|
When
you have the right tools, the right skills and a reputation for innovation,
service and quality, customers will beat a path to your door. And they have been
doing just that for decades at PIW Corp., an Illinois custom fabrication shop
with deep roots going back 60 years, the past 25 in Homer Glen, IL.
PIW
VP John D. Shepherd said his family-owned custom fabrication and waterjet
cutting business has taken no deliberate steps to grow during the past 15 years,
preferring to focus on quality rather than quantity. PIW has no sales force,
does not advertise and has a 14-year-old website with broken links, he said, yet
the business has grown because the company has used its resources to build an
impressive tool box of innovative equipment, and word has gotten out that PIW
has the tools and talent to do what its competitors cannot.
PIW
takes a SWAT-team approach to business. It has heavily armed itself with all the
latest tools of its trade and has assembled an innovative work force of highly
skilled craftsmen who know how to use those tools. PIW's fully loaded
"toolbox" includes a full suite of 3D CAD/CAM software, three CNC
vertical machining centers, a high-speed fully automatic CNC lathe, an NC press
brake, NC angle and plate rolls, several NC saws and three CNC abrasive waterjet
cutting systems.
While
PIW's specialty is architectural metal fabrication, its capabilities extend far
beyond metal. In addition to metals, the company has worked with virtually every
material, including wood, plastic and even sailcloth. PIW can custom fabricate
just about anything, from architectural projects, furniture and retail displays,
to metal art, plaques, signage, product prototypes and hardware. The company's
innovative work can be seen from coast to coast in the United States, as well as
in Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Mexico and the South Pacific. Its list
of clients includes Nike Corporation, Rolls Royce and Disney World Orlando.
"We
like to say if you need something fabricated and there is not an existing
product line, we could be your best choice," Shepherd said.
"When
special tools were needed to polish the Bean (mirror finished stainless steel
'Cloud Gate') at Chicago Millennium Park, the contractor doing the work found
the answer at PIW Corp. When Cummins Diesel was designing the head gasket for
the million-mile engine, their vendor, after searching waterjet shops across the
country, finally found the way to cut the previously impossible-to-cut material
at PIW Corp. Last year when Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) needed one-of-a-kind
hardware and special fabrication for new slide-out observation decks, the
contractor for the project found what he needed at PIW Corp. Unlike most
waterjet shops, PIW Corp. is truly a custom fabricator. If no one makes it we
probably can."
PIW's
roots go back to the early 1940s where they began as a fabricator and repairer
of fire escapes. In the 1950s and 60s, expansion and growth required the
addition of ornamental and miscellaneous ironwork for commercial and residential
construction projects. In the 1970s, glass rails and artistic metalwork were
added to the repertoire. In 1994, PIW landed a major contract supplying
high-tech metal graphics to Nike Corporation for its NikeTown retail stores.
This project required the company to add CNC capabilities to meet Nike's close
tolerance requirements. It did not take long for other Fortune 500 companies to
notice PIW's craftsmanship, and soon they were ordering their own projects.
In
the early 1990s, PIW ended the contractor construction side of its business and
added waterjet cutting technology to create a new revenue stream. They selected
waterjet manufacturer Jet Edge as their source for waterjet cutting heads and
intensifier pumps. Jet Edge did not manufacturer waterjet tables at that time,
so they purchased their three waterjet gantries from other manufacturers. The
company has three waterjet cutting machines, which include a 6'X10' waterjet
with five Jet Edge abrasivejet cutting heads, a 12'X12' table with three Jet
Edge cutting heads and an 8'X30' table with one cutting head. It powers its
waterjet systems with a 100 HP and 150 HP Jet Edge waterjet intensifier pumps
and has 125 HP back up pump.
"After
much investigating and many calls to equipment owners, we found Jet Edge to be
the only provider of waterjet products that each and every customer contacted
praised, more than praised, they loved the company," Shepherd said.
"Jet Edge was by far the most respected company we researched. We continue
to be very happy with Jet Edge and would definitely recommend them for their
quality and service."
In
addition to waterjet cutting its own custom fabrication projects, PIW also does
job shop waterjet cutting for several steel service centers, machine shops, a
food industry equipment manufacturer, tile companies, display companies, metal
fabricators and may others. PIW sets itself apart from other waterjet shops
through its experience with a wide range of materials, custom jigs and fixturing
capabilities and labor-saving fabrication methods.
"We
offer a design service and a fabrication method we call 'Stick Building' to our
customers which can save them a great deal of labor on their finished
products," Shepherd said. "We add many other CNC operations to the
waterjet cutting to assist our customers.
"Additionally,
with our oversized tables, we find we can do CAD layout (etching) on the
customers' parts which includes everything from bend lines to piece marks and
parts location for parts to be added later. This is something we do for
ourselves on most projects and we do it often for our customers. I call this
WJAF or 'waterjet assisted fabrication.' In our shop, it saves having a layout
man tied up marking stringer channels or similar items. The result is we get the
layout as it is on CAD without the key man time required to do the same with
hand tools."
