As we moved forward, and everyone became more familiar with the New System, things seemed to smooth out somewhat, although sales of the Bryant product were not encouraging. At this point we were concentrating on new machine build, and did not actively pursue machine rebuilding projects. Our core strength was being abandoned in favor of becoming an “OEM”. It seemed that each new machine order we did get was different than the last; we were continually spending money to redesign items that should have been fine just as they were. I was put in charge of the “Fluid Power” portion of the machine, which encompassed hydraulic systems, pneumatics, coolant and lubrication. I was no longer a “Project Engineer”, as we were now building new Bryant grinders….(sort of).

Purchasing was now in charge of selecting our vendors, which took quite a burden off  Engineering.  The contacts that we had established served us well; there had been a listing of vendors and their talents that could be used by the purchasing function in the future. As time went on, this list did change; some vendors disappeared, some new ones replaced them. Reasons varied, sometimes a change of ownership (and priorities). And of course some businesses disappeared, due to various reasons (retirement, etc.). But our core suppliers were with us until the end……….

One of our major vendors was Lovejoy Tool, right here in town. We had a good relationship going, and they had the capability of being able to make quite a lot of our “stuff”. They had the only CMM in the valley (Coordinate Measuring Machine), and this was quite valuable for being able to inspect some of our more intricate parts. Because they were not in the machine building business, they fared better when the other shops started to decline. Their main business was the design and build of cutting tools (milling cutters mostly). They are now the only cutting tool related business in town.

A brief history of Lovejoy Tool seems to be in order: the other major shops in town (Bryant and Fellows) were spin-offs of J&L, and so was Lovejoy. Fred Lovejoy started work as an engineer at J&L. He conceived the idea of an inserted-blade boring bar (up until this time, the blade was brazed on). This would allow quick blade changes when the cutting edge became dull. He applied this same thinking to milling cutters, and around 1916 he received a patent for his work. James T. Hartness, president of J&L at the time, encouraged Fred to organize a separate company to build these tools. The location of this enterprise was the original J&L building across from the Post Office (now the Senior Center). Over the years additions were added to accommodate the growing firm. So they have not moved very far from their “roots”. Of course their product line is now very large, including many different types of milling cutters, arbors and flywheels; the inserts range from the standby high speed steels, to state-of-the-art carbides and cast steel alloys. They also have a small “contract machining” function, in effect making parts for other outside companies (like us).

It seemed that after the Bryant acquisition in 2002, our forward momentum slowed over time. The task of organizing all the various parts of the product line overwhelmed us. The Project Engineer was required to follow the new MRP computer system when building the various Bills of Material; any new item on this document had to have its own unique part number entered into the Master List. To complicate things further, if any mistakes were made entering these numbers (I.E. a misplaced or missing digit), another entry would have to be made with the correct number. The incorrect / wrong number could not be deleted, and this one fact would cause us all kinds of problems down the road.

A short discussion concerning items on our Bills of Material: in our very early meetings on how to list various items on these  lists, it was decided to:                                  1). Continue to use our in-house part numbering system for manufactured parts (“VR” numbers); for the most part, these items would have an actual drawing or spec sheet with any necessary information for manufacture.                                                                     2). Use manufacturers part numbers for purchased items such as seals, bearings, etc., and enter these numbers directly into the MRP database without any supporting drawings.                                                                                                                                                 3). Integrate all the existing Bryant part numbers for manufactured parts into the system.

It did not take long to see just what kind of a mess we were getting into.                        1). Our in-house numbers would be no problem, as they were unique to us.                      2). The manufacturers part numbers would be tricky to use if we were not careful in entering them into the system. A lot of these numbers were very long.                                3). The Bryant numbers would be, for the most part, no problem.

Writing all the various Bills of Material for each order was usually done by the assigned Project Engineer. A complete machine build document might include 30 or 40 BOM’s. If there were any items that were “Long Lead” (those that had a long delivery time), the Project Engineer would release a “Preliminary” BOM to quickly get these items on order. This BOM would undergo numerous updates as the project advanced. Our periodic meetings would, hopefully, point out any problems that had to be addressed to keep the project on time.

The Shop Foreman had oversight on which mechanics were working on each project, and he would usually attend our meetings. There were always interruptions on the assembly floor to the schedule, sometimes they were legitimate (as sending a mechanic for a service call), sometimes at the whim of management (as when snap decisions were made and Management failed to tell the Foreman). The mechanics were caught in the middle on these occasions.