To advance means to advance or expand. In this case, Advanced Carbide Grinding Inc. of Delhi, Pennsylvania must be worthy of its name. Since its inception in 1999, the company’s continued development and commitment to producing the highest precision and quality parts have driven and continued to drive its success. By adopting innovative grinding technologies and processes, and obtaining ISO certification, the workshop continues to push itself to new levels of productivity.
Only six months after the modest start, the growing Advanced Carbide Grinding moved to a 2,400 square foot (223 square meter) factory building, which was maintained until 2004. It was not until 2011 that the facility proved adequate, when the growth again contributed to another favorable move, reaching a 13,000 square foot (1,208 square meter) manufacturing facility. The store then moved to an existing facility in Delhi, about 45 miles east of Pittsburgh, increasing its total area to an impressive 100,000 square feet (9,290 square meters).
Edward Beck, Chief Financial Officer of Advanced Carbide Grinding, said: “The increased workload has driven continued expansion. Baker, CEO David Bartz, and COO Jim Elliott own the company. The three work side by side. After 20 years, it has 450 active customers and 102 employees working in three shifts.
It is also impressive that Advanced Carbide Grinding has purchased nearly $5.5 million in new advanced grinding machines from United Grinding North America Inc. of Miamisburg, Ohio over the years, all of which are Studer internal and external universal cylindrical grinding machines. Advanced Carbide Grinding prefers Studer machine tools because they can help workshops effectively meet different needs, including high-volume/low-mix and small-batch/high-mix production.
For some product lines, the shop will run 10,000 pieces on one of the Studer, and then perform 10 piece jobs on the same machine the next day. Beck said that Studer’s fast set-up and part processing flexibility make this possible.
After the shopkeeper used the Studer OD and ID grinder for the first time, they were convinced that this was the only CNC machine they needed in the workshop. After purchasing the first Studer S33 CNC universal cylindrical grinder and understanding the performance and accuracy of the machine, they decided to purchase five more S33s.
Advanced Carbide Grinding also consulted with United Grinding to design an internal grinding machine suitable for the specific product line that the shop was manufacturing at the time. The result was that the custom-designed Studer S31 cylindrical grinder worked well, and the workshop purchased three additional machines.
Studer S31 can handle small to large size workpieces in single, small batch and mass production, while Studer S33 is very suitable for single and batch production of medium-sized workpieces. StuderPictogramming software and Studer Quick-Set on both machines can speed up setup time and reduce reset time. To increase flexibility, integrated software modules and optional StuderWIN programming software allow workshops such as Advanced Carbide Grinding to create grinding and dressing programs on an external PC.
“We were very impressed with these machines because we were able to reduce the cycle time by almost 60% through manual operation,” Baker said, adding that the shop now has 11 Studer machines. According to Baker, having such advanced grinding technology in the workshop makes Advanced Carbide Grinding confident to pass the international ISO standard certification, which signifies a commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. The store has passed the ISO 9001:2015 certification, which emphasizes continuous improvement and is an important step in becoming the best supplier for any customer.
“I think our quality is what pushed us to this point,” Baker said. “We are lucky that we are located in an area called the Carbide Valley. Within a 15-mile radius, we may have 9 cemented carbide manufacturers picking up and delivering for us every day.”
In fact, the Derry area is considered the “Cemented Carbide Capital of the World”, but Advanced Carbide Grinding is not limited to carbide grinding. “Our customers asked us to start manufacturing steel and cemented carbide components, so we expanded and added a complete machine shop,” Baker said. “We also have a lot of experience in cutting tools. We provide blanks for the cutting tool industry.”
Most of the company’s cemented carbide and steel components are used in various applications in the oil and gas industry, including wear parts, downhole parts, seal rings and pumps, as well as finished parts of the components. Due to the use of a specific grade of cemented carbide, Advanced Carbide Grinding must use a diamond wheel to grind it.
“In wear applications, cemented carbide has a life expectancy of approximately ten to one longer than tool steel,” Baker said. “We are able to grind diameters from 0.062″ [1.57-mm] to diameters including 14″ [355-mm] and maintain a tolerance of ±0.0001″ [0.003 mm]. ”
The company’s operator is a key asset. “Many people who operate CNC machines are called button pushers-load a part, press a button,” Baker said. “All of our operators carry out their own programming. Our philosophy is to train our employees to operate the machine and then teach them to program. It is difficult to find the right person with the correct multitasking skills, but the home function of the Studer machine can It’s easier to tell the machine where the parts are, and it helps to set it up easily.”
Using a Studer grinder, Advanced Carbide Grinding can also perform rotation operations and radius machining, and meet special surface finish requirements. The workshop uses various wheel manufacturers, and after 20 years of trial and error, it has taught which wheels have the abrasive grain size and hardness required to produce the required surface treatment.
Studer machines further increase the flexibility of parts processing in the workshop. The company is confident that it will obtain the equipment and support needed by United Grinding to continue its development and expand into the aerospace, automotive and mining industries, or to get involved in ceramic production lines or other special materials.
“Our ISO certification will open the door to extraordinary opportunities for us. We will not look back. We will continue to move forward and forward,” Baker said.
For information about Advanced Carbide Grinding, please visit www.advancedcarbidegrinding.com or call 724-694-1111. For information about United Grinding North America Inc., please visit www.grinding.com or call 937-859-1975.
Post time: Nov-01-2021