Our Process
Our machines' unique capabilities
From one Swiss machine and no customers to 25–30 steady clients who give us the tough stuff.
How we started
After spending a dozen years as a manufacturing engineer in the screw machine industry, Jarvis founded Northern Precision in 1999 with veteran mill operator Dane Kerby. The company began with one Swiss machine – and no customers.
“That’s the interesting part. We bought a machine and did not have an order for any parts. It was scary. We started on a shoestring.”
After Northern Precision found its first customer, word of mouth drew more. The shop now has 25 to 30 steady clients, including makers of fiber-optic, medical and automotive products.
“As a matter of fact, a lot of our customers are regular screw machine houses, and some of them even have Swiss machines. They give us the tough stuff.”
Lot sizes and growth
Northern Precision’s customers may be steady, but the lot sizes are not. “One job we’ll run 160,000 pieces, and one we’ll run five.” Most orders are for 1,000 to 10,000 parts.
The company plans to grow – and stick with Swiss machines. “We could use two more machines right now,” said Jarvis.
Machine set-up
- Northern Precision fitted its machines with bar loaders from LNS America that suspend the bar stock in oil. This helps control whipping when stock is rotating at up to 10,000 rpm.
- The machines also are equipped with CoolBlaster 2,000psi coolant systems. They are particularly useful for clearing chips during deep hole drilling.
- Both the loaders and coolant systems allow operations to be run at higher speeds.
Have a hard-to-make part?
Send us your project specs and drawings. Swiss machining is all we do — let us quote your complex, close-tolerance parts from start to finish.