Shawn is hiring young people who are excited to come to work, willing to learn, and really like being a part of a growing company.
For over three decades Chatsworth, Ca based 3D CAM never really changed. They made typical job shop parts and dabbled a little in medical. Their machines were once shiny and new but were long past their prime. The founder Gary had done his part for 30 years and was content doing what they always did. That changed when his friend Shawn Mirsalehi offered to invest in 3D and take over the day-to-day operations. With Gary’s experience, trust and guidance, in just three years the entire place has transformed into a high complexity, tight tolerance, precision oriented, ITAR registered and AS9100/ISO9001 certified one stop shop.
VP of operations Shawn Mirsalehi is an electrical engineer by trade and spent the last decade in Dubai running a successful electronics business before coming on board at 3D CAM. His fresh perspective and sales background have taken 3D to places they never thought they could go. “We do everything in 12,000 sq.ft.,” tells Shawn. “Rapid prototype 3D printing, investment castings, polyurethane castings, production and prototype CNC milling and turning, plastic injection molds, and CAD/CAM programming. It’s a lot for sure, but we are set to take over the building next to us, doubling our footprint and manufacturing area. Sales have quadrupled in the last three years, and we can’t keep up with the rapid growth in the space we have. We are adding machines and personnel as fast as we can, but we are just out of usable area with 29 employees and a dozen new CNC machining centers.”
Growing a company comes with challenges, and doubling your staff is never easy, especially when it requires skilled labor. Shawn is hiring young people that he can train to be part of the team. “I don’t want to mess with hiring seasoned machinists or programmers set in their ways,” tells Shawn. “These young people are excited to come to work and create. They are willing to learn, don’t have bad habits, and really like being a part of a growing company. For a few of them it is their first real employment since graduating college and they are eager to do a good job and work with our existing staff. I like that kind of company culture. I knew if we were going to make the jump from job shop to aerospace, I needed to be surrounded by people who are driven and motivated.”
Everything is under one roof at 3D CAM. Rapid prototype 3D printing, CNC Milling & turning, polyurethane castings, & plastic injection molds.
Shawn best described the work 3D was doing when he took over as lackluster. Customers were just so-so and they didn’t have any stimulating projects. The quality of their work was fine, but just that, fine. “When I got here quality was nonexistent,” explains Shawn. “They relied on the machine and the program to dictate the outcome and would maybe check the parts with a set of gauges. We didn’t have any juicy projects, nothing to get excited over. I wanted that to change focusing my sales efforts on more aerospace type customers. We got an actual quality lab, new machining centers and became AS9100 and ISO9001 certified. I was able to land couple contracts from the big players, and within 3 years everything has changed.”
3D went from having no inspectors and no lab to having full time inspectors in a dedicated QC center. 3D’s lab techs are equipped with the latest CMM from Hexagon to support all the new customers and certifications. “I remember getting one of our first aerospace jobs with +/- .002,” chuckles Shawn. “I took it to my programmer and the machinist, and it didn’t compute. They were convinced I under bid the job based on how hard it was going to be to machine. They didn’t know how we were even going to do it. Now +/- .002 is nothing and we are holding half that day in and day out. They lacked the confidence needed to truly make great parts. We operate now with the same people, we just upgraded the machines, the tooling, the quality lab, and their expectations. Thankfully it is all coming together. We are 100% on quality right now thanks to our 100% inspection of every single part we manufacture. The Hexagon AbsoluteArm makes inspection fast and accurate. With laser scanning at 1.7 million dots per second just scan the part and match it with the 3d model we have. Also, it can be used as a touch probe. Inspection has never been better at 3D CAM.”
After a thorough cleanup of the shop from the floors to the ceiling all the old tech was replaced. In the last three years 3D have added a dozen new Ganesh CNC milling and turning centers. “All the primary manufacturing centers are 2022 or newer,” touts Shawn. “Before I got here everything was just basic mills and lathes from the 80’s. Now we run current generation 3/4/5 axis mills and have a Ganesh KSL-7612 TMY turning center with full C axis and full Y axis milling capabilities. The 10” chuck and bar feeder give us good adaptability when it comes to handling parts. My goal is to add more machines in 2024. I want another five machines for sure. All our new machines are Ganesh. We had one Ganesh when I got here and now that is the only brand I want. One hundred percent it’s because of Harvinder Singh of Expand Machinery. I met Harvinder and knew his was a company I wanted to do business with. Harvinder is beautiful, anything I need he delivers. It is an easy process with financing too. Expand Machinery partner with Pami Kaur at Valley Financial Services and she is great. I bought my first GENMILL 4024 mill from Harvinder and two weeks later ordered another one. Since then, I’ve added more with a combination of features. All the 4024s are high precision, high speed machining centers. The size is a versatile 40”x24”, it has 2,700 block look ahead, 30 station double arm ATC, thru tool coolant and a chip conveyor. Combo that with rugged linear ways and it is a real bargain for all that you get. I’ve already placed my order for a larger/heavy duty GENMILL 10039. It has massive 98” X 39” of travel, 40 station ATC, and is a beast weighing in at over 65,000 lbs. Once we get the building next door ready for move in my priority is adding two true 5 axis machines like the GENMILL 5X-12. The GENMILL 5X-12 really caught my eye because of the features you get for the price, and they come robot ready.”
3D CAM’s quality has evolved from basically nothing three years ago into a state of the art quality lab with advanced measurement tools.
Shawn loves the reliability of his Ganesh machine tools. They work em hard at 3D, but his experienced team stays on top of the maintenance. “I like my machines, but I love my customers,” tells Shawn. “I can’t afford to make bad parts or be down so service is a big thing for me. Of course, every machine needs a repair now and then, but when they do when I do I call Harvinder directly. No going through bureaucratic automated systems. I call him on his cell, and he answers. His technicians are fantastic and they never leave me hanging. Four years ago, it wouldn’t have been as important, but now our clients demand more, and we must deliver.”
Shawn and everyone at 3D CAM have already set their sights through 2024. His campaign team has contacted 3000 new leads, and they are in the stages of following up as people set budgets for the new year. “Sales are 4 times more than 3 years ago and I want that trend to continue,” explains Shawn. “With a new building coming and expanded shifts there is more capacity and spindle time that I can sell. Making initial improvements was the easy part. Now we are striving even more improvements. Our delivery rate for example is 98%, but I want it to be better. We were 100% last month, so that’s great. Chasing the last bit is always the hardest. Same with quality. I am so proud of my team. Our quality has improved so much in the last three years. We’ve completely changed how this company does business and everyone has not just adapted but are thriving under the pressure. Gary doesn’t drop by very often, but when he does, he is blown away by the changes. I hold deep gratitude for Gary’s trust in this process; his unyielding support and extensive experience consistently casts him as a fatherly figure in my life. With his invaluable guidance, we can set our sights on reaching the moon and beyond, driven by a sincere connection. Great things are in store for us at 3D CAM, so feel free to visit us again in 3 years to see our progression.”
With such a wide spectrum of manufacturing capabilities it is no surprise that 3D CAM can deliver parts made from a variety of materials. Complex 5 axis parts are no problem thanks to their advanced Ganesh milling and turning centers.