Technology helps Revolute Machine in Coal Valley advance manufacturing

Revolute Machine is a tool and die company with clients including SpaceX, Case IH, John Deere and Caterpillar. While the brand is new, co-owner Brad Goddard said his interest in manufacturing started in the late '90s, when his dad opened a shop at home. Goddard and his sister and co-owner, Lisa McDowell, worked with their father through high school and college, then continued on with their own careers after.

"That business ran its course and this equipment was just sitting here for a while," Goddard said. "Then Lisa started just doing some night and weekend work for other shops using the equipment that was out here."

McDowell started manufacturing parts herself in 2014 and slowly built up a clientele. She would make smaller parts for another machine shop that had big-name clients such as Caterpillar and John Deere.

Goddard noticed how hard she was working and how much work was coming in. By 2020, he was considering a career change and decided to turn his attention to helping his sister to see if this business was something they could grow together.

"That took off, and we probably did too good of a job," he said. "She started getting busy, and I said, 'OK. Maybe I need to look into coming out here full time.' "

During the height of the pandemic, prices were skyrocketing as companies struggled to keep up with demand. Parts made with 13 cents worth of metal, Goddard said, were going for $6-7 a piece. The two found a way to make the same part, which he referred to as a weld lock, for $2 and were able to deliver them on time.

"They end up using 10,000 of these a year or so, and that's kind of what got us started," Goddard said. "Maybe it's just the way things were but they were getting really overcharged for a lot of stuff among other issues, and we knew we could do this a lot better."

In 2023, Goddard joined his sister full-time and the pair have been "growing, adding equipment, adding capabilities, new customers and growing organically from there," he said. With a long career in manufacturing already, Goddard was able to bring in new clients who grew to love the affordable prices at Revolute.

"It's really easy to build a new relationship with somebody if they already know you and trust you," he said.

The prices at Revolute were a selling point, and helped McDowell and Goddard grow the business. The projects the two are working on now are fairly simple, he said. With there being so much competition in the Quad-Cities manufacturing world, the pair are continuously looking for a new niche.

"We are trying to go up in complexity to do the stuff not everybody can do and do it a little bit differently so we're not fighting over this kind of work," he said, tapping the weld lock on the table.

To make the parts, a 3D model is constructed on the computer and programmed into the machine that will make it. Technology has a heavy influence at Revolute and is what sets it apart from other companies, Goddard said.

The back of the shop is lined with machines that cut and create parts, with a massive robotic pallet system dominating a corner of the room. Many machine shops rely on the tools that have worked for the past several decades. Revolute is focused on making technology work for them by investing in higher-grade systems.

"In this manufacturing realm, it's almost paradoxical. It almost seems like technology really doesn't move along very fast," he said. "But technology as far as software like this or technology like this robot, it really lets you do things more efficiently."

With a few clicks of a button, Goddard can have a part programmed and the machines will be off and running ready to make it, he said. The software has become accessible and affordable in the past 10 years, he said, which helps with production.

Instead of having to employ a massive workforce, the robotic systems at Revolute can do work around the clock, and do so efficiently. The time it takes to make a part depends on the complexity. If a part takes 30-40 minutes to make and the order requires 100, it could take 50 hours at a minimum. By using machines working around the clock, rather than eight hour shifts for people, Revolute can cut that down from a week of work to a couple days. 

"What we're going to be able to do is get it set up, get it running and this robot's going to feed the parts into the machine 20 at a time. We will let it run overnight, we will let it run on the weekend. We can keep those parts running with very minimal human interaction basically 24/7 until the job's done," Goddard said. "Instead of the job taking a couple of weeks, we can get it done in a couple of days."

Time is important for both Revolute and their customers. The business grew from customers knowing they could get what they needed on time, and holding themselves to that standard is what keeps it sustainable, Goddard said.

The parts Revolute makes range from simple to complex and have slowly carved out a niche for the company in the start-up aerospace world. They have made parts for drone engines, satellites and rockets. 

McDowell said when she started this business by herself a decade ago, she had no intention of it growing this big, or working with her brother. The pair have opposite strengths that balance each other out and have helped the business grow from a small workshop in Coal Valley to reaching outer space.

"I had the mindset I didn't want it to grow. It was just paying my bills," she said. "But he had that vision, and I said, 'I'm along for the ride if that's what you want to do.' "