Giles Enterprises, Inc.

APPLICATION: Additional Capacity for Milling Operations

BACKGROUND: Founded in 1952, Giles Enterprises, Inc. is a privately held corporation based in Montgomery, Alabama, specializing in innovative, reliable equipment designs— such as fryers, ovens, rotisseries and ventless hoods—for the foodservice industry. Giles Enterprises, Inc. serves a wide range of foodservice customers, including restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores and other foodservice retailers, as well as institutions, including colleges, hotels, hospitals and recreation complexes.

ISSUE:
Giles Enterprises, Inc. manufactures a large number of parts for all types of foodservice equipment. As a result, the company’s manufacturing operation is highly vertically integrated, with a wide range of machines to support multiple operations. The issue for Giles was a need for additional capacity for milling operations. According to Giles Manufacturing Manager and CNC Programmer Jim Ward, “Without the needed capacity, we had to rely on parts outsourcing to vendors which not only added cost but affected on-time shipment rates.”

• Dependent on outsourcing vendor performance, on-time shipments as low as 67%
• 4-5 changeovers each day, requiring 30-40 minutes each
  
  “We needed a new machine and the right workholding to improve our capacity and our performance,” said Ward.
  

SOLUTION:
Giles Enterprises, Inc. purchased a Mazak VTC- 200 with a large, 20x80 table to support multiple plate configurations and provide the necessary flexibility to produce many different parts. Jergens worked with Giles to provide a customized sub-plate and several fixture plates, supported by the Ball Lock mounting system for highly repeatable workholding, within +/-0.0005” each time.

With the new Mazak machine and the Ball Lock mounting system in place, the Giles milling operation contributed significantly to the entire system performance and capacity:

• On-time shipments soared to a consistent 100%

• Set-up times reduced to as low as 5-7 minutes
  

ABOVE: Giles' Ball Lock System

The whole system is incredibly responsive,” It’s not uncommon for us to have a 20-30 minute response capability for a unit shipment requirement. It’s a good feeling to be able to deliver that kind of performance.

— Giles' Manufacturing Manager Jim Ward

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