CNC West Feb March 2019

44 www.CNC-West.com CNC WEST February/March 2019 S KM Industries Inc. is a Valencia, Ca based job shop focusing on commercial, medical and aero- space parts. Sanjeev Kapoor started the company in 1992 renting spindle time from another shop to run his parts. From day one Sanjeev has cut his own path, embracing technology, and inventing solutions to meet his needs. A mechanical engineer by trade, Sanjeev Kapoor be- gan his manufacturing career in a manual shop working for others. It was the 80’s and the owners took him to the Westec trade show where he was exposed to CNC for the first time. “Right away I saw the added value in CNC,” tells Sanjeev. “I convinced the owners to buy a Bridgeport with a CNC control. That was 1986. I liked computers, and had a little programming experience from school, I knew I could program it, but they took a little convinc- ing. Within a couple years we had half dozen CNC ma- chines and were running Gibbs Cam.” That shop did a lot of production work to take advantage of the still relative- ly new CNC technology. Sanjeev was programmer and production manager. “I began to look at ways to reduce the cost and maximize production,” explains Sanjeev. “I learned right away the value of good tooling. Fewer tool changes means less down time and less worker interac- tion. Decades later I still apply the same principles, fo- cusing on tooling and fixtures that can reduce cycle time at the same time reduce interruptions. “ When Sanjeev went out on his own and started SKM Industries Inc. he spent the first year in business renting spindle time in a shop in Camarillo, Ca. “I helped them out with their prototype work, and they let me rent open time on their machines,” touts Sanjeev. “It worked out well for about a year until I could purchase my own CNC machines. I started with a Fadal mill and a Mazak lathe. I’ve been adding machines ever since.” SKM moved to their current 11,000 sq.ft . manufacturing facility in 2008 where they house 15 Haas and Mazak CNC machining centers. “As a job shop we have to be ready for anything,” explains Sanjeev. “We have 4 axis milling and advanced turning centers. We work in all materials ranging from aluminum, steel, plastics, copper and brass to more ex- otic alloys like Kovar. One of our largest customers is an OEM and we make hundreds of different part numbers for them. We run anywhere from 5 pieces to 50,000. We prefer the production runs, but are always ready to help out a customer who needs a smaller quantity. We use the latest version of Gibbs Cam and it is all set up to maxi- mize high speed machining. Our high speed machining practices allow us to be competitive on pricing even with smaller run quantities.” Technology is a big part of manufacturing at SKM, and high speed machining on all materials is at the fore- front. Peel milling with 5, 6, and 7 flute end mills is com- Article & Photos by Sean Buur SKM president Sanjeev Kapoor talks tooling options with Jonathan Saada of High Speed Corp SKM INDUSTRIES H I G H S P E E D M A C H I N I N G I S A T T H E C O R E O F S K M I N D U S T R I E S