J-Ron Inc. Tests Every Mold Produced

Every company strives to deliver the best product possible to its customers. J-Ron Inc., in Henderson, Kentucky, goes so far as to test each and every mold and tooling product it makes for the plastic injection mold industry before sending it out to a customer.

The company makes a variety of molds for companies like Whirlpool and other appliance makers, and is a tier-one and tier-two supplier to multiple automotive parts manufacturers, sporting goods, plumbing, food and beverage and other types of manufacturers.

To increase its percentage of quality assurance due to marketplace competitiveness, J-Ron's Machine and Tool shop acquired two Makino vertical machining centers (VMC) to help the company gain a more competitive edge by reducing cycle times and enhancing unattended machining by nearly 75 percent.

Two Businesses Under One Umbrella [back to top]
Founded in 1980 by Ron Bugg Sr., J-Ron has two separate business units that operate as part of J-Ron Incorporated—a machining and tooling division and an injection molding manufacturing division. So not only does the company have the ability to make all the tooling and molds for injection molding for its clients, the manufacturing division has the ability to test every mold it makes before sending it off to a customer.

This is a big selling point for the company and assures management and their customers a confidence and guaranteed quality control unavailable in many other shops. While tool and moldmaking is the centerpiece of J-Ron, Inc., the company also manufactures special products, including Claybusterbrand replacement shotgun wads for C&D Special Products, running 18 injection molding machines around the clock.

When J-Ron management first looked into adding a vertical machining center to the shop floor, they were considering at least four of five different brands and models said general manager, Arthur Ellis. The Makino S33L was the machine that offered them all of the capabilities and quality control that they were seeking. They also then acquired a Max 65S and incorporated both into the shop's equipment list.

After delivery, both machines were up and running in no time according to Ellis. "Makino came on site and did some training here and we also went to the Tech Transfer training at Makino."

The S-Series machines from Makino have a maximum workpiece capacity of 39.4 x 17.7 x 17.7 inches, and a cutting feedrate of 945 inches per minute. Its standard features also include a 13,000 RPM spindle, through spindle air and Makino's Super Geometric Intelligence 3 (SGI.3) software. This software enables it to easily cut intricate and difficult patterns and parts all while keeping very tight tolerances—perfect for many of the custom and elaborate molds that J-Ron produces.

Savings and Quality Keep Improving [back to top]
Ellis says that he and the others at J-Ron have seen a tremendous reduction in lead times and exceptional accuracies due to the Makinos. "We considered cost and capabilities when we were looking to buy a machine," he said. "And we've gotten a great value with the Makino equipment.

"Tech Transfer training also has made a difference for us. We came back more confident in running the machines, and learned how to refine and improve our own processes around the Makino equipment."

Ellis says they continue to learn more about how to maximize the Makinos as they design and build new tooling, and that they are working toward increasing their unattended machining time. "We've already increased our capacity incredibly and have added a second shift since installing the Makino verticals due to the new business we have acquired," he said.

"I've been extremely impressed with the time savings we've seen. We have gained up to 75 percent in time savings on some parts, going from 20 hours from start to finish down to four or five. And the accuracy we get on the machines is also outstanding."

Operational Performance [back to top]
The shop makes a variety of molds and tooling primarily out of a variety of different steels, including 420 stainless, H-13, P-20 and 57 stainless. It also cuts its own graphite electrodes for the two Makino EDNC43 machines. And the results and impact are seen throughout the operation.

Tony Cain, J-Ron's design engineer, has also been impressed with what he has seen on the Makinos. He has worked in the tooling and moldmaking business for a number of years and said that the Makinos have definitely made a marked improvement in the efficiencies at J-Ron. He's been able to learn enough about the equipment to help him in designing programs and tooling for each of the machines to take full advantage of their capabilities.

Machine operator Tim Buckman said he really enjoys running the Makino. "At my last job I had the option to go into welding or into machining, and I went with machining," he said. "Now that I've run this Makino equipment, I'll never look back. I hope I can always run nothing but Makinos."

The other main operator, Jacob Husk, is also a fan of the Makinos. "I really like the controls on the Makino verticals. They are both good machines to run and I'm happy to be working on both of them."

Ellis and Cain are both very pleased with the results they have seen on the Makino VMCs. The shop has had Makino EDM equipment for a number of years but these are the first machining centers from Makino that they have purchased.

As J-Ron continues to grow and its needs increase for machinery that can help them improve lead times and reduce the cost of operations, it will continue to look toward Makino as its top choice in supplying new equipment. This equipment has been proven to meet the test.

For more information on either division of J-Ron, contact Ron Bugg, Jr., vice president at: 635 Bob Posey St., Henderson, KY 42420; by phone at 270-827-4953; or by email at rbuggjr@jron.com.

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