United Gear & Machine Company, Inc

The Background

Please, fill us in on the history of United Gear & Machine:

United Gear & Machine is a third-generation family business that was founded as Windsor Locks Machine Company in 1949 by Victor Malec. We moved to our current location in 1954 and have contained to expand our business from this location. Currently run by Kurt Malec, who took over from his father William, the company has grown significantly in the last decade with yearly capital investments in machinery upgrades, building updates and an entirely new CNC only building that came online in 2020. There are also plans for another 16,000 square foot mixed use building on site to be complete by 2023, which will add 13,000 more square feet of manufacturing space.

From a capacity standpoint, the company has transitioned from being run entirely on manual machinery, to being a predominantly CNC based shop. This has greatly increased the variety and complexity of work that UGM can take on, as well as the efficiency with which they can complete it. To keep up with this, their inspection department has grown significantly with two new members in the last year alone, as well as the addition of a new Kapp Nikes 9x Gear Analyzer that allows charting of much larger parts.

The result of these two changes is closed loop manufacturing, where UGM can now take results directly from a gear analyzer and use that data to drive corrections and refinements on the CNC program for every piece.

Looking ahead, United Gear and Machine’s next build out will be an engineering department. This team will create internal processes for all machine complete builds, resulting in greater accuracy, efficiency and record keeping, as well as assist customers with their design to manufacture needs.

United Gear & Machine specializes in precision gear and spline cutting for the aerospace industry, including military and space exploration customers. UGM’s capabilities include gear shaping (both manual and CNC driven), broaching, hobbing and gear grinding for high precision work on hardened materials. Primarily a job shop, we work typically in lot sizes from 1-50, but are capable of handling larger productions runs as needed. Gear shaping and splining is a very niche procedure, and UGM’s history and experience with this process is invaluable to their customer base. Whether it is directing the conversation on manufacturability or coming up with solutions for understanding acceptance criteria, UGM is able to draw upon its years of experience and wealth of knowledge to help get job’s done right. They excel at handling complex jobs, whether that comes in the form of a unique set up, an extra coarse spline pitch, or a non-standard pressure angle. UGM’s network of resources provides fast, reliable services such as custom tooling and product finishing. Additionally, United Gear and Machine helps customers with their design for manufacture needs. Once again relying upon their expertise, UGM helps to ensure customer drawings are created reasonably and properly the first time, to avoid the struggle of dealing with an impossible design once a part is already in WIP.

Aerospace – Commercial, Military and Space Exploration.

UGM has a great fusion of a youthful, experimental, and aggressive management team combined with veteran department leads with 20+ years of experience in gear cutting, machining, and inspection. Our shop foreman has been working with gears and splines his entire adult life and has that intangible connection to his work that all great craftsmen do. Our machining and inspection leads, with 25 and 35 years of experience respectively, have seen almost all there is to see in the gear and spline world, and they are helpful resources for everyone from operators to quoting.

In the last year, United Gear & Machine has replaced two manual Pratt & Whitney Gear Grinders with a KNG 3P Ready CNC Gear Grinder that has great increased our capacity and efficiency on gear grinding. This is especially helpful on parts with ultra-precise quality requirements as well as hardened material. This followed a new Kapp Niles 9x Gear Analyzer that allows us to chart parts with up to a 1m OD. Most recently, UGM has added a NIDEC GD30 Hob: a CNC based hob that is great for large shafts as it can run parts with a 500mm OD and 740mm height. On the machining side of the shop, we added two Trak Lathes, which have greatly increased our capacity and turnaround time on machine complete orders.

United Gear & Machine received a 1st Place Family Business Award from the Hartford Business Journal in 2014. Additionally, UGM’s Quality Manager, Christopher Musco, and Production Manager, John Jackopsic, received Emerging Leads Awards from the NTMA in 2021.

United Gear & Machine does offer reverse engineering on gears, splines and some basic made complete products. Additionally, they help customers with their design needs as it pertains to splines, ensuring that drawings are accurate, manufacturable, and clear.

Christopher Musco leads United Gear and Machine’s Quality Department, bringing nearly a decade of manufacturing experience while still being able to communicate across mediums and offer new solutions. Over the last three years, he has led a rebuild of the company’s Quality Manual and Processes, which has led to stricter controls and checks across all functions of the business.

UGM is AS 9100 Approved and ISO 9001 and QS Certified. Additionally, UGM can meet SPC requirements if quoted appropriately.

UGM accommodates a wide variety of projects for our customers, including everything from single pieces to larger production runs into multi hundreds. We also lend our expertise to customers in the R&D phase of their product development, helping them DFM spline and part geometry that is intelligent, functional, and manufacturable.

United Gear & Machine looks to be as green as possible across all areas of its business. We recycle all excess chips and other waste products and installed high efficiency heating and cooling systems in its new building that came online in 2020. Additionally, all lighting has been converted to LED. In 2022, UGM plans to install an Electric Vehicle Charging Station for its employees.

That we are a shop large enough to accommodate your technical needs, but small enough to adapt to customer’s timeliness requests.

1087 East Street S
Suffield, CT 06078
Phone: 860-623-6618

Sales@unitedgearct.com
www.unitedgearct.com