Peter Bagwell explains how to use Polygon’s rotary broach technology

Rotary Broach expert and Product Engineer Peter Bagwell has been chosen to speak at Expo Manufactura 2015 in Monterrey, Mexico. Mr. Bagwell represents Polygon Solutions Inc., a Fort Myers, FL, USA manufacturer of rotary broach tools and tool holders. Polygon Solutions was founded in 2010.

The Expo Manufactura is a manufacturing trade show which also hosts an extensive technical conference. The educational program will emphasize current issues and global manufacturing trends. International experts present innovative solutions which have been proven successful in manufacturing and share good practices in search of efficiency.

The U.S. Commercial Service adds the Global Insight Market Program (GMIP) to the event. The GMIP is an opportunity for U. S. companies that are either new to the Mexican market or in search of distributors to share their technology and product solutions. Polygon’s innovative rotary broach tool holder can help these companies to manufacture complex forms in orthopedic devices, aerospace fasteners and automotive components.

Polygon, a member of the Southwest Regional Manufacturers Association, has benefitted from a Florida program which helps business with export marketing plans. The company was assigned an International Trade Consultant from the Florida SBDC at Florida Gulf Coast University. Along with promoting their products, the program helped earn them the Technical Presentation at Expo Manufactura 2015, and will be the first time the company shares their rotary broaching presentation with an international audience.

Rotary broaching is a unique process used to make polygon, hexalobular, serration and spline forms in precision machined products. Polygon’s innovative tool is very easy to install, and the company’s inch and metric versions of the tool work on virtually any lathe, mill, or CNC turning machine in the world. The ease of use appeals to newer and experienced machinists, and is valuable for replacing more complicated units designed in the 1950’s.

Florida’s close location to Mexico makes the growing manufacturing industry there an ideal target for Polygon’s international expansion. Polygon is planning to travel to other countries next year, and plans to continue partnering with the Florida SBDC and U.S. Commercial Service. Located across the United States and in U.S. Embassies and Consulates in over 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service’s global network of trade professionals helps U.S. businesses succeed in markets around the world.

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Polygon Solutions Inc. 2015 International Trade Show Schedule

Please visit our booth to learn more about rotary broach tools and broaching tool holders:

Expo Manufactura – Booth #1145
Monterrey, NL
Mexico
February 3-5, 2015
Feb. 4th – Global Insight Market Program presentation at 12:10pm
www.expomanufactura.com.mx

Design 2 Part Contract Manufacturing Show Booth #503
Grapevine, TX (Dallas)
USA
February 25-26, 2015
www.d2p.com

Made in SWFL Show
Fort Myers, FL
USA
March 25th, 2015
www.madeinswfl.com

Precision Machining Technology Show – Booth #1322
Columbus, OH
USA
April 21-23, 2015
www.pmts.com

Westec (produced by SME) – Booth #1455
Los Angeles, CA
USA
September 15-17, 2015
www.westeconline.com

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“We’ve been looking at the data and believe that focusing some of our attention on our neighboring international markets will create a significant source of revenue for us in the future,” says Peter Bagwell, a Product Engineer at Polygon Solutions Inc. “Some of our first customers were from outside the U.S., and we’ve been watching the reshoring efforts and simultaneous skills shortages in the U.S. and think there’s going to be an opportunity for us there.” Much of the data Bagwell refers to came about by assistance from the State of Florida and the U.S. Commercial Service.

“When we joined the Southwest Regional Manufacturers Association in 2012, we were looking for help finding local resources and suppliers,” says Bagwell. “Ironically, at one of the meetings, Max Stewart, a Regional Manager for Enterprise Florida, explained a program that they were using to help small business with exporting, and it really caught our attention. With the exception of our website, most of our efforts were focused on U.S. business.” Polygon entered the program and was assigned to an International Trade Consultant from the FSBDC at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Overcoming language barriers, international logistics issues and how to do marketing in other countries were all aspects of the Enterprise Florida FSBDC plan. “We were excited to work with Polygon Solutions on their Export Marketing Plan,” says Kevin Brady, an FSBDC International Trade Consultant at Florida Gulf Coast University. “We are also pleased that they are following through on the plan and will likely have a very beneficial trip to Mexico.”

Polygon plans to participate in at least 5 or 6 other events this year, but this is the first time the company will travel outside of the United States. If successful, Polygon is planning to travel to other countries next year. The company’s innovative inch and metric rotary broach tools can be used on virtually any lathe, mill, or CNC turning machine in the world.

