Attracting Customers With Quality, Timely Deliveries

Dwayne and Nicole Epp, owners of Eppic Waterjet Inc. of Saanichton, B.C., have the ability to cut virtually any material with thicknesses up to 8 in., with no heat-affected zone and with minimal setup between jobs.

In many ways water helps define British Columbia, and it is extremely important to this province with more than 25,000 km of Pacific coastline.

Water also is important to Dwayne and Nicole Epp, owners of Eppic Waterjet Inc. of Saanichton, B.C.

In an era characterized by the closing of many manufacturing companies, Eppic is bucking the trend. The company opened its doors in May 2013 and hasn’t looked back.

“Our current business model is very simple,” explained Eppic owner Dwayne Epp. “The customer sends us drawings and material, and since we only cut out parts, we are able to focus solely on the delivery of those parts so that they meet or exceed the customer’s tolerances, on their timeline.”

Before opening Eppic in the Raven’s Landing Business Park of the Keating Industrial Park of Vancouver Island, Epp was part-owner and head of production and new-product development for his family-run manufacturing business in Saskatchewan for 25 years.

“When I was in charge of product development and production while manufacturing back in Saskatchewan, we had considered buying a waterjet before finally deciding on a laser. Since we were cutting only light-gauge steel, the laser proved to be a better fit for that application with its faster cutting speeds,” said Epp.

Today, however, Epp’s business is focused around waterjet cutting technology.

“For our new custom cutting business, we chose to purchase a waterjet because of its flexibility,” said Epp. “With the abrasive waterjet we have the ability to cut virtually any material with thicknesses up to 8 in., with no heat-affected zone and with minimal setup between jobs.”

Epp has experience in programming and operating many CNC machines, and he has an extensive knowledge of plasma, CO2 lasers, robotic welding equipment, and CNC press brakes. As the co-holder of nine patents, he also enjoys design and problem-solving.

When starting the new business, the Epps put considerable thought into the shop’s location. Part of the company’s mission is to always meet customers’ deadlines, so being near these customers was key.

The greater Victoria area is home to many manufacturers serving the aviation, marine, gate and sign, countertop, general fabricating, and trailer industries. The area also has contractors, architects, and boat builders -- businesses that often contract out some, if not all, of their production cutting.

Because of the lack of local cutting capacity, Epp found that much of this work was being contracted off of the island.

Even with competition—there are other waterjet companies in the area—the Epps were confident that the combination of their knowledge and new technology could help differentiate their shop from the others.

The shop’s location is also ideal for servicing customers located farther away. It is located only minutes from Victoria, Langford, and Sidney and has access to the Pat Bay Highway, Swartz Bay, and Victoria International Airport. With transportation, shipping, and fuel prices on the rise, the close proximity provides savings in money and time for both local and long-distance customers.

“After having been involved in manufacturing for the last 25 years, we know that the most important considerations for manufacturers who outsource today are part quality, short lead-times, and part cost,” said Epp.

Another key consideration for the location of the shop was the proximity to a qualified labor pool.

“In modern manufacturing, automation has reduced, but not eliminated, the need for labor,” said Epp. “Because the nature of our business is very technical, the problem isn’t so much in finding labor, it’s finding skilled labor. We chose this area because of its close proximity to the trade schools and universities here on the island.”

A Lean Start

As with most start-up companies, Eppic began life as a very lean operation, with only two employees. After steadily building its customer base over the first six months of operation, the company found that the additional workload dictated a change in how and when jobs were programmed.

“Up until now all of the programming has been done by the operator at the machine, and, depending on the complexity of the parts, we have been able to program future jobs while the waterjet was cutting,” said Epp. “With increased volume, however, we will have to rely on offline programming to remain on schedule.”

New Waterjet Cutting Technology

After considering many equipment options, the Epps decided that an abrasive waterjet – because of its versatility -- would be a good tool to build their business on. These machines can cut nearly every material, including mild and stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, composites, stone, glass, rubber, and foam, up to 8 in. thick.

To keep up with production, and to gently handle a variety of part materials and sizes, the company has installed a 4,000-lb. jib crane and vacuum sheet lifter.

“We are constantly getting requests to cut different materials, most recently graphite and Alupanel®,” said Epp. “Once people become more familiar with the benefits, we think they will design their products specifically for the waterjet.”

To produce its parts, Eppic uses a Mitsubishi waterjet with two taper-compensating heads and a KMT 125-HP, 90,000-PSI pump. This MWX4 abrasive waterjet is the workhorse of the 3,200-sq.-ft. shop.

To keep up with production, and to gently handle a variety of part materials and sizes, the company has installed a 4,000-lb. jib crane and vacuum sheet lifter.

“The material handling aspect of custom cutting often is overlooked, but it can be just as critical to turnaround times as a faster cutting speed,” said Epp. “Our speed advantage would be reduced if it took an hour to load each sheet onto the cutting table.”

The Epps have found that their waterjet cutting machine can cut thin materials quickly but also excels in cutting thicker materials. It cuts without creating a heat-affected zone (HAZ), so there are no metallurgical changes, material warpages, or discoloration of parts.

Water Recycling

Waterjet cutting has advantages beyond its flexibility. Some consider it to be one of the “greenest” cutting processes available—one that does not require the use of chemicals, gases, or noxious liquids.

“We are currently the only abrasivejet company on Vancouver Island that uses a water recycling system,” said Epp. “Our system is designed to drastically reduce our overall water consumption by filtering, cooling, and recycling the water—saving approximately 300,000 gallons of treated water per year.”

The system also prevents the discharge of dissolved solids into the community water supply, eliminating the risk of contaminating the water with hazardous materials.

Importance of Office Work

While often underestimated in most custom cutting shops just starting up, a company’s back-end office work can have a great impact on the bottom line. Since the company makes money only while the machine is operating, inefficient job scheduling and poor stock planning for parts and consumables, result in production backlogs, idle machines, or even complete shutdowns caused by unsolvable breakdowns.

“Even with our fast-cutting, dual-head machine, the jobs must come in consistently or the machine sits idle, which costs the company both time and money,” said Epp. “And, of course, it cannot be stressed enough to get prompt payment for service rendered. Whether the terms are due upon receipt or net 30 days, a failure to collect when anticipated causes a poor cash position, which will hamper new growth.”

In part, it’s that new growth that is exciting Epp about the future of his company.

“Before we even started operating we knew that we wanted to make parts, whether they were from metal, stone, rubber, or plastic. We wanted to be able to offer this service to those customers that had a need for custom cutting but not the equipment, from single orders to volume production,” said Epp. “Over the next five years we will add other complementary services such as part finishing, a laser, a brake, and custom welding, probably in that order.”