Category: Precision Manufacturing

For over 20 years, MultiSource Manufacturing LLC has produced precision-based parts for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other customers in a broad range of industries. As a contract manufacturer, MultiSource is an industry leader in producing complex parts with close tolerances that rely on our ability to fabricate with extreme precision. The industries we serve require perfection in all parts, and in many cases, that precision can directly impact the health and safety of workers, patients, and many other people. To produce high-precision machined parts, MultiSource utilizes an extensive network of state-of-the-art production floor equipment, including Swiss machining centers and 3-5 axis CNC lathes. Our CNC machines are operated by skilled technicians and engineers using intelligently guided software.

Precision Machined Parts

In addition to our ability to produce precision machined parts that meet exacting specifications, we also provide a host of value-added services, including finishing solutions such as tumbling and bead blasting, heat treating, plating, and assembly. We also provide services that support lean manufacturing and just-in-time (JIT) delivery practices.

Part of our support in JIT and lean manufacturing systems comes in the packaging and delivery process. For any parts, from single components to full assemblies, we offer warehouse and manufacturing kitting services that combine single components into packages with other related parts and create a new product with that pooling.

Benefits of Kitting Components

Customers receive several benefits from kitting components for the packing and shipping process, including:

1. Inventory tracking: Kitting creates a new SKU (stock keeping unit) for the combination of multiple parts, making it easier to track a large number of components when ordering, shipping, and storing. Kits are processed as a single product, but they contain several parts. Tracking many small parts is made especially more organized by kitting them.
2. Shipping efficiency: Just as inventory management is improved with kitting, so is the shipping process. When parts are organized into kits, those combined components can be packed with greater efficiency and shipped faster.
3. Lower costs: Warehouse kitting saves the customer costs in multiple ways. Kits allow customers to order the exact amount needed, rather than spending extra on bulk qualities of single components to fulfill production needs. They also cost less in the packaging and shipping department as well as often taking up less warehouse space in storage.
4. Quality products: All our components and full assemblies are subjected to a rigorous quality control inspection, including passing a test through Zeiss CMMs (coordinate measuring machines) and other vision systems. However, kitting can improve the quality of products assembled by clients at a separate facility. This is because kitted products ensure the delivery of every needed part for an accurate, precise assembly instead of relying on getting everything you need in bulk inventory.

Summary

For any components or assemblies organized into a kit, our clients can trust MultiSource for quality packaging, shipping, and overall fulfillment. To learn more about our precision machined parts and kits, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC at (952) 456-5500. You can also request more information, or request a quote online today.

Lathes are important tools that are used across industries, from metalworking to carpentry. Even the simple pottery wheel, which has been used for centuries to make pots for household and commercial use, is technically a lathe. Today, lathes are used for many purposes, but they still operate the same way they have since their first invention. At MultiSource Manufacturing LLC, we utilize multiple lathes to build complex parts with exact dimensions. Our network of facilities hosts CNC live-tooling lathes with 3, 4, and 5 axis movement. We also have Y-axis and true twin spindle lathes on our production floors. With such a versatile range of movement available to our lathe technicians, in addition to other CNC machining centers and state-of-the-art tools, MultiSource can supply OEMs and other customers with the precision machined parts they need. We design and build parts for several industries, including the medical device, semiconductor, aerospace, defense, and food industries.

Our modern equipment can create the precision machined parts our customers require.

Because we work with customers in multiple industries requiring a tight degree of accuracy in part design and results, we rely on the quality of our modern machinery to build parts with the greatest precision possible. Thanks to our expert team of engineers, technicians, and other employees, our comprehensive equipment floors, and our network of fully outfitted facilities, MultiSource is an industry leader in precision machined parts and assemblies.

Lathes have been beneficial tools for many centuries.

Our lathes are as advanced as it gets, but the use of lathes dates back much further than our establishment in 1998. Lathes are as old as many other simple tools, going as far back as Ancient Egypt. The first evidence of the use of lathes dates back to around 1300 BCE in Egypt. Some discoveries show lathes may have even been used in Greece in the 14^th and 13^th centuries BCE.

Industrialized Lathes

Industrialized lathes were a significant tool during the first Industrial Revolution, often titled the “mother of machine tools.” In 1751, the first complete documentation of an all-metal slide-rest lathe was written. The tool was invented by Jacques de Vaucanson, a French inventor who also designed the first automatic loom.

