ESPRIT® Customer Success: Metri-Tech Engineering, Inc.

Metri-Tech Engineering, Inc., in Huntington Beach, CA, isn’t your typical job shop ? that much is evident from the company’s shop filled with automated production equipment, including a wall-mounted Live Scheduler, which resembles a six-foot tall iPad. Hans Gratzer, Jr., COO / CTO of Metri-Tech and son of company founders Hans Sr. and Katharina Gratzer, developed the scheduling program to help his 38 employees better visualize what is going on in the shop at any given time and plan for their next jobs. It’s part of the company’s forward-thinking approach to automation. ?Most job scheduling systems are number-driven. But people like pictures,? Gratzer says. ?With this system, what you see is what you get ? kind of like ESPRIT.? Metri-Tech has used ESPRIT almost since the CAM software’s inception ? Gratzer estimates they first installed it in 1987. ?My dad bought the software, and he was very happy with it because we were mainly in the fitting business at that time; he liked that it could program families of parts very well ? because they’re similar geometries, they can be adjusted very easily with ESPRIT. It was a huge time savings." But just as crucial to Metri-Tech were ESPRIT’s accurate, full-color simulations ? the first in the industry. ?That allowed us to give more visibility to our programming and reduce mistakes in our setup the first time around. Most of our machinists do both the setup and the machine operation, they know what they’re doing. Now they do not have to worry during the setup process and first piece run; they know the program will be right due to the precise nature of ESPRIT simulation, setup sheets and posts.? Thirty years later, ESPRIT keeps Metri-Tech at the top of its game, thanks to its ease of use and quick support. The company uses the software for full 5-axis, contour composite milling, swarf milling and multi-axis multi-spindle turning. ?ESPRIT is very progressive in the 5-axis and multi-axis realms,? Gratzer notes. ?ESPRIT is just easier, faster, stronger and more accurate than other CAM programs we have tested or demoed over the years.? Metri-Tech’s performance has been strong since its inception in 1978, but shortly after Gratzer came to work for the company in 1998, and with his vision for technology, automation and reinvestment, they have experienced significant growth. Forecasts show it may double its business within short order and ?I give credit to our passion for this industry, striving for automation and all the products we use, including ESPRIT,? Gratzer says. ?I feel our next 40 years are going to be stronger than the last 40.?