SIZZLING PROTOTYPE SERVICE

Gourmet quality on a short-order schedule.

by Leigh Bell

The steak you order at a restaurant isn’t cooked on a grill located down the street or around the corner. No, it’s freshly prepared right behind the kitchen doors. Moments later, you’re cutting into a juicy filet. That’s how the world wants things — fast. RL Hudson customers are no different.

RL Hudson now satisfies that global appetite with five-star service in our new rapid tooling center. The innovative in-house facility decreases time and increases efficiency of prototype production, as well as tooling fixtures and gages. This allows customers to develop and sell their new products in less time — sinking their teeth into success.

“The key in all of this isn’t about the money we make or the money we save,” said Frank Horn, director of engineering and brain behind the tooling center. “It is more about fast turnaround for our customers. That’s what everybody wants now.”

Bringing it home RL Hudson previously contracted with third parties to produce tooling based on designs by engineers at the company hub in Broken Arrow. Customers received the prototypes in a reasonable timeframe, but sometimes, “reasonable” just wasn’t fast enough.

The rapid tooling center cuts turnaround to less than 15 days — a sliver of the time it once took. Now, RL Hudson customers can receive the prototype, test the part, make final tweaks, begin production and turn a profit in far less time.

But faster isn’t better if the product’s quality isn’t what the customer ordered.

No question, RL Hudson has been providing quality products for some 25 years, and that won’t change. With the rapid tooling center, quality just comes more quickly.

In fact, the shortened production time has already saved one customer from having to shut down an entire line. That’s why Frank gets excited when he walks into the tooling center, which is just off the pristine warehouse floor at RL Hudson.

It’s nothing fancy — a concrete floor and four plain walls lined with machines. But, oh, what this place can do. “It has been something of a dream of mine for a while,” said Frank, who has a master’s degree in engineering from Oklahoma State University.

Frank began brewing the idea for on-site tooling a few years ago.“It’s been on my mind for a while, as long as I’ve been managing the department, which is about five years,” he said. “I started to see the big picture. A company like ours really needs this.”

The beast is a beauty Frank pointed to a large machine that could pass for a small minivan. He calls it the “beast.” People in the business call it revolutionary.

The computer numerical control machine, or CNC, has revamped and reinvigorated machinery and production. This computer-operated, metal-cutting machine is programmed to work like a robot. It cuts curves as precisely as it does straight lines. It creates 3-D structures with ease. The other machines surrounding the CNC are there for support.

Horn described the process with a faint New Hampshire accent that remains after 20 years of living in Oklahoma. He rattled off terms like rotary cross saw (it’s used for ultra-precise cuts) and CAM software (it controls the CNC).“I’m sorry,” he said, running a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. “I just figure everybody knows this stuff.”

The cook in the kitchen The on-site center not only decreases time, it increases precision to make certain the product is right the first time. And if a change needs to be made, it can be walked downstairs rather than shipped halfway around the world.

“It eliminates all time and distance,” said Wes Lyon, the machinist at the rapid tooling center. “We are face to face with each other here. We are looking at the part instead of communicating with someone thousands of miles away. We can see the product. We can touch it. The guesswork is eliminated.”

The opportunity is a dream come true for Wes, too, who downplays the power of his skills, honed by 30 years of experience. But all his modesty can’t hide a fervor for the CNC machine. Wes went back to school to learn how to navigate that “beast” and all its capabilities.“It’s going to be a whole new world for me, and I’m excited about it,” he said.

The light BULB When the light bulb came on in Frank’s head, it didn’t just shine — it glowed. He knew the rapid tooling center would change how RL Hudson does business and meets customer demand. It is faster and better. Who wouldn’t be convinced? But first, he had to convince himself.

He started crunching numbers and weighing options. He considered alternatives to the tooling center, comparing feasibility to customer benefit.

The result was a 15-page report so detailed you needed Frank’s master’s degree to totally comprehend it. But the conclusion was clear. The rapid tooling center would meet the “we-want-it-as-soon-as-possible” mentality of the international business world. “The faster we can strike while the iron is hot, the greater the opportunities we have,” Frank said. “We are going to seize those opportunities.” So Frank went shopping for machines, brought top-of-the-line equipment from across the world and installed it in Broken Arrow. And now, with the rapid tooling center in full operation, RL Hudson’s five-star service is even better

Solutions 3Q07

SIZZLING PROTOTYPE SERVICE

Gourmet quality on a short-order schedule.