141 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 10 ASTRO MACHINE WORKS welding, fabrication, and mechanical assembly. “We are a custom machine builder,” says Blow, “so we actually build full-blown automation equipment that people would use to up the efficiency and productivity within their plants. Therefore, we can do all the welding and fabricating of any framework or base. We can do all the machining of component parts that might go on that machine. We can do all the mechanical assembly of that machine. We can do all the plumbing of any pneumatic or hydraulic systems.” With several electricians on staff, Astro can also wire the main control cabinets, as well as do all the on-board wiring. This includes wiring PLCs (or programmable logic controllers, as Blow points out): basically, the computer that makes the machine do what it should be doing. Further, Astro also conducts its own in-house testing. “Our claim to fame is having all those many services under one roof,” says Blow, as well as citing the company’s ability to sell each and every one of its services individually. It’s that overall quality—being a kind of machine shop jack-of-all-trades, with all these services available under one roof and all at expert levels, to boot—that sets Astro Machine Works apart from its competition. “Our diversity of service has really been a key cog in our operation for some time,” Blow points out, adding that this is a luxury many such companies simply do not have. Hess shares that assessment. “Once we get in and get to know a customer, and they get to know us, and what we can do,” says Hess, they see that “we really take more of a personal approach to how we handle our customers. We do things in how we service our customers that most other companies don’t do.” That leaves customers in a very unique situation, says Hess, adding that they really don’t need to go anywhere else.
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