Reading firm helps manufacturers through reverse engineering

By Bill Dettloff
Business Journal Correspondent

When manufacturers need to get a spare or replacement part for their production equipment, many contact the original equipment manufacturer and order it through them.

While this practice assures the integrity of the part and perpetuates the business relationship between the companies, it affords the manufacturer ordering the equipment little opportunity to test the market for alternatives.  Because machine parts are so complex and intricate in design, the manufacturer essentially is at the mercy of the original supplier, whose prices may be higher than what local or regional companies might charge for comparable jobs. 

Speakman Drafting Inc., based in Reading, offers an alternative to relying on original parts manufacturers.  Using a process called reverse engineering, the firm replicates existing machine parts onto drawings using various software and computer technologies. 

The part is graphically replicated into a 3-D version from which precise drawings are created, including materials, hardness and finish.  The drawings then are sent electronically to a number of local machine shops for price quotes and job appropriateness analyses.  The price variance from shop to shop reflects the availability for considerable cost savings in the local market. 

Reverse engineering also replaces the need to have parts drafted and produced over and over again at significant cost to the ordering manufacturer.  The drawings SDI produces become the property of the client and, therefore, can be used repeatedly.  Between that and the contention between local machine shops, assets can become considerable. 

“Competition creates savings,” says SDI founder and president Cullen Speakman.  “SDI has been tracking savings for more than seven years and from more than 4,200 parts. The average savings now are more than two-thirds of the original manufacturer’s price.  This means that, on average, a part that costs $100 from the original manufacturer’s will cost less than $30 after we replicate it.” 

As an example of the potential for savings, Speakman cites a client who has gone from savings of $200,000 in 1992 to more than $1 million in 1999.  “This is because a client will pay only once for the reverse engineering.  The client then owns the drawing the next time a part has to be made.”

Speakman says reverse engineering is nothing new to the manufacturing business; many machine shops offer reverse engineering services.  However, SDI whose 20 active clients primarily are in the food and printing industries, is the only engineering firm in the region to use the Starrett Coordinate Measuring Machine as a precision tool specifically for  reverse engineering parts.  This device is especially important to the precise replication of a growing number of complex pieces. 

“With the accuracy of this machine our measurements will be almost identical to the original part, “ Speakman says. 

Jeff Mellinger, technical supervisor at RR Donnelly & Sons in Lancaster, says industry advancements and business challenges required that his company look to the outside fro reverse engineering help.  “We had an in-house set up before but the work was nothing like what we are dealing with now,” he says. “It’s very in-depth.” 

“We do a lot of first-time things with parts and with redesigning, and typically it’s harder with work like that to get it right the first time.  But SDI has redrawn parts for us and has done an excellent job. We have a strong relationship with SDI, and the savings have been significant.” 

In addition to the financial savings, Speakman says delivery times are markedly better than those produced by the original manufacturers.  Typical turnaround time is as little as two weeks for SDI once a part has been replicated. 

“The turnaround time is much better than when you use the original equipment manufacturer,” says Bob Siebert, storeroom supervisor and OEM spare parts procurement specialist at Hershey Foods.  “At Hershey there is a lot of foreign-made equipment so the turnaround time would be extensive--six, maybe longer for a spare part.  Plus, things would get held up in customs.  With SDI it usually is about two weeks from the time the drawings are done.  Plus, you have a contact person right there.” 

Siebert says Hershey showed a cost savings in excess of $750,000 a year and experienced very limited downtime.  “ Any time we had a breakdown, SDI would be right there,” he says. 

Reverse engineering represents one of several services offered by SDI, which currently employs one part-time and three full-time people; the company also performs mechanical drafting, machine design, field consulting, plotting services, contract machine-shop part inspection and rendering and plate cam reproduction services. 

The reverse-engineering end of the business, Speakman says, applies to any machine part that has a tendency to wear out and break: shafting, gears, cams, levers, arms and mounts.  SDI also can modify existing equipment to suit a client’s needs and can set up accounts in one of two ways: a full project for spare part replacement or time and materials on an as-needed basis. 

SDI also provides 24-hour, 7-days –a-week field assistance for established clients.  “Machines break down and need to be fixed at all times, not just 8a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.” Speakman says.

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