In providing impression-die forgings to a variety of industries, including automotive, railroad, and oil exploration, plus the military, Walker Forge operates a 250,000-ft2 facility and employs around 280 people. When Walker's five-year-old vertical high-speed milling machine broke down, it called on the machine builder for help.They learned a new machine would take six months for delivery.
"When we asked the original equipment manufacturer who we should contact about repairing it," says Rick Recktenwald, Walker Forge v.p. and plant manager. "They immediately recommended Kentucky Rebuild Corp."
A week after he was called, national service manager Mark Pennington was at Walker Forge evaluating the GF6 milling machine. He submitted a proposal w ith the cost and a timeline. "We asked other vendors to submit proposals as well," says Recktenwald, "But, the people at KRC represented themselves with knowledge and expertise, and instilled confidence in us that they were the right company for the job."
During the next week, the machine was shipped to KRC's facility in Independence, KY, where it was rebuilt and calibrated to OEM specifications. The job included grinding the ways, replacing/scraping all Turcite surfaces, insuring perpendicularity of the head ways, and testing the machine for accuracy. KRC performed all the required work as specified, and shipped the GF6 to Walker Forge one week early.
Founded in 1989, KRC (www.kyrebuild.com) emphasizes its diversity of experience. "We intentionally recruit staff with specialized experience in various fields and among different brands in order to broaden the scope of our capabilities," says Pennington. "Then, we cross-train them for an even greater level of versatility. The result is a force of experts who can skillfully complete various types of jobs on a variety of machines and brands. It makes us a one-stop shop for a wide range of service among different machine builders."
"We went from delivery of a new machine in six months to a rebuilt machine, returned to OEM standards and back to our facility in seven weeks, and at 25% of the cost," says Recktenwald. "KRC accomplished our objective cost-effectively and delivered the machine earlier than promised. Do I think we might call KRC again for another need in the future? Yes, we would."