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Bridgeport, Cinci, Haas, to Dave T.

mattei

Aluminum
Joined
Nov 3, 2001
Location
OH
Well I will give you the links when I have time on Cinci. and Haas. Bridgeport is a private company (Goldman). I have no link just that they are growing at a nice pace in a slow time. I know their sales and goals and if you are going to IMTS this year, you will be impressed with their machines. I am an industrial consultant and know about most of the machine tool industry.

So if you have a question on just about any company I should be able to get you guys the information. Even down to the model on most machines. I will warn you I specailize in CNC. I know alot of this forum is dedicated to the home shops, but I visit many companies, so might be able to help out.

A small suggestion, we only have a few U.S. builders left, if you have a chance give them a try.
 
Thanks mattei. I would be interested to hear exactly what you do in your consulting work if you have any inclination to discuss it. Do you advise shop foremen/purchasing departments on the most productive/bang for the buck machine for their needs for instance ?
 
That's exactly what I do. From the big 3 down to Joe's job shop. It's been very interesting in the last few years due to the economic conditions in the machine tool market and mfg. sector. Some plants are busy, others about to be closed. Why? It all comes down to three factors-1) Who you know, 2)What you know 3)How can you make my widget faster, holding better tolerances. The small shops are hurting the most. There are so many low end Haas type machining centers out there they are cutting each others throats. For the shops in the middle and up, they have a litte more technology, but their overhead is hurting them, so they have been reducing head count. The key for a lot of these companies is trying to compete against the top 10% and not the rest of the little guys with low end machining centers everyone has. They are getting into machines like the Mazak multiplex, one machine for all operations. 3D lasers from DMG are creeping into the medical field on small complex parts(no more edm). Flexible cells with RGVS are gaining strength as well. Quick change over and one guy can run four horizontals.

The reason you see these productivity numbers increasing every qtr and no inflation, is due to the machine tool world.
The technolgy this year is 10-20% more efficent than last year. Keeps cost down and improves quality.

This is a bit long winded so I'll stop. To let all of you know this economy is slow, but inventory levels are so low that it is like a dam about to blow. When it starts to go everyone who survived this nightmare will be swamped(IMHO). Looks like Q2 as long as nothing else stupid happens in the world.
 
Excellent post mattei. I'd also be interested to hear "The Mattei Story" when you get a chance...i.e. what did you do before that led up to this consulting work, etc. ?

Also, if you know of a URL where I could read more about the DMG 3D lasers, I'd appreciate that too. (for others of you reading this that don't know, DMG was the merger of Deckel Maho and Guildemeister in Germany)
 
Hi guys. Please excuse me for butting in but I would like to ask a question. I just heard that Bridgeport's parent company Goldman just filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Is this true? Any speculation on what is going to happen to Bridgeport and the other machine tool companies that Goldman owns. There have been too many American machine tool companies going out of business lately, I sure would hate to see Bridgeport become a fond memory!

Thanks,

Greg
 
Yes, they did last Friday, it was a mini-enron type situation. Goldman pulled 7 million out of a pension fund at Bryant and Fellows without replacing it in the specified time frame. This caused much grief, so the eldest Goldman pulled his son, and basically got out of the machine tool business last week before they were shamed any more(IMHO). Bryant and Fellows will not re-open. Bridegport is fully funded by a group of investors and are doing well. They have been profitable the last couple of years.
 








 
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