5 Best Machine Shops in Houston

Previous clients of Ultimate Precision Tech praise the company’s meticulous process of creating machine parts.

When we inquired about their services, we appreciated the staff for taking the time in explaining their manufacturing process. The machinists delved into their offerings, making sure our concerns are addressed during the call.

This machine shop’s specialty is making customized parts, which their clients use to create products. This company has 8 Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines that automatically create the parts based on the client’s blueprints.

During this process, the machinist codes specific instructions to the machines to ensure that it will uniformly cut or modify the parts to its desired shape. While the parts are being created, a quality assurance staff inspects the products for defects.

Besides the streamlined creation process, we also heard praises for this company’s delivery service.

According to the company’s regular clients, the delivery of parts is on time. It’s also commendable that the company always strives to send their products as soon as possible so clients can quickly start assembling these parts.

The company, however, doesn’t offer prototype creation services, unlike other machine shops. If you need someone to manufacture a whole machine for you, this company may not be the right fit for you.

Also, they have a smaller team, which means the company may struggle a bit with bulk orders.

Regardless, Ultimate Precision Tech is available all week and they can accommodate emergency manufacturing needs during weekends.

Gretna Machine Shop, a locally-operated machine shop prides themselves on manufacturing essential parts in manufacturing aerospace vehicles.

We’re amazed at the company’s capability in creating specific machine parts for airplanes and spacecraft. They mostly supply parts for big companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, NASA, and others.

Based on our research, the company contributes parts to the creation of the Orion spacecraft in NASA’s Artemis project, which aims to send astronauts to the moon.

While creating parts, the machinist codes the design and creation process for the company’s CNC machines. They ensure that all materials and parts have high enough tolerance, especially for spaceship parts.

Note that machines can’t always create parts with exact measurements. Having high tolerance ensures there’s less variation in the sizes of these parts, making it as uniform as possible.

Even if the main customers of this company are big manufacturers, they still offer affordable quotes for small projects. 

While this company has excellent machine manufacturing capabilities, there are times when the staff at their office are unresponsive to clients’ questions.

Some clients also experienced waiting for a long time before someone attends to their needs.

Still, it’s wonderful that Gretna Machine Shop has a wide range of materials to choose from like low-alloy steel, titanium, Waspaloy, and others. This can help inventors who need specific metals for their machine prototypes.

Since 1964, Lowrance Machine has been providing Houston businesses with custom metal molds for their production needs.

What we love about this company is their whole manufacturing process. From the request for the quote to the delivery of the finished product, the company ensures that everything works for the customer’s benefit.

After accepting the project, the company plans the creation process of the product, assessing risks that may arise based on the client’s plans. Then, the quality control manager double-checks the products by testing it.

Most of the company’s molds are created with cast iron or steel for better heat efficiency and less porosity. These are perfect for business owners manufacturing products made of rubber or plastic,

Besides creating molds, the company also has a vast catalog of maintenance services for fine-tuning the client’s products.

One of these services is nitriding, where the machinists put nitrogen on the surface of iron products to harden the material and make it resistant to rusting. It’s perfect for molds that need to be exposed to fluids as it prevents them from corroding.

Despite these, it’s unfortunate that the company has short manufacturing and opening hours. Also, there are times when the company is difficult to contact through e-mail.

Nevertheless, we like that Lowrance Machine can accommodate rush orders. We recommend this service if your machine needs a replacement part.

What makes TCR, Inc. stand out from other machine shops is their process of creating huge parts for massive machines.

The company specializes in creating parts for steam turbines and other heavy equipment. One of their products is the high-vane impeller, which rotates and converts the mechanical energy that comes from the flow of water into electricity.

We like that their creation process involves a comprehensive quality control process. Before creating these parts, the machinists review the client’s models and the metals they will use to avoid complications and production defects.

Then, the machinists adjust the measurements in the CNC machines to make sure that the finished product is of the right size.

The customers also praise the company for their quick deliveries of these heavy components. According to them, the machine shop focuses their work on creating and delivering the parts as soon as possible to reduce losses that stem from downtimes.

Just note that their services are more expensive as they create huge parts that require a significant amount of materials and labor time to finish. 

There are also times when the company doesn’t take specific orders because their assembly line is creating a huge component for a client.

Despite that, it’s great that TCR, Inc. offers prototype machining services for affordable rates. They can create small-scale models and the actual machine, which the client can use for presentations or engineering school submissions.

Westfield Machine, Inc. is a local machine shop in the Woodsdale area that excels in mass-producing machine parts for the construction and oil industries.

We were in awe when we visited the company’s facility. Aside from its expansive interior, they also have 32 manufacturing machines, including plasma robot arms and welding rigs for making huge components.

These equipment are used for CNC machining, automatically churning out gears and hydraulic parts for their client’s heavy equipment. The company’s creation process includes milling, stamping, and turning metal to mold these parts.

The said parts are often used for drilling machines and laying oil pipelines. Some are outfitted with hydraulic systems that regulate the operation of giant oil extractors.

Aside from small parts, the company also manufactures large components for oil pipelines. One of the products they made for a client is a 60X72-inch flange used to secure pipes underground.

While this company specializes in creating parts for construction and oil machines, they don’t have other services. You may need to look for other companies if you need parts for aerospace or manufacturing machines.

There are also times when it takes the company days before they reply to an inquiry online. We think it’s inconvenient as it may delay repairs or project construction for some clients.

Still, we praise Westfield Machine, Inc. for their fast turnaround for their projects, with the company delivering the finished products within 2 weeks.