Bandy Manufacturing

California-based Bandy Manufacturing is an aerospace machine shop focused on manufacturing highly specialized, custom, and standard aerospace hinges. Founded in 1953 with a mission to provide high quality hinges for the burgeoning aircraft industry, the company today supports a wide range of military and commercial aircrafts, aerospace vehicle, and non-aerospace applications. “In addition to our decades-old experience in manufacturing hinges, Bandy Manufacturing’s key advantage over the competition is our proprietary drilling process,” says Roger Seaman, President of Bandy Manufacturing. This manufacturing technique enables the company to produce complex, close-tolerance long hinge lengths across a wide range of materials including titanium, aluminum, stainless steel, and brass. Bandy Manufacturing’s technical arsenal also includes a full suite of in-house hinge making equipment and their state-of-the-art CNC capabilities, all working together in harmony to deliver high-quality parts on time, every time. This makes Bandy Manufacturing the in-demand, sought-after partner for their customers in the aerospace industry.

The trust runs deep, as Bandy Manufacturing’s commitment to engineering and manufacturing hinges above all else, to help clients’ meet their needs. “Our fleet of CNC milling machines combined with our custom hinge drilling and slotting machines allow us to make custom hinges ranging.5 inches to 40 feet,” adds Seaman. The company’s principle, to be the most responsive partner for its clients, leads Bandy Manufacturing, as they ensure the shortest quote turnaround and delivery lead times.

For Bandy Manufacturing, quality is top priority; the company ensures industry-leading quality in each of its products through thorough inspection, continuous improvement in key manufacturing processes, and process control.

The company’s collaboration goes beyond civilian aerospace, in one instance partnering with a large military OEM. Their client’s initial lead-time was 50 weeks, nearly a year. They approached Bandy Manufacturing when all of their attempts to reduce lead-time had failed. The team at Bandy Manufacturing was confident that the client’s lead-time could be reduced by half, and they went to work. Bandy Manufacturing utilized their in-house expertise, supplier networks, and other industry partnerships—for processes like heat treating, painting and NDT inspections—to help reduce the lead-time to the OEM. By really listening to their client’s needs, re-sequencing certain components of their work, and breaking up the quantities, Bandy Manufacturing successfully delivered, reducing the OEM’s lead-time by half, delivering the parts in 2019, a half a year ahead of the promised 2020. “Besides our expertise and experience, one of the major driving forces for our success is the transparency that we maintain in our operations,” says Seaman. This was a win-win situation for both.

Bandy Manufacturing was acquired by JW Hill Capital from GKN Aerospace in 2017. JW Hill Capital is a private equity firm based in California, focused on manufacturing, value-add distribution, and industrial services. Its specialty is manufacturers of highly engineered systems, products, or components serving regulated markets such as aerospace, defense, medical device, nuclear, etc. Bandy Manufacturing today are focused on regular communication with clients, understanding their needs and priorities, and building healthy relationships. The company went through a major restructuring in 2017, to transform into an agile organization by breaking the barriers of the corporate structure and become a more responsive and creative solution provider to their customers and partners. “We take pride in being responsive at every interface with our highly valued customers,” adds Seaman. With a renewed emphasis on exceeding customer expectations, the company has undergone several improvements with a dedicated team leading the effort and an increased focus on measurable KPIs. The company continues to build on their past entrepreneurial and customer-focused history, to create a dynamic and forward-thinking culture.

Envisioning the future, Bandy Manufacturing is rolling out plans to have a 10 percent growth in business each year. The company is looking to strengthen their customer partnerships through excellence in customer service, technical support, and responsiveness. At the same time, the team at Bandy Manufacturing is working to find new partners and add more value to their operations.