VIDEO: HOW TO Solve the Manufacturing Puzzle

BRIAN JEWELL: So a higher helix angle is going to offer you less side pressure, but it's going to create a little more force on your, on your tool. So you're going to have to make sure that you're holding on to it correctly. You got all that, Jacob.

JACOB SANCHEZ: Yeah, I think I'm good. Whether you're a student, an industry veteran, or you're a part of a larger organization with thousands of employees around the world, we all have capacity for continued learning, and each of us are a piece of the manufacturing puzzle. And more often than not, when you're looking for a new solution, you're going to draw on that continued learning, and you're going to lean on those around you for support.

And in the metalworking world, you're going to change your process. You're going to tweak your CAD and CAM, you're going to adjust your manufacturing techniques. And honestly, you're probably going to check out tooling options that just weren't there before. Nevertheless, you're going to need multiple pieces to finish off your manufacturing puzzle. But how do you get started? One way, you can spend many, many years on a singular industry path and gain vast amounts of knowledge.

Or, you can come to a place like this and just over a few days you're going to absorb information from multiple industry pathways. I'm here at the Mitsubishi Materials Machining Technology and Education Center, the MTech, here in Mooresville, North Carolina, or you and I, we're just going to learn How To solve the manufacturing puzzle.

If you're a fan of the How To show, you know, about our commitment to you, to the community and making everyone better, even MSC, it's in their DNA. They're built to make you better. And today we're doing just that. We're here in a classroom with Brian. How's it going, sir?

BRIAN JEWELL: Good. How are you?

JACOB SANCHEZ: So give me a rundown real quick, who you are, what you do here at Mitsubishi Materials.

BRIAN JEWELL: So my name is Brian Jewell. I'm a training and technical support specialist with Mitsubishi Materials at our MTech Center in Mooresville, North Carolina. And so my main role here is to take care of training. When you call in looking for some support or you’re having an issue at the machine, we should be able to help there.

Get you either with the right process or the right tool.

JACOB SANCHEZ: I want to start off with the demographic, the people that come into this facility. Give me a quick rundown of who they are, what they do, like across the industry.

BRIAN JEWELL: So we get everyone. We get people that are, you know, first year machinists, just trying to pick up on some of the basics, to guys that have been doing this their entire life and, looking for some new ways to approach machining or how the new technology that's in our tools can help them be successful.

JACOB SANCHEZ: And what does it look like when you have all these different types of people that are coming in here? How do you go about providing all of this to them?

BRIAN JEWELL: That's always a difficult challenge, but we offer several different levels of classes. So you may see a basic or an advanced milling, you may have turning, maybe we do a specific material or industry focus type training. So that that way when you come here for either an in-person training or maybe it's an on-demand training online, that there's something that you can take away and take back to the machine with you to be successful.

JACOB SANCHEZ: I don't see a lot of chips or hear a lot of cutting. Where could we go to get some of that?

BRIAN JEWELL: Well, we can move out here to the machine room. You know, we use those machines throughout our training to support the theory and the tool technology.

JACOB SANCHEZ: I think I'm ready to cut some chips man, let's get after it.

So I'm here, still looking for a few more pieces to finish off my manufacturing puzzle. David, how's it going, sir?

DAVID CASEY: Good Jacob, how are you?

JACOB SANCHEZ: Give me a little rundown, man. I want to know what you do, who you are. I just came out of the education section with Brian. I have my excellent education puzzle piece. What can you give me?

DAVID CASEY: Yeah. So I'm the solutions manager here in our MTech facility in Mooresville, North Carolina. We have a team of six people that work in our solutions group to help out with customer projects. Anything from looking at specific features, to process development, running test cuts and providing solutions. So we do help support the training side, with demos, test cuts, anything like that. So we got to work together.

JACOB SANCHEZ: If I want to utilize your solutions team as “Sanchez Solutions” business owner, how can I go about learning about some of those offerings that you have for me as a business?

DAVID CASEY: The best way that always starts with our sales reps, our district managers, they're front line with the customer. They've got eyes on everything, and they can approach us about bringing a project in here. And we can take a look.

JACOB SANCHEZ: So you're a bridge, you're not just there to tell the customers what they should be doing. You're there to help them understand hey, this is a new technology we have, this is a new way for you to go about doing your business and attacking some of these machining challenges. Let us help you with that. I hear a lot of cutting, machining, happening back there.

I think I'm ready to go hit that DMG and see what you have going on.

DAVID CASEY: All right.

JACOB SANCHEZ: Hey, Lucas. How's it going?

LUCAS ENERSON: Hey, Jacob. Great. How are you doing?

JACOB SANCHEZ: Doing all right man.

LUCAS ENERSON: Hey David.

DAVID CASEY: Howdy. Howdy.

JACOB SANCHEZ: We're jumping right into it. Okay, so what do you do here? What can you tell me about who you are?

