Precise Technology specializes in manufacturing and running high quality, high cavitation, close tolerance injection molds. Our focus is on three primary markets: Healthcare, Packaging and Consumer Products.

What’s notable about us is our FasTrack Program. FasTrack is a mold shop within a mold shop. We launched the program in 2003 here in our Buffalo Grove, IL, plant with ten extremely talented mold makers and one manager with a goal of giving customers rapid tooling services. The FasTrack Program is separate from our regular team of mold makers. When time to market is critical for a customer, FasTrack is our way of offering them rapid mold manufacturing through the use of lean technologies and processes, a talented mold making team and “batch manufacturing” in which we break down high cavitation projects into smaller batches in order to keep the flow of work moving from one department or process to another. If we have a 32-cavity mold, for example, we won’t tie up all 32 cavities in one process until all the cavities are done. Instead, we’ll break that mold into four batches of eight cavities and as each batch is completed through a process, it moves on to the next step.

A secondary purpose of our FasTrack Program is to pass the technology and discipline of this team on to our mold making team elsewhere within the company. It’s working. I mean, if these [FasTrack] guys can get a 10-week job done in five weeks, the others learn and expand on these concepts. FasTrack kind of sets the bar for the rest of the company.

We’re running two shifts – our second shift currently has 20 mold makers. Our machines and systems are set up so that they run 24 hours. We build our own mold bases and mold maintenance and repair is conducted 24 hours a day. Everything we do is based on our main goal of reducing delivery time while providing the best quality tooling.

3)    Relate a notable "best time" for your company.
   

In my experience, it’s been the last two years. The transition with the acquisition of Courtesy Corp. was very notable, plus we recently invested in new machinery and moved other machines out of now former plants in St. Petersburg, FL, and Des Plaines, IL. It’s been interesting and exciting experiencing the evolution of the company – and we are still evolving.

Our biggest challenges revolve around adapting to changes within the industry and in meeting customer expectations. In the old days, for example, we built tools that would last 10 years and many times even longer. We still have tools running that were built 15 years ago. Product lines do not have that longevity anymore. There is much more focus on price and service. Bottom line, we have to continually figure out ways to build tooling better, in less time and add the kind of value that keeps our customers coming back. Other challenges include maintaining quality at all levels of operations – such as the close tolerances, accuracy and documentation required for medical product tooling and in the packaging arena, working with very high speed, thin-wall production where cavity and core shifts are critical concerns.

6)    List newly acquired technology,
        machinery or key personnel.
   

In 2002, we acquired Courtesy Corporation right here in Buffalo Grove, IL. We expanded and enhanced our mold manufacturing, molding and assembly capabilities.

The market is so much more competitive. So much good business is going overseas. We all need to be global competitors. You have to recognize challenges; we are evaluated on every job, one job at a time, and the last one is the only one remembered. Quality must be a given – everything has to add value. Costs and efficiencies must constantly be looked at. It’s an evolution and we believe it will all level out eventually.

10)  What will the industry look like in 3 to 5 years?