Who is Crosswind Machining?
First blog post...ever....star-date 20160322. Sorry, a little Star Trek humor to get me started. So, I am wanting to get Crosswind "out there" for the world to see who we are and what we do. I think it's pretty amazing, what we get to be a part of in changing people's lives. First off, we are a machine shop. How do we affect people's lives you might ask? Well we are in a machining niche called Swiss Screw Machining. We manufacture small (very small) parts for the medical industry. Some of our parts go into human bodies and some don't. We do things like make parts that are used in vein repair and even parts that are used to clear out arteries. Do you know how small your veins and arteries are? I mean we're talking millimeters (anywhere from about 1-8mm). We also make things like bone screws and catheter tips.
I have a small story to share about one of our parts. My very best friend called me one day to tell me that she was going to have to have some of the veins in her legs closed off. This meant that the flow in her veins were not functioning properly and would fill with blood and had become enlarged. She gave me a little rundown of the procedure. They would shoot her up with Novocaine and then use a small tube to deploy a wire into the vein. The wire would travel up her inner thigh to the top of the vein and would heat up. As they pulled it back out slowly, it would cauterize the vein, closing it. She had a 12mm vein in 1 leg and a 7mm vein in the other. Here's a link to check out the procedure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h1E04IlnhE
How does this relate to Crosswind? When talking to my boss about it (who happens to be my mother and CEO of Crosswind) she says "We make the parts used in that!". She didn't mean we make some of them, we make ALL of them. Crosswind is the only manufacturer that makes the tip of the guide wire that actually went into her leg. There are different methods for closing or stripping a vein, but the method used on her is the one that uses our parts. I found it amazing that something we had made had been used in someone that I know and care about so deeply. That's when it really hit me that what we do affects people's lives and is used to make their lives better.
This is the reason why Crosswind has to be so precise in what we do. Some of the things we make have tolerances that are smaller than the diameter of a human hair. If we make a mistake, even a tiny one, it renders what we've made useless. We pride ourselves on precision. We check and recheck our work multiple times a day with at least 2 different sets of eyes. Our machinists are dedicated to rigid details that are required in what we make. This shop makes parts that, literally, most shops wouldn't even consider making because of the difficulty and tight tolerances.
I hope I've given you a little insight into who Crosswind Machining is and what we do. Feel free to comment, ask questions, etc. I will always do my best to answer. Until next time.....
Photo of the wire guide used in the procedure
I have a small story to share about one of our parts. My very best friend called me one day to tell me that she was going to have to have some of the veins in her legs closed off. This meant that the flow in her veins were not functioning properly and would fill with blood and had become enlarged. She gave me a little rundown of the procedure. They would shoot her up with Novocaine and then use a small tube to deploy a wire into the vein. The wire would travel up her inner thigh to the top of the vein and would heat up. As they pulled it back out slowly, it would cauterize the vein, closing it. She had a 12mm vein in 1 leg and a 7mm vein in the other. Here's a link to check out the procedure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h1E04IlnhE
How does this relate to Crosswind? When talking to my boss about it (who happens to be my mother and CEO of Crosswind) she says "We make the parts used in that!". She didn't mean we make some of them, we make ALL of them. Crosswind is the only manufacturer that makes the tip of the guide wire that actually went into her leg. There are different methods for closing or stripping a vein, but the method used on her is the one that uses our parts. I found it amazing that something we had made had been used in someone that I know and care about so deeply. That's when it really hit me that what we do affects people's lives and is used to make their lives better.
This is the reason why Crosswind has to be so precise in what we do. Some of the things we make have tolerances that are smaller than the diameter of a human hair. If we make a mistake, even a tiny one, it renders what we've made useless. We pride ourselves on precision. We check and recheck our work multiple times a day with at least 2 different sets of eyes. Our machinists are dedicated to rigid details that are required in what we make. This shop makes parts that, literally, most shops wouldn't even consider making because of the difficulty and tight tolerances.
I hope I've given you a little insight into who Crosswind Machining is and what we do. Feel free to comment, ask questions, etc. I will always do my best to answer. Until next time.....
Photo of the wire guide used in the procedure
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