PINNACLE PRECISION LLC.
CNC SWISS MACHINING

Ken Jensen and Dan Perkins credit the successof their business to a world-renowned physician, Dr Marlowe Goble. Throughout
​Dr. Marlowe Goble’s brilliant career he has continuously improved the field of sports medicine and orthopedic care. Dr. Goble spent the last 30 years breaking new ground in the field of knee surgery and has gained a reputation as a top surgeon in orthopedics. ​

​Dr. Goble moved to breathtaking Logan, Utah, many years ago. As he was busy researching, prototyping, and then bringing medical products to market, he purchased a precision CNC machine shop and a precision Swiss CNC shop. The machine shop was acquired to support Dr. Goble’s R&D efforts, and the Swiss CNC shop was bought for the purpose of manufacturing production parts. Dr. Goble aptly named the manufacturing entity “Medicine Lodge”. Other companies founded by Marlowe include a facet arthroplasty device company, Facet Solutions; Western Surgery Center; and Frontier Biomedical. Dr. Goble’s most recent research company, Venture M.D., currently develops and funds orthopedic research ideas.

But that’s not what this article is about, though Ken and Dan believe that Dr. Goble’s strong desire to expand manufacturing in Logan, Utah, resulted in dozens of start-up machine shops that are now excelling in Logan, Utah, a remote community approximately 100 miles from Salt Lake City. Pinnacle Precision is one of them. “We had such a fascinating experience working under Dr. Goble”, Ken said, “and we even had several opportunities to be in the operating room during Dr. Goble’s surgeries so that we see first hand how to make better products. Not many machine shop owners had the privilege to help design critical medical products like we have.”

Ken and Dan both were very involved in running the machine shop divisions of Medicine Lodge, even after it changed hands and names over time. If you are familiar with manufacturing entities in this part of the United States, you most likely know of some of the
names that Medicine Lodge took on, including Mitek, Innovasive Devices, and even Johnson & Johnson. Large Fortune 100 companies were interested in the company, as they saw tremendous value in the medical patents that came out of Medicine Lodge. ​

​​Pinnacle Precision, founded seven and a half years ago by Dan Perkins and Ken Jensen, is a Veteran-owned business. Dan and Ken were ideal partners, both skilled machinists, and both who had worked well with each other at a number of businesses over the years. Dan describes Ken as a “math wizard”, so talented that he could take on any new technical challenge, and Ken describes Dan as the partner who works exceptionally well with our customers”. ​

The company is well known for its expertise in small machine parts, ranging from ¾ inch to .010 inch in size. The two brainstormed their company name for what they wanted their company to represent, the pinnacle, or height of precision machining. And with each of the founders having worked in the machining industry for 25 plus years, making parts for the aerospace, medical, defense and artillery industries, the company can make some of the most complex small parts. Pinnacle Precision also prides itself on its ability to make parts out of some of the more difficult to machine metals as Titanium, Stainless, Inconel, Incoloy, and Nickel. Their customers reside throughout the United States, and even into Canada.

The company continues to invest in some of the most sophisticated equipment, including the 3 Star CNC Swiss machines they purchased in the past year and a half. Their latest, the Star SR20J, incorporates a main spindle, sub spindle, and live tooling for milling drilling. Both high-pressure coolant spindles have full contouring axes for 4th axis work. ​

​The Star CNC Swiss machines are multiaxis machine tools equipped with live tooling and sub-spindles. Parts are completed in one cycle without secondary operations. With computer aided programming and the ease of set-ups, lead times are drastically reduced. Ken says, “the lead time to procure raw material is usually our bottleneck.” He continued, “Gone is the paradigm that large batch sizes are needed to be economical. In fact for a large number of part configurations, our Swiss machines are the choice machines for medium to low volume part manufacturing.”

Pinnacle Precision also owns a wire EDM machine, and some of the most sophisticated inspection equipment available. “Our Brown and Sharp Tesa Scan can test product accuracy to within 40 millionths”, Dan said, “which is the equivalent of the width of a piece of paper sliced 75 times.” And you will be hard-pressed to find the Oasis (Optical Automatic Smart Inspection System) in many machine shops.

​With years of experience at very large manufacturing facilities, including Parker Hannifin, Williams International, and Medicine Lodge, making very high tolerance, precision parts, ISO certification was something that Ken and Dan knew that they would have to take on. “We put all of the processes in place from the time we opened the business”, Dan said, “and so when we had sufficient funds last year to go through the Certification accreditation, it literally only took us 1 month to complete.” Both Dan and Ken believe that the ISO certification facilitates productivity improvements and results in a more efficient and well run operation.

“The scores count”, Dan said. “Our typical scores for quality and on-time delivery are 97% or better.” The company takes pride in their philosophy of “parts aren’t done until they are cleaned and de-burred”. The company invested in an ultrasonic vapor degreaser, and all de-burring stations are equipped with microscopes for 100% inspection.

​Pinnacle Precision customers share
some of their experiences with the
Pinnacle Precision team. Here is
what they have to say.
​

“We’ve been using Pinnacle Precision as a supplier for more than 5 years now. They machine components for our end products, which are medical devices. 
Pinnacle Precision produces good product consistently. Their pricing is outstanding, and they are extremely responsive.
Occasionally, we have an issue to resolve, caused when the print call-out is unclear or we change our method of inspection. On these rare instances, the team at Pinnacle Precision is extremely responsive. They also work with us when we need an expedite.
We single source specific components to Pinnacle Precision. When you find a supplier that is working for you, you just don’t change out!”
Jeremy, Medical Products Manufacturer

“Pinnacle Precision has captured the majority of our screw machine business over the past several years. Their quality and their support is outstanding, and their pricing is very competitive.
It is a pleasure doing business with Pinnacle Precision. I would highly recommend Pinnacle Precision to anyone!”
Mike, Precision Manufacturer

“We have been purchasing machined parts from Pinnacle Precision for the past ten years. They are considered one of our most reliable sources for machined parts under 3/4” in diameter. I can ask Dan or Ken for a quote today and find a response in my inbox by morning. This is extremely valuable in today’s competitive environment. They are very strong when working with “hard to machine” exotic alloys (nickel,cobalt etc.).
Pinnacle is on time with delivery, and always supplies all required Quality Control Documentation.”
Joe, Precision Manufacturer

For more information on a superior CNC
swiss machining company, contact them
at (435) 563-2722.
​
​Article courtesy of A2Z Metalworking

41 West Guest Avenue
Salt Lake City, UT  84115
Phone: 801-263-6403
Fax: 801-263-6404
Email: smc@smithmachinetools.com

---