How Our In-House Rebuild and Maintenance Team Keeps Downtime at Minimum

Years ago, when United CGTR was much smaller, we made a decision that was expensive and even a bit risky at the time but would ultimately pay dividends. We hired a two person in-house maintenance team. 

Their main selling point was that they had experience rebuilding precision centerless grinding equipment, a task that most shops outsource to specialists in the Midwest. (Not the best solution when you’re located in Connecticut like we are.) We eventually hired another person to round out our rebuild and maintenance department and prepare for attrition due to impending retirement. 

Today, that department is a critical part of our company—integral to our ability to achieve extreme precision and guarantee minimal downtime. 

Setting New Standards for Precision

Our in-house rebuild and maintenance department helps us set new standards for precision by rebuilding and modernizing our tried-and-true precision centerless grinding equipment. 

The workhorse machines that were built in the 1960s are better for precision centerless grinding than modern equipment. Why? Because the older machines are made from solid and heavy cast iron bases that aren’t prone to vibration. Comparatively, the newer equipment is made from lighter materials, like steel wrapped in sheet metal, that vibrate easily. 

Like many industrial buildings, our shop is located near a railroad track, which means we experience vibration every time a train passes through. If we were using newer precision centerless grinding machines, that vibration would be enough to prevent us from achieving the precision tolerances many of our customers require.

But the problem with machines from the 1960s is that they wear down and break down. That’s where our in-house rebuild and maintenance department enters the picture. They regularly strip the machines down to their components, replace the worn-out components, rework components where necessary, and reassemble the machines. 

However, instead of rebuilding the machines to the OEM specifications, they modernize them to be even more precise. For instance, our precision centerless grinding machines originally used an ACME lead screw to drive the feed of the machine. Our team made the call to replace that with a precision-ground ball screw and a servo drive. This upgrade took us from being able to compensate with a 0.0001 resolution to a .00002 (20 millionth) resolution.

Minimizing Downtime to Guarantee On-Time Delivery

When customers learn about our rebuild and maintenance department, they’re most impressed by our ability to minimize downtime to the point where they are unaffected. 

That frustration you feel when a precision centerless grinding vendor calls to tell you their machine is down, and it will be a month until they can get you your parts? You never have to worry about that with us.

This is just one of the ways our commitment to self-sufficiency benefits customers. We know from experience that when we rely on ourselves, we can’t go wrong. When a machine goes down at our shop, we typically have it up and running again the same day.

Conducting Regular Maintenance on All Equipment

Though our precision centerless grinding machines are the main focus of our rebuild capabilities, our in-house department can also rebuild other manual machines such as Bridgeports and lathes. Technically, they can rebuild thread rollers, but those don’t have many wear components. 

From a regular maintenance standpoint, our team checks all the equipment in the shop weekly. Plus, machine operators know the rebuild and maintenance team is always available if a piece of equipment isn’t working right. 

If you’re looking for a precision centerless grinding company that takes excellent care of its equipment and even better care of its customers, request a quote!