Contract Manufacturing Profile


Beaver says new machines, like this Toyoda grinder, not only help their return on investment, but also make the company more attractive to skilled workers, who are in short supply.


Beaver has about 110 employees, one-fourth of which are engineers. About 40, however, are machinists. Since 2011, when Beaver felt the brunt of the Great Recession, because


of the lag time in orders, sales have been growing at a healthy clip. It now has about $25 million in revenue. While Kearns credits a variety of factors for that growth, such as the company’s experience, excellent supplier record and skilled team, he said strategic investments in the right machines has certainly played a role. Beaver also has benefi ted from a general move away from hydraulic systems, which require frequent maintenance since they operate on hydraulic fl uid (and its ever-present risk of leakage and contamination). By contrast, electromechanical actuator systems are less expensive to produce, more reliable, and because they don’t require hydraulic fl uid, they are con- siderably more environmentally friendly.


For example, Beaver developed an actuator system, which replaced a hydraulic system, that elevates a military radar sys- tem and can produce 40,000 lbs. of force (177.9 kN). The lift on both sides of the system must be synchronized during the raising and lowering functions. This system allows the cus-


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