Lathes

Throughout the first Industrial Revolution, lathes were powered by horses, steam, water, and other forces greater than the hand, but the first electrically motorized lathes weren’t developed until the late 1800s or early 1900s. By the 1950s, servomechanisms were beginning to control industrial lathe systems with numerical control.

Modern computing power increases the use and versatility of lathes.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the rise of computers allowed for the greater development of CNC lathes. (Read more about the history of CNC machining in general here.) In modern industry, both hand-controlled and CNC lathes are commonplace in many workshops, from artisan studios to major factories.

Our lathes are a critical part of our operation as a contract manufacturer. We produce a large range of precision machined parts, with our lathes taking part in many stages of the fabrication process.

Precision Machined Parts

To learn more about our operations and production capabilities, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC today at (952) 456-5500. If you prefer, you can also request more information or request a quote online to get started with us.

For any industry that utilizes machined parts, components, and full assemblies, precision is key. Without perfect accuracy, parts can at best simply not fit and, at worst, cause a failure in operation. No matter how large, small, simple, or complex a machined part is, MultiSource Manufacturing LLC is dedicated to comprehensive precision at every production stage. As a contract manufacturer, MultiSource locations host a complete range of equipment and expertise to fabricate exactly what you need. We provide parts and assemblies to OEMs and other customers in the aerospace, defense, semiconductor, food and bakery, medical device, financial processing, and many other industries. While precision is important for every step of the manufacturing process, it’s also a part of all our operations, including the packing of products, just-in-time delivery, and other fulfillment services.

Fulfillment Services

Thanks to our continued commitment to excellence and precision, MultiSource has become a trusted dock-to-stock supplier for customers worldwide. Our dock-to-stock fulfillment services offer many benefits to customers who want to improve their efficiency. We can boost their productivity by decreasing time and labor and cutting storage and inventory mistakes.

What is dock-to-stock?

When goods are shipped to a facility, the unloading, inspection, and placement of those products into storage is essentially the dock-to-stock process. However, with the large scale of shipping, storage, and product demand and variety in the current industrial world, dock-to-stock status becomes something much more complex and nuanced. Today’s dock-to-stock systems require high accuracy, SKU categorization, computerized inventory capabilities, and much more.

Physical and Digital Infrastructure

An ideal dock-to-stock system will have the physical and digital infrastructure to handle deliveries in just a few days, compared to weeks or months handling time of less efficient receiving practices. Basic dock-to-stock procedures will have four steps:

1. Receiving the goods at the dock from supplier trucks.
2. Inspection and validation of goods after they are brought onto the storage facility floor.
3. Inventorying goods with detailed information following the SKU system in place.
4. Storing the goods with efficient distribution that meets safety and storage condition requirements.

When examining each of these steps, you will see that there is much more to those procedures in action than on paper. Any issues with these stages will cause a trickle effect of delays, stock inaccuracies, and added costs. To support a high-efficiency dock-to-stock operation, MultiSource takes steps to streamline each part of the process.

Sunnary

Some of the many ways we support the dock-to-stock systems our customers use include clear labeling and barcoding on product packages, packing units, and shipping paperwork; efficient loading of goods onto freight; continued communication with all parties; and compact packaging.

Learn More About Fulfillment Services

To learn more about our fulfillment services and more, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC today at (952) 456-5500. You can also request more information or request a quote to get started.

This second part of our two-part blog covers the early beginnings of computer numerical control (CNC) and some of the first turning machines, which includes turning machines developed in the mid to late 1700s, lathes used in gun copying during the 1800s, and other preliminary forms of automated machining. Today’s CNC operations utilized in many fabrication industries were developed from John T. Parsons and Frank L. Stulen’s work in engineering punch card systems. Their abstract programming and numerical control designs were studied and tested in an U.S. Air Force funded research project through Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Modern CNC machining gives manufacturers a vast range of fabrication capabilities for machining, turning, lathing, milling, and more. As a contract manufacturer, MultiSource Manufacturing LLC utilizes over 140 CNC machines, including 3-axis and 5-axis indexed milling and Swiss turning equipment. Our CNC hardware and software technology helps us meet customer needs for parts, components, and full assemblies in the medical device, aerospace and defense, semiconductor, food and bakery, financial processing, and many other industries.

Joseph Marie Jacquard Memorial Award

After Parsons and Stulen finally received funding from the Air Force, they began to test and build their by-the-numbers automated machines. By that time, Parsons Corporation entered into a full collaboration with MIT Servomechanisms Laboratory to build experimental milling machines. In 1968, Parsons received the first Joseph Marie Jacquard Memorial Award from the Numerical Control Society. In 1975, he was given an honorary plaque by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers naming him “The Father of the Second Industrial Revolution.”

