Page 34 - Flathead Beacon // 8.13.14

34 | AUGUST 13, 2014 FLATHEADBEACON.COM
BUSINESS
CREATIVE BOOM AT
COLUMBIA FALLS MANUFACTURING COMPANY WORKING WITH INVENTORS AND COMPANIES TO CREATE INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS
By MOLLY PRIDDY of the Beacon
COLUMBIA FALLS – Walking through the Acutech build- ing on Highway 40 is an education in metal work, where the technology employees use ranges from the rudimentary blacksmith’s anvil mounted on a large tree stump to laser cutting.
In the north end of the workspace sits one of the only laser cutters in the Flathead, while nearby the wa- terjet pumps out a stream of water at 60,000 psi to cut out new wheel centers for a Hummer.
A CNC machine is hard at work carving out rifle parts from blocks of raw metal, while in the southern section of the workspace two workers are building a 700-pound chandelier by hand with age-old black- smithing techniques.
“We have the most primitive stuff where you’re pounding on steel, and then we have guys measuring within a 10,000th of an inch,” Acutech co-owner Dean Grommet said.
Acutech, a one-stop metal manufacturing shop, moved into its current building on Highway 40 in 2011, and in the three years since, the company’s manage- ment and crew have put together a unique system for devising and producing innovative projects.
Some of its recent products include working with Flathead Valley resident Jim Wegener to engineer We-
ACUTECH
Shawn Kolb welds a custom chandelier at Acutech.
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
gener’s Safety Latch for football helmets, an invention that locks the helmet’s chin strap into place and keeps the helmet from popping off during contact.
High school and college teams have already ordered the latches, and Grommet said his team was prepar- ing to have the first latches available on Aug. 11, which would be followed up with distribution.
“It’s just one of those pieces of innovation that seems to happen in this valley,” Grommet said.
One of Acutech’s goals is to work with such inven- tors, Grommet and co-owner Josh Boyce said. Inven- tors come to the metal shop and speak with an Acutech engineer to troubleshoot the product, and the produc- tion crew creates a prototype.
“The customer will come to us with an idea, and we can make it into a sellable product,” Boyce said.
From there, depending on the distribution size, Acutech can either produce the invention or manage
its creation, Grommet said, making sure it comes to life in an efficient and effective manner.
Another product Acutech is developing is the Gla- cier Guard, a local invention from Glacier Guard Inno- vations and its CEO Matt Folkman, which consists of an engineered aluminum system for roofs to eliminate ice dams through heated panels.
Acutech is also working with Algae Aqua-Culture Technology of Whitefish, and built the organic carbon engine Green Power House at work on property owned by F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. in Columbia Falls.
A national technology company has also tapped Acutech to manufacture and produce the specialized stainless steel ribbons used in its RibbonLift systems, which are used to broadcast major events, such as NFL and NBA games.
There are other projects in the research and devel- opment and production stages, Boyce said, but the in-
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