“Listen to this”. Consequently, that was the phrase spoken by Dale Lott of Aurisonics when presenting his new headset idea to Marshall Manufacturing;
Lott explained to Marshall that his proprietary headset needed work. “We need to bend metal tubing, very small diameters, very tight tolerances, the tensile strength must be perfect and the bend specific– then, feed wire through the bent tubing just right, this has to be spot-on to work”,
commented Lott.
Such a feat would pose great challenges for a vast majority of custom precision manufacturers, but since bending metal wire and tubing is a specialty at Marshall, Lott knew he had come to the right place.
After all, Lott had heard how Marshall took similar situations and presented solutions within days of testing and prototyping for many others. He had read about Marshall’s special definitions surrounding their “Value Engineering”, especially within the med device market where tolerances are extremely tight and relationships to other pieces of a part are more than consequential. This takes tenacity, a strong will to do the right thing, all while believing in one company’s ability to out-perform the others simply by virtue of their acquired skill-sets and proven capabilities.'”We have gone to great lengths, talked to many companies, but nobody seems to understand what is really necessary”, commented Lott. “The tube-bend has to be specific and you have to run a very thin wire through, it should be easy, right?” he asked, pensively. “Why can’t anyone get this done for me”?
Enter Mike Hedtke, Marshall’s Head of Engineering with his team of “manufacturing scientists”. After looking at the project, uncovering the myriad of aspects the part must accomplish and understanding the real objectives for optimum quality in sound, performance and durability, Hedtke and his team had the answer. “We used a specific material, bending the metal a critical way and in a certain succession, this would give full capability to run a wire through a specific diametric open tube; creating new tooling and adjusting software applications, whatever it takes, we’ll get it done”.
After several sound attempts to bend the wire tubing and feed the smaller wire through the tiny opening, Hedtke had a working prototype, along with a proprietary procedure, tested and proven–ready to present to Lott. It was a perfect bend, the length fit right, the tensile strength was superb, the opening allowed the inside wire to do what it was intended to do, and Lott became another Marshall believer. Mind you, while Lott waited in the comfort of Marshall’s Customer Conference Area, the Marshall team created his answer within 8 hours.
Now the two companies are in production and soon Aurisonic’s new headset will be on the market ready to wow its users.
Unmatched perseverance, understanding the desired functionality and always employing the Marshall principles behind their “Value Engineering” strategies, the formula for greater success came through once again.
Try Marshall Manufacturing on for yourself, notice a different kind of quality.
Working with Marshall, you’ll soon want to do more than simply
“listen to this…”