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In the beginning: 1972 (Our resume` to you)I was twelve. I went to my junior high school orientation. Nothing really excited me like seventh grade Metal Shop. My teacher's name was Jerry (coincidence?). Lo and behold, that was the start of it all. I also had two paper routes. This was where getting up early in the morning, plus the fact that we had to learn to be our own little business managers, started.
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Later: 1978By the time I finished high school I already had three full years as a “metalworker" under my belt - plus four years of paper routes. I first went to work for a metal fabrication shop that made pool handles and welded components. I ran large buffing machines that polished these components. After a short time, I found a real machine shop that took me in and started me in the deburring department. Within three weeks I was learning to work on Bridgeport mills doing detail work on aircraft parts, and I got a dollar per hour raise. After a couple of months they gave me another dollar per hour, and I thought to myself "Hey, I can make money doing this!” After only a year, I was making three dollars per hour more than when I started - big bucks in those days.
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A year-and-a-half later, the company was bought out by a larger aerospace firm. I moved to the CNC milling department, and within six months I was operating multiple-spindle CNC mills. What an opportunity for a twenty-year-old kid. After two months of operating this machine, I was doing set-ups. We were working on large Inconel forgings used in the MD-Super 80 program for McDonnell Douglas, as well as huge steel parts for an engine handling device for Rocketdyne’s Space Shuttle program. This was a big responsibility for a kid my age, but I was up to it. Before long I was operating two of these multiple-spindle machines at a time, doubling my responsibility. It felt good to know that I was managing a lot of responsibility at a very young age. I knew that I had a great future in the precision machining industry.
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After That: 1982After a while I began to feel like a “number” at the larger company. I went to work for a smaller aerospace job shop and started to learn how a smaller operation is managed. I knew by this time that I would be running my own small manufacturing company someday. After a year and a half, I moved to another small shop with a more diverse workload and became a toolmaker. I learned how to design and build holding fixtures for a wide variety of parts for CNC machining operations and detail work. The knowledge gained from this diversity of work, and the management skills from running my own department, would prove invaluable later on as a shop owner. After three years it was time to move on.
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I went to work for another small shop with some antiquated CNC equipment. During my initial interview the owner talked about his plans for growth, and I could tell he was serious. This was a real opportunity for me. Within four months I was managing the entire shop, and we had added some top-of-the-line, high-speed CNC machining centers. Four months later we had moved into a much larger facility and purchased three more new CNCs, hired more machinists, acquired a CAD/CAM system, and enjoyed unprecedented growth. The company made parts for many different applications, primarily the medical industry. After three more years it was once again time to move on. I found a small shop that specialized in screw machine work and had much of the same equipment that I was used to running. After nine months, and some differences in management styles, I finally decided that it was time to venture out on my own.
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Humble Beginnings: 1989With a single Bridgeport mill, an air compressor, and all of the measuring and hand tools I had accumulated since I was eighteen years old, I started Flathers Precision. I was making tooling and holding fixtures and milling small quantities of small parts. By word of mouth, I was introduced to a couple of customers who had larger requirements. After only 3 months on my own I acquired my first CNC machining center. I didn't even have a computer yet. When my CNC controller got too full of programs, I had to write them down on a yellow legal pad for later reference and re-punch them in manually. Those are humble beginnings. After three months I finally bought my first computer. Within eight months, Flathers Precision had acquired a second CNC milling machine.
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For the first two years, I made all of the sales calls, did the P.R. work, ordered materials, programmed the CNC machines, deburred the parts, and delivered them. Eventually, the workload became too much, and I began to hire employees.
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Now: 2006Flathers Precision is now located in a 5,300-square-foot facility, with an additional 800 square feet for material preparation and deburring, for a total of 6,100 square feet. We have fifteen state-of-the-art CNC machining centers with capacities ranging from .125” cube to over five feet in length, along with three modern CNC lathes. Supporting our machining operation is a fully-equipped quality control department in compliance with ISO 9002 and MIL-I-45208A. Flathers Precision produces top-quality parts and assemblies for a variety of industries including: Medical, Aerospace, Defense, Microelectronics, and Commercial and Custom applications. We are proud of the fact that all of our employees receive rigorous, on-the-job training at Flathers Precision. We believe that our best long-term investment is in our people and some of our earliest employees are still with the company.
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The Flathers Precision philosophy is that our employees, just like our machines and our customers, are our most valuable assets. We continually invest in skills, education and training. We have excellent machines, and we need excellent machinists. We know that great machinists and state-of-the-art equipment deliver the level of quality and reliability that our customers demand. And that is what our business is all about: great machines, great machinists, great parts, great service, and great customers. That is the Flathers Precision business philosophy.
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