Ushering in a new era at Norwest Precision

(From left) Daniel Tersigni, vice-president, New Era Group; Tony Falcitelli, general manager, Norwest Precision; Tony De Ciantis, director of operations, New Era Group; Mario Tersigni, vice-president, New Era Group; Gaetano Laviola, plant manager – machining, Norwest Precision; Yuri Brown, plant manager – fabrication, Norwest Precision.

How a does a decades-old machining and fabricating company survive in the new age of manufacturing? It evolves.

Established in 1965, Norwest Precision (now part of Toronto’s New Era Group) specializes in producing large parts, heavy machining and fabrication, and assembly.

The New Era Group, which formed in 1991, is a diversified group of industrial manufacturing companies focused on machining, fabrication, assembly, industrial manufacturing, press building, and metal forming.

In 1963, New Era Tool & Die, the group’s original business that is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, began as a manufacturer that serviced the tool and die sector. As much of that work began to move to overseas manufacturing locales, the company evolved for the first time into a custom machine shop that produced parts for the power generation and oil and gas sectors.

Along the way, it found opportunities to grow its business by acquiring several other industrial manufacturers and evolved again. Norwest Precision was one of those companies.

A New Era at Norwest

In 2019, the New Era Group acquired Norwest Precision from its original owners, Sam and Pat Falcitelli. The two families had a history stretching back six decades.

“This is an interesting story actually,” explained Mario Tersigni, vice-president of New Era Group. “When my grandfather Mario started New Era Tool & Die and the Falcitellis started Norwest Precision, the two companies were actually located in the same complex.”

In the 1960s, a nice relationship started between the two families. According to Mario, the companies never really competed for work, but rather shared work when possible. It was one of the reasons the acquisition was possible.

Norwest’s current North York, Ont., facility was purpose-built in the 1970s to be a large-scale machining and fabricating shop that could create very large parts, fabrications, and assemblies.

“When we purchased the company, the task as a group was to reinvigorate the customer base,” said Mario. “We wanted to examine the company as a manufacturer, but also as a business. That’s what our group and our family have been focused on ever since.”

A large gear is ready for placement in a custom, one-off gearbox created by Norwest Precision. Brothers Daniel (left) and Mario Tersigni are part of the team transitioning this 60-year-old manufacturing company into the New Era Group of companies.

It was about restoring a long-standing manufacturing business back to its former glory.

“At New Era Group, our mandate is looking for industrial manufacturers, metalworking businesses, and other related businesses to add to our portfolio of companies. If you look at the acquisition of Norwest, our group already possessed an existing strength in large machining but mostly on the turning side. Through Norwest, our group substantially bolstered its large milling capabilities, so it was complementary to our existing core machining businesses,” said Mario. “And also, adding a plant that had larger lift capabilities and more shop height fit really well.”

The acquisition of Norwest Precision is right out of the New Era Group playbook. It’s about succession planning and giving entrepreneurs who have dedicated their lives to a manufacturing business a way to keep their legacy in good hands.

“A lot of manufacturers are looking for someone that's going to continue to carry the torch, to make investments in the business, and introduce advanced manufacturing practices,” said Daniel Tersigni, also a vice-president of the New Era Group.

So, what makes this type of transformation possible? It’s experience. The Tersigni family is now three generations deep in running manufacturing companies. The experience gained from intergenerational management has been a proving ground for acquisitions.

At the beginning of the story is Mario’s grandfather, then came his uncle Anthony as well as his father, T.J. Now it’s the third generations turn to join the business.

“I came from a finance background working in real estate and private equity,” said Mario. “My brothers, cousins, and I grew up in the shops, but we weren’t as familiar with the administration side, the customer base, or the industry in general. So, it's been a learning curve for all of us to get to know the work, while at the same time understanding what our potential opportunities are, what our potential threats are, and then seeing how we can implement change.”

The New Era Group acquired both Norwest Precision as well as Poltech Buher only a few months before the pandemic began and the team was not able to hit the ground running, so to speak. It did give the new ownership and management of Norwest the chance to examine its own supply chain as well as that of its customer base.

“It was really awesome to see the entire supply chain come together to help out the manufacturing industry as a whole, especially at the local level,” said Daniel.

Calls started coming in from customers that had previously outsourced work to overseas locations, and some reshoring occurred out of necessity.

Norwest Precision’s team of skilled workers will fabricate, weld, machine, paint, and assemble this large gearbox.

“It was awesome to see this industry get reinvigorated, but it also was so unfortunate that it took a pandemic, that was so detrimental, to do it,” said Mario. “The type of work that we do here at Norwest is large-part manufacturing. It’s our job to explain to the customers that are shopping for this type of work that it’s available in North America.”

It means talking logistics, landed costs, and everything in between.

Getting Organized With an ERP

One of the innovations brought to Norwest Precision after the Tersignis came into the picture was an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

“We have a custom ERP solution that is very user-friendly and simple to use and it's really the backbone of our business,” said Mario. “I couldn't imagine life without it.”

The company also participates in tooling workshops with its tooling vendors so it can stay current with trends that can affect part quality and machine cycle time. It’s the same reasoning that gets used in its programming department.

“We work with In-House Solutions to keep current with Mastercam and train some of our operators on basic programming so that they can get a better understanding of the programming that they're getting from our dedicated programmers. We find that that's been a really big help overall,” said Mario.

The Custom CNC Work

Because the company has such a diverse customer base, it has been possible for Norwest to weather cyclical business trends. Oil and gas, mining, shipbuilding, construction and other industries that typically feature very large parts and assemblies are the mainstay of Norwest.

