1. 10 • August/September 2014 • www.metalworkingcanada.com
T
his spring, J/E Bearing &
Machine celebrated its 30th
anniversary – an auspicious
occasion for a small family
shop in Tillsonburg, ON. I spoke
with company vice-president
Chuck Hendricks about what he
feels sets them apart.
“A lot has changed in that time,”
he says. “There have been a lot
of buzzwords as well – value add
and that kind of stuff. But it really
comes down to customer service.At
the end of the day, you are bringing
some value proposition to the cus-
tomer, obviously, but it’s how you
deliver it that counts. A lot of our
business is based on relationships,
and there’s a trust factor involved
in both directions. How you look
after that customer is key – your
responsiveness, your willingness to
work together. I think it is what has
won us a lot of business.”
Marketing – a new
industry demand
J/E Bearing & Machine has about
45 people on its team. And while
Hendricks knows that business
still depends on relationship build-
ing, he has also come to under-
stand that the way we establish
initial relationships has changed.
For that reason, earlier this year
the company hired its first market-
ing manager, Phil Pasma.
“We used to have sales guys
knocking on doors looking for
business,” he explains. “But it’s
pretty clear to me that that is not
going to be the way to sell in the
future. Half of my customers don’t
even have a receptionist, so how do
I find the right guy to talk to? My
experience in the past has been to
go into a shop and get to know the
guy who has been in the mainte-
nance department for 40 years. It
used to be that you had to build
that relationship before you were
given an opportunity.
“Now, potential customers don’t
focus on that relationship so much
because they don’t have time,” he
continues. “Now, if they can go on
your website and get a clear under-
standing of what you do ahead
of time, you are likely to get that
opportunity first. You get and win
that, and then you build the rela-
tionship from there. At the end of
the day, it still takes relationship
building to grow the business, but
that initial opportunity comes to
you in a totally different way. It
comes from sitting in front of the
computer.”
Hendricks also notes that buy-
ers don’t always have the product
knowledge that their predecessors
did, so if they see a part on your
site that looks similar to the draw-
ing in front of them, they’ll likely
give you a shot.
“The whole philosophy is dif-
ferent,” says Hendricks. “All of our
customers and suppliers agreed
that this was the right move for us.”
Broad expertise,
specialized solutions
Part of the challenge for J/E
Bearing and Machine is the
breadth of what they do. One part
of the business is the distribution
of bearing and power transmis-
sion products, representing manu-
facturers like Timken and SKF.
The company also does a lot of
repair and overhaul work (R&O),
such as equipment rebuilds and
repair. Beyond that, they do gen-
eral machining, as well as produc-
tion-related and prototyping CNC
machining.
The value Hendricks sees in this
is the vertical integration in this
list of specialties. The shop’s R&O
work ties in nicely with both its dis-
tribution business and its conven-
tional machining expertise, which
is effective for one-off repairs and
rebuilds. The CNC is mostly used
for production-related work.
Having all of this knowledge
in-house has offered the J/E team
some interesting opportunities.
For instance, they now produce
aftermarket rugged ball joints and
idler arms for Humvees.
At a tradeshow in Indianapolis
a few years ago, Hendricks was
approached by a man who trains
military personnel in driving
Humvees, and the man himself
races Humvees in the Baja 1000.
“He said to us, ‘the OEM ball
joint doesn’t last.’ As he explained
it, in a 1,000-mile race, he’d
J/E Bearing & Machine
By Rob Colman
The J/E Bearing shop floor, including the company’s two newest machine acquisitions: a DMG
MORI DMC 55H duoBLOCK eco horizontal machining center (top right), and a Doosan Puma
TT2500SY CNC lathe (bottom right).
celebrates 30 years with new take on sales
MPP_August2014-toEPS.indd 10 2014-08-05 10:21 AM

2. www.metalworkingcanada.com • August/September 2014 • 11
replace that ball joint maybe four
times. And he said if we could
make a better ball joint, he could
likely sell it to the US military,”
says Hendricks. “Because of our
experience in the bearing busi-
ness, the integration with machin-
ing and how things should
work, we invented and patented
the ball joint that we currently
manufacture. Since we sent him
our samples, that gentleman has
run about 14 races with the same
set of ball joints.”
