SME success stories: Two skilled siblings

In Airdrie, Alberta, near Calgary, two brothers are build­ing a solid job shop the old fashioned way: through quality and service. While those are attributes of all good job shops, Alex and Rich Clugston, the “A and R” of A &R Machining, use a solid fraternal bond to build a business that works better than just a simple partnership. Rich Clugston, operations manager, relates: “We both have our own expertise. Alex is the machinist, I run the office. We felt that if we put our heads together we could be different, more efficient. It gives us the freedom to do what we want to do. Because Alex is so talented, he was ridden pretty hard in other shops, at one point running four machines at once with no time for training, so we thought we should get him into his own environment. We like challenges.”

The term ‘synergy’ comes to mind, and although that expression has become a cliché, at A&R Machining, it’s plainly visible. With a talented machinist making parts and an operations man handling customer-facing tasks, both have the time and space to focus on their individual strengths.

A&R machines a broad range of parts for industrial and commercial applications. As an Alberta-based busi­ness, down hole equipment is a natural market, as is electrical components (connectors) and interestingly, custom lighting for the interior design market. A&R does one-off jobs, but doesn’t shy away from moderate production runs.

“We like longer runs”, state Rich, adding “with three machines and two of us, one running all the time is great for us. Our largest run so far is 1000 parts. We have several customers who do that.”

The current setup at A&R Machining operates three major machines. Says Rich, “we started with our Doosans, but after our clients wanted more and more, we needed another machine.”

Alex is especially enthusiastic about the new acquisition: “We needed reliability so we went with a Nakamura Tome 200LMYS two spindle unit with live tooling. It’s a beast.”

A&R sourced the Doosans from Moore Industrial Ltd. and the Nakamura Tome from Elliot Matsuura Canada Inc. All the machines run FANUC controls, according to Alex: “I’m familiar with them…it’s important that they’re the same. As we hire people it will keep everyone on the same page.”

The brothers use a GibbsCAM station to avoid on-machine programming. A&R prefers to build from a print, but has the capability to work around many issues. “Some customers provide just a 3D rendering”, says Alex, adding “we create the toolpaths from there.”

Alex and Rich Clugston

The shop has both leased and finance purchased equipment, opting for a low buyout at the end of the term for leased machines. According to Rich, “that’s why we bought these machines; we wanted something that would last in the end.”

The Clugston brothers are young, with Rich, 35, and Alex, 31; in person they look even younger. Youth can be an asset, but rarely so when arranging business financing.

“One of the handicaps starting up was that we look so young, no one took us seriously”, says Rich. “It took 6 months to build our business plan, and people said ‘that’s great’, but no one would take a chance on us. It was difficult just getting the shop opened.”

Rich notes that third party equipment leasing companies were useful early on and Elliot Matsuura was instrumental in financing the new Nakamura Tome.

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A&R is a multi-material operation, but according to Rich, aluminum forms the bulk of the work. “We do beryllium copper, steel and stainless but it’s aluminum all day, every day.” 6061 in the T6 heat treat is a big part of aluminum production. The beryllium copper work is for high tech components for the downhole market. “It’s for measure-ment well drilling pump parts, lots of downhole. Often we don’t know what we’re making is used for”, he says with a grin. Tolerances vary as much as the work at A&R. Stan-dard jobs may be plus or minus 5 thousandths, with closer tolerance work at two or three ‘tenths’. Modern equipment helps the brothers cope with the wide ranging demands, relates Rich: “The Nakamura Tome and the Doosans hold tolerances well with great repeatability. We’re not changing offsets all the time. We invest everything in the machinery. Everything else is peripheral. $15,000 workbenches aren’t what we need…we need machines to make repeatable parts.” The brothers expect to add another Nakamura Tome machine in the future.

A&R occupies 3000 square feet in a bright, open concept layout. Like many young businesses, there’s no receptionist, so the open layout lets Alex and Rich keep an eye on production and the office. The current location works with three machines but A&R will soon reach a crossroads; hire more people and move to a big­ger facility or stay small and flexible?

When pressed, Rich and Alex don’t talk much about staying a two-man operation, noting that hiring may be an obstacle. “We need someone willing to put in an hon­est day. Someone who can buy into our system and who shares our vision.”

The brothers rely heavily on the vendor community for tooling sup­port, much of it with Sandvik, but with many brands on the production floor, depending on the application. The future of A&R is simple: more machines, a bigger business and more freedom to explore advanced machin­ing, leveraging the individual talents of Alex and Rich.

What’s the best part of running A&R Machining? Rich Clugston answers without hesitation: “I get to work with my brother. He’s my best friend. And it offers the freedom to do our own thing. It’s 100 per cent trust. Alex’s domain is the shop, and mine is the front office. We make the decisions together, based on the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’. For a while it was 18 hour days, seven days a week. We have to prove ourselves to every new customer.”

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