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34 www.CNC-West.com CNC WEST April/May 2018 ley. “It was a 3- dimensional router. That led us to CNC mill- ing and CNC turning soon after.” With 42,000 sq.ft . Ron- celli Plastics has 30 different CNC machining centers spread between three primary cells and 120 employees to meet the growing demands of their customers. “We don’t have a single brand of mills or lathes,” explains Chris Cole, Roncelli Plastic’s third generation of management and new president and COO. “We work with a variety of manufacturers and pick the machines that best suit our manufacturing needs. Right now, we’re utilizing Haas, Doosan, Mori Seiki, Okuma, Star, and RoboDrill for tight tolerance machining on non- metallics, laminates and composites. Our work tends to be more complex than your average job shop, but we don’t have any products of our own designs. I’d label us as a build to print contract manufacturer specializing in 5 axis machining of exotic materials.” “CNC West did a feature on us 15 years ago,” tells Riley. “The difference in the company then and now is night and day.” “Back then our AS and ISO certifications meant some- thing different to our customers,” adds Chris. “Back then it was a big selling point, now it’s just expected. So we’re look- ing towards what that next level of expectations will be. ISO27001, which is the new security standard, is on the ra- dar. Our government customers are saying having that is a plus today, which means it will be a pre-requisite down the road.” Roncelli Plastics is AS9100, ISO 13485, ISO 9001 and ITAR registered with the majority of their customers being in the aerospace, space, semiconductor and medical indus- tries. “All our customers have two things in common,” con- tinues Chris. “They demand precision and cleanliness. To achieve this we continually invest back into the company via technology and systems. FOD can destroy machines or po- tentially harm people, so we need to make sure the shop en- vironment stays as clean as possible.” Along with state of the art CNC, Roncelli Plastics has an extensive 3D printing de- partment, a Class 1000 clean room, temperature controlled manufacturing cells, and robotic automation. 3D printing started as kind of a science experiment for Roncelli Plastics in 2009. As the technology improved, Ron- celli Plastics searched for innovative ways to utilize and profit from this rapidly growing manufacturing process. “3D printing has become a big part of what we do in a variety of ways,” explains Chris. “Most 3D print houses are essen- tially model makers. They print it, and then you paint it up Metal to plastic conversions is a big part of Roncelli Plastic’s process. Weight reduction is a key reason. Every gram saved is a savings in fuel. When you look at launching rockets into space every pound of weight costs an astronomical amount of money. PEEK is a high temperature, high performance super stiff plastic. If you look at a part made out of aluminum versus the same part made out of PEEK, the peak part is 1/4 of the weight. Even with aerospace plastics 80%material removal is standard practice.