Woodpeckers yielding 50% better spindle utilization with MIDACO pallet changers on their HAAS VMCs


Rich Hummel started Woodpeckers Precision Woodworking Tools, located in in Strongsville OH, in 1988 as a woodworking hobbyist. He initially outsourced their manufacturing to a small machine shop across the street from their facility, but that did not go as smoothly as Hummel would have liked. Out of frustration, he purchased his first VMC and learned how to run it. Over the years he’s machined all his own parts and added more machinery as demand for his woodworking products dictated.

"We almost always get a (HAAS) VF-3, for instance, with a MIDACO Pallet Changer. It's just a great marriage." - Rich Hummel, Owner - Woodpeckers

Woodpeckers focuses on creating high quality products deliberately for what the home woodworker might want or need. Their woodworking tools are not stamped by the thousands or cast in molds. At any given time, they have about 2400 different parts to machine — the majority of which are milled parts. Those parts are for approximately 800 different products. Each part is machined individually on state-of-the-art CNC equipment, and they have invested in high performance machines to do the job, such as HAAS VMCs paired with MIDACO Automatic Pallet Changers.


We track every part for every job we've ever run in twenty years. The spindle utilization without a pallet changer is 50-60% depending on cycle time and some other factors. With a pallet changer it's almost always 50% better than that. It's hard to beat." - Rich Hummel, Owner - Woodpeckers

Since 2015 Woodpeckers has added multiple MIDACO Pallet Changers to their machining capabilities. MIDACO systems have increased the spindle utilization on their HAAS machining centers by 50% or more, giving Woodpeckers the ability to exceed customer demands. Automation has helped them level the playing field with overseas suppliers.

Woodpeckers machines, engraves, assembles, and packs all their own products and takes pride in the fact that, from start to finish, their tools are truly made in the USA on US-made, high-performance, high-quality CNC equipment from MIDACO and HAAS.


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Video and image credit:
Woodpeckers LLC
HFO Trident Machine Tool Group