Posted by Jim Earman on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 @ 02:00 PM
Smith & Wesson is a firearms manufacturer located in Springfield, MA and uses laser markers to comply with ATF and other governmental regulations for item level traceability and part identification.
Recently, they purchased a Langolier to laser mark plastic components that are used in assembly of their firearms. Due to the success of the application, they purchased additional Langoliers to do additional laser marking and laser etching.
Dave Simard, Capital Program Manager at Smith & Wesson, states that “Smith & Wesson has purchased laser systems from Jimani Inc. for a number of different applications over the past few years. The Langolier fiber laser marking systems have proven themselves to be reliable, easy to use and easy to maintain in high production applications.
These wall powered 110v stand alone systems provide mobility and flexibility that we previously thought would be impossible to achieve. This has allowed us to optimize work cell layouts on the fly to improve product flow without interrupting production.
Beyond the quality of each system and its hardware it is the dedication and personal service to provide true turnkey systems on-time which sets Jimani apart from the rest. Jim Earman's extensive hands-on laser experience gives him the ability to quickly provide custom programs and settings optimized for each application with clean and clear results.
In addition, his relaxed approach to on-site training and his unique ability to teach both operators and technicians in simple down to earth terms has made each transition from R&D into production happen with ease. Jimani has continued to exceed our expectations in product quality, technical assistance and ongoing service.”
http://www.smith-wesson.com/
Jimani, Inc.
www.jimani-inc.com
jearman@jimani-inc.com
Posted by Jim Earman on Sun, Aug 29, 2010 @ 02:00 PM
Ackley Metal Products is a medical products manufacturer located in Santa Ana, California. Once a small tool shop, Ackley Metal Products has grown by developing high end precision machined medical with a team of experienced engineers.
Ackley received a large contract requiring a lot of laser marking. Jimani worked with them for six months developing marking processes for the different parts and materials eventually marking trial production runs of hundreds of thousands of parts. Previously they had been using Jimani's laser job shop services, but together with Jimani, they decided it was more cost-effective and efficient to bring a custom laser system in-house.
One of the issues that came up while customizing a laser marking system for Ackley was a difficult to mark combination of materials. Stainless steel and Peet materials were required to be marked with the same laser. Jimani developed a custom laser configuration to mark both metals using the same optical configuration.
“Jimani built the Langolier to the correct specifications and trained the Ackley Metal Products team in the use of fiber laser marking systems. In fact the transition was so smooth that Ackley Metal picked up the laser one afternoon and it was running production parts the next morning.
“The lasers have been with us almost 4 months and has almost paid for itself. It works flawlessly and is very easy to train others on it.”, said Alan Ackley, VP Ackley Metal Products Inc.
http://ackleymetal.com
Jimani, Inc.
www.jimani-inc.com
jearman@jimani-inc.com
Posted by Jim Earman on Fri, Aug 27, 2010 @ 02:00 PM
Jimani recently sold a 50 watt Langolier fiber laser marking systems to Laser Industries, a job shop competitor in the Orange County, CA area. The laser module has a very lengthy lead time and was purchased for a particular job that Laser Industries is running for their biggest marking customer. The job shop customer was threatening to cancel the order or second source it because Laser Industries could not meet their customer’s production requirements with their existing YAG laser marker.
It was taking Laser Industries over 5 minutes to mark each part and the YAG could not mark through some of the thicker plating with the result that 25% of the parts were being treated as “scrap”. Laser Industries was getting 150 parts/day maximum running two shifts.
Since this was an urgent issue for Laser Industries, Jimani quickly built a laser marking job on a 20 watt Langolier and allowed the job to be run at their facility. We were able to reduce their marking time to 42 seconds and we could mark through even his thickest plating.
Jimani allowed Laser Industries to take the Langolier fiber system with the 20 watt laser back to their shop that Sunday evening with the agreement that when his 50 watt fiber laser system arrived we would come out and swap the lasers.
Read the letter the owner of Laser Industries sent to Jimani.
http://www.laserindustries.com/
Jimani, Inc.
www.jimani-inc.com
jearman@jimani-inc.com
Posted by Jim Earman on Thu, Aug 26, 2010 @ 02:00 PM
Metalcraft has been using lasers since the early 1990s to produce high quality identification nameplates for harsh environments. These ID plates are made of a variety of materials including stainless steel, aluminum, plastic, as well these materials 
anodized, painted, or galvanized. When Metalcraft needed to upgrade old laser marking equipment Jimani was the choice.
In 2007 Jimani met Metalcraft at a trade show where we were both exhibiting and they mentioned that they were in the market for an additional laser. Jimani was asked to participate in a competitive bidding process with a number of other laser system suppliers. The purchase order was awarded to Jimani based on the quality and cycle time of our samples and fair pricing of the Langolier line of laser marking equipment.
About six months after the successful installation and implementation of their first Langolier, Mason City, IA and the Metalcraft plant suffered catastrophic flooding and the ground level floor with the lasers was inundated. The only laser they could salvage was the Jimani Langolier because it was small and compact enough to move to a second floor above the water level. Their other larger, immobile YAS and diode pump laser systems were destroyed. Metalcraft called and asked how quickly Jimani could ship them an additional 20 watt Langolier fiber laser marking system.
Jimani stocks standard laser components as a best practice to insure the ability to service customers in just such a circumstance and had a new system on a truck to Metalcraft within two days. Metalcraft hs since purchased four additional Jimani Langolier fiber laser systems.