LUCAS ENERSON: My name is Lucas Enerson, and I'm a CNC programmer here on our solutions team. So I do what David and Brian have talked about. That's what I'm doing every day. And this part we have here is a perfect example of what we do here on our solutions team.

JACOB SANCHEZ: What's the story with this part that we're running?

LUCAS ENERSON: So this part here resembles a part we did for a customer in the automotive industry. And it's a great example of what we do here. Customers will come to us and maybe they're busy, so maybe they haven't had the time to do all the proper training in their CAM software, or they've been in the industry for so long they're running things, you know, the old way or how they know how to do it. And that's where we come in. We try to stay up to date on all the newest technology, all the new software, so that we can implement solutions for them.

JACOB SANCHEZ: You just brought up a good point. David, what were we talking about earlier about just because you're not doing it this way doesn't mean you're doing it the wrong way. Like, well, what are we talking about?

DAVID CASEY: Yeah, yeah. So I mean, with processes, there's a million different ways to kind of do the same thing and accomplish it. Right? Nothing's ever going to be perfect one way. But it's, it's up to us to take the time to review processes and see what we can do with our DIAEDGE tooling i order to make the customer more profitable and more competitive and add some value.

JACOB SANCHEZ: Something we've also been talking about, though, is just the different demographics you’ll have that come through the shop. You don't just have a bunch of mills in this room right here. Give me a little debrief on the equipment that's in here.

LUCAS ENERSON: Yeah. I mean, we've got everything from three axis lathes with live tooling to your standard three axis vertical mills. We have a full five axis vertical mill there, and even a Swiss lathe that we can run small parts on.

JACOB SANCHEZ: What do you think somebody walking in and seeing the vastness of all the variety you have here in machines. What do you think it makes them think?

LUCAS ENERSON: I would think it instills confidence in them, knowing that if they partner with our brand, they know that we're going to have the ability and the technology to solve their problems in the future. Maybe they're not making Swiss parts or five axis parts now, but they know that we've got the capability to solve those future problems.

JACOB SANCHEZ: No more information needed. I think both of you hit it perfectly. I want to see us actually throw some chips. Stick around for me. I have something else I want to talk to you guys about, so bear with me. I need to see some chips fly, but we’ll be back.

How do you stay ahead of the curve? And what can collaboration look like inside of your business? That's what we're talking about today with you, my friend Jun.

JUN YONEZAWA: Nice to meet you.

JACOB SANCHEZ: How's it going, sir?

JUN YONEZAWA: Pretty good.

JACOB SANCHEZ: Give me a little bit rundown on what you do here at Mitsubishi Materials.

JUN YONEZAWA: Yeah, well, I was transferred here, to become an expert, from Japanese headquarters for the U.S branch. As a product marketer, I'm responsible for total management of new products from Japan as well as locally developed new products.

JACOB SANCHEZ: And you guys also have an R&D, you used to be a part of an R&D division in Japan, correct?

JUN YONEZAWA: Yes.

JACOB SANCHEZ: What does that look like when you're trying to come up with new tools? Is it just from scratch? What you guys think is best? Do you use input from the industry? What does that look like?

JUN YONEZAWA: Basically, we have two solutions. First, we can make our special tools.

JACOB SANCHEZ: From scratch?

JUN YONEZAWA: Yeah. From scratch, to meet our customers’ demand, our customers' improvement, our customers' requirements.

JACOB SANCHEZ: So if I'm a customer and I need help with a special project, you can make me a special tool that may eventually make it into your catalog to be sold to other companies as well?

JUN YONEZAWA: Yes, absolutely. After accumulating and building on, such as these examples, we can standardize the special tools to sell to the world.

JACOB SANCHEZ: Interesting. So it's not just you at Mitsubishi Materials talking with other Mitsubishi employees, saying, oh, this is what's best. This is what we're going to tell people is the best. You're actually working with industry and saying, hey, we're helping you do this. And we think that this could be the next standard in the industry.

JUN YONEZAWA: Yes.

JACOB SANCHEZ: That's amazing, my friend.

I think I need your help diving into some of this a little bit more too. This is amazing stuff.

And that's everyone. We heard from Brian on what it means to cater to all types of demographics when it comes to education. We talked to David, who's there to not find a solution but to find the solution for the customer. We talked to Lucas and we ripped some chips. We talked about what it means to change your feed and speeds, to adjust to a process, to not do what has always been done.

And it's okay to try something new. And, we made sure that quality stood behind all of that. And, my friend Jun, we talked about the collaboration and working not to just one up yourself, working to improve the industry. With all of those pieces put together, we learned How To solve the manufacturing puzzle. And with that, everybody, I appreciate you for being with me on this journey for all of 2024, all the places we've gone, all the people that we've talked to, all the things that we've done, we've done it together and we've done it for each other.

That's what this show's all about, and I'm really looking forward to 2025 with you all. See you.

Narrator: For more metalworking tips and industry best practices, stay tuned for the next How To episode and subscribe to the MSC Industrial Supply YouTube channel, a source of original manufacturing content Built To Make You Better.