PIC Design
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PIC Design, Inc., is an American manufacturer of precision gears and mechanical components. Based in Middlebury, Connecticut, the company operates a 35,000-square-foot facility for catalog production, custom-designed components, and high-volume orders. PIC Design is primarily known as a gear manufacturer, as well as a supplier of bearings, bushings, dowel pins, shafting components, lead screws, couplings, and shoulder screws. The company has approximately 50 employees.
History
PIC Design was launched in 1954 as Precision Industrial Components, LLC. The company first produced pre-engineered gear products, establishing itself as a mechanical component catalog company. During its earlier years, the company offered trade catalogs listing a wide range of components, including gears, bearings, fasteners, couplings, and clutch brake assembles. PIC’s 1972 and 1980 general catalogs are included in the Smithsonian Libraries Trade Literature Collection.[1]
RBC Bearings, Inc., purchased PIC Design in 2008. Headquartered in Oxford, Connecticut, RBC manufactures bearings and components for aerospace, space, defense, and industrial applications. The company currently operates 42 facilities in the United States, Mexico, France, Germany, Poland, and China. RBC Bearings became a publicly traded company in August 2005[2] and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: RBC). [3]
Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
PIC Design follows a multistep process to engineer and manufacture its products. Custom engineering can occur both before and during production.
Pre-production Process
Applications engineers meet with the company's customers to verify project specifications. The engineers use 3D computer-aided design software to design, optimize, and model components. PIC’s engineers use a cross-functional approach to ensure designs meet the customers’ requirements and can be manufactured in an efficient manner.
After finishing the 3D models and 2D drawings, PIC's engineers review the designs with the customer prior to finalization. Prototypes may be produced and presented for feedback, depending on the project’s requirements. The manufacturing team then obtains the necessary tooling and information to begin production.
In-Production Procedures
PIC's manufacturing engineers oversee the manufacturing process of new products. Their primary goal is to ensure efficiency and compliance with proper production procedures. The engineers must also verify that items in production meet print requirements.
Quality Control
PIC Design, Inc., uses several types of gaging and measurement systems to test and inspect components. Its current inspection equipment includes dual flank rolling testers, digital gear pitch diameter gauges, and a coordinate measuring machine with a Renishaw probe head.
Catalog
PIC Design currently offers a digital catalog as well as a print version in PDF format accessible from its main website’s resources page. Both the digital and print catalogs include 2D drawings for individual components, while the digital catalog also offers 3D models available for viewing and downloading. Other capabilities include a parts selector and a parts cross-reference tool.
Industries Served
PIC Design primarily produces components for medical, defense, robotics, industrial controls, lab instrumentation, and optical systems. Within each industry, the company’s products play important roles in a wide range of applications.
Medical
Products manufactured by PIC Design are typically used in clinical chemistry analyzers, imaging equipment, sample management systems, and surgical robotics as well as surgical tools and fixtures. These applications use a wide variety of components including worms and worm wheels, shafting ,ball bearings and lead screws.
Military and Defense
Defense and military applications include antenna elevation and azimuth control, antenna tuning systems, electro-optical targeting systems, gimbal systems, infrared focus and zoom systems, periscope systems, and smart munitions. PIC Design produces anti-backlash gears, bevel gears, spur gears, worms, and worm wheels for these systems.
Lab Instrumentation
PIC Design components are manufactured for autosamplers, microplate analyzers, microscopes, monochromators, particle size analyzers, porosimetry testers, and spectrometers. Products used in the lab instrumentation industry include worms, worm wheels, lead screws, and shafting components.
Optical Systems
The company’s products are used in optical systems applications such as focus and zoom, infrared cameras, optical inspection, and pan and tilt systems. Such applications usually require bevel gears, spur gears, worms, and worm wheels.
Industrial Controls
For the industrial controls industry, PIC Design manufactures dowel pins, linear motion systems, shoulder screws, and spur gears. Applications using these components include 3D printers, injection molding systems, pin printers, slip rings, and valve positioners.
Robotics
In the robotics industry, PIC Design produces belts and chains, dowel pins, shoulder screws, and spur gears. These offer functionality for applications such as portable security robots, robotic gripper assemblies, robotic sample handlers, and wafer-handling robots.
Certifications and Memberships
PIC Design, Inc., is a member of the American Gear Manufacturers Association [4], a trade group for companies that produce gears, couplings, and power transmission components. The company is also ISO 9001:2015 certified. It and its parent company, RBC Bearings, are compliant with RoHS, REACH,DFARS, and registered with DDTC/ITAR standards.
References
External links
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