CNC West Dec jan 2019

32 www.CNC-West.com CNC WEST December 2018/January 2019 T ed Twachtmann, owner of So Cal based Twachtmann Industries LLC. didn’t grow up wanting to be in manufacturing. He ended up in the industry because he needed a job, but he stayed in it because he is good at it. Twelve years after opening the doors, Twachtmann Industries is bursting at the seams with machines and poised to double production in the very near future. “I joined the Marine Corp right out of high school,” tells Ted Twachtmann, founder of Twachtmann Indus- tries. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do specifically, but I figured military life would be easier than working on my family’s farm in Iowa.” Ted actually re-enlisted for a second time after returning to Iowa for less than a year. Farming clearly wasn’t in his blood. His first job in man- ufacturing came in high school working for a company that made Dayton electric motors from start to finish. He did various jobs throughout the company from sweeping floors to working on machines and in the foundry. He quit that job when he joined the Marines but they liked him well enough to hire back once he got out the first time. “I got a broad education about manufacturing, but it wasn’t until well later when a potential employer asked if I could make a part off a print. My only machining experience had been limited to my job in high school. I remembered enough to make the part, then another and then more. I was hired on as a machinist.” Ted had an undeniable knack for the job and ate up any knowledge that came his way. “The veteran machin- ists saw that I really wanted to learn and showed me more and more,” explains Ted. “Pretty soon I applied for a job as a CNC setup guy having never actually operated a CNC machine before.” He spent the weekend at the library learning what a CNC operator did and how the machines worked differently than the manual machines he was used to. Monday came along and he had his first CNC based job. “The job paid more and I really liked it,” details Ted. “I got pretty good at it and moved up through various jobs and companies. Funny thing about this business is that if you want to learn there are people willing to teach. You are only limited by yourself. It wasn’t that long before I was running a sizeable operation with 75 CNC machin- ing centers. Everything was going great, but it wasn’t my company.” Ted’s opportunity presented itself when a for- mer employer told him that his dad was getting out of the business and was selling everything off to a machinery dealer. He suggested Ted buy it and go into business for himself. Ted and Linda Twachtmann owners of Twachtmann Industries LLC. QUALITY OF MANUFACTURING AT THE CORE OF SUCCESS AT TWACHTMANN INDUSTRIES