Case Study

For Douglas Farrish, machining is in his blood. The owner and operator of Grey Rose Manufacturing is a third-generation machinist who in 2019 moved from Long Island, New York, to Montgomery, Texas, to open his own shop dedicated to aerospace parts manufacturing. But his aerospace journey began long before that.

Farrish gained his appreciation for the industry while growing up on Long Island. With a grandfather who worked for the space program in Bethpage, New York—home of the Lunar Module Eagle that brought Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon’s surface—and a father who spent years at shops that produced work for giants like Northrup Grumman, Sikorsky and others, it was not long until Doug continued the family legacy.

After 17 years at his previous employer, Farrish went out on his own. He took his years of professional practice to his Long Island garage before making the move to Texas to establish a foothold in the local market.

“Doing this for yourself is a roller coaster of emotions,” said Farrish over a Zoom call with Methods. “I have some periods where I’m like—this is all falling apart. And other periods where I feel okay that things are working out. I was lucky I could take a few customers from New York with me, who I still work with it today, as I got familiar with the products and work in this area.”

Farrish manning his Methods MB650U

As a younger machinist navigating the shifting labor sands under the industry’s feet, Farrish was ready fill gaps wherever and whenever needed. He received work from OEMs and larger suppliers who no longer had talent on hand to produce parts—though dated since their first development— remain in high demand.

“When it comes to aerospace, we’ve got a constant retiring workforce of people who are familiar with this type of work. For a lot of designs, it could be nothing more than a drawing of a part that was designed a long time ago that just follows aircrafts of today,” he said. “But today, there’s a gap in qualified labor to this work, combined with or companies who’ve closed up or been consolidated.”

“So that was part of my inspiration to get larger equipment,” Farrish continued. “I needed to start using the right tools for the jobs that I started to get. A lot of jobs from aerospace had bigger and bigger parts that I couldn’t make for them. So I needed a bigger machine and it’s been a win-win since then.

That machine? The Methods MB650U—a full, 5-axis, 40-taper machining center with a Ø 650mm table and the rigidity to cut workpieces up to 300 kg (661 lbs.). Despite already possessing two smaller machines on his floor, Farrish realized upsizing his platforms would help him expand his capabilities to the market’s needs.

“I took into consideration a lot of past experiences, knowing that aerospace is moving toward more tough materials and larger pieces, like large Inconcel pieces, I had to bump it up to a 40-taper or Big Plus. I was also mindful of my budget, so I wasn’t trapping myself.”

“I looked at so many 5-axis platforms. Everyone kind of has like the same travels, similar envelopes and things like that. But there was a couple of things that really stood out to me about the MB650U. First, the table was a little more oversized, which I like it was also they offset the travel of the machine.

“And I want as much travel as I can get for my dollar. I feel the MB650U is, for the dollar, the best travel on the envelope. I think it’s the best you can buy at that level of investment. And when it comes to accuracy, I haven’t yet had one problem. It’s hit everything I needed,” Farrish explained.

With the machine, Farrish tackles jobs on aluminum, steel alloys, stainless steel, titanium, Inconel, and beyond. In addition to cutting, Farrish puts the MB650U to work knowing he has local support behind him if and when he needs it.

“You need to buy something from someone who just gets the job done,” he said. “So I’m happy that there’s a company like Methods here in Texas. I know they’re good”