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For Cathy Giese, Secondary Operator at Precision Plus, The Secondary Department Always Comes First

Michael Reader

Cathy Giese, Secondary Operator at Precision Plus (PPI) in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, has been a team member since March of 2010, as part of the Secondary Department.

For Swiss precision manufacturers such as PPI, secondary operations play just as an important role as manufacturing the parts themselves. Processes such as polishing, grinding, deburring, special assembly, or laser marking help to deliver a product with consistent quality and to specification.

Operation of the state-of-the-art equipment found in the Secondary Department requires individuals who are not only highly trained, but also be willing to learn about new equipment and operations. Cathy Giese has proven to be one of those individuals.

Terry Mumper, Manufacturing Engineer, who supervises Giese, explains: “My favorite thing about Cathy is her eagerness to learn. She is punctual and always arrives to work with a positive attitude. She works hard and is very conscientious of the quality of her work. She is a great part of the PPI Team and it is a pleasure to work with her.”

Giese concurs that she is driven by the opportunity to learn new things, such as inspecting job orders as well as learning to operate the OMNI-VISION® 2D/3D Inspection System, which allows for inspection of components and assemblies with the use of digital multi-frequency Moiré inspection probes.

Cathy appreciates her fellow team members, her excellent supervisor, and the company’s culture of respect for the family through workplace flexibility.

Outside of work, she loves to spend time with friends and family—especially her granddaughter. Cathy is an avid cook and baker, and is known for bringing samples of her delicious creations to share with co-workers. She also shares her culinary gift with her church, baking items for funerals and serving food at church dinners. In addition, Cathy is also a dedicated volunteer who helps with ushering on Sundays. She also loves sports, and is an avid fan of the Green Bay Packers and the Brewers.

Precision Plus Adds Mecco Laser Marking System to Its Suite of Secondary Operations

Michael Reader

There are many reasons why Precision Plus (PPI)’s customers are requesting that components as small as 1/8” in diameter be marked in one way or another: branding, material identification, serialization, and date coding, among others. In an era where the precision of a component could mean the difference between life and death, companies are taking component identification to the next level.

Paul McDonough, Manufacturing Engineer at Precision Plus, explains that investing into a laser marking system for relatively low volume custom jobs, addresses these types of customer customization requirements.

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PPI recently purchased and installed a MeccoMark® Laser System, a desktop solution with a 4.3” marking area, and a rotary circumference marking area of up to 4” in diameter. The system in place at PPI accepts parts up to 10.5” high. “Although any MS font can be programmed to print,” explains McDonough, “to keep things simple, we are using Tahoma, and offering standard heights ranging between .040” to .160”.”

In addition, the system has bar and QR coding capabilities, can mark most metals and some plastics, can mark logos and images, and provides many serialization options.

The MeccoMark® System has become a part of PPI’s suite of secondary operations, which depending on the part and the process required to complete it (i.e., aluminum anodization, electropolishing steel, etc.), may come before or after another secondary operation.

Loading components into the fixtures for marking, however, remains a manual operation. The process can take from 3 seconds to 3 minutes to complete, subject to the size of the component and the complexity of the mark.   “Because the parts going through the system are typically part of low volume custom orders, it does not justify any further automation,” adds McDonough.

Paul McDonough joined Precision Plus in May of 2015, after 17 years with Dentsply, a dental equipment and supplies manufacturing company, where he was dubbed “The Project Guy.” At PPI, he is looking to identify the increasingly specific needs of customers for precision components, and assess the viability to add in-house processes to reduce turnaround time and increase quality.

Precision Plus welcomes Paul McDonough to the team!

Paul McDonough can be reached by phone or email.