Last year, Polygon Solutions had a booth in the first ever ‘Made In SWFL’ show at Harborside Event Center in Fort Myers, Florida. Later, Polygon hosted their first booth at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago, Illinois. “It’s been big jump in venues for us in the last year, to go from our local manufacturing show, to the national show, and now on to our first international show,” says Bagwell. “But, our motto is ‘Shaping the Broaching Industry’ and I guess it’s a good sign that we’re doing just that.”

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Polygon Solutions Inc. manufactures rotary broach tools used for making hexagon shaped holes in bone screws and other precision machined products. Rotary broaching requires two components, a broach holder and a rotary broach. The company’s latest product is an ‘all in one’ kit, improving productivity by featuring the holder and broaches needed to machine the most popular sizes.

Rotary broaching itself is a very old technique, originally patented one hundred years ago using a dedicated machine to make one hexagon or square hole at a time. During the 1950’s, rotary broach tools were adapted to fit screw machines, which were now making thousands of parts at a time. Polygons’ innovative broach holder, released in 2010, has modern features that make it more suitable for today’s highly flexible computer controlled (CNC) turning machines.

Polygon’s GT Series rotary broach holder uses the standard rotary broach sizes made popular since the screw machine era. The two sizes include .500” diameter by 1.75” length broaches, or 8mm diameter by 1.25” length broaches. Polygon is releasing two different kits to suit the preferences of customers who want to be able to continue to use the older style broaches.

The broach holder is not the only product with advanced technology. Each of the rotary broaches also includes pressure relief holes to allow fluid or air trapped in blind holes to escape through the center of the broach and out the side of the broach holder. Cutting fluids such as oil or coolant are often used when rotary broaching to improve surface finish and lubricity.

The rotary broach kit will include the holder, a case, instructions and multiple broaches to make the most common sizes specified for Allen wrenches or hex keys. Many customers have requested a discounted kit to save the time required to order all of the needed broaches one by one. The kit improves productivity and helps avoid the frustration of upgrading the broaching system with two or three broaches, only to have to pay for shipping again to get just one or two more sizes that were needed later.

Grease is not required for the rotary broach kit because the GT Series broach holder features sealed bearings, eliminating the need for messy grease guns in the work station. Supplementary spanner wrenches and tools for alignment are not required due to the time saving adjustment free features of the holder. The easy to use plug-and-play features are ideal for all machinists new to the rotary broaching technique.

Polygon’s rotary broach system kit is suitable for lathes, mills and CNC turning machines and works with many early versions of broaching tools. The kit includes broaches made from M-2 high speed steel, which is suitable for machining aluminum, brass and mild steel. Machining stainless steel or tough alloys may require broaches upgraded to different materials.

Fast delivery and online ordering make upgrading rotary broach tools easy. Price discounts for ordering multiple broaches together and a handy case to keep the tools organized also save time and money. To learn more, please visit http://www.polygonsolutions.com.

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U.S. manufacturers are responsible for the majority of research and development in the nation, and drive more innovation than any other sector. Polygon Solution is only four years old, but has won the nationally recognized ML100 award for Innovative Enterprise and regional awards for Market Problem Solving and Technology Transformation. Polygon also continues to release new rotary broaching products every year, increasing in size and employees.

In fact, the need for skilled workers is what brought the two entities together. Despite the fact that manufacturers in the United States are some of the most productive in the world, with greater worker productivity than any other major manufacturing economy; sobering statistics about the need for skilled workers are beginning to impact small businesses like Polygon. Three years ago, they decided to join the grassroots effort designed to attract new workers to the industry called Manufacturing Day.

The National Association of Manufacturers is a co-producer of the Manufacturing Day event. NAM represents 11,000 companies, and is the nation’s largest industrial trade association, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing Day is designed to open the doors of manufacturing facilities to students and the public, and help them to see the opportunity they have to join a more modern manufacturing experience than in years past.

Polygon Solutions has participated in Manufacturing Day every year since it began. It has partnered with a local Lee County High School in Southwest Florida to bring students into their facility for a manufacturing presentation and tour. Attendance for the event has nearly doubled every year.

The joint effort is helping other businesses too. Neighboring Paver Motorcycles decided to join Polygons’ tour this year. After learning about innovative rotary broach tools, students were directed next door to learn how custom motorcycles are made. Most students admitted afterwards that although they hadn’t considered a career in manufacturing, they were more likely to after the tour.

