We originally purchased our Hwacheon Vesta 660 to do production CNC milling. It’s 24″ by 18″ table has enough travel to take on a bunch of different projects. Whether its milling features on to extrusions or milling a complete part out of a block of metal. It is a good entry level machine for us to get our feet wet in CNC milling.

Well, after several years of this machine collecting dust it is now part of production. It is not exactly what we anticipated but the machine is working well as a secondary machine. It is not being used to it’s potential but it is tapping a hole on a part that we turn and drill on our Acme. The thread is a large thread and we need the horsepower of the mill to accomplish it. We may also use this machine to thread mill a tapered thread on another part because our other secondary machines are having difficulty with the tapered thread.

Although it’s not underutilized, this machine is now an integral part of a production process. This will be a good filler job until we put a manufacturing engineer in place and get some true milling projects in the works. For this helps pays the bills.

Gent Machine offers a wealth of precision machining (whether it’s screw machining or CNC machining) experience. When seeking a job shop in Northeast Ohio, customers have several to choose from to meet their part requirements. Gent Machine exceeds the offerings of the average job shop. The organization recognizes that its target customer values the partner relationships Rich and Adam Gent honor with their customers. The relationships were built over decades, and in many cases, passed on from one generation to the next generation, encompassing 90 years of business. Customers benefit from the three areas that make Gent Machine stand out – a wealth of machining experience, a clean shop and machining with white glove service.

Customers have confidence in the wide variety of precision machining processes, highly trained
operators, and network of specialty process partners that Gent Machine has established. The
organization possesses a well-rounded selection of equipment and expertise to ensure that a part is
produced on the correct machine for optimal efficiency and quality. The shop has a full outlay of
Davenports, Acmes, Swiss CNCs, Hydromats, and a Hwacheon mill. Flexibility in equipment, and the
know how to select the right piece of equipment, ensures Gent’s customers are having their parts made
as efficiently and as economically as possible. Gent’s operators are highly trained. In-house training and
mentoring are used to train new machinists and to complement previous training to fill any skill gaps.
Solid relationships exist with secondary and finishing processes for plating, anodizing, passivation, black
oxide, heat treat, thread patch, and deburring. Gent has recently added in-house grinding capability to
its abilities. In addition, visual sorting machines provide the capacity to sort parts 100%. Two cameras
measure the internal and outer diameters for dimensional compliance. A highly trained quality
department ensure quality equipment is correctly calibrated and quality procedures are meticulously
followed.

An important asset of Gent is its maintenance crew. Machines can’t be up and running if there is no one
to fix a machine when it goes down. Gent is lucky to have three highly expert and experienced
maintenance personnel to keep its machines humming. In addition, Gent employs a seasoned tool man
that is able to make just about anything one can imagine. Precision machining experience matters to
Gent Machine.

A clean machine shop – oxymoron or a real possibility? At Gent Machine, cleanliness is reality. Clean
floors give one the feeling the whole shop is in order. Hand rails and door knobs are wiped down, and
the break room is kept clean and orderly. Tools are kept in order and all quality gages have a specific
spot where they are kept. Cleanliness matters to Gent Machine.

The last truly unique aspect of Gent Machine is precision machining with white glove service. Attention
to every detail from Swiss CNC machine set up, tool changes, inspection, customer service, front office
expertise that keeps machinists up to date with prints and tool orders, as well as just in time
communication with ownership provide new and long-established customers with a white glove
experience. Customer relationships matter to Gent Machine.

Don’t pick just any job shop. Pick one that first and foremost are experts in precision machining,
understand that the care they put into their business is exhibited through its cleanliness, and pulls out
the white gloves for its customers.

The lack of raw material has been hurting all industry and especially the CNC machining industry. Whether it’s a CNC Milling machine or a CNC lathe turning center or a CNC Rotary transfer, whatever can produce metal parts is not able to produce parts due to the sheer lack of raw materials.

This is an unprecedented time in the history of our country to where not only is there a lack of metals but also skilled labor. Any and all CNC shops are hurting due to this lack of material and people. Machines are sitting idle waiting on raw material. It just doesn’t seem as though the mills can make the metal fast enough.

The reason for these shortages all goes back to COVID and the shutdown of 2020. That small interruption caused an immediate drop in supply because mills, if they ran, produced at a reduced capacity. This is now causing monumental change in production, employee attendance and now prices. As this backup continues and labor is more scarce, labor costs are actually increasing. If it costs employers more to staff a machine then the cost of that widget will increase. If that widget goes into a panel of a vehicle then that panel will cost more and if the panel cost more then the vehicle will cost more. Now, consider this increase for more than just that one widget and instead every component on that vehicle. This cost is significantly different as compared to 1 year ago. Sure, our labor force is higher paid but everything also now costs more as well so are we really better off than before? This is yet to be determined.

There is machining and then there is precision CNC machining. Gent Machine is an ISO 9001:2015 –
 ANSI/ISO/ASQ Q9001-2015 and IAFT 16949:2016 certified producer of screw machine parts. Precision
parts is what we do. The company has experienced employees handle all facets of precision machining
in our Acme, Davenport, and Citizen CNC departments from prints to machine set-up to production and
to quality. All the steps from idea to finished product take patience, persistence, and skill, to urge screw
machines, mills, and our Citizen CNC machines to run smoothly and create parts that meet prints and
quality specifications. With decades of experience, Gent Machine is laser focused on what distinguishes
the company from its competitors in the machining industry.

