Nix Manufacturing

Read how Tsugami Swiss Type CNC lathe technology has helped place Nix Manufacturing in a position to lower costs of parts for their customers, while still being able to maximize profit potential…

Since 1970, Nix Manufacturing has operated as a small, family-owned machine shop. The company provides parts for a variety of industries, including aerospace, electronics, government, military and more. Brian Nix grew up in the family business, and today serves as President.

“Increasing labor and operating costs made it impossible to be competitive on our parts. Our customers needed better pricing from us, and we just couldn’t get there making the parts on less capable equipment. We knew that there was CNC machine tool technology out there that would put is in the position to lower costs of parts to our customers, while still being able to maximize our profit potential. We looked at both Swiss style CNC lathes and twin turret/twin spindle lathes. Once we decided on a Swiss Type CNC Lathe, we narrowed our decision down to three brands and eventually chose Tsugami based on reputation, distributor support, and capability of the machine over the competitors,” explains Nix.

He continues, “Our big challenge was that we needed a CNC lathe highly capable in regards to the chucker mode feature. All of the lathes we looked at had this capability, but the Tsugami CNC lathes offered better Z-axis travel. The other brands couldn’t handle the parts because of this difference. We have been familiar with the Tsugami brand for many years, but the B0326-II CNC Lathe was the first one we acquired for our shop. We have known other shops that have used Tsugami CNC machine tools, and they are very highly regarded.”

Nix says, “We replaced three conventional turning centers and four operators with one Tsugami Swiss Type CNC lathe. Our daily production is up almost 300%, and the lathe’s accuracy has attributed to a scrap rate reduction by about half.”

“The whole experience from the first time we looked at a Tsugami CNC machines to today has been nothing but excellent. All of the people involved have treated us like we were their favorite customer. One thing that really impressed me was that the initial time estimates done by Rem Sales proved to be very accurate. I was somewhat skeptical that this was just a sales pitch, but I was proved wrong!” praises Nix.

He adds, “It’s tough to say I would recommend Tsugami, simply because this CNC lathe has given us such a leg up on our competition! Our lathe has allowed us to take a family of parts that have been barely profitable for the last few years, and turn them into parts that have not only helped generate better cash flow, but have helped our customer be more competitive as well. It’s truly a win-win situation for all.”

For more information about Nix Manufacturing, please visit their website at www.nixmfg.com.