Martec
| COMPANY/LOCATION: |
Martec, Millford, Ohio |
| PRODUCT: |
Precision machining, materials joining, and specialty alloys |
| YEARS IN BUSINESS: |
3 |
| EMPLOYEES: |
22 |
| SITUATION: |
Martec is an Ohio company that provides precision machining, materials
joining, hard facing and specialty alloys for the gas turbine, electronics,
and other industries. One of Martec's customers for machined parts had
a very sudden requirement for a highly specialized wire that was commercially
unavailable. If this wire could be quickly, successfully, and economically
produced, it would be used in an electronics product for widespread and
continuing sale in Japan and elsewhere. |
| PROJECT: |
Martec's customer had determined that there was no Japanese supplier
and hoped to turn to an American source to demonstrate first pilot feasibility
and then production capability. Martec felt that this specialty wire could
be produced in a very short time by a double extrusion technique if a source
were available to perform the critical experimentation. Ron Markle, president
of the company, knew of the metallurgical expertise at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory and contacted the Centers for Manufacturing Technology (ORCMT)
for technical assistance in demonstrating this unusual process for the
pilot program.
ORCMT metallurgists, using their instrumented extrusion press, immediately
produced the needed wire samples from a vacuum-melted ingot, using the
double extrusion method. After the wire was ground to very close tolerances,
with exacting surface requirements, it was certified as meeting specifications.
For subsequent, larger production requirements, Martec went to industrial
sources for commercial manufacturing. |
| RESULTS: |
Jim Hunt, manager of specialty alloys for Martec, said that ORCMT's
contribution to this project was the essence of its success. "They provided
the expertise and the facilities unavailable commercially to show that
this product could be produced by the anticipated process. The demonstration
helped Martec create two new jobs producing new business. The sales
dollar amount for a year's program was fairly small, about $200,000, but
it allowed us to show that Martec could manufacture other products in addition
to the core business of machining. We are still making this particular
wire. It has become an ongoing product for us. This laboratory cooperation
led to the kind of product development that allows a company to grow its
business because of the momentum the product establishes. The people at
ORCMT are extremely competent and receptive, enabling them to provide crucial
help to small industry. This is because they can often perform the critical
experiment that will provide the basis of a development," Hunt said. |
Technical assistances provided to the private sector by the Oak Ridge
Centers for Manufacturing Technology (ORCMT) and its manufacturing extension
partners throughout the United States.
|
