New General Manager at Paramount Machine Richard Pothier has recently been promoted to general manager at Paramount Machine. Richard has served in several capacities during his twenty-six years with the company, including production manager and manufacturing engineer, and brings a lifetime of precision machining knowledge and experience. “I have been around machine shops since the eighth grade,” explains Richard. “I’m proud to be a part of the dynamic team at Paramount Machine, and of our long-standing commitment to quality and customer service.” Richard’s new responsibilities as general manager include all aspects of manufacturing engineering, planning, CNC programming, production, and human resources.

A New and Larger Inspection Room Paramount Machine has recently completed work on a new, expanded inspection facility. The new inspection room is larger, brighter and better organized than our previous area, allowing us to maintain our excellent quality record and support the steady growth in machining volume at Paramount. Our new climate-controlled facility is capable of accurately measuring tolerances as close as .000050” (fifty millionths of an inch). Our quality system is compliant with all standard specifications including AS9100, ISO 9001 and D1-9000A. At Paramount Machine, our goal is Zero Defects. It is our way of life and our guarantee that your parts and assemblies are made to print and delivered as promised. You can count on our commitment to quality at Paramount Machine.

Paramount Machine Continues to Grow Since our beginnings over forty years ago, Paramount Machine has enjoyed steady growth and increasing productivity. That trend continues today as we pass the $4 million mark in annual sales with no end in sight. Paramount employs more than 40 people working two shifts in order to keep up with the demand for our products. What is our secret? Actually, there is no secret. We maintain a broad spectrum of the latest manufacturing capabilities; we have extraordinarily talented employees with an average of twenty years on the job and; we produce a highly-reliable product on time at a very competitive price. This recipe for growth has made Paramount Machine a recognized leader in precision machining for a wide range of industries including: aerospace, electronics, commercial and defense.

Paramount Adds a New Customer Paramount Machine is proud to announce our newest customer, and our first direct-sales relationship with the US Government. TACOM (Tank-automotive and Armaments Command) has approved Paramount Machine to supply component parts for several critical armament systems for the U.S. Army. Located in Rock Island, Illinois, TACOM is part of the Integrated Logistics Support Center supporting our troops both here and abroad. TACOM is an exciting new direction for Paramount and one that compliments our existing customer base in the aerospace, electronics and commercial industries. We look forward to many years of service to the U.S. Government as we march confidently into the 21st century.

In-house Deburring at Paramount Machine Paramount Machine Company has just expanded its internal capabilities to include deburring. Primarily all of our intricate hydraulic bodies and manifolds were sent to an outside supplier to be deburred. Critical finishes, intricate passageways and sharp edges intersecting at extremely close-tolerance dimensions demand an experienced touch. For years, we would machine parts completely and then send them out. This would add an additional week or more of lead-time to yield finished product. By now developing this in-house capability, we begin deburring while the parts are still in process. Now at the end of the manufacturing cycle, the parts are within hours of being completed and ready for whatever processing they will finish up with! Just one more successful attempt to shorten lead-times!

Web-based RFQ and PO Placement More of our customers are taking advantage of the "Login and Quote" section on our website! Once they're registered with a username and password, they can then enter a Request for Quote, attach any documents or associated drawings, and forward it immediately to our Sales department for attention. When it's received, an email is sent back to the customer confirming its receipt, and it begins the quotation process. After approving the quote, the customer can then return to the same section of our website and place a Purchase Order. The order is then immediately entered into our system and scheduled for production per their requirements. An entire process that used to take anywhere from one to two weeks has now been reduced to one to two days! Quicker turn times, at a lower cost...all to our mutual benefit!

Second-Op Lathe for Manufacturing Cell Paramount Machine has recently added its first Hardinge Second Op. Lathe to facilitate the completion of certain parts manufactured in our Flanges and Endcaps manufacturing cell. This eliminates the previous manufacturing concept where we would finish an entire lot of parts at the CNC Lathe operation, and then move it across the shop to the next operation where the second side of the part would be machined. We now are completing each part as we go along, cutting the lead-time to produce a finished part anywhere from 30 to 50 percent. Many of the components being manufactured are "dock to stock" and must ship to our customer incrementally to satisfy their daily or weekly assembly needs. In Lean Manufacturing terms, this system is known as a "Kanban" process.