“The large-part machining and fabrication environment can be intimidating,” explained Mario. “For new staff, especially those just coming out of a trade school, it is much more comfortable to start with a small or simple part. If you make a mistake, you cost the company a few dollars. At our larger shops, we are working on forgings or large fabrications that already cost six figures, and then our work begins.”

Gearboxes and housings, large shafting, crane or hoist drums and bases are all examples of the work that passes through Norwest and New Era Group’s other machine shops. It’s not high production volume, but it is high-value, complex work.

To land high profile projects, especially a recent run of eight rudder steering shafts for the Canadian Navy, numerous New Era Group machining divisions have become controlled goods-certified so that they can participate in formal government bidding platforms. A number of the Group’s divisions are also ISO 9001 registered and have formal quality management systems (QMS) in place.

The workhorse of Norwest Precision is its PAMA Speedram horizontal, floor-type CNC boring mill, which has X, Y, and Z-travels of 75 ft., 17 ft., and 7 ft.

Large-Part Expertise

“Right now, at Norwest, we're working on a drum shaft for a mine where the forging we brought in weighs 80,000 lbs. It’s 35 ft. long and 6 ft. in diameter,” said Mario. “This shaft will be totally built in North America and is heading to a mine in Sudbury. It’s really great to see what is being built in this country.”

When a manufacturer deals in parts that are large and heavy, traditional metrics go out the window. When you are constructing a one-of-one part, quality and hitting your shipping date matter, and for that you need to know your total build time.

“Being in a custom, one-off environment, you really only have one time, one chance to get it right,” said Mario.

And that process starts with sales.

“You have to balance being competitive in your quote, but not be overly conservative. If you’re overly conservative, your price won’t be competitive. With our ERP, we're able to track cycle times, quote feedback, and more, allowing us to learn from every transaction and customer interaction,” said Mario.

It takes special equipment, including Norwest’s PAMA Speedram horizontal boring mill. This floor-type CNC boring mill has 75 ft. of X travel, 17 ft. of Y travel, and 7 ft. of Z travel. The machine is equipped with numerous heads, a rotary table with 90-metric-ton capacity, and it is not bound by weight restrictions on its floor plate.

“The PAMA allows our Norwest division to machine the largest parts manufactured in North America,” said Mario.

In addition to the right equipment, success also takes the right shop personnel.

“Across our group, we employ very skilled tradespeople in machining, fabrication, welding, and machine building. They are the reason that we can cater to a lot of the high-end customers that we work with today,” said Mario.

He explained that even at a time when skilled labour is hard to find, the company focuses on the person it’s hiring before it looks at their skill set.

Large-part machining is complemented by large-scale fabricating and the welding of thick plate to offer customers a complete manufacturing option.

“We're looking for attitude and aptitude first and then skill,” said Mario. “I would much rather bring on somebody that is going to embrace our corporate culture and want to learn than somebody that is very skilled but is going to be a detriment to all of us.”

The New Era Group often uses one of its other businesses, Hendriks Precision Grinding—also in North York—as a sort of training centre. It’s able to move workers around, offering different manufacturing career paths and growth opportunities.

This also is made possible because most of the companies eight plants are located within a 15-minute drive from each other. This makes the company and its workers interconnected. Like the industry it serves.

“The best thing about running a metal manufacturing company, for me, is getting to meet a bunch of different people in a variety of industries,” said Mario. “One day you're learning all about power generation, and the next day you're learning about defense and military. Your day is never ever the same. It's the most challenging and most rewarding career path.”

Large-Part Example: The Gearbox

“One of the things that we've been able to do well since the start of our company in the 1960s is understand what the customer requires,” explained Mario. “Our grandfathers always taught us to ask, ‘How can we better service the customer?’ This gearbox manufactured at Norwest is a perfect example.”

It isn’t a simple gearbox. It’s one that required the type of equipment that makes Norwest special. It was made on a machine with a 90-ton rotary table.

“This job started off as a lead that came through Norwest’s door to one of its estimators as just a machining opportunity,” said Mario. “So, we asked ourselves what we knew about the customer and started asking questions. Is this something we can fabricate? Do they want us to assemble the final piece? We ended up offering to procure all the material, fabricate the gearbox, machine the gearbox, and help source the gearing.”

Norwest’s shop staff then assembled the gearing and installed the piping and lubrication system.

“The only thing we did not do was design the assembly,” said Mario.

The size and scope of this project required Norwest to rely on other divisions for input and assistance and use all of the New Era Group’s in-house experience, specifically that of its sister company Corsteel Hydraulics.

Before being added to the gear’s shaft, this collar is heated manually.

“Material sourcing and purchasing, fabrication, welding, non-destructive testing, machining, paint, assembly, and quality. It was a big job,” said Mario. “Approximately 10 to 15 different team members with varying levels of expertise contributed to make just this one part. Not many people are aware of the level of difficulty and amount of work there is in manufacturing serial number 001.”

Making parts, no matter how complex or simple, requires a team of skilled workers, the correct equipment, and the right leadership. However, when your entire part run is a single part, there is even more pressure than normal.

“If you're building a house and your buyer walks away, that home is of value to another family,” said Mario. “At our shop, we're making custom, one-off parts that only have value to one particular end user. If our customer cancels an order or walks away, that gearbox or that one-off part is only worth its weight in scrap.”

Editor Joe Thompson can be reached at jthompson@canadianmetalworking.com.

Norwest Precision, www.norwestprecision.com

Images courtesy of Jon Evans Photography.