AFT Is Looking For A Few Good Machine Shops in The West! ADVANCED FORMING TECHNOLOGY ISO 13485 - Medical
ISO/TS 16949 - Automotive
AS 9100 - Aerospace
for more than 20 years, producing turnkey revolver, pistol and long gun parts. The company’s 105,000 square foot campus houses more than 24 metal injection molding machines, 10 sintering furnaces and 4 de-binding units. AFT’s Battenfeld Injection Molding Machines are equipped with three- and four-axis robotics, to ensure consistent cycle time, and consistent processes. The company additionally maintains a small on-site machine shop to build and maintain tooling.
AFT was founded in 1987, and it prides itself on its experience in the MIM industry. Today, the company employs 170 people, with more than 20% of the team holding engineering and metallurgical degrees. The average tenure of the team is 14 years. David Smith, Senior Sales Manager, was part of the start-up team when the company was founded. He says, “MIM technology is very complex. From our inception, we built a team that was highly technical, and one that could interact with our customers’ engineers, supporting design efforts of their products from the onset. Additionally, the fact that our employees remain at the company means that we offer our customers the superior experience that only comes with longevity.” AFT maintains ISO certification and Six Sigma Process Control for the highest level of quality and accuracy. They are AS9100 Rev C-certified for Aerospace Components, ISO 13485-certified for the Medical Components Industry, and ISO/TS 16949-certified for the Automotive Components Industry. In fact, they certified to the AS9100 Rev C just last October, and their auditor says they were the first company he ever certified that attained ‘0’ Findings, and ‘0’ Observations! They additionally have manufactured gun components for industry leaders across the US A2Z METALWORKER NW • A2Z METALWORKER •
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Today, AFT is looking for additional suppliers, particularly those who specialize in high volume 3 and 5-axis machining.The superior metal injection molding (MIM) company has seen nearly 50% growth in its business in the last year and a half, and it needs to add additional suppliers to keep up with rapidly growing orders.
Why Metal Injection Molding (MIM)? AFT’s proprietary MIM technology combines the shape-making capabilities of plastic injection molding with the material flexibility of powder metallurgy. MIM can make complex parts economically in structural metals. It can also allow you to replace an assembly of two or more parts with a single MIM part, further reducing costs. AFT technology permits molding of complex shapes enabling multiple components to be formed into a single unit. Metallurgical properties emerge that are superior to those of conventional metal-forming manufacturing. David says, “Our customers tend to be companies who had existing operations for their products, but are being designed into a corner. These customers typically have parts that are extremely complex in shape and are needed in large volumes (e.g. from 10,000 per year to 1 million per month). In many cases, the MIM technology can save our customers 20-40% off a full machined part price.”