 Fronhofer
Tool Company, Inc.
P.O. Box 84 4197 County Route 48 Cossayuna, NY 12823 (518)692-2496 (518)692-2450 fax fronhofertool@albany.twcbc.com |
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News : October 2001 New equipment makes life easier at Fronhofer Tool.
Helmel located in Niagara Falls, N.Y, manufactures the CMM. It was convenient for my son Paul and I to be able to visit the factory where the machine was to be built and to talk to the engineers and programmers. It was also very exciting to be able to buy a quality built machine that is made right here in N.Y. This industry is dominated by Japanese equipment and at times it’s frustrating that to be competitive we don’t have the option of whose equipment to buy. The Helmel machine we purchased is equipped with the highest level of software available. This allows us to not only inspect parts and produce accurate inspection reports, but to be able to produce drawings for reverse engineering purposes. It also has solid model capabilities that would come in very handy in prototype design. The vertical lathe we purchased is identical to another lathe we have. In lathe work, it’s almost always the case where after you have worked on one side of a part you flip it over and finish the opposite end. By setting up one lathe for the first operation and the second lathe for the other, we save huge amounts of time by not having to tear down and set up between the first and second operation. It also controls quality better. Usually if a deviation is to occur it happens during the first few pieces of a new set up. We are constantly reinvesting in the latest and most modern machine equipment. It has helped to keep us competitive in areas such as quality, quicker deliveries, and being able to produce at lower costs. All of which are everyday concerns for all our customers. Paul's Perspective Often people ask me why I decided to go into business for myself and they almost rhetorically, answer their own question by saying “besides for the money”. Well, I’m sure there are a lot of different and good reasons to go into business for your self, but never should the motivator be money. If you start your own business and money is your motivation, you will most likely fail. Many people who have started their own business have made a very good income, however, you can’t look at the beginning (the idea of starting a business) and at the end (the good income), and assume the two automatically go together. Even with the proper attitude towards business you can still fail if you approach it simplistically. Some of the better reasons to start a business are, passion for a certain product, trade, industry or the need for your expertise in a certain area, geographical or industrial. After you’ve made that decision there are three major areas of concern in running your business. You need management, technicians and vision. Chances are if you start like I did you will be all three at once. That’s okay as long as when you grow you decide which role you are going to play and let others do their job. If all falls into place and the market that you targeted doesn’t change quicker than you can, you could be successful. If you are successful you will make money and if you do make money, consider it your bi-product. Don’t focus on the end too hard in the beginning. To me, running my own business is fun, romantic and a roller coaster ride. If you think you have a passion to run your own business, I encourage you, with the stipulation that you enjoy it!
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fronhofertool@albany.twcbc.com with
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Since spring of this year we have
purchased two new and substantial pieces of equipment. The first one was our CMM
(Coordinate Measuring Machine), which we touched on in our last Fronhofer tool
quarterly. The second is our Tongil, a vertical CNC lathe.