Contract Manufacturing Profile
After buying a number of these affordable air guns, Jones decided to replace a plastic breach with a metal replica, as well as some other key metal parts, which he machined in a shop in his spare time. The new metal parts made the gun more fixed and firm and improved their appearance and performance.
In addition to defense work, they are also machining parts for clients in aerospace, consumer products and other industries. Sales have grown about 70% a year since opening their
doors. Woloshun explained that this is because they focus on helping customers solve problems. They don’t like chas- ing routine contract parts-making business—and, generally speaking, they don’t do it. “We go after customers who are more interested in the whole package,” Wolos- hun said.
“Our customers have their own following,” Jones said, adding that their end custom- ers are often willing to pay more for extra value. “Our philosophy is to add as many value-added services as we can to ensure that our cus- tomers receive a complete and accurate part or assembly.”
An Advanced
John Woloshun, also a co-founder of R&J, said investing in advanced manufacturing machinery has kept their eight-year-old company growing at a blistering pace.
Very soon, a few other gun enthusiasts quickly decided they’d also like to replace their cheap plastic breach with a metal rep- lica. Jones and Woloshun decided to become business partners and purchased just one affordable milling machine in 2006. They promoted the metal parts in an online air gun forum, and almost immediately, demand for these components was outstripping supply.
“All of our machines are networked.”
From the get-go, Jones said, “We were very busy. Selling the gun parts became very profitable.” They haven’t looked back since.
Growing Fast Today, in fact, their R&J machine shop, which fills 6600 (613 m2
ft2
Manufacturing Facility While R&J is a small machine shop, there is noth-
ing small-minded about how they run their facility. It is an advanced, high-tech operation.
“All of our machines are networked,” said Jones, who is a self-professed lover of technology. He can watch the machines run on high-res video from his house or phone. Most machines will communicate through E-mail any alarms or up to date status.
The facility runs 20 hours, six days a week and they do some lights-out operation.
There are several reasons for R&J’s investment in high- tech machinery.
) in a deliberately nondescript and highly secure building, makes critical gun parts not just for enthusiasts but for law enforcement and defense personnel.
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ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | October 2014
One, the business of making guns and gun parts is a highly regulated affair. The business has a federal firearms license (FFL) and has cameras set throughout the business to monitor security and production. Once a gun part reaches a certain stage, it must be laser engraved with identifying information and locked up in a secure inventory system. With today’s software systems, they can better track their production and how their machines are performing.
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