Self-Taught Machinist Starts Company After Employer Closes Shop
HDH Manufacturing, Inc. owner Austin Hall explains how they used Hurco CNC machines to turn turmoil into triumph after their former employer shut down.
UNEXPECTED ENTREPRENEURS
From running CNC machines to running a business,
HDH Manufacturing, Inc. spawned from necessity. The owner, Austin Hall, along with former co-owners Gabe Hall and Roger Dettmering, found themselves at a crossroad in 2015 after the shop they worked for “basically shut down overnight.” Suddenly jobless yet experienced in the daily operations of a machine shop, the trio chose to take a leap of faith together.
“Myself and the two other owners… we did all the basic day-to-day production, and so we decided, ‘Okay, we'll try and start our own shop,’” said Hall.
Today, HDH is a thriving machine shop on the west side of Indianapolis, Indiana, that specializes in milling, turning, part design, fixture building and assemblies. But getting there took guts, countless hours of hard work, and the right technology.
STARTING FROM SCRATCH
HDH was starting from the bottom, a place Hall had been before. He began working in manufacturing at age 16, putting together assemblies. As his responsibilities increased, he was introduced to conversational programming and given the opportunity to run projects using a Hurco CNC machine.
“I was running Hurco Hawk, and I was just loading parts, pressing buttons, and I didn't really know what I was doing,” recalled Hall. “And from there I was able to pick up some conversational programming. I was given more and more work as far as programming different parts (on the Hurco control), and I had to pick up and learn on the go and kind of teach myself how to do stuff."
Starting new once again, Hall and the other founders had to find machines that their business could lean on. They purchased HDH’s first machine at their prior employer’s auction following the shutdown. While they had experience with several brands of CNC machine, the trio chose
Hurco for its ease of programming, adaptability, and quick setup capabilities. These attributes enabled them to significantly reduce downtime and optimize production efficiency.
“We knew we could basically program on the fly, make changes and do quick setups, and that's what's allowed us to be so profitable and excel as a manufacturer,” said Hall.
TIME TO GROW
The young company began working with a variety of industries. They worked to meet customer expectations by delivering parts that functioned flawlessly and aligned with their designs and requirements.
“In manufacturing, most customers expect that their parts are going to be exactly how they design them and are going to function exactly how they want them to without ever having to think about what it took to make the part. So our job is to deliver that experience,” explained Hall.
As their business grew, HDH needed more CNC machines to keep up with demand. In their recent purchase, HDH opted to stick with Hurco and selected
VM30i machines. The company highlighted several advantages to the Hurco
VM30i, including a work envelope that fits their production needs (X, Y, Z travels: 50”x 20” x 20” – table size: 52” x 20”).
Operational Advantages:
1. Optimized Work Envelope: With a generous work envelope, HDH can run larger batches of parts in one cycle start, resulting in reduced material handling.
“That allows us to increase the amount of time our machine is constantly running and decrease the amount of time we're loading our machines.” — Hall
2. Intuitive Control:
Hurco's user-friendly control plays a pivotal role in streamlining operations. Fewer buttons, intuitive navigation and clear prompts reduce the learning curve for machinists and improve productivity.
“Hurco's pared it down to just the handful of everyday buttons you need on the console, so you don't have a button for every little operation, and you're able to just use the main features of the console as quickly as possible.” — Hall
3. Precise Planning and Prediction: HDH utilizes the estimated runtime feature within Hurco's control to plan setups, predict loading and run times, and forecast costs accurately.
“Before a part ever hits our shop floor, before we even get a P.O. (purchase order), we can fairly well predict exactly how long it's going to take to set something up, program it and run it, and that saves us money, and it saves our customers money.” — Hall
4. Real-time Editing: One standout feature is concurrent programming, which allows machinists to edit programs while the machine is running. This ability to "edit on the fly" leads to substantial savings in subsequent production runs, adding up over time and enhancing overall efficiency.
“We're able to make changes while the program is running, write things down, make the changes as it's running, and by the time the program is done for the next cycle, we're saving 20%, 30%, 40% for the next production run, and it really adds up over time.” — Hall
5. In-House Maintenance: HDH appreciates the simplicity of Hurco machines in regard to maintenance. The modular design and ease of access to components allows the company to handle much of the maintenance internally, reducing downtime and costs associated with repairs.
“You can do a lot of the work yourself, and everything's pretty modular. You can go in and make changes and replace parts that are fairly easy to get a hold of, and it's usually not terribly expensive to fix a lot of problems.” — Hall
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND BUSINESS IMPACT
The capabilities of Hurco machines enabled HDH to not just meet customer expectations but exceed them. Hurco’s accuracy produces high-quality parts that function as intended, while its powerful-yet-intuitive
control helps HDH plan operations and make on-the-fly adjustments, as needed. These advantages increased production efficiency and allowed for reduced lead times and overall costs for HDH customers.
“Hurco has helped us meet our customers’ expectations by being able to plan things out. Before a part ever touches our shop floor, we know about how long it's going to take to set something up, we know what tools our machines can hold, and we know the capabilities of our machines and how easy it is to program on them, to set things up, to make changes, and how adaptable they are that we can move things around,” said Hall.
CONCLUSION
At the inception of their company, Hall and his peers entrusted Hurco because they knew the machines were simple to own and operate yet offer game-changing advantages. By leveraging the capabilities of Hurco machines, HDH has demonstrated how the right choice of technology empowers a shop to establish itself in manufacturing by consistently and efficiently producing top-notch parts for a wide range of customers.
