Beau Blevins operates a three-axis machining center at Advantage Wire & Machine. He says he is looking forward to use an AI-assisted five-axis machine. Staff photo by Bob Hansen
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Advantage Wire & Machine was started 20 years ago by Steve Mitchell, the company president.
Tyler Mitchell, his son and the firm’s vice president of operations, is buying the company. His sister Sarah Johnson is business manager.
The company occupies a 10,000 square foot building at 5480 Industrial Ave., near the Connersville Airport. It employs nine people. According to its website, it provides services such as engineering, manual machining, CNC machining, fabrication, and assembly.
The Manufacturing Readiness Grant, which is closed for this year, is intended to encourage for small- to midsize manufacturers to adopt digital technologies. Advantage Wire learned of the program during a business retention and expansion visit from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, the Fayette County Economic Development Group and Conexus, which administers the program.
In addition to the state grant, the EDG is working with Advantage Wire on the project. For information about funding programs for existing businesses, contact EDG at 765-827-1366.
A local company has received a state grant to help it stay viable into the future by using artificial intelligence – AI – in its manufacturing processes.
Advantage Wire & Machine, Inc. will receive a $133,040 Manufacturing Readiness Grant from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. The grant program helps manufacturers make capital investments to integrate smart technologies and processes that improve capacity, productivity and competitiveness.
“This will give us capabilities that no one else (nearby) has and increase our capability,” said Tyler Mitchell, the company vice president of operations. Advantage Wire will match the grant with its own investment to buy the $276,000 machine, and spend about $45,000 more for software and tooling.
Advantage Wire is a precision manufacturer specializing in wire processing, CNC machining and custom component fabrication. In other words, it’s a machine shop that makes mostly metal and some plastic parts that go into machines that keep other manufacturers going.
The company is investing in a five-axis vertical machining center that will innovate their workflow with AI-powered motion control and IoT connectivity features.
IoT stands for the Internet of Things. According to an AI-assisted search, “IoT connectivity refers to the ability of devices, equipped with sensors and software, to connect to the internet, other devices, or a central hub to exchange data. This interconnectedness enables monitoring, control, and data analysis, ultimately driving automation, optimization and innovation.”
Advantage Wire now has three-axis machining centers that can shape metal in three dimensions: X, for width; Y, for height; and Z, for depth. The new machine will add two more dimensional capabilities: to rotate and to rock.
“It can machine every side of a cube on just one set-up,” Mitchell said.
The investment will provide an opportunity for employees to grow as they grow the business, Mitchell said.
“We’ll take an employee who is good at three-axis and send him down the path to five-axis, which will make him more efficient. Take some of the guys who are good with a computer – it might take them a year to write a program but AI will do it in no time,” he said. “We’re looking at AI taking 80 percent of a guy’s time.”
It means the company’s employees can spend more time using the machines to make parts. In turn, the company will need more employees because it will be able to make more parts.
That goal is why the IEDC awarded money to Advantage Wire, said Bryce Carpenter, president of Conexus Indiana, a company that helps IEDC select award winners.
The Manufacturing Readiness Grant is meant for small-to-midsize companies that want to invest in digital adoption, he said. Companies, generally less than 500 employees, can receive up to $200,000.
Using a committee of experienced manufacturing leaders, Conexus evaluates grant applications and makes recommendations to IEDC. This is the first such award made in Fayette County but the program has provided over $79 million in matching grants through 772 awards in 86 counties.
“A lot of what you’re doing (by adopting digital technology) is automating entry-level work. It’s an opportunity for Indiana businesses to become more productive. Those people can then move on to higher-skill work,” Carpenter said.
Tyler Mitchell’s father, Steve Mitchell, started the company 20 years ago and is still the owner. Steve Mitchell started doing fabrication – welding and putting pieces of metal together – and wire EDM – in which a thin, electrically charged metal wire is used to make precision cuts in metal. He expanded into tooling with his purchase of another company about nine years ago.
Many members of the family have been involved in machining. Like his father, Tyler grew up in and around machine shops. After working at other shops for several years, Tyler, now 40, joined Advantage Wire six years ago, and is buying the company from his father.
The company had four employees when Tyler came to work there, and has nine now. His sister, Sarah Johnson, is the bookkeeper and office manager, and wrote the application that resulted in the state grant.
They’ve been interviewing applicants for a 10th position and hope to add one or two more next year. They believe that adding AI and efficiency will help make the company a more attractive place to work.
Beau Blevins is one of the company’s current machinists. He learned machining at the Whitewater Career Center and then apprenticed in another shop before joining Advantage a year and one-half ago.
He explained the process for milling a new metal part, starting with a customer’s needs. It might be a replacement for a worn part such as an industrial meat grinder, or perhaps something entirely new for an auto parts factory.
He starts with a blueprint of the part (or makes one by reverse engineering it) and makes a 3-D model on a computer. Then, he inputs the tooling processes into the computer. When that’s done, he puts it on a USB drive and plugs it into a CNC machine (computer numerical control). Then, he puts a chunk of metal called a billet into the machine and turns it on to make the part.
Blevins said, “It’s a very fulfilling job in itself, and has even greater opportunities.” He’s looking forward to learning how to run the five-axis machine.
Carpenter, of Conexus, shares Blevins’s enthusiasm.
“We’re excited for them. We think they are going to take a pretty big leap in leveraging AI in how their machines work,” he said.
Carpenter said the state’s goal is to help companies like Advantage Wire to be ready for growth.
“It’s an interesting time,” he said, with some manufacturing jobs returning to the United States after being done in other countries. “On-shoring is real and a lot of machine shops will have opportunities if they’re ready to expand, if they can be strategic. We’re excited that a nine-person shop is taking this step.”
Tyler Mitchell also sees it as part of keeping a vital employee team at Advantage Wire. Bringing on new technology will help keep the job interesting to younger people, he said.
“Back in the day, machining was a dirty job. Now, it’s a lot cleaner, the technology has changed. People have to work with their minds as well as their hands, and so this is a chance to interest more younger people,” he said.
Mitchell noted that seven- axis machines are now coming online, taking advantage of even more AI capabilities. They’re too expensive to provide a good return on investment for Advantage Wire at this point. He believes the company’s expected growth will allow it to get into that and other new developments as time goes on.
“This puts us on the front edge,” he said. “We want to make the best of it.”
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