CNC West Dec jan 2019

CNC WEST December 2018/January 2019 www.CNC-West.com 23 S teve Hirsh opened Hirsh Precision Products Inc. in 1979 and is the company’s Director of Engi- neering. He sold his Fiat X19 to buy a Bridgeport mill thinking owning his own machine shop would af- ford him more time off. Current CEO, and brother Mike Hirsh, joined the company in 1981. For years, the duo spent time sleeping in the shop with handshake shift changes to extend workdays and satisfy customer de- mands. Their efforts paid off, and 39 years later the Boul- der, Co. based Hirsh Precision Products is a preeminent manufacturer in the Front Range area. Hirsh Precision’s 24,000 sq.ft . manufacturing center was designed and built in 1993 around the needs of the company. It had a lot of room for growth, but that extra space has disappeared over the years. “With 72 employ- ees and 21 CNC machines, floor space is at a premium,” explains Peter Doyle, COO of Hirsh Precision Products. “Our machines are split between milling and turning. We have 3, 4, and 5-axis mills, mill turn centers, as well as multi-turret lathes and a Swiss turning department. In the middle of all the action is our humidity and temper- ature-controlled Quality Lab.” Hirsh Precision’s manage- ment team likes to invest in technology that improves and increases their capabilities. With limited available floor space, they can’t afford to install a dud machine so they rely on trusted brands like Okuma, DMGMori, Tsu- gami, and Brother. “We really like each machine we’ve purchased, all brands,” touts Peter. “But Okuma got us started with our first CNC machine, a 1979 LC10. We take great care of all our machines and they last a really long time. Ever since the beginning, Okuma has provided great machines and service. The original LC10 is still in service for secondary operations.” Hirsh’s latest investment is a pair of Okuma MU- 4000V 5-Axis mills tied into a Fastems 8760 200 pal- let management system. “We get all our Okumas from Hartwig,” continues Peter. “We put in the first Okuma MU-4000V 5-Axis and the pallet system in 2016, and just added the second Okuma MU-4000V 5-Axis a few months ago. This setup is modular, so we can add more machining centers as we grow. The Fastems management system is constantly making decisions about what job to feed into the machines next based on its calculations of what tools, spindles, raw materials, and programs are available.” Hirsh Precision Products produces components ma- chined largely from aluminum, stainless steel and plas- tics. 80% of their parts fit in your hand, and 2/3 of their manufacturing supports the medical industry. Medical can be broke down into two broad categories: external and internal. Today, Hirsh’s focus is on external. “We specialize in parts that have stringent dimensional and