Innovative company recognized
When Don McKillop lost his job 20 years ago, little did he know that his networking contacts would eventually make him a national star in the manufacturing industry.
As the 2011 year winds down, McKillop and the company he founded — CAMcad Technologies inc. — have been recognized, yet again, for their innovative and proven manufacturing solutions. CAMcad recently was recognized as North America’s top reseller of SURFCAM software, marking the second time in six months the company has received the revenue-based award.
The latest honor propelled CAMcad to the no. 2 ranking for overall sales and a no. 3 ranking worldwide — a big accomplishment for a company whose founder couldn’t even find a job in his field after being laid off in 1991. McKillop utilized his knowledge of SURFCAM and contacts to form CAMcad.
“I’m proud of [my company and its professionals], certainly,” McKillop said. “But I don’t do things for the awards. We do things for our customers. We’re always looking to exceed things for our customers.”
McKillop admits that very few people outside of his customer base can fully understand what his company does. The complexity and technical aspects of the company’s processes would challenge even the brightest minds.
Coincidentally, it’s that very misunderstanding of computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) and computer-aided design and drafting (CAD) by specialists in the field that has made CAMcad a go-to company for revolutionary solutions.
Take for example one of CAMcad’s most adventurous projects, in which it produced software to help a client design and manufacture programmable fixtures for aircraft industry customers. The add-in application, called PogoProgramming, helps a programmer generate the instructions that drive high-precision programmable devices to hold flexible sheet aluminum or composite materials in a rigid position for final machining, which helps a client diversify its manufacturing and save millions of dollars in storage fees.
“Commercial aircraft production is a low-volume business, maybe two to four planes per month,” McKillop said. “Before programmable fixture technology was available, aircraft manufacturers had to maintain and store large, bulky, yet somewhat delicate, custom fixtures for each component between each production run. The annual storage, retrieval and recertification costs for these custom fixtures typically ran into the millions. Since there were no off-the-shelf software packages for programmable fixtures, engineers were required to hand-calculate or develop home-brew solutions, a tedious task that our PogoProgramming system simplifies dramatically.”
CAMcad’s specialty helps its customers everywhere save money and time, as well as offers them a better utilization of their key manufacturing staff. CAMcad’s services are unique and diverse, offering everything from software training, post processors, contract programming, custom software development and reverse engineering.
CAMcad currently derives its revenue from three areas: retail, the labor to support the retail and custom solutions. but, McKillop admits the custom automation is a big draw for his company.
Among the projects CAMcad has completed has been software to help enable a major aircraft manufacturer to create customized shims that fit between the wings and fuselage of a fighter aircraft — an accomplishment that helped the company save 36 hours of final assembly time per plane — and the development of a three-dimensional master to help another company properly recondition blades for steam turbines.
“We do things that enable our customers to accomplish what they can’t do any other way,” McKillop said.
CAMcad’s expertise has helped secure projects with some big-name corporations. not surprisingly, though, the urge for secrecy is great within the industry.
“Our customers don’t want anyone to know what we’re doing,” McKillop said. “In many cases, our solutions become their ‘secret weapon,’ giving them an extreme competitive edge.”
As for the future, McKillop said he has no plans to stride off into the sunset anytime soon.
“I tell everybody that I have three criteria for working: Am I making money, am I learning and am I having fun? right now, I’m meeting all of the criteria. but, if any one of those three go away, I will retire.”
But for now McKillop said the demand for (and complexity of) custom post processors has risen exponentially to the point where he is looking to add an apprentice to his current six-member, full-time staff.
