Kent Stoughton, Senior Engineer, Northrop Grumann; Mike Bielfeldt, Sales Engineer, Machinery Systems; Fred Seiter, Project Engineer, Northrop Grumman; John Parker, Experimental Machinist, Northrop Grumman; Joe Hederman, Product Development Supervisor, Northrop Grumman

The Northrop Grumman/MSI part of the “team” that had the vision, persistence and fearlessness to watch a huge uncertainty evolve into a great victory.

A very difficult turn

You have got to be kidding…

The machine is solidly against the wall on the right with a cap screw scraping the paint on the left.

by Joe Romanowski
Chairman & CEO

This story is interesting because there were so many obstacles that had to be mastered.  The machine itself is a Mazak Nexus 3-axis vertical machining center with 2 pallet shuttle system and a 5^th axis rotary table on one of the pallets.  However, the need for the machine was with Northrop Grumman in Rolling Meadows, IL, www.northropgrumman.com, the world leader supplier of military defensive counter measure equipment.  There were some special accuracy requirements and a need for local training and support.  We also had to deal with several security issues that are always part of a high security operation like Northrop.  Finally, the incredibly tight hallway and two doors that the machine would have to fit through to get to its final resting place in the prototype lab was quite something.

All parties agreed (Northrop, Mazak and MSI) that the machine (this one was built in Florence, KY) would be, shipped to the Mazak Technical Center in Schaumburg, IL, disassembled, and then moved over to Northrop Grumman.  Even after the machine was stripped, no one could predict with certainty that the machine would dovetail through the hallway.  John Parker, Experimental Machinist, from Northrop Grumman, cut a 2 x 4 the exact width of the machine and moved it down the hallway, but because the cement block walls were twisted and bowed his 2 x 4 did not pass all the way through… but it still looked close enough to try.  Everyone knew that if the machine could not make it down the hallway it would be sent back and cancelled.  Tom Kraus, Mazak's Regional Installation Coordinator, took it on as a special project to make sure that everything would go smoothly  Tom and his team stripped the machine down to the casting.  Only major components remained.  We then brought in Ray Sagan and Sons, a top flight rigging company known for their ability to spot machines in tight quarters.

The passage way was so tight that the light switch plates had to be removed for the machine to pass.  At one point, the machine casting was solidly against one wall and a cap screw on the other side of the machine scraped through the paint on the opposite wall… but the machine did pass!

You would have had to be there to appreciate the excitement of everyone involved in this almost two year project.  If that cap screw would have not passed through that hallway, everyone would have felt huge disappointment… well, let’s not even go there.  The machine made it in, it’s up and running and everyone is quite pleased.

I asked John Parker why did Northrop Grumman decide to buy a Mazak?   John said that the MSI/Mazak team, headed by Mike Bielfeldt, “looked for every reason why everything would work out.  Your competitors kept looking for reasons why the project would not work.”  He said that our team was not afraid to spend the time and the resources to justify the machine knowing full well that if it didn’t go down that hallway, it would be cancelled.  That’s why I put this project in the category of “whatever it takes!”  Thanks to all who helped make this project a success!

I have one last comment.  Even though this machine went into a shop primarily used for engineering development,  the flexibility to cover both development and production quantities  was a concern.  The Northrop team decided on two pallets for more throughput.  One pallet would be set up to run day to day production while the second pallet would always be available for urgent prototype parts.  This "two machines in one" concept significantly contributes to Northrop Grumman's increased throughput and increased productivity.