The Customer

Precise Manufacturing & Engineering

Vancouver, Washington | Est. 1997

Precise Manufacturing is a job shop offering tight-tolerance machining, welding, and fabrication services across the Pacific Northwest. The company serves diverse industries, including aerospace, marine, energy, construction, transportation, and equipment manufacturing. Operating as a full-service provider, they handle every stage of production from raw material procurement to final coating using high-quality technology.

Collage of business sign, business building and warehouse floor

The Business Challenge

Precise Manufacturing faced severe growth limits due to a shortage of qualified welders, restricting their manual capacity and forcing them to turn down high-volume orders exceeding 30 parts. Maintaining tight tolerances over large production runs through manual welding resulted in excessive worker fatigue, frequent post-weld rework, and extended turnaround times due to heavy quality control overhead.

To compete for higher-value contracts without increasing headcount, the company needed to boost its welding productivity and precision while finding a reliable automation supplier capable of providing ongoing operational support.

"I’ve looked at BotX multiple times in my career before. And I just knew what we needed was something that’s quick and efficient to set up, is repetitive, and that’s really going to fit into that niche of 50 to 100 pieces."

- Jeff Geertz
President, Precise Manufacturing

The Solution

Introducing BotX™ Collaborative Automation

The Red-D-Arc BotX collaborative welding robot enabled Precise Manufacturing to rapidly scale welding capacity, quality consistency, and reliability without increasing headcount or requiring specialized robotic technicians. This shift expanded the shop's high-mix, low-volume capabilities, allowing them to actively pursue and win 50-to-100-piece jobs across multiple industries that were previously out of reach.

Collage of BotX cobot welding system in action

Collage if ARCAL EXCELTOP tank along with a welding specialist teaching a customer how the BotX teaching pendant works

Integrated Shielding Gas and Cylinder Technology

To complement the BotX, Airgas supplied ARCAL™ shielding gas paired with EXELTOP™ cylinder technology. Combining advanced automated welding with premium shielding gas and cylinder valve technology allowed the shop to address productivity and weld quality from multiple operational angles.

Intuitive Teach Pendant Control

Featuring a simplified teach pendant, the system eliminated implementation concerns for a team with zero prior robotics experience. The intuitive interface allowed Precise Manufacturing to operate the system independently and begin production welding within just four days of delivery.

"On the robot [BotX], we are starting to weld more of our high-production parts. When I took over the company a year and a half ago, we weren’t going after that because we couldn’t do parts in more than 20-30 at a time. So we decided not to chase that work. Well, now that we’ve chased that work, we’ve actually brought on 3 new customers where we are welding anywhere from 20 to 60 hours a week on that robot."

- Jeff Geertz
President, Precise Manufacturing

The Result

The impact of the BotX system was immediate and measurable across Precise’s shop floor.

80% Less Post-Weld Processing

They achieved a dramatic 80% reduction in grinding, sanding, and cleaning. Because the robot delivers exceptionally clean, uniform welds, parts move downstream significantly faster.

Rapid Customer Acquisition

Within 3 months of implementation, they completely adapted to the system and successfully acquired three new customers with production runs dedicated entirely to BotX fabrication. They now run the system 16 hours a day.

Unmatched Predictability

Beyond sheer speed, BotX introduced predictability to the shop's operations. They can now forecast exactly how long a job will take, eliminating unexpected bottlenecks.

"We pride ourselves on having perfect work every day. But we all know there’s no way you’re going to do perfect work every day. But with the BotX, yeah, if the setup’s right. You can get the right part, or all wrong parts. There’s no in between. So we know we aren’t getting a call or recall. We know we are sending out good parts with the BotX."

- Jim Fetterz
Manager, Precise Manufacturing

Empowered Skilled Workforce

Implementing BotX allowed Precise Manufacturing to scale capacity while keeping headcount completely stable, relieving skilled welders of monotonous, unergonomic tasks so they could focus on higher-craftsmanship projects.

Comprehensive Supplier Support

Red-D-Arc and Airgas technical representatives provided hands-on onboarding and ongoing, rapid-response troubleshooting to ensure non-robotic technicians could smoothly integrate the system.

Maximized Operational Uptime

By pairing reliable remote assistance with immediate on-site support, the suppliers quickly resolved initial technical hurdles, minimizing downtime and maintaining uninterrupted shop productivity.