By Taylor Boyd
Started in 1983, Mechanical Designs of Virginia has grown from a small machine shop with a handful of machinists to a large-scale metal fabrication center.
What has remained however, is the company’s focus as a job shop.
“Which means, we don’t have a product. In other words, you send me a print and we quote you a price and we make the part if we’re awarded the bid,” Wayne Gilley, president, said.
Because the company does not have a set product, production size and type vary weekly and even daily. However, replacement parts and new parts are a staple, according to Gilley.
“We actually don’t see the finished product for several pieces that we make. We just make the parts,” and ship them to be assembled elsewhere, he said.
Being a ‘jack of all trades’ company also has led to Mechanical Designs having a wide variety of customers.
Gilley said the company supplies parts for AMF Bakery Systems in Richmond that are used in creating bread making and packaging equipment and to Graham-White Manufacturing Co. in Salem for railroad work. The company also creates server racks for computers and logging parts for Chatsworth Products Inc. and Aftermarket Parts, Inc. in New Bern, N.C.
Because of the type of work involved, production never really has been manual-focused. The company previously used NC (Numerical Control) automatic machines to input commands through a program to make the machine perform certain operations.
A CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine is now used and performs the same functions as the NC, but on a computer with greater accuracy, output, flexibility, and computational capability for a lower cost, he said.
CNC machines are used to cut, shape, pierce, and bend sheet metal, while more hands-on work includes welding and powder coating pieces, Gilley said. To further improve production time and shaping accuracy, the company purchased a $538,000 CNC laser cutter about three years ago.
To keep up with growing demand, the once 5,000 square-foot shop has expanded multiple times to reach its current 45,000 square-foot space, which includes areas for welding, fabrication, laser cutting, powder coating, assembly, quality control checks, and packaging for shipping.
Currently, the organization has about 30 employees, with five full-time welders, he said.
Depending on the product, Mechanical Designs normally ships anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 parts to buyers a week, and it ships almost daily.
“We do quite a bit of delivery because of the nature of the beast. The parts, when you put them on the truck, they get subject to get a lot of damage, so we deliver,” Gilley said.
Mechanical Designs transports many of its deliveries within a 300-mile radius, and often ships to sites on the other side of the United States to California, Texas, and Oklahoma and across the border to Canada.
The introduction of a quality control checking station was one of the biggest changes over the years, he said. The station allows parts to be labeled with numbers with an in-house machine, instead of them being shipping to a different location for certification.
“It’s not so much a big deal, but we used to stamp them or send them out to be marked, depending on what it was and who it was,” Gilley said.
Mechanical Designs also bought HESCO (Hydraulic Equipment Supply Company) years ago after one of Gilley’s friends contacted him about machine work that company needed done.
“We got to looking into it and quoted some stuff to him, and he said, ‘by the way, I think that company is for sale, and they’re based in Charlotte,’” Gilley said.
HESCO ended up being a perfect fit for Mechanical Designs because it produced hydraulic tanks and adapters.
“It just fit us good,” Gilley said. “We ended up buying the company and it has provided us quite a bit of work.”
(Editor’s note: This is part of a continuing series of stories about Patrick County’s manufacturing sector.)
