Founder and President of Minic Precision, Mike Gajewski, grew up ‘Swiss’, working on Tornos cam operated machines from the young age of 19. Contacted for an apprenticeship by a local machine shop that operated Tornos cam machines, the apprenticeship turned into a full-time job for Mike, who eventually worked his way up to the Plant and Production Manager role, where he remained for nine years. After nine years, Mike decided it was time to open up his own machine shop.
In 1992, Mike rented a 2,000sq/ft space in Woodstock, Illinios, purchased 6 Tornos and Bechler cam machines and established Minic Precision Inc. Established to meet the growing demand for electronics assemblies requiring high precision contacts, he named his business, Minic, an acronym after his two sons’ names, Michael and Nicholas.
By 1995, he had filled up his shop floor with 28 Tornos and Bechler cam machines. Some of the early Tornos cam machine purchases included M7s, R10s, and R125s and even today, Minic still operates many of those original cam machines. Even now, Mike is proud to have recently purchased three Tornos Swiss CNC lathes in the last 18 months.
Minic’s Growth and Relocation
Minic Precision has experienced growth and expansion over the years, driving them to purchase and relocate to an expanded facility in Spring Grove. Their quality control program and ISO 9001:2015 certification is a major factor of the shop’s continued growth. The commitment to quality is still evident in the parts his shop produces on his Tornos machines today.
Aside from quality management, value-added engineering is also what separates Minic Precision from their competition. Minic Precision’s speciality is in micro-machined parts. When end-users in the stringent quality and design-focused industries such as medical, electronics, automotive and aerospace, bring their part requirements to Mike, Minic facilitates smooth flow from design to prototyping, and production. Minic helps end-users to not only select the best materials but overall offers expert machining and design processes to help realise the highest cost savings. This has helped Minic build key relationships with electronics assemblers, medical companies, the US Military and with customers in the automotive and aerospace fields.
Expanding Minic’s Machine Fleet and Visiting the Factory in Moutier
In order to continue providing higher cost savings and increased efficiency over time, Minic realised the need to expand and purchase a CNC when he was getting cross-over work that better-suited CNC. Enabling quick turnaround time wasn’t 100% feasible or possible on the cam machines. In 2004, they originally went to another sliding head lathe manufacturer as Tornos was not offering the entry-level to mid-range machines, but more high-end lathes. Shortly after the rival purchase, Minic realised that it was not on par with the quality that has been the company’s driving success. After Minic searched for high quality and rigid mid-range CNC lathe – in 2015, Tornos came out with the Swiss GT series.
As Minic’s vision and goal puts quality at the forefront of what they manufacture, they needed machines that lived up to the task. Their main purchasing strategy has always been to invest in something that will go the long haul and be reliable, hold tight tolerances with quick chip-to-chip times. The also wanted a machine that could run over 10,000rpm on the main and counter spindles. The long-awaited solution had arrived, and Mike scheduled his trip to the Tornos factory in Moutier, Switzerland in the summer of 2016.
Christian Barth, Product Manager at Tornos, provided Mike with the tour. After seeing the production and assembly of the spindles, guide bushings and the overall Swiss manufacturing process from design to finish; Mike saw first-hand the high-quality that goes into manufacturing a highly rigid, stable and precise Tornos CNC Swiss lathe. His visit to Tornos is what gave him the confidence to changeover from a rival vendor to Tornos.
While other manufacturers or competitors of Tornos may offer similar style sliding head lathes, Mike explains: “Everything from the weight of the Tornos machine to the way the spindle is built, gives the Swiss GT13 durability for cutting tough materials, including the many exotic stainless steels we use, with no chatter. This is a major win-win for Minic and sets us apart from our competition.”
In early 2018, Minic made their first Tornos CNC Swiss sliding head lathe purchase with the Swiss GT13. Just three months after purchasing his first Tornos Swiss GT13, Mike purchased a Swiss DT13. The investment decision was an easy one, as both machines would be equipped with the same sets of tools after they purchased the TISIS module to use across both machines.
The modularity of the Swiss DT range sold the company on the machines and both machines manufacture connectors, as well as other small parts. The parts handling with the vacuum extractor was a value-added benefit, especially as Minic’s specialty is manufacturing sub-miniature parts. On these two machines, they can run at higher speeds with beryllium copper, while still holding tight tolerances. According to Mike, the impeccable surface finish, which was difficult to achieve previously, was now made possible on his Tornos CNC lathe.
Software that Brings Success to Minic
In addition to the two new equipment purchases, Mike boasts that the purchase of TISIS, Tornos’ machine communication and programming software, has been a gamechanger for his business. His production engineer, Raul Rodriguez, was able to very easily learn the Fanuc control, simply by using TISIS. For example, through TISIS, he can put his tools data inventory directly into the program file and these are loaded to the control with the part program. TISIS has been so easy to use that Minic has recently purchased the Tornos Connectivity Pack for all of its Tornos machines.
Tornos and Minic have both been committed to the highest quality products. This has facilitated Minic’s grown tremendously and give them the facility to handle parts that they couldn’t before. Their shared commitment to quality, design and local service keeps Minic investing in more equipment purchases.
In July 2019, Minic received their second Swiss GT13 and third Tornos CNC lathe overall. Mike expects to purchase the new SwissNano 7 in the coming
months. The entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to consistent quality has paid off for Mike, and he looks forward to what the future holds for this long- lived relationship.
Web: www.tornos.com