“In 2007 we purchased our first Langolier. Now we are up to six installations powered exclusively by Langolier Fiber Lasers. Jim Earman and his staff have worked hard to develop the right system for each application. Jimani has been a great partner in the success of Metalcraft's Laser Engraved products!” states Jim Miller VP Engineering.
Metalcraft can be found online at http://www.idplate.com/
Jimani, Inc.
www.jimani-inc.com
jearman@jimani-inc.com
Posted by Jim Earman on Wed, Aug 25, 2010 @ 02:00 PM
Broadley-James Corporation, located in Southern California, is a manufacturer of sensors, instrumentation and equipment for the Bioprocess and Pharmaceutical industries. Broadley-James decided to purchase a laser engraving system because permanent and legible direct part marking on their products for identification and traceability is essential to their manufacturing process in terms of inventory control, process management and internal tracking.
Broadley-James had no experience whatsoever with laser markers but they had a variety of materials, including brass, stainless steel, and plastic that could be well served by directly laser marking part identification and traceability on each component.
Broadley-James purchased their first laser marker, a Jimani Langolier Fiber Laser Marker, and as Dan Folwell, General Manager says, “We purchased our Jimani Langolier marking system over a year ago, and I have nothing but good things to say about the product. The Langolier truly is a turn-key system. The day after we received the unit, we had it unpacked, set up, plugged into a standard 115 Volt wall outlet and were marking our first sample parts. The system is a work horse. Since we received it, we’ve been marking stainless steel, brass and plastic parts almost every day with no problems and no maintenance. This system has become an important and valuable addition to our manufacturing capabilities.”
The 20 watt Langolier fiber laser system comes standard with ProlaseXP software installed and is extremely operator friendly. Industry standard bar codes (2D Data Matrix, UID, UPC, Code 39, and many others) serial numbers, logos, text are all pre-loaded.
All common vector graphics files including .dxf, .plt., .dwg, .ai., and, eps as well as many less common file types are easily imported and incorporated into the job files. Raster printer file formats including .bmp, .jpeg, .pcx., .png., and .tif are also easily imported and adapted to laser marking.
http://www.broadleyjames.com/
Jimani, Inc.
www.jimani-inc.com
jearman@jimani-inc.com
Posted by Jim Earman on Tue, Aug 24, 2010 @ 02:00 PM
Ackley Metal Products is a medical products manufacturer located in Santa Ana, California. Once a small tool shop, Ackley Metal Products has grown by developing high end precision machined medical with a team of experienced engineers.
Alan Ackley, VP Ackley Metal Products Inc., states, “Jimani has been laser marking for us for 4 years. We had heard of them from word of mouth from one of our customers and were very grateful for the suggestion. Our last supplier littered us with late deliveries and an unacceptable scrap rate. Jimani, on the other hand, was quite the opposite with snappy turnaround times and a very high acceptance rate. They are also very easy to deal with when designing new products with their doors wide open with a knowledgeable crew to help. ”
After providing laser job services to Ackley for several years, Ackley received a large contract requiring a lot of laser marking. Jimani worked with them for six months developing marking processes for the different parts and materials eventually marking trial production runs of hundreds of thousands of parts.
Jimani worked closely with Ackley to determine the best cost-effective solution, weighing the costs of using Jimani's laser job shop services vs. bringing a custom laser system in-house.
Ackley says that, “the time did come though where we wanted to bring the jobs in house, which is quite nerve racking when it’s a new process and your supplier does such a good job. The volume was worth the machine investment though and it made business sense. Fortunately for us Jimani builds and sells the same equipment they use on production so the decision was easy. They are very friendly about the switch over and work diligently to get the machine to you, which by the way, was delivered on time as well. They include all the programs they used and settings so the switch over required very little man hours to get productions up and going in our facility. “
The decision to job shop laser marking versus bringing the work in house and buying the laser equipment hinges on the cost per part ratio compared to the cost of equipment and labor to in source the same work. Another key driver in the decision making process to in source the laser marking is the expertise required to develop particular laser job configurations and applications engineering.
“Jimani built the Langolier to the correct specifications and trained the Ackley Metal Products team in the use of fiber laser marking systems. In fact the transition was so smooth that Ackley Metal picked up the laser one afternoon and it was running production parts the next morning.
The lasers have been with us almost 4 months and has almost paid for itself. It works flawlessly and is very easy to train others on it.”, said Alan Ackley, VP Ackley Metal Products Inc.
http://ackleymetal.com
Jimani, Inc.
www.jimani-inc.com
jearman@jimani-inc.com
Posted by Jim Earman on Mon, Aug 16, 2010 @ 09:42 AM
Using Lasers, Building Lasers
Jimani was founded in 1989 and has grown to be one of California's largest laser marking job shops by providing laser marking and laser engraving services for customer supplied parts. Jimani uses marking lasers and builds lasers - our commitment to quality, service and on time delivery defines our mission statement. Jimani is your turnkey laser marking outsourcing partner!
Our goal for this blog is to create a place where we can communicate and converse with you using our experience, expertise, and continuing education of the art and science of laser marking systems and how they are used in practice.
We will be talking about and asking you about
Our topics will touch on just about any material used in manufacturing from plastic to titanium to steel to aluminum, to rubber, to glass and most industries including medical, defense, UID military, aerospace, automotive, electronics and consumer goods.
We encourage feedback and input on the direction of this blog and our hope is that you will find value here that helps your business and improves your situation.
Thank you and we look forward to talking with you!
Jimani, Inc.
www.jimani-inc.com
jearman@jimani-inc.com