"Downloadable 3D drawings in native CAD file formats, unique products, and quick turnaround of custom-size part orders" are cited by engineer Dave Thornton of Dial Tool Industries, Inc as reasons he relies on Misumi for the company's factory automation components needs.

A full service manufacturer with extensive experience in prototyping, tooling, stampings, automation, and molding, Dial Tool Industries has served a wide range of customers for over half a century. It currently maintains ISO9000/QS9000 certified manufacturing facilities in Addison, IL, with additional locations in Mexico and China.

As a technology-driven company, Dial Tool has long employed automation to maximize the efficiency of its manufacturing process. In fact, Dial has been so successful with its automation machinery that two years ago it set up a separate division that offers customers turnkey automation systems, integration, process analysis, and system updates to help them achieve lower labor costs, greater yields, and better quality product.

"In building our customers' automation solutions, we were originally machining most of our components in-house," notes Thornton. "Because that took so much time, we went looking for a faster, more efficient way, and found Misumi on an Internet search."

Misumi met the challenge of supplying a wide variety of unique components, machined to precise custom sizes, on time and cost effectively. After an initial shipment of couplings for an automatic sorting machine in August 2004, Dial has turned to Misumi for pulleys, pushers, shafts, belts, and other components used in building its automation equipment.

"We now go through their catalog and design machinery based on what is available, knowing that the parts will be delivered fast, and that we'll have access to the 3-D CAD file to pop into our drawings," said Thornton. "The end result is that we can deliver to our customers automation machinery that is designed and built faster, and much more efficiently, without adding staff."

Dial engineers download 3-D CAD native files directly from the Misumi USA website to their production drawings created with Autodesk® Inventor®, saving valuable time and reducing the possibility of errors. Plus, each custom component is defined with a unique part number for ordering, streamlining the entire process.

The Misumi website's file library supports virtually all CAD formats, according to marketing manager Ron Dziuda, including AutoCAD, Mechanical Desktop, Smart Sketch, Solid Edge, Inventor, Pro/ENGINEER, Catia, IntelliCAD, and TurboCAD.

"Our customers have told us that the CAD files accelerate their time to market by reducing the design cycle," said Dziuda. "The native format means that our downloaded drawings are as configurable as if they were created in the target CAD software package."

"We're just real glad they are around," notes Dial's Thornton, on working with Misumi.