Unist is Driven by Modularity; Positioned for Automation

The industrious team at Unist, Inc. (Grand Rapids, MI) continues to innovate and build upon its 66 years of experience and leadership in the design and manufacture of fluid application systems for the metalworking industry. Unist is also recognized as a leader in environmentally friendly fluid delivery systems. The family-owned company designs, assembles and ships its products from its headquarters in Grand Rapids to customers all over the world.

Unist’s product lines focus on machining and metal cutting lubrication, precision fluid dispensing, and metal forming lubrication. Modularity and customization are the key to Unist’s systems. While the company’s foundation focuses heavily on metal cutting operations, it is well positioned to tackle new and unique applications such as robotic milling, large automated work cells, wear point lubrication and O-ring assembly.

Unist’s solutions allow customers to seamlessly integrate them into the controls of machines.

Unist’s precise fluid delivery systems are built on the foundation of positive displacement pumps, said Chris Smrekar, a product specialist for Unist. Smrekar focuses on metal cutting operations such as drilling, tapping, sawing, milling, and CNC routers as well as the umbrella of precise fluid delivery systems. “Unist utilizes positive displacement pumps because they output the same amount of fluid, every time,” Smrekar said. “Our goal is precision and repeatability.”

All lubrication systems are built to order. “We evaluate the application and work with users to determine the best design for the operations performed,” Smrekar said.

Unist’s systems ensure continuous amounts of fluid are sprayed throughout the entire operation or sprayed intermittently, such as with tap or punch operations that only require a shot of fluid in between each cycle. Unist also has systems that offer a combination of both application methods.

Unist’s products can deliver fluid to a single point, such as lubricating a single saw blade, or delivering up to 30 plus outputs that would be required for lubricating tooling or other components in large manufacturing cells.

Smrekar pointed out that during the past three years, Unist has seen an increase in demand for partnered solutions. Our customers aren’t just looking for catalog solutions. They are looking to us to understand their application and configure the best system for them.

“Again, going back to the modularity and customization of our products allows us to design solutions that integrate seamlessly and perform flawlessly,” Smrekar noted.

This modular approach and the ability to seamlessly integrate with a manufacturer’s process is Unist’s specialty, Smrekar said. Think of putting together Legos, where Unist uses the components it stocks to work up a design to meet the needs of the customer’s application.

It is imperative to the Unist team that it consistently provides solutions that meet or exceed a customer’s expectations. “To continuously surpass our customers’ expectations we need to innovate, so over the last few years we have challenged ourselves to release new products every year,” Smrekar noted.

The Pulse-R™, a digital pump timer, is an example of one on those solutions. Based on customer feedback, Unist was able to determine where the new product’s predecessor was falling short. The company developed a digital timer where customers set and lock how often pumps will cycle when they are turned on. A digital readout provides exact performance vs. an analog dial’s ambiguity. The product adds electronic control to a Unist customer’s Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) system. MQL systems ensure a superior cut finish, improved tool life and eliminate messy, costly coolant.

Pulse R’s simple, two-button interface makes adjustments easy, and the display helps operators maintain accuracy and consistency between jobs.

For machine builders or OEMs, the Pulse R comes with the option to wire it directly to a PLC for a fully integrated experience, Smrekar said. The company aims to develop integrated lubrication packages for machine builders. “We want the machine and lubrication system to work closely together,” Smrekar added.

Another new solution from Unist is the 230 Micro Pump™ modular precision fluid delivery system. Designed with simplicity and modularity in mind, the result is a maintenance friendly system that offers consistent and reliable results. The modular design addresses a variety of customers’ needs and has the potential to offer literally thousands of potential system configurations.

The 230 in the 230 Micro Pump is engineering humor said Smrekar; selecting “Alt + 230” on a keyboard creates the symbol for micro, µ. Smrekar said Unist’s new positive displacement pump dispenses a fixed amount of fluid for each and every stroke. The pumps support machine builder and automation-related projects. “Automation with manufacturing is becoming such a popular step,” Smrekar said. “They could be a simple automation cell with only a point or two of lubrication. We have worked on projects recently where it could be 27, 30 or even 50 outputs of lubrication.”

Smrekar said the pump’s design provides a high level of control for machine builders. “Or maybe it’s a unique application where certain tools are driven off of pneumatics or certain tools are driven off of a 24-volt output,” he said. “This new design caters to those unique applications better than our older design.”

Key differences between the 230 Micro Pump and previous Unist products include: they are self-priming; features a quick disconnect on the coaxial tubing where it connects to the pump; features a manifold mounted design so that the pumps can be removed via two bolts for easy maintenance, as opposed to having to disassemble a whole stack of pumps to perform maintenance.

Customers Experience Cleaner Work Environments and Reduced Consumption

Unist, much like other manufacturing companies in the metalworking industry, develops products that assist end users in meeting their sustainability and environmental goals. It isn’t just government mandates; manufacturers are increasingly conscious of how their purchases might impact the environment.

For Priefert Manufacturing (Mt. Pleasant, TX), Unist’s systems not only assisted in overcoming machining challenges, the products also significantly cut the amount of fluid required to keep the company’s investment in new equipment running efficiently, thereby minimizing the waste of the lubrication fluid.

