History of Diablo Precision, Inc.
With our positive work environment, commitment to quality, and state-of-the-art technology, Diablo Precision looks forward to the challenges of meeting our customers' needs and exceeding their expectations.
Here's a look at our growth over the years.
2014 – Our 10th year in business. In April, in response to increased customer demand, we purchased our third Citizen type 9 screw machine, bringing our total in service screw machine count to 8. This allowed us to meet aggressive customer delivery schedules, as well as provide a 10% production cushion for customer development. In April we took delivery of a Makino A51Nx horizontal machining center. This machine holds 218 tools, has laser tool measurement and in machine probing. It is intended to be the first machine to add to a double layer linear pallet server, which will then have more horizontal machining centers added as demand increases. This allows us to leave both tooling and fixturing in place, reducing changeover between products. We’ll finish 2014 with 21 employees and sales increase of 12-14% over 2013.
2013 – In March we replaced our Fadal mill with a Doosan DM400. This machine added both accuracy and capability not found in the Fadal. In May we purchased a second 3 axis mill, this time a Makino PS95. This machine has both accuracy and performance over the DM400 and has allowed us to produce mold quality finishes on milled parts. Also in May, we purchased our second Citizen type 9 screw machine. This machine has both processing performance and tooling combinations over the type 8 it replaced. In July we purchased our first turn-mill center, a Ganesh Cyclone 52TTMY in response to emergency need from a customer. This brings our turn-mill capability from a max 1.25” screw machine to an 8” on the Ganesh, while allowing the lights out production always a part of our business strategy. In August we took delivery of our FOBA G5 fiber laser marking machine, equipped with machine vision for locating parts automatically and a 5 axis positioning head to allow zero operator error in part positioning between faces. We ended 2013 with 18 employees and sales increased 16% over 2012.
2012 – In January we purchased our second Citizen type 10 screw machine. Since this is such a high capability machine we needed to be sure we had redundancy on our first as the critical parts produced on it cannot be produced on any other machines. In March we purchased our second Citizen A32 screw machine. This was to ensure we had redundancy on our larger capacity and to handle demand increase on larger screw machine parts. In June we purchased our Dimension Elite 3D printer for fixture design qualifying and physical part sectioning. This has reduced errors from missed feature planning using only electronic files. We ended 2012 with 13 employees and sales increased 13% over 2011.
2011 – In May we purchased a PRAB mini-system for cutting oil recovery. This allowed us to go from consuming 55 gallons of cutting oil every 8 days to every 38 days, saving nearly $6K monthly in cutting oil alone, not to mention preventing excessive oil from moving through the subsequent metals recycling stages. In October we purchased our first Citizen type 10 screw machine. This machine provides an additional primary axis and more extensive tooling combinations as well as faster processing times for complex programs. In November we took delivery of our new Mazak HCN 4000 horizontal machining center to expand our milling capability and begin developing a business relationship with a new customer. Our employee count increased to 13 during the year. While our sales were even with 2010, we used the opportunity for employee training and process refinement throughout the company.
2010 – In April we purchased our sixth 20mm Citizen screw machine. In July we replaced our M32Y screw machine with a new A32 screw machine which we found better suited to the fast cycle part mix we had for the 32mm size range. In July we added 4 more to our shop roster, bringing the total to 6. Hiring and training these employees has finally allowed Bill and Conor to have some weekends off, a first in the history of Diablo Precision, Inc. This year saw nearly 30% revenue growth over 2009 with over 2.3 million parts shipped.
2009 – In January we purchased our first 32mm Citizen screw machine, allowing for larger and more complex parts manufacturing. With the purchase of this latest screw machine we also added a new primary air compressor, while retaining the first to allow for failsafe operations. Also in January we acquired the suites next door, bringing our manufacturing footprint to 6000 square feet and moved our offices to suite 1. The year was challenging, as with most businesses but we managed to grow and refine our processes and environment.
2008 – In January, 2008 we purchased our fifth Citizen screw machine, allowing for more flexible lead times and shorter run cycles. In June of the same year, we added CNC milling to our capabilities with the purchase of Mag-Fadal 3 axis mill. In July, we purchased a Gravograph CO2 laser giving us laser engraving capabilities.
2007 – This year saw the addition of our Zeiss CNC CMM and the purchase of our fourth Citizen. The advanced inspection capabilities of the Zeiss and the added production of the fourth Citizen machine allowed us to keep up with the ever increasing customer demands. We ended 2007, our fourth year, with yet another growth of 53% over the previous year's numbers.
2006 – We moved to our current 3000 square foot location in January 2006. Before moving in, epoxy was applied to the floors and a special, heavily insulated room was built to isolate our inspection department from our machining environment. Our third Citizen machine was purchased in April of 2006. This new machine, combined with the additional floor space, allowed for the considerable improvements in the areas of material control and working environment. We finished our third year with a 76% growth over 2005.
2005 – Year Two had us cramped in the same 1,100 square foot space, running non-stop for the entire year without even one day of stopping. The Star SR 20 II screw machine was sold in January and we purchased our second Citizen machine in March. By the end of 2005 we saw growth of 200% in sales over what was accomplished in 2004.
2004 – Diablo Precision opened for business March 1, 2004. We started in a 1,100-square foot building with a brand new Star SR 20 II screw machine and S-T Industries comparator. After struggling for a few months to serve our customer's needs for complicated precision parts, we purchased a Citizen L520 Type VII. Once we began to use the Citizen machine, we were able to meet the production and precision demands without the difficulties inherent in the Star machine. For the following six months, the Star machine would not even be turned on and we finished out our first year with $250,000 in sales.