Highly toleranced jobs with challenging high quality requirements -- that's the lifeblood of our business. In fact, our processes enable us to perform the most difficult jobs on a daily basis.

A big part of that capability comes from our dedicated, talented employees, people who tend to remain with the Sheppard family for decades, developing and refining their crafts. Though many are specialists in the truest sense of the word, they are also flexible, cross-trained individuals who are willing and able to shift from line to line and plant to plant.

Quality equipment -- some of the best and most modern equipment available -- also plays an important role in our manufacturing capabilities. We do more than just buy it, we modify it and improve it to improve accuracy and save you money. When we are unable to buy machinery that meets our specs, we make it ourselves.

That extraordinary flexibility extends into our manufacturing facilities, too. Since we do our own tooling and fixturing and design many of our own machines, we're not at the mercy of suppliers. You realize quicker response time and greater savings, and we are able to exert greater control over the quality of our product.

Also, lines can be converted at a moment's notice and schedules can be changed in a snap. In fact, Sheppard has the ability to flex to full night and weekend shifts, and to run double shifts.

Then, whether we're grinding, turning, milling, drilling, honing, boring, or tapping, we are able to do it with the extraordinary precision -- and volume -- our challenging jobs demand.

Statistical process control is an essential part of our quality program and stands at the heart of our quality conciousness.

Assembly procedure charts help to ensure that individuals are performing their duties within desired specifications. First piece operator inspections and random operator inspections are two more key steps in the process.

Several support departments provide essential help to ensure quality. In addition to designing and building much of our own tooling and fixturing, we have a state-of-the-art Heat-treating Department; a Materials Department, which parts pass through on their way to assembly for Just-In-Time deliveries; and a complete computer-assisted Preventative Maintenance Program that keeps our finger on the pulse of every single piece of machinery.

Our Metallurgy Lab enables us to deliver the precise material you need, verified in every aspect from microstructure to case hardening.

Meanwhile, we are continually looking for ways to perform our jobs faster, better and more economically. Efficiencies are sought everywhere: from manufacturing engineering to machinery enhancements, from new tooling to material analysis, from assembly processes to scheduling resources.

Ultimately, this means you get the best of both worlds: a professional's attention to quality applied to the nitty-gritty of the manufacturing environment.

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