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ARUP Laboratories Adds Romi Machine To It's Portfolio Of Manufacturing Technology Tools

​ARUP Laboratories is a national clinical and anatomic pathology reference laboratory and a worldwide leader in innovative laboratory research and development. A nonprofit enterprise of the University of Utah, ARUP offers an extensive test menu of highly complex and unique medical tests. The lab is one of the largest medical reference laboratories in the world. “Some 30,000 to 35,000 tests and test combinations flow through ARUP on a daily basis, all connected to a patient somewhere in the country— often test results that will inform physicians to immediately begin life-saving treatments ranging from cancer patients, those with rare diseases, to newborns,” points out Peta Owens-Liston, an ARUP Public Relations Specialist. ​ARUP Laboratories is featured in the A2Z Manufacturing magazine because their life-saving efforts are supported by new and innovative manufacturing technologies. When Engineer Chris Semrow joined ARUP several years ago, his priority program was to automate ARUP’s laboratory environment. Chris says, “Our automation project was introduced 7 years ago, and it took 5 years from conception to completion.” ​ Today, ARUP automates sorting, labeling, capping and decapping of test tubes of every type. Prior to automation, all of these tedious tasks were done manually. Chris’ team was chartered with the buildout to make the automation possible. “After we did the design work in house, we relied upon machine and fabrication shops throughout Utah and Colorado to make the parts,” says Chris. He adds, “It took weeks or longer for us to get the completed parts. Naturally, we weren’t a high priority for our suppliers, since the parts we needed were relatively small in quantity.” |

Chris and his team made the decision to open a machine shop in-house, one whose sole purpose was to machine and fabricate needed parts for ARUP. The new machine shop would require a very experienced machinist, since the first machine shop hire would have to run the machine shop by himself. Chris knew of Dan Valdez through a colleague at a previous job, and so he approached Dan to head up the new machine shop.
​Dan says, “I came from a machine shop that was highly advanced in its utilization of state of the art machine tools. At the time I interviewed at ARUP, there was one manual mill in a closet.” During the interview, Dan saw the vision of the team at ARUP and knew he could build a superior machine shop that would help ARUP to build the parts they needed for automation. “At ARUP, we have a culture of innovation and this culture motivates and rewards innovation in its employees,” explains Dan. “Another reason I’m committed to my job is the awareness that my work ultimately helps patients. What we design and build here is to make peoples’ lives better and healthier.” He points to some test tubes chugging through the machine: “Each one of these represent a person and their families who are waiting answers from ARUP.”

“I have been a machinist for many years, almost all in aerospace and defense. I was so excited to work for a company in the medical industry,” says Dan. “At ARUP, we help make peoples’ lives better.” He added that other key factors in his decision to hire on with the company and to still be working for ARUP nearly 5 years later included excellent benefits and an environment that fosters innovation. “We have been awarded ‘The Best Companies to Work For’ in Utah; we even have an onsite day care center and a gym to work out in,” adds Dan.
As Dan began the task of upgrading the machine shop, he first upgraded the manual mills the company had acquired, equipping them with CNC controls. “We were sending out a substantial amount of turning work, and so our next machine shop upgrade was going to be turning machine so we could bring this in house.”
Dan contacted a number of machine tool dealers in the Salt Lake City area. “That was in 2013, and one of the first people I spoke to was Clark Smith, owner of Smith Machinery Co. Inc,” says Dan, adding that Clark was outstanding in his follow-up and his product knowledge.

| In the end, Dan chose the Romi machine tool, and he purchased it from Smith Machinery. “The Romi came highly recommended from one of my previous colleagues,” says Chris. ​The ROMI C 420 CNC Lathe that the company purchased offers great versatility for machining different types of parts, with great power levels, speed movement and machining precision. Dan says, “I looked at a number of machines, and the Romi was the best decision for a few key reasons: 1) We didn’t need a production capable machine tool with accessories we wouldn’t use. We do R&D prototypes (quantities of 1-10) and other small quantity machining. The Romi fit this requirement. 2) We did require a machine that could make high precision parts. The Romi afforded us the ability to machine parts with tight tolerances, particularly the custom lab threads that were needed. Chris says, “These threads are custom– you can’t just buy them off the shelf.” 3) We needed a machine that was intuitive and easy to program. Dan had some previous experience with a Romi machine tool and he knew that it would be relatively easy to learn. 4) Support was key. Dan says, “We had some really good onsite training when we first purchased the Romi machine, and since then, we can call Smith Machinery or Romi at any time. We have sent snapshots of the controls and they are able to help us quickly and professionally.”

