Rimeco, a family-owned CNC machine shop specializing in aircraft and aircraft engine components, struggled with disconnected systems, manual reporting and persistent part-counting errors. By implementing Harmoni’s factory orchestration platform, the company integrated its ERP, quality and maintenance systems into one streamlined solution. The result: near-perfect part counting, hours of saved labor and a clear path toward a fully connected factory.
Founded in 1992, Rimeco produces precision aircraft and aircraft engine components. What began as a two-person operation in roughly 800 square feet at the back of a small building has grown into a 46,000-square-foot facility running around 40 machines.
“We used to stand at a machine and write the code in manually,” President John Rubik said. “Now, everything’s done on a CAD/CAM system, and the program is sent to the machine right through the Harmoni portal.”
Harmoni
The Problem
For years, Rimeco operated with a patchwork of disconnected systems. The shop had machine monitors that tracked when equipment was running versus idle, but that data lived separately from the company’s ERP system.
“We had someone putting together a daily report—probably spent about an hour working on that report every day to compare what the machine monitors were saying versus what the system was saying,” Rubik said.
The disconnected setup created friction across the shop floor:
- Fragmented systems: Machine monitoring, ERP, maintenance tracking and quality lived in separate software, forcing employees to log in to multiple systems throughout the day.
- Part-counting errors: “We start with 100 pieces. After the first operation, somehow have 102, and then after the third operation, 96, fourth operation back to 98,” Rubik said.
- Tedious program transfers: Loading programs meant carrying flash drives between the IT manager’s office and the machines or, going back further, racing to a terminal within a narrow time window before a request expired.
- Paper-heavy documentation: Inspection sheets were filled in by hand. Work instructions were “sketches on the back of a napkin.”
The Solution
Rimeco turned to Harmoni to unify its operations under a single connected platform. The integration with the company’s ERP system was a major selling point, allowing machinists to handle their administrative tasks right at the machine.
The implementation rolled out in tiers, with the first localizing everything operators do to their individual work cells. The second tier streamlined the setup process.
“Instead of them going to a set station at the beginning of each shift, the end of each shift, they report directly to their machine,” Director of Operations Matt Culver said. “Clock in for attendance. Log in to the job they’re working on.
“Programs being stored in Harmoni get uploaded and downloaded to and from the machine right there locally. We no longer have to carry a flash drive back and forth from the IT manager’s office.”
Rimeco tied multiple separate software systems into one, including:
- ERP integration for automated part counting and job tracking
- Maintenance tracking, replacing a standalone computer system
- Quality tools, including check sheet and work instruction modules
- Digital work instructions with photos and step-by-step details
- Cell leader dashboards offering a full shop map of machine performance
A small group of operators piloted the new process for a week, fed feedback to Harmoni and the rest of the shop followed quickly.
“We had like 100% of people participate right off the bat,” Culver said. “It’s part of their routine now. It’s kind of ingrained into their daily structure.”
Harmoni
The Results
- Near-perfect part counting: Automation eliminated one of the shop’s most persistent issues. Operators now verify quantities and flag any scrap at the end of the day.
- Hundreds to thousands of hours saved: When a small change to a program once caused problems for the next operator, the team had no easy way to trace it.
- Eliminated daily manual reporting: The hour once spent reconciling machine monitors against the ERP in a spreadsheet is gone.
- More capacity from existing resources: The shop aims to grow sales roughly 30% this year.
Rimeco also plans to use Harmoni’s emerging AI tools, which could allow operators to ask the system questions and draw on prior job data to find the best way to run a part, eventually enabling a single machinist to run an entire cell.