1. Machining with White Glove Service
While an oxymoron with the thoughts of grease of a machine shop, this attribute sets Gent
Machine apart. Fast and responsive communication with real people, from owners to the office
staff, ensure customer information is not only heard timely, but acted upon quickly and
efficiently. As suppliers to the automotive and aerospace industries, as well as the United States
military, clear communication is essential and responsiveness is key.

2. Clean Factory
When Gent Machine made the decision to relocate to its new location, not one detail was
spared. Nothing except an organized, state of the art facility is acceptable to serve the needs of
Gent’s customers and employees. Rows of Davenport and Acme machines inhabit one third of
the shop, while Swiss CNC and Hydromats take up another third of the shop. The floor scrubber
is in almost constant use, ensuring floors are clean and safe to walk upon as machines hum.
Customers and visitors arrive expecting to see grease and filth. Instead, visitors walk into a
bright and open work area. All employees are expected to clean their areas before leaving for
the day. Machinists are expected to mop their areas, and a clean shop is the responsibility of all
employees.

3. Wealth of Machining Experience
The vision of the old guy back in the tool room with the ability to create any part for absolutely
any need, blindfolded, is not far from the truth. Gent is lucky to have several seasoned
employees. We have a competitive advantage having the expertise and problem-solving skills of
experienced Davenport, Acme, and CNC employees on our roster alongside our younger
employees. We continue to attract highly skilled individuals to meet the requirements of our
customers’ projects. Gent has machinists with high levels of experience and who love getting
their hands dirty – literally. We are fortunate that our employees’ talents and experience further
our mission to produce high volume precision parts using our innovation and teamwork for
partners who demand superior quality, machining expertise, and on time delivery. Machining is
an industry where experience is highly prized and rewarded.
Gent is proud of its family tradition of precision excellence and focuses on its competitive
differentiators. A state of the art facility with knowledgeable and experienced employees, and a

commitment to keep clear lines of communication open within all facets of customers’
experience will continue to drive success for decades to come.

In December, the leadership team of Gent Machine, a CNC Machine shop, embarked on adopting a system of communication called EOS – the Entrepreneurial Operating System. This system allows the team to set time aside to work “on” the business vs the daily activities of working “in” the business. 

Q. What is EOS?
A. EOS is a set of concepts and processes that help leaders communicate and work together to resolve issues. EOS focuses on six key components that are inherent in any business – Vision, Data, Process, Traction, People, and Issues. These components are the spokes of a wheel with our business in the center. There is nothing fancy about EOS. The largest value to EOS is keeping leadership focused on the priorities it sets.

Q. Why did Gent pick EOS?
A. Gent has plans for growth and improving many aspects of what we do every day – especially efficiencies. Managers solving problems walking by each other in the hall is not effective communication. Emails leave room for interpretation. EOS provides a very structured, direct, and no-nonsense approach of working through goals and issues that require attention and collaboration. The relationship Gent has with Cleveland’s MAGNET (The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network) allows us to utilize experts to guide us through this process.

Q. How does EOS change the way leadership communicates?
A. Adam, Rich, Lisa (Operations), and Dawn (Quality), as well as Production meet weekly for an uninterrupted hour and a half to review data, evaluate progress on company-wide and individual goals (called Rocks), review major happenings, and focus on and resolve issues. We spend the majority of each meeting resolving issues that will remove frustrations and move the company forward. We wrap up meetings by assigning to dos that may result in tasks or outside meetings with employees and/or vendors.
The team also meets off site quarterly to review progress and set goals for the next quarter. Yearly goals are set at the end of Q4 in an off-site meeting as well.

Q. How does EOS affect me as an employee? What is right person right seat?
A. A key component of EOS is right person right seat. This is essentially looking at every employee in the company and saying are they the right person doing the right job? Do they represent our core values? Are they in the right role for them and for Gent?
At the beginning of working on EOS, this component was a major focus of the leadership team. We relied heavily on our facilitator to guide us through right person right seat exercises. We started by reaffirming our core values, mission statement, and vision statement. We evaluated every employee and how they are perceived to demonstrate our core values and whether or not they are in the right role at Gent. Our goals cannot be reached without a great team of people doing what they do best.

Q. What EXACTLY do you talk about during meetings?
A. Whatever is an issue/topic that helps the company to run efficiently. Topics run the gamut from a key employee leaving in which we need to figure out who will take over their responsibilities to parts out of spec and which employees need to be part of that discussion in a separate meeting. Perhaps an employee is struggling with a skill and requires additional training, or we are considering purchasing a new piece of equipment. Every week is different.

Q. Is EOS helping the leadership team communicate?
A. Yes! EOS consistently brings us back to the quarterly goals we set to help us meet our annual goals. No matter how busy a week may be, we all know we have 1 ½ hours a week to listen and be heard by other members of the team.