, three YCM NXV 1020A mills, Shop Sabre router, and multiple Raise 3D printers. “About ten years ago we had an issue with a vendor that really changed the way we do business,” details Ron. “We had a new product failure on a Thursday and by Friday I was on my way to a large data center in Ireland to investigate. It shouldn’t have failed, after all the successful testing it made us really ask the question why.” At that time Garner Products didn’t have a CNC lathe, so any part that needed turning was outsourced. “Our design calls for a specific hardness of the materials and all throughout testing that material was used,” explains Michelle. “Unbeknownst to us the vendor used a softer material than what was spec’d, and the main shaft was deforming. We had products go out all over the world and we were going crazy trying to figure out why we had a failure. As a small family run business, we are really proud of our products
and how they are made.”
“We love all our products,” adds Ron, “But we never want
to see them again after they’ve been shipped to customers. This was a big deal that we had a failure. Quality is everything, national security agencies rely on our products to perform and keep America’s data safe by destroying it. Once the vendor fessed up to the materials being out of spec, we knew we had to bring it all in-house. Within a few weeks we purchased a Hyundai Wia CNC 150 with a bar feeder from Clancy Machine. John met with us, we explained what it is we needed to manufacture, and he made the recommendation. We had zero experience with CNC turning, it was a big jump for us, but a required one.”
Quality isn’t necessarily measured in microns at Garner Products, but their quality is measured by the NRTL test UL CE labs and by customers like the NSA. Ron’s found over the years that their products respond best by having a tighter tolerance then a loose one. So, although microns don’t come into play, they operate at about the same level as most aerospace shops when it comes to +/- on the gauge. Garner’s products are designed for one thing: destroying your data.
They manufacture essentially two types of physical destruction devices. One is for solid state drives, and one is for
Justin Stofan, Ron Stofan and Michelle Stofan.
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CNC WEST December 2021/January 2022