Polygon credits much of its success to the relationships they’ve developed with various manufacturing associations. Other affiliations include the Precision Machined Products Association (PMPA), the Southwest Regional Manufacturer’s Association (SRMA) and the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA). The broach manufacturer is now expecting to make further gains in exporting, tax issues and workforce development with the help of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

Links:

Polygon Solutions Inc.

National Association of Manufacturers

Precision Machined Products Association

Southwest Regional Manufacturers Association

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In October 2014, Polygon Solutions and neighbor Paver Motorcycles hosted a special Manufacturing Day event for students of Lee Virtual School. Manufacturing Day is a growing grassroots effort by North American manufacturers to introduce students to the new and exciting jobs available in manufacturing. Lee Virtual School hosts an online curriculum for Lee County students that enable them to work from home but still benefit from the many services available locally through the county.

The Manufacturing Day event included a manufacturing presentation, tour of the broach factory and custom motorcycle shop, and finally a manufacturing and engineering design contest. During the contest, the students were encouraged to use what they had just learned about manufacturing, and apply it the problem. This is the second year Polygon Solutions has hosted the competition, and the third year they have participated in Manufacturing Day.

“There’s a tremendous amount of support for manufacturers right now,” says Peter Bagwell, a product engineer at Polygon Solutions. “We usually think of Southwest Florida for its tourism, but there are many manufacturers here. In fact, the State of Florida is one of the biggest supporters of the national Manufacturing Day event. Our local Southwest Regional Manufacturers Association and innovative members like Paver Motorcycles are really interested in helping students see that they can get good, high tech jobs without leaving the region.”

Polygon sponsors gift certificates as prizes for the contest, and most students were given unique pens during the event, which had hidden USB sticks loaded with manufacturing videos and other content. “When I was younger and involved with engineering and drafting contests in school, it really made me think a lot about my career,” says Bagwell. “The Lee Virtual School is an incredibly innovative venture and I’m really hoping that by working together we can bring some of the same inspiration to local students.”

Polygon Solutions Inc. is also a contest winner this past year. The innovative broach manufacturer won the first annual Manufacturing Day Video Contest sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers, and plans to share the rights to an ‘American Made Movie’ it won at the ‘Made In SWFL’ trade show March 25th, 2015 at Harborside event center. Polygon credits partnership with various trade organizations for helping it to reach the national spotlight and draw attention to manufacturing.

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One of the greatest challenges to the growing manufacturing industry in the United States is finding a skilled workforce. The public’s general perception of the stability and future of manufacturing is a significant barrier. Polygon hopes to continue its efforts to show young people the variety of exciting jobs available in manufacturing and what they need to do to get them.

Polygon Solutions is a small manufacturing business in the Alico Road corridor in South Fort Myers. Polygon’s innovative rotary broach tools are used in CNC machines to make different polygon shaped holes in orthopedic devices and aerospace components. The company was started in 2010 and continues to grow in sales and employees. Only a half-dozen of the nation’s 1,300-plus events will be in Southwest Florida.

“This area is not really thought of for manufacturing,” says Peter Bagwell, a product engineer at Polygon. “However, we see many of the empty buildings in this area filling in with small or niche manufacturing businesses, and that’s one reason why we feel it’s important to help local students understand there are real options open to them in manufacturing. If you like to make stuff and you’re good at math, there’s really not a better time than now to consider a career in manufacturing.”

Polygon’s plant tour is limited to students of Lee Virtual School and members of the Southwest Regional Manufacturer’s Association (SRMA). This year, Polygon has also included neighbor Paver Motorcycles, a new SRMA member company, as part of the tour. The event promises to highlight STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education as the core needed for manufacturing skills.

“I hope that when the kids see a handful of guys like us, who started dreaming about making high tech gadgets or custom motorcycle parts or inventing something totally new, and then did it, that they will feel inspired to pursue something like this themselves,” says Bagwell. “I’m really fortunate that my father and others did that for me, and maybe this is something we can do as a company to pass that desire on to the next generation.” Polygon displayed their tools to 114,000 attendees at the International Manufacturing and Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago this month which also hosted a Student Summit to promote STEM education.

Although the Manufacturing Day event will hold less than 100 people, the company feels this event will be very exciting. The first year Polygon participated they made a custom broach with the help of a dozen students. The second year they demonstrated a prototype ‘Made In USA’ marking tool to two dozen students and held an engineering contest. The prototype tool was released at the IMTS show this year.

