b'WORK CELLSJR MachineJR Machines shop floor layout is shown.JR Machine Inc. uses cellular machining to add value to customers components while boosting the bottom line.By Alan Richter driving value on complex parts for the cus-tomer, Tumanic said.T he customer is king. To best serve him, JRHe said the parts that the company produces Machine Inc. implemented work cells intofor a host of industries, including heavy machin-its machining environment as part of a leanery, hydraulics, energy, medical, defense and manufacturing initiative, said Tim Tumanic,fire suppression, are not necessarily complex CEO and president of the Shawano, Wisconsin,from a geometric standpoint but rather from parts manufacturer. a supply chain standpoint. Therefore, JR Ma-Founded in 1992 with a focus on producingchine provides complete supply chain services, bushings and pins, JR Machines continuous im- such as post-machining services and procuring provement journey began a dozen years later,all types of workpiece materials, including cast he said, when competition from Asian manu- and forged ones, he said.facturers heated up for commodity-type parts. During the initial downturn in activity caused We made the decision that how we areby the pandemic, Tumanic said JR Machine going to compete and actually thrive was byearned an AS9100D certification for the aero-28SEPTEMBER 2021 Workcells.indd 28 8/17/21 3:21 PM'