Good Things Happen When Visionaries Invest For the Long Haul
Joining Re:Build Manufacturing has been a boon for Re:Build Fikst. We are growing, collaborating in new ways, tapping resources not previously available to us, contributing to the revitalization of American manufacturing and basically having a great time doing it! Now, after two months in our new space in Wilmington, Massachusetts, Re:Build Fikst is starting to feel settled in. It’s hard to say which change has made the biggest difference to us. Maybe it’s the ground-floor machine shop that means we don’t need to use a forklift to get our new Haas machine centers up and running on a second floor walk-up. Yup, we did that in our old space! Maybe it’s the two dedicated clean rooms where we can prototype biotech consumables in a controlled environment. Or maybe it’s our electrical lab with state-of-the-art ESD flooring. With so many significant improvements, including doubling our square footage, it’s an embarrassment of riches! We accomplished a lot of amazing work in our old home, but the opportunities to improve efficiency and expand capabilities in our new facility are beyond exciting.
In our old shop, the strength of the floor and width of a standard door limited our ability to add shop tools. With a little creativity, we moved some impressively hefty machines upstairs in the past. Now, with our machine shop on ground level, we’ve added two big new tools: a Haas VF-2SS machining center and a Haas ST-20SS lathe with live tooling. These will allow us to continue doing what we’ve been doing for years–quickly solve difficult problems using theory and rapid prototyping but faster and better than before! Our upgraded machine shop has already made a huge difference. During an alpha build of a client’s instrument, we found that a commercial valve did not quite meet requirements. Within six days we brainstormed, designed, manufactured, and tested an inexpensive custom design and were able to keep the program on schedule. Without our expanded in-house capabilities we would have had to wait for parts instead of moving on to the next challenge.
We have supported clients by designing and manufacturing hundreds, sometimes thousands, of their consumables. Previously we would laser weld in one room, label in another room, UV glue in another and finally, kit in yet another room. Those days are now memories for "remember when?" reminiscing! The new space has 1,600 square feet for flexible work cells designated for those purposes–every step of pilot production in one room, enabling us to figure out the process and add automation when needed.
We’re just getting started! We’ll keep you updated with more fun from Re:Build Fikst.