​The Romi has proven to be a superior cost savings device for ARUP. Dan says, “We used to have maintenance contracts for our machines and for the equipment in our automation line. Today, we take worn-out components, we reverse engineer them, and then we redesign them so that they last longer and work better than we would get from our builders.” Typical machine parts that ARUP’s machine shop makes on their Romi include: screws, shafts, knobs, trays, spacers, and pipette holders, to name a few. ​Today, ARUP not only has a machine shop that is dedicated to supporting ARUP internally, but they also opened a fabrication/precision sheet metal shop with three full time machinist. Chris says, “We fabricate and weld steel frames and other products that go into the automation center.” |

Chris says that on large projects, the ARUP machine shop has to bid on a job, much like they were an outside contractor. “The contracts require software, integration, and labor. We have won contracts against 3rd party bids based upon our pricing, but also, we can additionally always provide much better turnaround times, since we know the products and we are doing it all in-house.” ​
Dan provides an example of how the ARUP machine shop can support the company’s automation. “ARUP has many centrifuge machines that spin at very high rpm used for testing samples, but on a particular centrifuge the company they purchased this machine from did not make spare parts for it anymore. The main shaft failed and the knob holding it in broke spinning at 14,000 rpm,
so the machine could no longer run. The machine shop reverse engineered the shaft and knob and machined the precision shaft and knob with the Romi lathe and the centrifuge is in use today, helping lab techs making peoples’ lives better.”
Today, ARUP is still outsourcing specific machining processes that they don’t do in-house today. Dan says, “Once it becomes more cost effective to bring it in-house, we do.” The company’s next machine is a Mitsubishi EDM machine. Dan says, “I looked at other EDM machines out on the market, and the Mitsubishi is the best one out there.” Clark says, “The new Mitsubishi MD+PROIII has made some substantial improvements over previous generation WEDM machines. It is faster and more responsive in the cut, it reduces wire consumption by 40% over older designs, and it reduces power consumption up to 55%. In essence, the new Mitsubishi MD+PROIII greatly increases the performance and dramatically lowers the operating costs over earlier generation WEDM machines.”

​Chris says that the company estimates that the internal machine shop and automation team has saved the company in excess of $1 million dollars to date, largely driven by manufacturing parts in house and eliminating all maintenance contracts.
And while the Romi is not designed as a production run machine tool, Dan says that it has produced parts on 2 jobs that were production runs (>1000 pieces). “While it is not as fast as production specific machine tools, it did a superior job and kept our close tolerances needed. The Romi has been a great machine tool for us.”
ARUP continues to grow and innovate. If you are a superior machinist with programming experience, with the following characteristics: you thrive in a creative and innovative environment, you value great employee benefits, you want to be a part of a team at a great place to work, there may be an opportunity for you. If you see a current job opening that fits your qualifications, contact the Recruiting Specialist at (801) 583-2787, ext. 2813.
To learn more about the Romi machine and about Smith Machinery Co. Inc.’s fine line of machine tools, contact them at
​801-263-6403 or visit smithmachinetools.com

## ARUP’s Culture Rooted In Early History

Internal innovation is encouraged by supervisors and rewarded by the company’s leadership with recognition and monetarily. The culture, which keeps a lot of the employees here and attracts new ones, stems partly from the philosophy of ARUP’s founders including Dr. Carl Kjeldsberg, MD, one of the company’s early leaders and a very interesting man in his own right. Dr. Kjeldsberg, who grew up in Norway, recalls as a boy tagging along with his dad throughout his workday. His father ran a well-established family business going back generations.
He recalls his father telling him that they had a meeting with the janitor the next morning. “What’s the big deal about meeting with a janitor?” replied the boy. He promptly replied: “Look at the floors, are they clean?” Young Kjeldsberg nodded. “Are the rooms nice and warm?” Another nod. "Well the janitor got up at 4 am to come in here to make it this way. The janitor is just as important as me in this company; we are all on the same team,” his father emphasized. Adding, “Take care of the employees and the employees will take care of the business.” This philosophy was integrated into Dr. Kjeldsberg’s leadership at ARUP when he was the CEO and carries forward today within the culture of the company.

## Article courtesy of A2Z Metalworker

41 West Guest Avenue
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
Phone: 801-263-6403
Fax: 801-263-6404
Email: smc@smithmachinetools.com

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