“I’m not a sales person.  I’m an engineer.”

That’s what Precision Machine’s Tony McNeil told a former manager back in the ‘70’s.  In fact, he is both - par excellence.  And his technical skill combined with his sensitivity to customers’ needs have helped propel Precision Machine and Manufacturing, Inc. to a position of leadership in the specialty equipment industry.

Following earning a BS in mechanical engineering from Marquette University, Tony’s first job was as a project engineer at paper manufacturer Kimberly Clark.  He moved on to work for Milwaukee hydraulic systems manufacturer, Oilgear, and then to Overly, Inc. in Neenah, Wisconsin, where he was a pressure vessel engineer and quality control manager.  Following that, Tony held multiple engineering jobs with mechanical contractors until he finally found his way in 1984 to Precision Machine and Manufacturing.

Over the years, Tony has always been focused on collaborating with customers to solve problems and make their operations better.  In the late ‘80’s, he visited a power plant that was experiencing problems with combustion feed screw conveyors jamming and the motors drawing too much power.  He redesigned the customer’s screws, and a couple weeks later, the report from the plant manager was that the new screws were working too well (i.e., delivering too much fuel) and that the plant’s horsepower requirement was down by 60%.  That’s the kind of problem that Tony’s customers don’t mind having. 

Colmac Energy is one of Tony’s customers (see case study in this issue), and Graeme Donaldson of Colmac says that Tony is one of his favorite people, because he always brings new problem solutions to the table. “Handling biomass and urban waste bring with them new challenges that require special conveyor technologies,” says Tony. “Materials aren’t of uniform size anymore, so we need to get creative with our solutions.”

When Tony isn’t designing solutions to customer problems, he enjoys woodworking, building, landscaping and playing with his four grandkids.  He has been married to his wife, Mary since 1972 and together they have two children.

For an interesting read on the economics of rotary valves, see Tony’s article “Rotary valve return on investment: Doing the math,” which was published in Powder and Bulk Engineering magazine.