2018cnc4-5.2

CNC WEST April/May 2018 www.CNC-West.com 27 the process of building their entire tool database though WinTool. “WinTool allows us to be even more precise in our programming and Vericut simulations,” details Gregg. “It drops the tools right into MasterCam and Veri- cut. We will be able to do a more precise optimization of tool paths with each exact tool as part of our simulation.” 2018 is on track to be another solid year for MacKay Manufacturing. With that continued growth means more employees are needed to facilitate the expansion. “Over the 32 years in business and we’ve grown an average 5% every year,” tells Katie. “Some years less and some more, but 5% average over three decades is something we are proud of.” Like most shops finding the right people is a challenge to say the least. MacKay Manufacturing looks for people who share the same traits and habits that are visible throughout the company. “Attention to detail, problem solving skills, motivation, and mechanical apti- tude, are all things we look for,” tells Gregg. “To succeed here you have to think outside the box sometimes to find the solution.” MacKay Manufacturing works hard to maintain their reputation in the industry and in the community. The family atmosphere and how they treat their employees is well known in the area. With 151 employees on staff, Ka- tie knows each and everyone by name, and there is value in that. Consequently MacKay Manufacturing receives many applicants, they take the hiring process very seri- ously to ensure its a good fit. It has to be a good fit for culture and skill set, but typically, employees receive ex- tensive training opportunities on the job to learn how to tackle the tough stuff.” “Machinists interview all the time that have never seen some of the machines we have,” con- tinues Gregg. “30 years ago a lathe was a lathe and a mill was a mill. Now we have 11 axis lathes with live tooling and 7 axis mill-turn centers. It’s a lot to process some- times.” Manufacturing is plentiful in this part of the state, and MacKay Manufacturing stands out amongst Eastern Washington’s abundance of machine shops. “The majority of our employees stick around for the long haul, we have a unique culture and environment for the manufactur- ing trade. It is a demanding, fast paced, clean, respectful, educational environment that is constantly growing and changing, if that culture fits with our employees we stay together for careers,” concludes Katie. “That’s how my dad built the business and how we continue to run it. It isn’t just a name on the building, it is my name, it’s his name, and that name stands for quality, integrity and purpose.” As an ISO1345, ISO900 and AS9100 registered company quality is a top priority at MacKay Manufacturing. Most of MacKay’s parts are smaller than a basketball but require high precision for the industries their serve. One military part (not pictured) as an example had more than 1200 features for inspection, took 400 hours to program, had seven setups and took ten ours of spindle time. They machine Ti, stainless, aluminum and some more exotic materials. The manufacture a lot of complete assemblies like the spinal spreader pictured on the top right.