Priefert Manufacturing installed a new production line to drill 1,200+ 1.00” diameter holes/hour through 16-to-22-gauge steels. The production process kept running into bottlenecks because the motors kept stalling while drilling at 1,000 rpms. Priefert Manufacturing is one of the largest farm, ranch and rodeo equipment manufacturers in the world.

Unist designed a customer configured six output Serv-O-Spray™, which features MQL performance to deliver intermittent shots of fluid to each drill bit on the equipment. With the option to control each of the six outputs independently, Priefert Manufacturing provides a precise amount of Unist’s aerosolized Coolube® 2210XP directly to the drill bit currently in use; a natural lubricant specifically formulated for ferrous metals and features a blend of extreme pressure additives. The lubrication system allows operators to produce multiple product configurations with maximum control, flexibility and minimal waste.

By taking advantage of Minimum Quantity Lubrication, each of the outputs has been adjusted to apply less than 1/30th mL of Coolube 2210XP per hole. By drilling 1,200 holes per hour, on average, Priefert Manufacturing consumes approximately half a gallon (64 ounces) of Coolube per week. All the while maintaining a clean work environment for operators and experiencing exceptional drill performance on the machines.

For customer NGS Manufacturing in Naples, Fla., a Unist lubrication system freed employee capacity and extended tool life by 400% after just three months in operation. In that same time frame, after producing thousands of parts, NGS Manufacturing used just two gallons (256 ounces) of Coolube.

NGS Manufacturing is a full-service sign and mailbox manufacturer that uses 3/16” end mills to route sign and mailbox forms out of 3/16” 5052 AL. The company’s challenge was with its cutting operation, which was limited due to capacity because each cut required an employee to hand deliver lubrication from a squeeze bottle. The hand spraying led to inconsistencies in fluid delivery (one employee may squeeze the handle once, another may squeeze the handle more than once), resulting in poor tool life and the need to purchase new tooling every month.

For NGS Manufacturing’s multi-axis machining work, Unist recommended a two Output Coolubricator™ and Coolube® 2210AL cutting oil. The system is an ideal MQL solution designed to process aluminum and is safe for both machine operators and the overall work environment.

The team at Unist has noticed that its customers are increasingly more conscious of their global footprints, as well as creating healthier work environments for their operators. Smrekar said customers justify the purchase of Unist’s lubrication systems for many reasons, including for consumption savings on fluid or better air quality for their operators.

“As manufacturers, we hear the job market is hot and people are looking for work,” Smrekar said. He noted that operators are willing to seek work with another company if their current work environment isn’t clean or if the work isn’t satisfying. “With our product, being able to promote a cleaner work environment, where an operator is not being covered by coolant or having to use spray bottles to lubricate parts and tools, all contributes to the overall cleanliness of that manufacturing environment,” Smrekar added.

In fact, when comparing Unist’s fluid to flood coolant, which could consume eight-to-16 gallons per hour, it is not uncommon for Unist’s customers to consume 2/10 ounces or 2.5 ounces of fluid an hour.

On top of that, customers not only realize a significant reduction in the overall consumption of lubricant, but they can also extend tool life by large percentages.

And customer satisfaction through innovation is what it is all about for Unist. The company’s team members are excited about the future and continuing to provide excellent customer service as it continues its expansion into providing solutions for machine builders and automated processes. The U.S.-based company has made a conscious decision to more than double the company’s inventory regarding critical areas of the business to ensure it maintains the service customers have come to expect, such as short lead times, and next day delivery of parts.

“Our mission is to design and build innovative products that solve manufacturing problems,” Smrekar added. “The future of manufacturing has shown increasing levels of automation and robotics, which in turn will require innovative lubrication solutions.” Unist intends to leverage the experiences gained over the past 66 years to further evolve and develop valued lubrication systems to the metalworking industry.

www.unist.com

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Unist Invests in Themselves

Uncertainty was at an all time high when the COVID-19 pandemic brought industrial manufacturing and business travel to a halt. Unist’s Owner and President Chuck Boelkins realized this was not the time to be idle, and chose to invest in the company. The company renovated office space, invested in new technologies, and expanded Unist’s current team. Since the pandemic began, Unist has taken major strides growing its customer support initiative.

“This continues to be the case in 2023,” noted Chris Smrekar, product specialist for Unist, Inc. Unist is leveraging live chat on its website, producing support videos, and they’ve even been known to FaceTime customers to troubleshoot an issue on the spot. Unist is also looking at better ways to connect with new and existing customers. “While travel has opened back up, many meetings are still taking place on platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom. More-so platforms such as LinkedIn have become increasingly popular with businesses and individuals promoting their brands, creating content, and displaying products — there isn’t much you can’t find online anymore.”

Smrekar noted, however, that industry tradeshows continue to be popular for Unist as a way to connect with customers and potential customers. In fact, Unist will exhibit at several tradeshows in 2023. “But we’re leveraging platforms such as LinkedIn and TikTok to promote the Unist and precise fluid delivery brand and to let people know we exist,” Smrekar noted.

www.unist.com

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