Scaling from Job Shop to Production with Gear HQ
From job shop to production house, without leaving the floor.
Gear Headquarters is a specialty gear manufacturer known for custom gear machining and quick-turn breakdown and repair services. Historically, higher-volume OEM production runs were outsourced because the shop's legacy equipment couldn't hit the cycle times or consistency those jobs demanded. To modernize their gear cutting capability, accelerate emergency repairs, and bring OEM work in-house, they partnered with Helios Gear Products and installed the Hera 750 CNC gear hobbing machine.
Scaling your productivity with exceptional quality.
8 hours down to 44 minutes. 14 hours down to 45 minutes.
The Hera 750's rigidity, speed, and dialog programming gave Gear Headquarters the platform to produce OEM parts in-house with repeatable results, tighter process control, and stronger margins. A recurring three-blank stack that previously required about eight hours now runs in roughly 44 minutes. A 14-hour part involving multiple cuts and a hob change is down to about 45 minutes.
Finishes that once required a separate grinding operation now come off the hobber looking nearly ground-like in a single pass. Ramp-up was fast, with a new machinist able to run production independently within days of installation.
Consistent results, even between long gaps in jobs.
Operators at Gear Headquarters report excellent repeatability even when returning to a job after an extended break, a critical advantage for a shop that runs a wide variety of parts on irregular schedules. Onboard deburring reduces manual touch time and keeps the workflow moving.
Hands-on support from Helios applications engineers throughout the process, including a pre-acceptance run-off in Korea before the machine shipped, helped the team hit the ground running from day one. As machinist Brad Stueve put it, jobs that took three days on the older machines now take about six hours, the finishes look almost ground-like, and the repeatability is insane.