Computer Aided Design

During the late 1950s, the successful engineering and understanding of numerical control systems led to the potential of programmable language systems that would soon become the basics of what we know today as CNC. The first computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) incorporated into CNC systems came in 1959 when the MIT laboratory began the “Computer-Aided Design Project,” funded again through the U.S. Air Force.

CNC Machining

CNC machining developed further throughout the late 1970s and into the 1990s. Toyota car factories in Japan implemented many new systems of lean manufacturing with CNC practices, General Motors (GM) had used CNC practices since the 1960s, and large vendors like International Business Machines (IBM) began to stock standardized CNC and CAD/CAM supplies.

Software Systems

Advancement of software systems, coding, computers, and other digital capabilities also improved the precision and range of CNC processes. Data storage capabilities grew throughout the 1990s, allowing more versatile, extensive, and portable systems, and the growth of the Internet opened doors for direct communication between machines and other components of production.

Manufacturing Abilities

Contemporary CNC machining continues to develop with expanding additive and subtractive manufacturing abilities. Our CNC systems allow us to manufacture at close tolerances without compromising extreme precision. To learn more about our fabrication services and our equipment, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC at (952) 456-5500. You can also request more information, or request a quote to get started with our team.

At MultiSource Manufacturing LLC, our primary goal is precision. Not only do we work to meet the needs of OEMs and other customers with precision in the components and full assemblies we manufacture, our production schedule and just-in-time delivery practices support precision-based lean manufacturing systems. We provide a broad range of manufacturing services to several industries, including those that require complex, high-functioning parts, such as the medical device and aerospace industries. To meet international certification standards and our own strict quality control requirements, our engineers and technicians follow very specific processes for precision results. When you partner with the MultiSource network for your fabrication needs, you benefit from our design/build services from prototyping to assembly, but you will also get the advantage of comprehensive finishing, plating, and other value-added services.

We utilize multiple value-added services for all the materials we manufacture with. From heat treating to painting, all our finishing services play a critical role in our fabrication precision and fully finished parts.

Types of Metals

MultiSource technicians work with many types of metal, including stainless, surgical, military, and basic grades of steel, sheet metals, titanium, magnesium, aluminum, brass, high nickel alloys, and exotic metals. These materials require a range of finishing techniques that protect parts from corrosion, scratching, and patina, improve durability, create certain cosmetic results, and much more.

Value-Added Services

Our value-added finishing services for metals include platings that allow us to alter parts for electrical or thermal conduction, protection from radiation, solderability, reduction of friction, hardness, corrosion resistance, IR reflectivity, and cosmetic specifications.

With our heat-treating services, we can finish metal parts to improve strength, hardness, ductility, durability, elasticity, and resistance. Our heat-treating services include annealing, tempering, case hardening, normalizing, and quenching.

We also work with non-metal materials for plastic fabrication, including various polymers, Teflon™, and exotics. A large part of plastic fabrication is the finishing work that needs to be performed for the integrity, strength, and cleanliness of a final part. This includes surface finishes like paint and other coatings, some heat treating, sanding, polishing, and more.

Paint and coating finishes are also highly effective for metal parts. Anti-rust paints and protective coatings significantly reduce corrosion and wear resistance. MultiSource technicians employ precise painting practices for even the most intricate, smallest components and for all oversized industrial parts. Our paints and other surface finishes are specialized, highly engineered materials that we apply with automated systems and skilled hand-painting when appropriate.

MultiSource’s value-added services are key stages for the majority of our production processes. To learn more about our additional finishing services and the industries we supply with precision-based components and full assemblies, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC today at (952) 456-5500. Request more information, or request a quote online to get started with us.

In the industrial world, quality is the most important factor of every piece of equipment used, from the simplest bolt to the most intricate electromechanical assembly. At MultiSource Manufacturing LLC, quality control is our foundational mission for all the components and assemblies we manufacture for each industry we provide for. OEMs and other customers can trust that a final product from our quality control and testing floors has undergone rigorous testing, simulated use, prototype retouching, and complete diagnostics. Because of our dedication to promoting quality at all turns, we’ve been able to establish the MultiSource network as a “dock to stock” (DTS) provider for many of our customers. When you work with MultiSource for precision machined parts, you may be able to eliminate lengthy and costly order checking and product testing chores with every new shipment from our facilities.

