skyTECH Machine Shop
Throughout 16 years of operations, and having used over 25 different manufacturers and suppliers for our products, we decided that it was time for us to vertically integrate and build our own machine shop. This was a time intensive process, taking many resources and co-ordination to make our founders dream of a fully functioning machine shop become reality. Environmental sustainability has been a driving force at Skyline since the beginning. Our founder has always worked towards becoming a one stop shop for all things Zipline, which included control over the manufacturing of our hard goods in an environmentally conscious manner. This idea stemmed to fruition through expensive rental costs and the lack of properly equipped space in the Whistler and Pemberton region of British Columbia. Because of this we decided to cover all bases with one 4,500 sq. ft building above the Pemberton valley with a stunning view of Mount Currie.
Within our new fully passive constructed facility we built; an office, employee suite, and a full service machine shop equipped with welding and fabrication equipment. We are happy to announce that this building is powered by the sun with over 8,000 watts of Solar, utilizes a water collection system and an extremely efficient building envelope.
On one side we have our office; this includes our Founders office, 2 office desks and dining table for all Skyline Staff. Below the office we have a Suite which is equipped with 2 bedrooms and 1.5 bath stocked with a full kitchen and living room. On the other side of our Office and suite we have 2 garage floors with a large pass through on the top floor. This large pass through will be primarily used for loading and unloading raw materials and unfinished goods to the lower shop but we had it built to a specific specification so that we could fit both machines through this hole. When lowering the DT1 into the lower level we had a tolerance of approximately 2 inches on either side which left us with no much room for error.
On the bottom floor we have a fully equipped machine shop which includes a band saw, air compressor, Haas DT1 CNC Machine and a Haas TL1 Tool Lathe which will allow us to fabricate roughly 80% of our hard goods. Above the Machine shop on the main floor we have a commercial grade welding machine, compressed air and an assembly station to assemble our finished goods. Once we have assembled and completed all finished goods we will send them to our Whistler office and warehouse where it will hold all finished goods and be prepared for distribution to our clients.
Within our CNC machine shop we knew that the machines would only be as good as their programmer and because of this we looked high and low for the right fit. After several weeks of discussions with several other programmers and students just out of University, we found Steve! With over 16 years of experience with machining and having worked for world-renowned companies like Rolls-Royce; we knew Steve would be able to set a precedent and bring our shop to a world-class level.
In the coming months you can expect to see a lot more content regarding the shop and our manufacturing processes.
- Posted by admin
- On July 9, 2020