PIW's
ingenious staff is known worldwide for its ability to tackle complicated
projects that other shops might consider impossible, such as the head gasket
prototype project for Cummins, which required PIW to develop a process to
waterjet cut graphite laminated to steel laminated to graphite.
"When
you pierce graphite it explodes," Shepherd said. "It is just pencil
lead pressed into a thin film. My son Wade along with my help came up with a
method that allowed us to do what others thought impossible. We ran prototypes
for nearly a year until they had the final design and built a double-edge die
for a final low-cost high-volume stamping operation."
In
another challenging waterjet project, for Rolls Royce Defense, PIW waterjet cut
holes in 12 inch round, 1 inch thick centrifugally cast Inconel tubes that were
12 feet long. The holes were in a staggered pattern about 700 per tube and
covered 270 degrees. PIW cut three tubes at a time using special fixtures to
rotate them after each row was cut. They designed and built the special rotating
fixtures that allowed them to meet military specifications. They also designed
and built a special protection device that allowed them to do the cutting
without any internal damage to the tubes. The reusable waterjet stream catcher
they developed saved thousands of dollars over other methods used in the
past.
Shepherd,
an inventor who has 19 patents to his name and several patents pending, has
developed patented technologies for intricate waterjet etching and milling.
PIW's incredible waterjet etching work can be seen in copper and Travertine
marble work at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas and in a 6 foot graphic it made
for Nike in Berlin, Germany. Shepherd also has developed an oscillating waterjet
head that allows for etching or cleaning at high pressure with abrasive. As a
result, difficult cleaning jobs can be done with garnet at high pressure with no
unusual tip wear.
PIW's
growing toolbox of technology and skills, along with its debt-free books, has
given the company a noticeable edge over its competition which has helped it
remain strong through the recession. And much like a SWAT team, PIW is armed and
ready for the recovery.
Published
by permission from Jet Edge
For more information
contact:
PIW Corp.
708-301-5100
www.piwcorp.com
info@piwcorp.com
Southwest
For more information contact:
David Arthur
Jet Edge, Inc.
612-590-5595
sales@jetedge.com
www.jetedge.com
Southeast
For more information contact:
AL,
FL, GA, MS, NC, SC, TN
David Arthur
Jet Edge, Inc.
12070 43rd St. NE
St. Michael, MN 55376
800-538-3343
Fax: 763-497-8700
sales@jetedge.com
www.jetedge.com
VA
Jeff Schibley
Jet Edge, Inc.
12070 43rd St. NE
St. Michael, MN 55376
800-538-3343
Fax: 763-497-8700
sales@jetedge.com
www.jetedge.com
Northeast
For more information contact:
CT,
ME, MA, NH, NY, RI, VT
Scott Wirtanen
Jet Edge, Inc.
12070 43rd St. NE
St. Michael, MN 55376
800-538-3343
Fax: 763-497-8700
sales@jetedge.com
www.jetedge.com
PA,
NJ, MD, DE, NY (metro), Long Island
Automation Solutions, Inc.
2 Hagerty Boulevard,
Suite 300
West Chester, PA 19382-
7594
610-430-3670
Fax: 610-430-3675
inquire@asi-pa.com
www.asi-pa.com
W.
PA
Allegheny Machine Tool
Systems Inc.
632 E. McMurray Rd.
McMurray, PA 15317
800-269-4090
724-942-4451
Fax: 724-942-4453
www.allegmach.com
WV
Jeff Schibley
Jet Edge, Inc.
12070 43rd St. NE
St. Michael, MN 55376
800-538-3343
Fax: 763-497-8700
sales@jetedge.com
www.jetedge.com
Midwest
For more information contact:
KY,
MI, OH
Jeff Schibley
Jet Edge, Inc.
12070 43rd St. NE
St. Michael, MN 55376
800-538-3343
Fax: 763-497-8700
sales@jetedge.com
www.jetedge.com
KS,
MO
David Arthur
Jet Edge, Inc.
12070 43rd St. NE
St. Michael, MN 55376
800-538-3343
Fax: 763-497-8700
sales@jetedge.com
www.jetedge.com
IA,
IL, WI, MN, NE, ND, WI, SD
Eric Magnuson
Jet Edge, Inc.
12070 43rd St. NE
St. Michael, MN 55376
800-538-3343
Fax: 763-497-8700
sales@jetedge.com
www.jetedge.com
MI
U.P.
Dirk Barrett
Jet Edge, Inc.
12070 43rd St. NE
St. Michael, MN 55376
800-538-3343
Fax: 763-497-8700
sales@jetedge.com
www.jetedge.com
|
Waterjet
cut and milled decorative floor emblem.
PIW
Corp. has developed a patented process for waterjet etching and milling.
Shown here are waterjet etched glass and stone.
PIW
built the staircase for the MillerCoors building in Chicago.
Waterjet
etched Tiger Woods plaque with mirror finish. According to PIW Vice
President John D. Shepherd, this is special as it is waterjet etching
direct to part with no mask. That means this plaque can be made in minutes
instead of hours. (It is hard to photograph without showing the
photographer though.)
|