This year, Polygon hopes to double its attendance again, and draw in students with a video presentation, engineering contest, Paver Motorcycle custom motorcycle display and interactive plant tour. Other SRMA members including S4J Manufacturing of Cape Coral and Storm Smart of Fort Myers are also hosting events. Lee County, the City of Cape Coral, Bonita Springs and the Governor’s office have all officially declared Friday, October 3rd Manufacturing Day.

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Learn more at http://www.mfgday.com

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Polygon Solution Inc.’s new ‘Made in USA’ broach is a rotary broach with multiple text letters allowing machinists to stamp or mark their part in a lathe or milling machine without removing the part from the machine. Polygon’s rotary broaching system is usually used for making hexagon or square holes in precision machined products. The new ‘Made in USA’ broach will have its official debut at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS), September 8-13, 2014 in Chicago, IL.

Polygon Solutions first introduced an innovative and award winning adjustment free Rotary Broach Tool Holder in 2010, ideal for CNC machines because of maintenance free sealed bearings and a new pressure relief system. The company later announced a series of letter broaches in 2012. The broaches have letters or numbers and are inserted into Polygon’s broach holder to mark parts. The different identifying marks improve quality to distinguish between mixed lots of parts made in the same machines.

The ‘Made in USA’ broach was first tested during Polygon’s annual National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Manufacturing Day tour in 2013. Lee Virtual School students in Fort Myers, FL were taught about product development and how the new rotary broach ‘wobbles’ or displaces material to create the text. Polygon showcases new products to students in hopes of promoting the desire for STEM education in a new generation of engineers and machinists.

“Made in America is one of the strongest selling points we have, even for our U.S. Customers,” says Matt Chambers of Marine Concepts in Cape Coral, FL. “The quality of the overseas product has been from the start an inferior product, and as the cost of quality is more than ever being taken into account, not only are we sought after for quality but our total cost for our customer is less.” Marine Concepts and Polygon Solutions Inc. actively work together as members of the Florida’s Southwest Regional Manufacturing Association.

Polygon’s new broach is not limited to the ‘Made in USA’ mark. The company sells its tools worldwide and is also developing the system to mark logos, slogans and symbols. “We’ve had a few challenges to get it to work perfectly,” says Peter Bagwell, Product Engineer at Polygon. “But we keep working with our customers and our partners to get it right. Customers re-shoring their parts want to show they are now made in the United States.”

Partners include the Precision Machined Product Association and National Tooling & Machining Association. Bagwell adds “We’ve learned from our customers that our rotary broach holder is very easy to set up in the machine and very easy to use for making small hexagon and square holes. We hope the new ‘Made in USA’ broach helps them achieve an even higher level of satisfaction in both their parts and ours.”

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Polygon’s advancements with rotary broach technology have continued with a new Micro size rotary broach holder for machining small shapes using Swiss type CNC machines and lathes. The innovative design of the tool holders includes sealed bearings for easy maintenance and pressure relief holes for smoother machining operations. However, the main interest of this year’s tour was the broaches used for machining Titanium fasteners and bone screws.

Learning about Rotary Broach Tools and Titanium Bone Screws at Polygon Solutions

Polygon has been making the cutters out of high speed steel, a very hard substrate that resists wear and chipping. The company currently offers M-2, M-42, PM M-4 and PM T-15 varieties for machining different materials. Peter Bagwell, a Product Engineer for the company, was asked about which materials are used for broaching bone screws, and explained how the choice of substrate material depends on the method of broaching. Bagwell also talked about a new rotary broach material the company is researching.

The demand for rotary broach tools is growing as more exotic materials are being used to make innovative aerospace and medical device fasteners. Polygon is working with bone screw manufacturers to help them choose the right method of broaching in addition to the selecting the right tools. Polygon specializes in standard hexalobular (or Torx-type) rotary broaches in addition to custom shapes and sizes. The six-lobe ISO standard hexalobular form is currently the most popular.

Polygon Solutions has hosted an open house with the SRMA for two years in a row. “We value the partnership with our local customers and suppliers and are happy to bring them in and show them what we’re offering,” says Bagwell. We also maintain healthy relationships with other organizations like the Precision Machined Products Association (PMPA) and the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA). The company believes participation in each of these networks is key to remaining the leader in rotary broach technology.

Polygon is a newer member to the SRMA, which boasts a wide variety of manufacturing business. “Many people move here and move their businesses her due to the great lifestyle Southwest Florida has to offer,” says Bagwell. “However, the exposure to the growing number of innovative medical and aerospace companies is really making it an attractive place for all manufacturers.”

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