Pedal to the Metal
Value-aligned partnership supports innovation and continuous improvement
Scaling a business from a garage to a 56,000-square-foot facility requires prioritizing the right things. For JcrOffroad, that has meant offering high-quality, American-made products to their customers. “We've been doing this for 22 years,” shares president Brian Meyers. “We started in my mom's garage and now it is scaled into a 56,000-foot new facility that we are building and getting ready to move to right now.”
To ensure their high quality standards are met, fabrication of all products is completed in house. “We do everything in house,” explains Meyers. “We start at the laser cut. We break press. We powder coat. We ship directly to our customers—whether that is in a shop or whether that's out on the trail and somebody's in the mountains in Colorado.”
Having reliable equipment that is able to perform is an equal priority. Previous experience with a CO2 laser that broke down consistently with little to no service support fueled the search for a new laser partner. “We started with a very no-name CO2 laser that broke down all the time. They promised that they have techs, but they don't really have techs,” continues Meyers. “So, when I started to look for a laser, I wanted to find one of the top companies that actually had a tech that they could send to my business today if I was having a problem.” This nonnegotiable led Meyers to Mazak.
Shifting Gears
From the first meeting with a Mazak sales representative, Meyers knew Mazak was the right company to partner with—especially when considering future growth. “From the very moment that the Mazak sales rep stopped into our business, I just knew that we had an instant connection, and this was going to be a company that was going to support me for my growth going forward,” recalls Meyers. “We had talked to other brands as well and quickly we realized that they weren't going to be the same partner that we saw Mazak being for us in the future.”
JcrOffroad’s first Mazak laser was installed in early 2019, an OPTIPLEX CHAMPION. The CHAMPION proved to be a workhorse, and the team was impressed by its reliability; however, they soon outgrew the machine’s capacity and implemented Mazak’s OPTIPLEX 3015 FIBER III 8kW. “Within 8 months of having the Champ, we had to call and say, ‘Hey, you got to come get this out of our building, not because it's broken, but because we need bigger.’ And that was when we stepped up to 8kW within a 10-month period,” reveals Meyers.
Revving Up
Construction of their new facility provided increased capacity and allowed for an upgrade to the latest equipment and technology. Leaders at JcrOffroad took that opportunity to invest in Mazak’s OPTIPLEX 3015 NEO 15kW flat sheet laser, SMART CELL robotic sorting system, and K-SERIES automated storage tower.
“Every single time I upgrade lasers, the technology increases. It gets faster. The cut quality gets better. The product becomes more refined. The interface becomes better,” notes Mayers. “Everything that [Mazak’s] doing, you can tell that they're putting a ton of time and effort into R&D to make a better product for us so that we can deliver value to our customers.” The 8kW laser will also be making the move to JcrOffroad’s new facility to maximize production capacity.
Full Throttle
As a business that practices continuous improvement, Meyers is always looking for ways to make JcrOffroad products easier to assemble; Mazak’s lasers have allowed production of tight tolerances to make fixturing and welding easier. “It's almost like a little bit of a jigsaw, but you can keep the tolerances so tight that when you clip those parts together, they're not falling out,” elaborates Meyers. “They're not loose. They're actually a tight press fit, and it makes it really easy for them to weld it and put it together.”
Meyers’ visit to Mazak Japan allowed him to see firsthand the value alignment between Mazak and JcrOffroad which is grounded in a mutual dedication to innovation and continuous improvement—with Mazak offering the latest in laser-cutting technology to keep their customers competitive and JcrOffroad upgrading to the latest technology to offer high quality products to their customers.
For Meyers, the choice to partner with Mazak has been rooted in innovative product offerings backed by reliable service support. “Mazak is my company of choice when it comes to laser and all the laser things that I need,” concludes Meyers. “Make sure that you put them at the top of your list, and you will get the support from the people that back an amazing product.”