Clinton Murray
President | Prime Machine & Prime Field Service
What emerging market trends or disruptions are you preparing your company for?
Utah’s aerospace industry is a vital part of the state’s economy and Prime Machine will be one of the state’s premier machine shops. Prime Machine has built a new aerospace building and is installing new large 5-axis CNC machines that allow us to machine large parts to watchmaker tolerances. Five-axis machining on large complex surfaces is required to meet the demands of Utah’s aerospace industry.
Millwright services in mining, power generation and general heavy industrial companies will continue. Prime Field Service is developing our program with the National Center for Construction Education and Research program to train our employees to be the best and most qualified and credentialed millwrights onsite. This training improves each employee’s ability to be safe and get the job done effectively and efficiently for our customers.
What has been a significant challenge you’ve faced? How did you overcome it?
One of the most significant challenges Prime Machine faces today is finding qualified machinists who want to run our large CNC machines. The size of the machines and complexity of our parts, along with high mix and low volume parts, can be intimidating. Each part being machined requires exactness and tight tolerances determined by our customers.
We are working diligently to create a shop environment where each machinist is supported by a CNC programmer and engineer who can help with setups and support when making critical decisions.
Describe the growth of your company in recent years. What other major achievements did the company accomplish under your leadership?
Prime Machine recently created a dedicated engineering department doing complex design-build projects. Our customers provide concepts for tooling, new equipment and parts. The engineering department has been able to meet our customers’ requests using Unigraphics, SolidWorks, ANSYS and Mathcad. The engineering department also does a lot of reverse engineering projects for broken and obsolete parts that are difficult to get. Our company provides our customers with a one-stop shop, capable of doing the engineering and building new parts.
Prime Field Service continues to expand our services, and we are now working in Alaska, Canada, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
