Sugar River Machine Fuels Growth Through Advanced Machining Capabilities

Originally Published in Cutting Tool Engineering Magazine, December 2025.

Sugar River Machine is one contract manufacturing shop based in South Beloit, IL, reaping the rewards of strategic investment and sustained growth. As part of the shop’s strategic growth plan to stave off stagnation, President and Owner Eric Neilson and his team at Sugar River have not only expanded the shop’s production floorspace but also its advanced machining capacity, all of which has led to a significant influx of new work from its current customer base of 140 plus.

Neilson took ownership of the shop in 2020. He’s a Purdue University business graduate and worked as a management consultant in Washington, D.C. for over 10 years doing commercial and financial services as well as federal work. He then worked in private equity for about a year, during which he realized he wanted to get into contract manufacturing and be a business owner.

At the time, he had zero machining background but had relatives in the industry and was familiar with it. He believed his corporate experience would be a good launching pad for acquiring a contract manufacturing shop.

With that goal in mind, he began an extensive search for a shop to acquire. Neilson evaluated over 55 potential shops, then met Sugar River Machine owners Dave and Diane Klingmeyer. They were ready to retire and had no immediate family members interested in taking over the reins. They were thrilled Neilson wanted the garage-born shop – and confident he could grow it further.

“They didn’t just sell me a business,” said Neilson. “In a manner of speaking, they sold me their family of team members, many of whom are still working at the shop today. Our customers often ask me ‘why a machine shop’, and my response is that I have a good team on the ground that can produce quality parts. We all work ‘on’ the business – selling it and attracting new customers – not ‘in’ the business.”

He refers to the shop’s business growth strategy for continued success as “Sugar River Machine 2.0.” Besides expanding the shop’s production floor space from 7,000 to 14,000 square feet, the plan involves bolstering the shop’s manufacturing/machining capacity and capabilities.

“We want to be a full-service, one-stop shop for our customers,” said Neilson. “We currently offer turning, milling, grinding, plating, black oxiding, chroming and anodize as well as handle all the other aspects of part production. We’re much more than just a machine shop. We’re a contract manufacturer, and besides producing piece parts, we provide other services such as welding, painting and assembly to our customers.”

After expanding its facility, the shop added more CNC equipment, all of which was from Mazak. The machines allow Sugar River to better serve its current and future customers with advanced machining capabilities, such as multi-tasking machines capable of performing both turning and milling operations in a single setup, higher part quality and most importantly more production with fewer machines.

“For us, the multi-tasking machines are two for one,” said Neilson. “If we didn’t have them, we would have to do part turning on one machine and milling on another. That would also mean two operators and longer lead times.”

In addition to a couple of older existing Mazaks still in use at Sugar River, the shop added two QT-Ez Mazak Multi-Tasking machines featuring milling and Y-axis off-centerline capability, along with four Mazak VC-Ez 20 and one Mazak VC-Ez 26 Vertical Machining Centers. The QT-Ez 8MY was the shop’s first foray into multi-tasking and a key factor in Neilson’s Sugar River Machine 2.0 plan.

“If we aren’t investing in advanced machine technology like multi-tasking, another shop down the street with it would beat us out and win the work,” he said. “We weren’t sure how much we’d use the machine, but it worked out so well that we acquired the second Mazak Multi-Tasking machine”

At first, the shop was able to transfer about 20% of its current work to the new machines, but most importantly, it was able to use the other 80% capacity as well as the machines’ capabilities to win work they wouldn’t have otherwise won with their single process equipment. The machines have also slashed setup and cycle times, Neilson noted. On some jobs, both have dropped by as much as 60%.

When it came to the vertical machining centers, Neilson admits that they did look at other brands of machines besides Mazak. However, he realized that equipment standardization would benefit the shop.

“We asked ourselves do we want to bring in another machine brand, or do we stick with the same because we’re familiar with them,” he explained. “We stuck with what we know, which were Mazaks. It’s the same reasoning as Southwest Airlines flying only one model of airplane. For us, sticking with the same brand means the machines use many of the same replacement parts and operate the same. Once trained, our machinists can quickly move between Mazaks – programming and running each with ease.”

Lucas Goza, lead turning machinist at Sugar River, is someone who can attest to the ease of use and intuitiveness of the Mazak machines. According to him, once a machinist can program a Mazak, it’s easy for them to make the transition from one Mazak to another. Goza does all his programming at the machine and says that Mazak MAZATROL SmoothEz controls make doing so fast and easy.

In terms of parts, the shop’s biggest challenge is the fact that it does such a wide array of jobs on its multi-tasking machines, Goza said. One day he’ll run parts 0.125” in diameter and the next day parts that are 6” in diameter. Additionally, job lot sizes and volumes vary as well.

“Sometimes one part requires 12 hours of work because of numerous critical features,” said Goza. “Then the next job is not so complex with more open tolerances and must be completed as soon as possible. Every day is different, and the Mazaks allow us to adapt and balance our varying jobs.”

The shop’s production is high-mix/low-volume, and its job lot sizes range from an average of five parts to as many as 400. Part materials include all the basic aluminums, copper, InconelÒ, NitronicsÒ and plastics. Its parts go into assemblies for products ranging from motorcycles, industrial paper mill equipment and automation lines to food processing systems, oil furnaces, aerospace tooling/fixtures and much more.

Another key goal of Neilson’s Sugar River Machine 2.0 plan is to further develop the shop as a contract manufacturer with a diverse customer base where each makes up no more than 20% of the shop’s business. Unlike other shops where one or two customers make up the bulk of their work, he believes that doing so is a risky way to run a business.

“We now have a very diverse customer base and have added new customers,” he said. “We’re also expanding the number of jobs we handle for our existing customers. Like us, Mazak is also a well-rounded supplier that offers a lot more than just machines tools. As we grow and expand into other areas, we’ll continue to look to Mazak for the best technology that will ensure we succeed in those new ventures.”