ProTechnique increases throughput with new EDMs

“We wanted to increase capacity but we were also looking for more

throughput. The new generation Agie wire machines are faster and more

accurate-not just for cutting but for things such as wire pickup and

wire threading,” says Grant Fowler, president of ProTechnique.

At the same time, ProTechnique, since it began operations in 2001 as a

custom wire EDM shop, has continued to upgrade its technology and add

new capabilities.

“Our customers started putting more demands on us to do complete

components because they wanted to pare down their vendor base. As a

result, we have been continuously adding to our capabilities over the

last six years to become a complete supplier.

“We try to utilize all of the technologies that we have and look for

parts to accomplish that. We shy away from the job shop market. What we

want to do is partner with our customers to build the complete

component,” he explains.

As a result, ProTechnique recently installed an Agiecut Progress 2 wire EDM and an Agie Innovation die sinker EDM.

Now, the company offers an extensive range of services including wire

and die sink EDM, small hole EDM drilling, and CNC machining.

The firm, which has five employees at its 2,400 sq. ft. facility, does

work for a variety of customers in different markets including

telecommunications, medical, automation, and more.

“Most of our work is low volume, tight tolerance, and difficult setup

work,” says Fowler. Typically, the firm can maintain tolerances within

plus or minus 0.0001 in. and accurate tapers up to 30°.

ProTechnique works with a variety of materials including powdered

metals, copper, aluminum, and more. The company is ISO 9001-2000

certified.

According to Fowler, ProTechnique also recently installed a Zeiss

Contura coordinate measuring machine. “A lot of the parts that we do

are very difficult to qualify using standard gauging because of the

high accuracies and complex geometries.”

Although ProTechnique is typically dealing with lower volume jobs, a

high volume contract that ProTechnique had previously undertaken 

helped spur the installation of the new wire EDM, notes Fowler.

“Previously, we did have a project where we were building 140,000

components on our existing wire EDMs. We were using our older wire EDMs

to handle this project but it drove us to (explore) installing a new

machine to keep up to date with our other work,” he explains.

In addition, to the Progess 2 machine, the company also employs the Agiecut Classic and Agiecut Challenge wire EDMs

The Agie EDMs and Zeiss CMM were supplied by Elliott-Matsuura Canada Inc., Oakville, ON. Telephone: (905) 829-2211.elliottmachinery.com