Industrial Strength: A Machine Shop That Doesn't Machine Much Of Anything
Behind the walls of Hopping Brook Park in Holliston
Machine shops are nothing new to industrial parks. In fact, nearly every park I research can claim at least one machine shop. But Hopping Brook Park in Holliston is a little bit different.
The Agie Charmilles Group, a Swiss company, certainly has machining equipment in part of the 30,000-square-foot building it shares with Remp/Tecan at 150 Hopping Brook Road. But the company doesn't actually manufacture anything.
The company's Holliston facility is its northeast demo center for the machine tools it manufactures in Switzerland. Among those machines is an electrical discharge machine, or EDM, that can cut anything that conducts electricity, no matter how hard.
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The machine is aimed at the tool and die, mold-making, aerospace and medical industries. It doesn't "cut" steel in the traditional sense, but uses electricity to burn through it.
As a result, the company's machines can cut hardened steel. In the past, steel could be milled in its soft state and heat treated to harden. But once hardened, steel could no longer be machined.
Agie Charmilles' machines can produce components large and small for applications as varied as turbines for aerospace manufacturers to dental bridges that snap into a patient's jaw bone.
But the Hopping Brook facility isn't just a showroom for the company's Swiss-made equipment. The nine employees there train and help the people who buy and use Agie Charmilles equipment. On one recent day, five students were at the facility training on the EDM machines.
The company also provides service training for the folks responsible for the upkeep of Agie Charmilles equipment, and provides phone support for companies that use the equipment to manufacture any number of products.
The Holliston site is one of four the company has in the United States. The others are in California, North Carolina and outside Chicago. In Holliston, Agie Charmilles arrived as a result of several mergers, involving what began at Hopping Brook as Bostomatic. That company became Micron Bostomatic and eventually Agie Charmilles.
The longstanding park is currently home to 18 varied businesses, including:
The corporate headquarters of Griffin Electric Co., which began in the 1970s as a five-man operation, and is now a commercial electric contracting powerhouse with 900 employees in four states.
Remp/Tecan, which is also a Swiss company, develops and manufactures storage systems, software and other devices for sample logistics in research laboratories at pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology companies.
Goldwell of New England, a distributor of salon products.
Ward Process Inc., a manufacturer of foamed plastic insulation and cushioning products.
Commercial printer Starburst Printing & Graphics.
Rypos Inc., a developer and manufacturer of a self-cleaning diesel exhaust filter.
Themeli Builder Inc., a general contractor.
Web Converting, a flexible materials manufacturer.
Murray Paving, a paving contractor.
Bay State Engineering, an excavation and site work contractor.
America Lewa Inc., a supplier of metering pumps.
New England Water Works Association, a nonprofit organization focused on protecting drinking water.
WA Wilde, a direct marketing firm.
Technology In Medicine, a health care engineering and asset management firm.
Walchem-Terracon Corp., a maker of plastic containers.
American Durafilm, a distributor and fabricator of Teflon and Kapton films and bags.
New England Professional Systems, a mailing house.
Fanuc-USA Corp., a mechanical contractor.
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