 

As a DTS supplier of products for many industries, MultiSource understands how vital and useful quality control practices are, but we are also acutely aware that quality must start at the beginning of any given manufacturing process. Quality can’t happen in a component or assembly without precision and accuracy in prototypes or reliable precision machining and finishing equipment.

 

What Is Dock to Stock?

Put simply, our DTS status with a customer means that a shipment from our facility can be unpacked and put directly into storage, on the shelf, or integrated into production without a double check of factors like quantity, quality, or part number. DTS policies are typically only established after working with a supplier for a long time with no issues in shipping and product quality. Most DTS suppliers have provided a minimum of five deliveries of products without issue. With our precision machined parts, highly developed quality control program, and state-of-the-art facilities, we have been able to establish trusted relationships as a DTS provider for customers in the food packing, aerospace and defense, financial processing, semiconductor, and many other industries.

 

One exception to the DTS establishment is the medical industry. While our production of medical devices and components has never had an issue in regards to quality, reliability, and safety, the FDA requires the checking and inspection of medical grade products, and with good reason. Because medical equipment can greatly affect the lives of patients and treatment providers, we would never want to be a DTS supplier in this industry—no matter how high-quality our medical products are.

 

With all our customers, even those with current DTS relationships, we strive to continually improve the supply we offer. Our engineers and technicians work daily to increase the quality of the precision machined, fabricated, and finished parts we manufacture for a wide range of industrial applications.

 

To learn more about our precision machined parts and other products, or for information about a DTS status, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC at (952) 456-5500. You can also request more information or request a quote to get started with us today

When it comes to machining, there are many types of operations that can be utilized across manufacturing industries. Milling in particular is a highly versatile operation applied on CNC machining operation floors in the majority of fabrication facilities.

 

The precision, flexibility, speed, and quality that CNC milling provides is vital to the operations of the MultiSource Manufacturing LLC network. As a contract manufacturer, we are dedicated to providing comprehensive fabrication and assembly services from start to finish of any project, including complete CNC machining capabilities, engineering and design, a Class 1000 clean room workspace, plastic fabrication capabilities, finishing services, and much more.

 

Within each type of CNC machining operation, there are even more specialized techniques that can be applied depending on the format, materials, and desired end result. Milling, for example, has two primary techniques applied to the majority of situations when milling is appropriate. These two primary techniques are face milling and peripheral milling.

 

Face Milling

This milling operation works with the cutting mill positioned to be perpendicular against the component that will be worked on. The cutting mill spins on a central axis and moves to cut away sections of the component with its perpendicular motion. Face milling is considered to be the most common format for CNC operations. It is highly effective for rapid heavy-duty milling, high-feed milling, and other general face milling processes. Mills will typically use cutters at a 45º angle, but square shoulder and round insert cutters or side and face mills are utilized in other specific applications. 90º cutters are also useful for machining thin-walled components or components with weak fixtures.

 

Peripheral Milling

In contrast to face milling, peripheral milling places the cutting mill parallel to the component that will be machined. The cutting mill spins on an axis parallel to the component as it cuts away material from the work surface. When the mill is positioned this way, the full sides of the cutting mill are being applied to the work surface. This makes peripheral milling much more effective for rapidly removing large amounts of material from the work surface. Because of this, peripheral milling is useful for fabricating a basic component shape quickly, readying it for finer operations. It’s also used in large-scale milling or milling harder materials.

 

For visual reference, this diagram of peripheral and face milling shows a basic format for both CNC operations. Both face milling and peripheral milling are critical CNC machining operations used daily throughout operations in the MultiSource network. Our fully outfitted fabrication facilities have complete CNC machining capabilities in addition to our comprehensive design/build services.

CNC Machining Services

To learn more about CNC machining and our services, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC today at (952) 456-5500. To get started with the MultiSource network, request more information or request a quote online.

Machining operations of various types have been used in industrial settings for over 200 years. In the past 30 years, machining operations have developed exponentially to be faster, more precise, and capable of handling a wider range of materials. With the creation of digital technology and software systems, machining across industries is automated with computer numerical control (CNC). CNC machining is a highly accurate method of altering materials and fabricating even the most complicated parts. MultiSource Manufacturing LLC provides a wide range of services as a contract manufacturer, and CNC machining is a specialty across our six facilities.

