Mid-States Supply Increases Productivity through QTE

Mid-States Supply Co.’s KC Valve Modification Facility Is Using Technology To Improve Operation

Mid-States Supply Co.’s Valve Modification Facility in Kansas City, Missouri, is using technology to dramatically improve its operation. The 52-year-old firm provides pipes, valves and fittings (ranging in size from ½” to 42” in diameter) to customers across the country from its 33 locations. Industries such as oil, gas and food are served.

Above: Mid-States Supply’s Cameron Fulton with a testing unit.

The 120,000-sq.-ft. Kansas City plant modifies the pipes or valves with fittings, hangers, extensions and grease fittings as needed for each customer, or any other custom attribute needed. Services offered at the facility include design, machining, welding, fabrication, full custom modification and testing. The plant had recently hired a technical director, Cameron Fulton, ME, to upgrade and improve its operation. He has taken the firm from “paper & pencil” designs and plans to full-blown computerized CAD/CAM designs, programs and documentation with Solidworks and Mastercam for Solidworks. “Cameron has really improved our quality and efficiency,” stated Owen Cudney, plant manager and 30-year veteran. “With this software, we can turn around custom projects for our customers in a few days. We can provide drawings ahead of time for approval. He has also designed and programmed some of our own custom equipment and tooling for use in our plant. We now have QR codes to track our work.”

Above: Valve inventory on hand at Mid-States Supply’s KC facility.

Fulton, a nine-year industry veteran, with experience ranging from machine design to data acquisition, was already familiar with
Solidworks. He brought in QTE Manufacturing Solutions to provide a turn-key solution including Mastercam for Solidworks. QTE’s Reece Gibson provided individual training to Fulton to get him up to speed on the design software. Fulton has designed  numerous fixtures and pieces of testing equipment used in the plant’s daily operations. “The QTE crew really knows what they are doing,” commented Fulton. “I can’t wait for Mastercam X7 to come out.”

Above: Some of the machining equipment at Mid-State
Supply’s KC Valve Modification Facility. Services
performed include design, machining, welding, fabrication,
full custom modification and testing.

Mid-States Supply can be contacted at www.midcoonline.com. (Article originally published in Mid-America Commerce & Industry – May 2013)