Global manufacturing businesses have evolved since their beginning in the first-ever industrial revolution in the ’80s. While the transition from hand production methods changed to machine lead methods, it was considered to be a revolutionary step. However, there were various limitations to the machine lead manufacturing processes for a long time owing to the absence of the technology. This often resulted in minor changes in the final products, errors in manufacturing which then was considered a norm.
Thanks to the advancing technology and innovation, industries can now manufacture products with great accuracy, without losing on the specifications provided. Precision manufacturing is one such technology when laser-guided, pre-programmed machines help industries manufacture products at the best quality imaginable. The CEOViews team was with Daniel Brokaw, VP of Sales and Engineering at PEKO Precision Products, Inc., which is one of the big players in this market.
INTRODUCTION :
PEKO Precision Products, Inc. is a contract manufacturing company that specializes in manufacturing and designing equipment, machinery and major mechanical assemblies for a robust customer base. PEKO began as a tool and die shop in 1966 in a small basement in Rochester, NY. By the 1980s, the company grew its toolmaking and precision machining business to include the design and manufacture of automated test and assembly systems of the automotive industry. In the late 90’s they got an enormous number of opportunities, where they combined both areas of expertise into contract build-to-print machinery manufacturing. They bring their customers’ products to market by offering a full-service suite of manufacturing services focused on commercialization.
PEKO provides new product introduction and product manufacturing for innovation, preparation and replication phases of the product lifecycle. PEKO’s customers have enjoyed enormous success in building their products with them.
CHALLENGES:
PEKO’s highly skilled engineering, manufacturing and management teams enable customers to trust them with the toughest manufacturing challenges. The challenges they are facing is, companies with new machinery or equipment products have an excellent grasp of their core technology and can create crude prototypes for validations. But when management decides the product needs to be commercialized, they are not equipped to perform the design and development tasks to create a scalable design. Some of the challenges their clients are facing will make them depend on PEKO’s engineering and manufacturing expertise to develop the product for the market and build at scale.
The biggest trends they are seeing are cost-cutting by Design for Manufacturability and Assembly (DFMA). The practice of DFMA relies on designing products with manufacturing techniques in mind, so they are easier and cheaper to build. They use this for clients because often early-stage designs are built for functionality, with very little thought put into the design for higher volume production cost efficiencies. So they can use their engineers to make design changes that benefit the customer in terms of cost savings at manufacturing time.
KEYS TO THEIR SUCCESS :
One of the major reasons behind their success is cost cuts. Cost decreases are usually found in novel manufacturing techniques and designs that PEKO assists. With the facility of in-house components manufacturing, they can provide design tips for cost downs. Lead times are also reduced because in-house manufacturing gives PEKO control over the lead times rather than risking external suppliers.
PEKO provides Full-Service Contract Manufacturing to their clients. To PEKO clients, full-service means offering help at any stage of the product lifecycle. As machine builders, they get a new idea designed and prototyped into a functioning piece of equipment. At pre-production, they provide all the documentation, layout designs and other tricks to help prepare the equipment products for production. At the scale volume, we utilize assemblers, custom layouts, component production and more to build top-level machines at scale.
The New Product Development capability has been a key to PEKO success as well as their clients. Although they had the capability for over twenty years, it wasn’t until 2017 that they highlighted it as a key part of their most successful customers’ journey through the product lifecycle. They identified glaring customer weaknesses in this area. Their manufacturing and engineering expertise in this area is unmatched, but it is truly the key to bridging the chasm between prototype and production.
CAPABILITIES :
Having precision engineering capabilities have given high complexity OEMs a place to outsource their machine builds. Typically, lower complexity items like storage containers, smart lockers etc have been outsourced to Asian manufacturing. But PEKO has given OEMs a qualified contract manufacturing firm to outsource their highly complex items like MRI machines, Optics Polishing equipment and industrial 3D printers.
PEKO’s highly skilled engineering, manufacturing and management teams enable customers to trust them with the toughest manufacturing challenges.
They truly believe that the combination of all of these solutions is what makes PEKO special. Nowhere else can you find all the most crucial capabilities for building machinery and equipment. Furthermore, They have developed these capabilities into a working model for commercialization that addresses the critical customers needs of bringing difficult machinery to market with emphasis on early-stage engineering and scale production.
INNOVATION
Driving innovation is in their blood. They have successfully helped companies bring the latest technologies of Cancer treatment to market by providing huge cost down solutions to their hardware. Being proactive in identifying cost downs and associated risks has helped this company bring their product to market faster and less expensive for hospitals. They pride themselves on having full-service machinery manufacturing services. Furthermore, they are a company built on high communication, honesty and proactive engagement. Their customers appreciate that they care about their products as if they were their own.
FUTURE AHEAD
PEKO utilizes 340,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Rochester, NY. They are looking to grow 10% year on year and continue to build their brand authority. Daniel Brokaw and the organization aspire to be the global leader in precision manufacturing and they have been working relentlessly on this mission.
They believe that anyone seeking to have a contract manufacturer for their machinery, equipment or modules should be able to find PEKO and have a meaningful dialogue with them to see if they can help them.
