ORCMT
SUCCESS STORY
 
Richard's Tool and Machine
 
COMPANY/LOCATION: Richard's Tool and Machine, Pinckneyville, Illinois
PRODUCT: Repairing and rebuilding machine tools
YEARS IN BUSINESS: 37 
EMPLOYEES:
 
SITUATION:   This father-and-son company refurbishes and repairs machine tools. Richard Lynch, who founded the company 37 years ago, said that he needed help in practical applications of autocollimators (autocollimators use reflected light to measure pitch and yaw) for machine tools. Lynch had seen stories in various trade magazines about the National Machine Tool Partnership and the Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology. His call to the NMTP's toll-free number for information resulted in referral to the Manufacturing Skills Campus at ORCMT. 
 
PROJECT:       Lynch came to Oak Ridge and attended a three-day course on autocollimator optical alignment at the Skills Campus.
 
RESULTS:       Lynch said that attending the Skills Campus class has greatly enhanced his skills and improved the services offered by his company. "What I learned there will allow the company to carve out a new niche. The instructors were very knowledgeable they were hands-on people who had used the equipment in the workplace. Because of their experience, they covered areas I would never have thought of. 

"What I learned there also gives the company a new level of sophistication in the services we can offer and allows us to document that service because more and more businesses are demanding documentation. The skills I gained from that class will be used over and over again and passed along to my son so that our business can grow. I have been very pleased. 

"It will make money for us, but it's hard to measure how much. And I plan to take other courses there in Oak Ridge if I can build them into my schedule," Lynch said. 

 
PARTNERS: 
  
 


Technical assistances provided to the private sector by the Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology (ORCMT) and its manufacturing extension partners throughout the United States. 
 
 
 
    For information or assistance, call the Manufacturing Technology Information Service at 1-800-356-4USA or visit the
ORCMT Home Page.