Although this part has primarily
been sold into military applica-
tions, Hendricks notes that other
companies have tested them and
they’ve passed with flying colours.
“Anytime you’re involved with
a maintenance department that
wants to improve up time, you’re
doing something similar – mak-
ing a better mousetrap,” says
Hendricks.
Learning from customers
J/E Bearing & Machine, like so
many other shops, had to make
themselves into a better mousetrap
as well since this last recession
– reinventing themselves, looking
for new markets and new busi-
ness. Where they’ve been particu-
larly successful of late is in mili-
tary applications. It was landing
business with General Dynamics
Land Systems – Canada that was
a particularly big win for the shop.
It was a hard nut to crack, but
the rewards have been worth the
struggle. Like all other customers,
it was a matter of understanding
how J/E could help them in their
market niche.
“General Dynamics needs sup-
pliers to come to the table with
solutions for them – better pro-
cesses, improved machining pro-
cesses, maybe better materials,”
Hendricks notes. “We’ve worked
in partnership with them when
necessary to re-engineer parts,
eliminate machining times, reduce
costs and, generally, make a better
part. And when we talk about cus-
tomer service – I don’t know how
many times I’ve thrown something
in the back of my truck and driven
it to London.”
At the same time, J/E has gained
tremendously internally by work-
ing with General Dynamics,
systemically and procedurally.
“Everything from material search
and certification to contract
reviews – all of these things that
we didn’t really put a lot of cre-
dence in before because it wasn’t
required with other clients. Our
other clients just wanted to get
their line up and running again.
But this relationship has really
helped us. Their quality people
have come in and given us recom-
mendations, helping us become a
better supplier. We’ve been ISO
for years now, but this has got us
rolling out some 5S, some Lean –
that kind of thing. And we’re roll-
ing out all of these changes to our
other customers as well, helping
us improve our profitability and
theirs.”
Updated milling and
turning systems
In the midst of all this business
growth, J/E has also had to begin
updating its CNC capabilities. One
of the most recent investments is a
new multi-axis turning centre. The
Doosan Puma TT2500SY CNC
lathe has twin spindles with twin
turrets, and live tooling allowing
manufacture of parts up to 15
inches in diameter and 34 inches
in length. Simultaneous machin-
ing on both spindles combined
with Y-Axis machining capability
provide lower costs, higher quality
and compressed lead times.
“It was a bit of a cart-before-
the-horse situation with this
machine,” explains Hendricks.
One of our after-market custom-
ers approached us about a particu-
lar part that they needed help on.
They weren’t getting good service
or quality from their existing sup-
plier. But at the time, we weren’t
equipped to handle it. But after
reviewing the part requirements,
we gave them a price for the part.
We said that if they gave us the
business, we’d buy the machine.
Now we’re running many parts on
that machine.”
J/E made another similar
investment recently, purchasing a
DMG MORI DMC 55H duoB-
LOCK eco Horizontal Machining
Center, which includes a 400 x
400 mm pallet, a pallet changer
and a Renishaw touch probe. As
Hendricks explains it, the pallets
have the capability to run four
sides, using an elaborate clamping
system. “We run two shifts with
the DMG, but we could easily
run it unmanned on a third shift
because the Renishaw will off-
set for toolwear automatically and
carry out intermittent measure-
ments as well,” he notes.
Hendricks is incredibly positive
about the future. “If there’s a chim-
ney and a door in a business,
chances are they need something
we do,” he says. Watch for more
from J/E Bearing & Machine on
their website, je-bearing.com. You
can also check out their YouTube
channel at bit.ly/1gYT9CD.
Left: J/E Bearing & Machine vice-president Chuck Hendricks.
Right: J/E’s new marketing co-ordinator, Phil Pasma.
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