 

The MultiSource network has been in operation for over 20 years, and our CNC machining capabilities have developed alongside computer technology, wireless network communications, and equipment improvements. Because of our experience and comprehensively outfitted machining production line, we can provide complete CNC machining services on multiple axes with quick, precision-based operations based on intelligent engineering designs.

 

Our facilities are outfitted with 140 CNC machines that all customers partnering with the MultiSource network can benefit from. Our CNC machining capabilities include 3-axis and 5-axis indexed milling centers as well as 80 mills, 20 Swiss machining centers, and 40 lathes all with vertical, horizontal, or multi-axis movement.

 

With a comprehensive repertoire of CNC machines, basic subtractive machining operations are all in our tool box for infinite combinations in manufacturing virtually any part. Basic, universal machining operations include:

 

• Cutting: Cutting tools utilize one or more cutting edges that are harder than the component material. Single point tools and multi-cutting-edge tools are two standard cutting tool styles. Both perform more specific types of cutting operations. For example, single point tools perform planing, boring, and turning, while multi-cutting-edge tools perform drilling and milling.

 

• Drilling: CNC drilling machines manufacture circular holes with two to four helical cutting edges. The drill operates parallel to its rotational axis as it is applied to the component.

 

• Turning: A turning machine subtracts material from a component surface. A component is held on an axis and turned as a cutting edge removes material in a computer controlled pattern with precision and speed.

 

• Reaming: Reaming machines are a valuable addition to any precision-based operation floor. Reaming serves to remove miniscule amounts of material from a drilled hole to create a specific size cut.

 

• Boring: Boring is also used to finish roughly made holes with a bent single tip. The tip is advanced spinning into the pre-made hole and the cut is fine tuned. Boring is highly useful in precision machining and finishing operations.

 

• Milling: Milling is applicable to the fabrication of many components. A mill with multiple cutting edges is slowly applied to a component surface and that component rotates on an axis. Both peripheral and face milling (cutting parallel versus perpendicular) are utilized on MultiSource operations floors.

 

To learn more about the basics of CNC machining and our services, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC at (952) 456-5500 and request more information, or request a quote online.

Since its earliest beginnings as a theory developed by Albert Einstein in 1917 to its development into a tool commonly used today, the laser has revolutionized operations across industries. The capabilities of laser technology are key to many aspects of medical treatments, scientific research, fabrication, and more. MultiSource Manufacturing LLC utilizes laser marking and welding as a value-added service that offers noninvasive finishing treatments of a wide range of components and full assemblies. As a contract manufacturer with six locations making up the MultiSource network, we are able to offer comprehensive services, including laser marking and welding machines operated by skilled technicians.

For many manufacturing purposes, laser marking and welding is critical to completing components and assemblies. Thanks to our multiple facilities, the MultiSource network is able to offer these high-quality services with the capabilities of a large-scale industry leader and the customer-focused care of a small company. Our laser marking and welding technicians apply their skills across industries, including medical, aerospace and defense, electrical, semiconductor, and more.

 

Components of a Laser Marking or Welding System

A laser marking or welding system utilizes four basic components that work together to conduct the laser’s light-generated-heat to vaporize and remove materials from a component’s surface.

1. Laser: The laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) is a highly concentrated light source that, when used in a laser marking and welding application, is actively converting that light energy into heat. This heat can vaporize materials in thin layers from a surface in either vector or raster patterns.
2. Controller: In a laser marking and welding machine, the controller is the hand that guides the laser. This control is programmed to determine the direction, speed of motion, intensity, and spread of the laser. Most of these machines work on x and y axes on a flat surface, but others can work on a cylindrical surface using a helix adjustment. Other machines use galvo mirrors to direct the laser beam while both the laser and surface remain stationary.
3. Surface: The surface of the component or assembly that will be marked or welded make up the third part of the laser system. A wide range of materials can be used with a laser system, including all the metals and plastics the MultiSource network works with.
4. Ventilation: Because a laser system vaporizes the surface material, toxic fumes are created in the process. This emission requires a specialized vacuum ventilation system that can safely remove fumes from the workspace as well as remove debris from the marking or welding process that would otherwise contaminate the operation.

While lasers are commonly used to mark serial numbers, part details, logos, and other information, they have a full and varied range of uses. MultiSource uses laser systems to provide comprehensive finishing, noninvasive assembly, improved precision, and overall increased quality.

To learn more about these and other value-added services, contact MultiSource today at (952) 456-5500, and request more information or request a quote online.