Production Machining • Production Machining

MULTIT SKING TURN-MILL Doesn’t Turn shop in Big Sky Country uses a B-axis multitasking machine to produce complex, prismatic medical parts that require no turning complete from barstock. By Derek Korn, Editor-in-Chief hen a I ’ve visited a number of very advanced machining businesses that are located in the middle of nowhere. Due to corona-virus travel restrictions, I didn’t get to visit MoManTech — the precision machine shop pro led in this story — located in Sheridan, Montana. But, “middle of nowhere” is precisely how owner Kirt Johnston describes his business’ locale. It took a leap of faith for him and his family to get there. Originally from Indiana, he had progressed up the management ranks at a medical device manufacturer in Warsaw. In 2003, at age 31, he was planning to purchase the company. His plans changed after landing in the hospital as a result of work-related stress. By chance, he learned about a small machine shop, in a 700-person Montana town, that was up for sale by an owner who had his own health issues and was eyeing retirement. at 1,800-square-foot shop had just a couple knee mills and three engine lathes. But it sat on three acres of land with killer views. Long story short, he bought that shop and moved his family there, leaving behind the security of existing employment for the unknowns this new experience would present. When I say he moved his family there , he did indeed. For two years, his wife/business partner, Michelle, and boys, ages 2 and 5 at the time, lived in an 800-square-foot apartment attached to the shop. e situation is much di erent now. After moving there in July 2004, Johnston expanded the shop by 4,000 square feet and began adding employees and more advanced CNC equipment, such as mills, a turning center, Swiss-type lathes, a wire EDM unit and B-axis turn-mills. MoManTech’s rst B-axis turn-mill, purchased in 2012, enabled the shop to :: The second B-axis turn-mill MoManTech purchased currently performs no turning ork hatsoever, producing a range of complex, prismatic medical components from barstock. (ll photos are courtesy of MoManTech.) 38 PRODUCTION MCHINING :: JULY 2020