When Walker Forge’s five-year-old vertical high-speed milling machine broke down, the Northern Wisconsin shop called the machine’s builder for advice on who to contact about repairing the machine.
The OEM recommended Kentucky Rebuild Corp. (www.kyrebuild.com).
A new machine would have required as much as six months for delivery, and that was way too long for Walker Forge. The machine is needed for its impression die forging operations. Kentucky Rebuild rebuilt the machine to original OEM standards at 25 percent of the cost of a new machine and had it back to Walker Forge’s facility in seven weeks.
Kentucky Rebuild ground the machine’s ways and replaced or scraped all its turcite to ensure perpendicularity of the head ways. Then it tested the machine’s accuracy.
“The people at Kentucky Rebuild represented themselves with knowledgeable expertise and instilled confidence that they were the right company for the job,” said Rick Recktenwald, vice president and plant manager at Walker Forge.
In an age of specialists, Kentucky Rebuild distinguishes itself through its diversity of experience. The company intentionally seeks to recruit staff with specialized experience in various fields and among different brands to broaden the scope of its capabilities.
“We then cross train our staff for an even greater level of versatility,” Mark Pennington, national service manager for Kentucky Rebuild, said.
Because Kentucky Rebuild field technicians also are the engineers, they can handle large, complex electrical and mechanical repairs on-site. The company said this ability raises the quality of its work, while speeding response times and reducing costs for its customers.
In addition to rebuilding, the company retrofits and remanufactures machine tools and offers preventative maintenance and emergency repair services.
Its has high bays, heavy floors and 10-ton and 20-ton overhead cranes at its facility and is equipped to handle almost any size machine. The company also has machining, inspection, steam cleaning and painting capabilities.