Great Partnerships Come in Threes

The best one just might include Okuma, Sandvik Coromant, and DSM Precision Manufacturing. 

No company can turn out winning lights and complex parts like DSM Precision Manufacturing.

An engineering heavyweight and Tier 1 contract manufacturing supplier for motorsports, and now aerospace and defense, DSM Precision Manufacturing makes every fraction of a second count on quarter-mile dragstrips and every tolerance tight on classified components. It’s an ongoing balance guided by their legacy as the winningest team in drag racing history and fueled by their relentless pursuit of pushing machining limits.

Lined with championship trophies, DSM Precision Manufacturing’s 155,000-square-foot facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, is a strategic setting for current production activities and strategies. It’s where DSM’s 60/40 business split of motorsports parts and aerospace and defense components, respectively, are prototyped and perfected to scale. Like dragsters from the starting line to the finish line, DSM Precision Manufacturing completes entire machining processes with pure accuracy and speed in one go, turning and milling raw stock into final assemblies in-house.

The space holds 26 Okuma machine tools out of an enviable 41-machine-tool lineup that includes the Okuma MCR-BIII double column machining center, two MU-6300V-L 5-axis machining centers, six GENOS M560-V vertical machining centers, and two GENOS M560V-5AX vertical machining centers, just to name a few. Additionally, thousands of inserts, grades, and other Sandvik Coromant tools exclusively fill the shelves, waiting to thread, mill, and drill.

The Journey From Racetracks to Air Strips

Everything about DSM Precision Manufacturing’s operations is done with the highest levels of quality, reliability, and consistency. With race cars getting faster, and the business’ fast-paced growth plans for entering aerospace and defense manufacturing, DSM needed to shift for a new speed of business, and that’s when they deepened relationships with Okuma and Sandvik Coromant.  

Chad Osier, President of DSM Precision Manufacturing, remembers the company’s addition of aerospace and defense production in 2021. “The expansion was a learning curve,” he says. “We wanted to leverage our core competencies from motorsports across other industries, but the tooling and machining processes are much different for an airtanker compared to a race car.”

DSM Precision Manufacturing needed new strategies, fast, to navigate the complexities and performance demands of aerospace and defense parts. Tool management and material properties were familiar considerations but not fully ironed out. Thermal stability of the cutting tools and machines became even more critical. Capacity planning and tight delivery schedules placed a greater emphasis on getting parts right the first time.

Stepping Up to the Challenge

Okuma and Sandvik Coromant stepped in at the right moment with rapid process support, hands-on help, and top-tier technologies.

When DSM Precision Manufacturing’s engineers were challenged with losing profile tolerances on chamfers for an early defense order, one call to Sandvik Coromant was all it took to find a solution. “We knew we had leading technology on the machine and tooling side, but our workholding wasn’t rigid enough for the steel we were cutting,” explains Osier. “Sandvik Coromant visited the facility within a day, evaluated our parts, and provided support based on the required speeds and feeds.” Changing the workholdings changed the trajectory of the project for the better, while the Okuma machine’s stability and accuracy kept tolerances ultra-tight and finishes ultra-smooth.

Always Fine-Tuning for the Win

Within recent months, Rusty Holzworth, the recently appointed general manager at DSM Precision Manufacturing, evaluated production levels on the Okuma MA-600HIII. It wasn’t long before he noticed a missed opportunity. Because the machine and tooling weren’t fully optimized, his team only turned out two large parts per day. So, he connected with Sandvik Coromant and Okuma and ultimately achieved better results within 24 hours.

“Working with Sandvik, we shifted to high-speed, high-feed strategies and the right tool selection to enable heavy depth-of-cut roughing,” Holzworth said. “That’s where the chips fly and cycle times fall.” And it’s how profits increase. Reprogramming the toolpath details only took a couple of hours on the Okuma OSP control and, Holzworth adds, “With the rigidity of this horizontal machining center, the right workholding, and a high-power spindle, this process became easy. We were cutting lightly before and cutting aggressively now.” The integrated outcome? His team more than doubled production rates, making five units per day.

There was no complete overhaul, no roadblocks, no delays in finding a clear path forward — just intentional resolution backed by the service and technologies of two leading companies.

“Okuma and Sandvik know what we need before we ask. It’s a great relationship between the three of us,” says Holzworth. “Our customer base understands Okuma equipment is elite and Sandvik tooling is top-notch. They know we’re making the most efficient part with machines and tools they can trust.” These are just two reasons why all 26 Okuma machine tools in their shop utilize a $150,000 (and growing) budget for Sandvik Coromant tools each year.

Microscopic, medium-sized, and larger-than-life components — DSM Precision Manufacturing’s strengths in part production have no ceilings and consolidate supply chains for every customer. Using Okuma’s MCR-BIII and Sandvik tooling, they are able to produce:

• an 800-pound nitro block forging into a 146-pound part
• an 11,000-horsepower engine block in 38 hours
• 100 confidential parts less than 0.100" in diameter to exact specs

Note that some of these parts are seen on SportsCenter each weekend. Some are 30,000+ feet in the sky. Some make modern life easier. All meet strict quality standards, including AS9100 and ITAR. 

The Okuma-Sandvik Coromant Partnership Is Track-Tested and Industry Approved

DSM Precision Manufacturing isn’t the first business to maximize existing processes or differentiate its capabilities from competition with the Okuma-Sandvik Coromant synergy. For years, Sandvik Coromant has been a member of Okuma’s Partners in Technology, a network of 45+ companies that creates integrated manufacturing solutions for the smallest job shops and the largest enterprise operations. The metal-cutting tool manufacturer was one of the first companies to join Partners in Technology. Ever since then, they’ve kept costs and waste down, efficiency up, and value chains in balance for Okuma customers — in motorsports, aerospace, defense, and beyond — who need advanced tooling.

“Okuma has given our industry a solution for a form of manufacturing where you’re able to expand capacity at an effective price. And Sandvik Coromant is an innovator. They’ve done a great job expanding their product line, broadening their capabilities, and reducing price points. It’s an advantage having both on our team,” Osier says. Neither can deliver peak performance alone, but together, the carefully engineered blend of capable machines, optimized tooling, and shared service values fuels endless manufacturing possibilities.

The Future is Bright for DSM

With an ecosystem of consistency, partnership, and operations driven by integrated technologies, DSM Precision Manufacturing has big plans for the future.

Soon, the contract manufacturer’s capacity will move from one shift to two, a transition enabled by business growth and tactical CNC automation investments. This development will help Chad Osier, Rusty Holzworth, and their experienced team take on work they haven’t seen before in new industries and launch full-rate production programs for upcoming defense projects. There are 6.5 acres of land near their 155,000-square-foot facility to expand operations when the time comes, not if.

They’re testing out a new end mill that features a drill with cross-balance frequency elimination; the continuity in Okuma’s proprietary OSP CNC control will make this new machining style easy for operators. They’re considering another Okuma MU-6300V-L for its simultaneous 5-axis machining, bridge-style construction, and unparalleled efficiency. They’re getting additional certifications and audits done to work with new customers who require specialized part-quality standards.

Opportunities for new endeavors, greater successes, and more trips to victory lane are ahead of schedule. Okuma is the engine, Sandvik Coromant is the horsepower, and DSM Precision Manufacturing is in total control.

With these partnerships engineered for victory, discover how DSM Precision Manufacturing already fires on all cylinders as an industry leader in modern machining, and where they’re headed next — if you can keep up with a company that’s used to going from zero to 334 mph in under four seconds.