CNC West Feb March 2019

4 www.CNC-West.com CNC WEST February/March 2019 VOL. XXXVII NO.3 February/March 2019 The oldest regional industrial publica- tion serving the Western States man- ufacturing managers, owners and engineers from 1 employee to those larger plants of 5,000 or more. Its editorials feature numerical control applications in all size machine shops, tooling, programming, robot- ics and shop operations, training personnel, financing of new equip- ment, cutting tools and all related manufacturing requirements. Coverage extends to all of Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. Founder: Thomas F. Arnold (1927 - 2009) PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER: Shawn Arnold EDITOR : Sean Buur CIRC. MNGR: Charlene Strawbridge PROD. MNGR: Linda Arnold PROD. ASST: Jennifer Hallman ADVERTISING SALES: (714) 840-1300 (714) 840-1300 FAX: 657-231-9307 Email: sarnold@cnc-west.com CNC WEST (0747-3362) is published bi-monthly by ARNOLD PUBLICATIONS, INC., 16835 Algonquin St., No. 158, Huntington Beach, CA 92649. Periodical Rate postage paid at Huntington Beach, CA. and additional mailing offices .Postmaster: Send address changes to CNC WEST, P.O. Box 2029, Huntington Beach, CA, 92647. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Available without cost in U.S. only to company officials and managers of production, manu- facturing engineering and purchasing agents. MUST be requested. All oth- ers may subscribe at $10.00 per year. Single copy $2.00. Please send paid subscription order to Circulation Manager, CNC West, P.O. Box 2029, Huntington Beach, CA 92647 Publisher's notice: We assume no responsibility for the validity of claims in connection with items appearing in CNC West Magazine. Addresses are given to facilitate further inquiry. ISSUANCE AND CLOSING DATES: Published every other month, October, December, February, April, June and August. Issued second week of the publication month. No portion of contents may be repro- duced in any form without written per- mission from the publisher. Taking Flight in the West The western region of the United States has always been a major player in the aerospace sector of manufacturing. According to Site Selection magazine in the July 2017 issue, at that time the number one and number two regions for aerospace related jobs were the Seattle area and the Los Angeles/Long Beach area. Coming in 8th was Phoenix. These three areas made up almost half of the work from the top ten cities for aerospace work. Needless to say, aerospace is big out here and some info in this issue will lead you to believe it will continue. Our cover story reports on Bob Lewis Machine in El Monte. They specialize in high precision prototype work in the aerospace field. They machine mostly out of titanium and aluminum, but also work with copper and the exotic nickel bases super alloys like Inconel. The majority of parts produced are under the size of a softball, and a standard run might be only a few pieces. Business has been on an upswing the last few which helped them upgrade to a 5-axis machine. Read all about it starting on page 22. Another story about an aerospace shop is on page 32. Liberty Industries is a family run business that is always looking for better ways and machines to run the shop. With the recent addition of an Okuma 6-pallet machine they have hopes of running lights out on it soon. Our story on page 44 is about SKM Industries where they learned right away the value of good tooling. Fewer tool changes means less down time and less work- er interaction. There is lots more great information in this issue. This is our biggest Feb/March issue in 10 years. The size of our magazine is dictated by how many advertisers we have. This to me is proof that print is not only alive but in our case, thriving. Thanks to all that read CNC WEST and those companies that place ads with us. May 2019 be a great one for you all. Sincerely Shawn Arnold Shawn Arnold Publisher