Standing the Test of Time
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By Brian Salgado   
Monday, 30 April 2007
smc Known for its products’ simplicity and reliability, Inject-O-Meter still has pumps in service that were made almost three decades ago.
Known for its products’ simplicity and reliability, Inject-O-Meter still has pumps in service that were made almost three decades ago.
Known for its products’ simplicity and reliability, Inject-O-Meter Manufacturing Co. Inc. still has pumps in service that were made almost 30 years ago, according to General Manager Robert Thorn. “What end-users love about our pumps is that they are easy to work on and maintain,” Thorn adds. “They will last forever with just a little bit of maintenance.”

Inject-O-Meter was founded in 1965 by David Nikirk, Thorn’s grandfather, to sell pumps for “fertigation,” which is the process of injecting water-soluble fertilizers and chemicals into irrigation systems for the agriculture industry. The pumps were made by Jaeco Fluid Systems.

In 1969, Inject-O-Meter started designing and manufacturing its own pumps under its brand name. “We realized to be successful we need to start manufacturing our own pump,” Thorn says. “We didn’t have a machining background, so we learned through the school of hard knocks by doing it the hard way. We would buy a machine here and there, learn how to use it and go from there. We realized our success would be determined by the quality of the pumps we sold. So by manufacturing our own pump that enabled us to control the quality, design, and cost of the pumps.”

Today, Inject-O-Meter sells 12 different models of injection pumps that range in price from $1,500 to $7,000. The end-users are primarily farmers, but the company also sells to golf course superintendents through a global network of distributors.

Inject-O-Meter has its headquarters and an 80,000-square-foot facility in Clovis, N.M., and an additional 15,000-square-foot manufacturing site in Van Buren, Ark. The company is still family owned and operated, with David Nikirk as president and Chris Nikirk, Thorn’s uncle, as vice president.

Market Changes
Thorn says he sees more demand for larger-volume pumps that put out more fertilizer faster. In response to this trend, Inject-O-Meter developed the IOM 96 10- to 100-gallon-per-hour pump four years ago, and in just more than a year it has become the company’s No.1-selling product.

“Everything we do is customer-driven, and they keep wanting pumps that would inject higher volumes,” Thorn says. “One of our competitors had a pump that would do the volumes [customers] were asking for, so we felt it was necessary to meet that demand. Plus, we knew we could make a much better pump than what was being offered at the that time.”

Getting Lean
In the past three to four years, Thorn has implemented a lean manufacturing program that he developed by researching the Internet and various trade magazines. He says the first area he targeted was the manufacturing facility, where he removed anything that was not required to be there. “This really helps in identifying tools and parts that you need when you need them,” Thorn says.

The next step for Inject-O-Meter was reorganizing the shop floor for better throughput, reducing the amount of time it takes to go from one machine to the next. “This reduced production times and set-ups by 30 percent,” Thorn adds. “We’ve just applied this to the manufacturing process. Next, we’re likely to apply this companywide for sales, accounting and the rest of our administrative functions.”

Making the Pumps
Most of Inject-O-Meter’s pumps are made of 316-grade stainless steel, which starts in the form of round or hexagonal bars. The steel is sent to a computer numerically controlled (CNC) lathe, where most of the machining takes place. The company outsources its gearboxes and electric motors to Baldor Electric Co., which has been its motor supplier since the mid-1970s.

“Our product line hasn’t changed very much since we started,” Thorn says. “We’ve grown the product line to offer a wider range of pumps in varying volumes. But the basic design and principle is the same for all of the pumps.”

For inventory, Thorn says Inject-O-Meter uses a combination of the batch manufacturing and just-in-time (JIT) methods. During slower sales periods, the company uses JIT. But during its peak sales season, which Thorn says typically runs from March through July, Inject-O-Meter returns to batch.

“We have to be able to ship any orders we receive the same day or we will lose the order,” Thorn says. “We have to have quite a bit of inventory on-hand to meet the customer demands.”
 
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