UDI is on the way!

FOBA Laser Marker – UDI is on the way!

The FDA’s UDI directive will be fully implemented in 2016. To meet those demands, Lowell has invested in a FOBA M3000-P laser workstation. The FOBA is a 5-axes marker outfitted with a patented Intelligent Mark Positioning (IMP) high-speed camera system that “automatically detects work pieces and their positions and aligns the marking or engraving accordingly, ensuring precision and repeatability.” Be sure to work with Lowell engineers to ensure your devices will meet the UDI directive.

Lowell Adds Edward Jaeck as New VP of Operations

Lowell, Inc. is pleased to announce that Edward Jaeck, has joined the company as their new Vice President of Operations. Edward comes to Lowell with extensive experience in Operations, Quality, Supplier Development and GD&T.  He will oversee the Operations and Quality functions at Lowell.  His experience includes leadership positions at Intel and most recently Medtronic where he was a Quality Core Team Member and Principal Design Assurance Engineer. 

Edward holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and Masters degrees in Industrial Engineering from Arizona State University and Engineering Management from the University of Colorado. In addition, he is a Six Sigma Black Belt and a Senior Certified Professional to the ASME GD&T standard.

“I am excited to join the team of industry experts here at Lowell.  I’m looking forward to leveraging my experience from Medtronic in validation and data-based decision making to drive customer satisfaction.  Lowell’s skill sets in Metrology, Automation and Machining are truly best in class.”

Rick Cullen, Senior Vice President at Lowell commented that “Edward’s extensive experience at Medtronic and Intel continues the impactful additions to the leadership group.  His background in managing successful teams, process capability measurement, SPC tools and GD&T are just what Lowell needs to support our growth.”

Edward Jaeck

Lowell Heading to NASS

See us at NASS – Booth #1310

We’ll be attending NASS in Chicago, IL next month.  Please stop in to say hello and to check out our new and improved booth.  We’ll be showing our latest capabilities video there and we’ll have a limited supply of our 50^th anniversary coffee mugs on hand.  Be sure to bring your development ideas - Lenny Schaust our Medical Manufacturing Engineer and Jurell Baker our Swiss lead will be at the show to answer any and all questions.

Lowell, Inc. Appoints New Quality Assurance/CI Leader

We are pleased to announce that Udaya Joshi MS, MBA, CSSBB has joined the company as our new Quality Assurance/CI Leader. Udaya comes to us with extensive experience in Quality, Project Management, Compliance and Regulations including leadership experience at companies such as Actuant, Donaldson and TE Connectivity.  In addition, Udaya is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, PMP, CQE and CQM. 

“I’m really looking forward to the continuous improvement of our QMS, GMPs, COQ, and automation of the business processes.  Initially I’ll focus on our CAPA, Validation Plans, IQOQPQ, PPAP, APQPCP and SPC tools.  We need to move at a fast pace to support our customer’s growing need for Quality partnerships across the entire supply chain.” 

Rick Cullen, Senior Vice President said “Udaya’s extensive experience leading Quality departments at larger companies make him a key addition to our industry leading team.  We are excited to leverage his background as we continue our rapid growth.”

Udaya Joshi

Lowell Adds More Capacity

Lowell is adding to our multi-tasking machining capabilities with a second Nakamura-Tome WT-100.  The two Nakamuras are relieving bottlenecks in our Swiss and Mill/Turn departments.  The new “Nak”, as we call them, is configured identically to our first WT-100 we took delivery on this spring.  We’ve already seen the results in more capacity and throughput from the first machine.  We are looking forward to more efficiency with the second.

Lowell adds another Tsugami S206!

We are adding another Tsugami S206 to our Swiss department!  The 6 axis S206 has 12,000 RPM main and sub-spindles and 8,000 RPM live tooling that enables our operators to machine with both spindles simultaneously.  A Fanuc 32i-A CNC controller, 35 tool capacity, bar feeder and chip conveyer round out the package.  Lowell has invested over half a million dollars in the last 30 days for the Tsugami S206 and the Nakamura WT-100.  We are committed to increasing our turning equipment to shorten lead times and boost capacity.

Chill Out!

In addition to extra capacity, new manufacturing equipment generates lots of extra heat.  So our latest equipment purchase this year goes on the roof!  On a bluebird day in Minnesota our HVAC contractor is installing a new 20 ton Lennox Strategos rooftop unit.  According to the folks from Lennox, the Strategos is the most energy efficient rooftop unit in the industry.  What's important to Lowell is that the added HVAC capacity helps maintain a constant temperature on our manufacturing floor and that's critical to machining conforming parts.