Despite all the talks of economic downturn heading into 2023, Innovative Machining stayed the course and 2023 proved to be an outstanding year for Innovative. 2023 brought new and exciting CNC machining opportunities to Innovative Machining and we can’t wait to share some of those opportunity once they come to fruition. As we begin 2024, we’d like to look back at some of our highlights throughout 2023.
January: New Horizontal CNC Machining Center now Operational
In late 2022, Innovative Machining received a new Mazak HCN-5000 horizontal machining center with Multi Pallet Pool, which became fully operation in January of 2023. The multi pallet pool is a carousel style pallet changer with an additional 4 pallets + a loading station. This new pallet system and center has greatly increased our autonomous CNC machining capabilities for high production projects and we can’t wait to machine more projects with this new addition in 2024. Specs for this new addition can be found here.

February: New Team Members | ATECH Visit | New Teams Page
In February, Innovative Machining welcomed two team new members to our machining department. Dustin and Mike have been great additions to the team since and we are happy to have them both here. Innovative also had the opportunity to host students from Appleton West High School as part of their ATECH program which aims to provide more education in realms of science, math, engineering and more. The student received a full tour of our operations and were shown various aspects of machining, welding, and CNC programming. Innovative also launched a new teams page to our website in the month of February. Click the link here to meet the team at Innovative!



March: CNC Machining Process Improvement & Sample Gallery Launch
March brought about a month of process improvement as our machinists utilized the new Mazak HCN-5000 with MPP to drastically improve a high volume project for one of our customers. With the additional pallets, our machinists were able to create new tombstones and fixtures along with stored offsets within the controller so production and setup could be ran simultaneously while producing 6 variants of parts. March also saw the welcome new addition of our sample gallery!

April: Manufacturing In Focus
Innovative Machining had the opportunity to be featured in the April edition of Manufacturing in Focus, a North American magazine that highlights all things manufacturing. The article covers our capabilities, growth, and challenges and we couldn’t be more excited to share our story. Click here to read the full length article!

May: Maintaining Climate Control | FVTC Visit | Manufacturing Today
At Innovative Machining, we take pride in our manufacturing space being climate controlled in order to provide the best quality possible. In May, we received replacement AC units for our climate control system so we can maintain our standard of quality throughout our work. We also had the opportunity to host students within Machine Tool and other programs at Fox Valley Technical College. The students learned about Innovative and the day to day aspects of various types of CNC machining and fabrication. Shoutout to Fox Valley Technical College for giving us the opportunity to share our work with the younger generation coming in the the manufacturing workforce. One of our welders within our Fabrication department was selected to be highlighted in the Spring edition of Manufacturing Today WI. The manufacturing newspaper article covered Jack’s welding journey from high school to present day.



June: CNC Machining Apprenticeship Graduation
In June, Innovative Machining celebrated the graduation of 2 of our employees from the Machine Tool Program at Fox Valley Technical College. Congrats to Devon and Luke on their accomplishments.


July: New Welding Apprentice
Over the summer, Innovative Machining welcomed Will Huebner to our fabrication department. Will worked with us throughout the summer as a welding apprentice and plans to head into welding as a career once he graduates high school. Thanks for all of your hard work and help, Will!



August: Press Shipment
August brought about the end of a long term project at Innovative Machining. For almost over a year, Innovative had been working on restore this press for the paper industry, back to its former self. Most of the components were refurbished/remanufactured in house followed by the assembly of the press itself.



September: New Vertical CNC Machining Center | Mazak VTC-805G
After months of anticipation, Innovative Machining received its new Mazak VTC-805G in the month of September! The 805G is a 50 taper, vertical CNC machining center, equipped with Mazatrol SmoothG, a 10,000 RPM spindle, and a large range of travel. We couldn’t be happier with is new machining addition and we can’t wait to see what kind of chips we make with it in 2024. For specs on the 805G, please visit the link here.



October: Discover Mazak
Following the delivery of our new Mazak 805G, our President, Marc Jankowski, along with our Operations Manager, Marty Thompson, had the opportunity to visit the Mazak facility during their Discover Mazak event. The two day machining event covered Mazak’s manufacturing operations along with machining center capabilities.



November: New CNC Machining Team Member
This past November, Innovative Machining welcomed Brendon Bauman to our team as a CNC Machinist. Brendon currently assists with machining efforts within our CNC Lathe department. Thanks for all that do, Brendon.

December: New Weld Gas Lines & Shop Lights
Throughout the month of December, Innovative Machining installed new weld gas lines along with new shop lights throughout our fabrication & assembly departments. The new gas lines help to greatly reduce tank change over time and the new shop lights provided increased visibility throughout the departments.





Final Thoughts
2023 was another year of change for Innovative Machining. With that change came new opportunities and avenues and we can’t wait to share these upcoming opportunities with you all once they come to fruition. To our incredible crew, thank you for all the hard work and dedication throughout 2023. We wouldn’t be here without our team. To our vendors, suppliers, and customers, thank you for the partnerships and the support that have helped us to make 2023 a year to remember. We look forward to working with you all throughout 2024!