We are proud to think that Schweda Machinery may have played even a small part in the dramatic growth of M & M Tool & Mold, Inc., in Green Bay. Started in a small (750 sq. ft.) rented space in 1994, M & M Tool has moved to larger quarters twice since, most recently to its own 7,500 sq. ft., new building in July 1997 in the Ashwaubenon Industrial Park. "The back wall is expandable, so we can build an addition," said Mike Richards, who owns the company with his partner Marty Ciriacks.

"It is unusual for a shop to experience such rapid growth in four years," remarked Bob Jurack, Schweda sales representative. "M & M has a reputation for on-time delivery and work that is done right the first time. Their work speaks for itself," he added. The shop builds plastic injection molds for the automotive, medical, consumer product, power hand tool, and electronics industries.

Throughout the company's existence, Schweda Machinery has been on hand to supply the right machine tools on a timely basis. In January, M & M purchased a Mitsubishi EX8 EDM, replacing an older, much slower machine. "This remedied our electrode bottleneck, but the backlog moved from EDM to electrodes," Marty said. Before the end of this year, a new Defiance DMC graphite machining center will arrive to replace a vertical machining center. It should eliminate, or make minimal, the wait for electrodes. "We are anticipating that we will have 6 to 8 times the electrode creation rate we had," Mike explained.

Today the shop has five toolmakers in addition to Mike and Marty. One of only two mold making shops in the metropolitan Green Bay area, M & M has no local employee pool from which to recruit. The closest source of apprentice tool and die makers is Moraine Park Technical College in West Bend, making it difficult to recruit graduates.

M & M has no shortage of customers, however, most of them in northwest Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. "E-mail and FTP transfer have been a stepping stone, allowing us to compete in the electronic marketplace," Marty said. "We have been consistently busy for four years, when others weren't," he added. The fourth quarter 1999 is the busiest the company has ever had, according to Marty.

Mike and Marty apprenticed together and worked for separate employers before becoming partners in M & M. Opening with a manual EDM, CNC mill and Grinder, M & M Tool has since purchased all its milling machines, grinders and lathes from Schweda. "We knew of Schweda's product lines and reputation for service when we worked in the Milwaukee area," Mike said.

Bob Jurack said that Schweda strives to become like a partner to its customers, learning their short-term needs and long term goals and matching these to the capabilities of the machines in their shops. "We also know the importance of fast service," Bob said, "We can provide really good service to them; we're only two hours away.

"All our work is pretty tight tolerance and on tight deadlines," Mike said. Schweda can react fast when a machine is needed quickly to complete a specific job. For example, Mike mentioned that when he and Marty were in dire need of a large size Chevalier grinder to finish a job several years ago, the machine was not on Schweda's floor. Nor was it immediately available from the manufacturer. Schweda president Scott Buth quickly located the correct model out-of-state and had it shipped to M & M in time to complete the job.