New Tool & Die Machine

Deshler Tool & Die employees are the proud operators of two brand-new Haas machines. A Toolroom Mill and a Toolroom Lathe arrived in November.

The team manufactures much of the tooling used in the plant, including dies and drill and weld fixtures. The machines are expected to improve speed and accuracy.

“These will make everything more accurate. They will help with our jigs, and everything will go together much easier,” said Jade Meredith, group leader.

The new machines work with computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software, which was previously only available on Tool & Die’s wire EDM machine. They added a second, larger EDM in November as well.

​​The Toolroom Mill bears the letters “VF,” which stands for “very first.” Haas is the first company to manufacture mill machines in the United States, said Jon Henry, ReinCoat Plant Manager/Maintenance Equipment Manager. That fact and Haas’ excellent customer service led him to choose the company.

​The four Tool & Die employees have an average of 20 years of company experience. Bob Fayle, maintenance fabricator, and Meredith lead the pack with 31 and 29 years, respectively, and Trent Deepe, maintenance fabricator, follows close behind with 14. Although Kevin Lowery, maintenance fabricator, is the comparative newbie, he has special training in machine/tool technology. They now employ their collective expertise to learn the new machines.