Micro-Mail SCOPE is our monthly newsletter, reporting the broad "Scope" of possibilities for Micro- Fluidization. This month we take a break from application and industry news to highlight this important time in the life of our company - 50 years in business.

Today's article and images, provide you with a snapshot of where we've been, and insight into where we're headed. Enjoy.

Lubrication is a necessary fact in metals manufacturing. How to lubricate is often an afterthought. One company in West Michigan is making sure metalworking and metalforming companies "get it right." For the last 50 years, UNIST, Inc. of Grand Rapids has been "Writing the Book on Non-Friction". Even a few years ago, "getting it right" was a relative term. The reach of lubrication was not taken very seriously in the wake of US industrial prosperity. In today's environment, lubrication decisions can mean five or six figures of profit - or loss, in a single plant. In many operations, fluids and lubricants together with their related handling, maintenance, and disposal are approaching 20% of total manufacturing costs. Since 1957, UNIST, Inc. has been steadily perfecting equipment and processes to improve the way fluids and lubricants are applied and reducing these costs - sometimes up to 90%.

UNIST began in 1957, when two gentlemen from Grand Rapids, MI patented the flagship product, a LVLP (low volume low pressure) spray system for fluid application. In their research they had begun to apply the heat absorbing properties of converting liquid into gas, primarily using water to accomplish heat removal in metal cutting. They marketed their portable system under the name uni-MIST, which was also the company's name until 1996.

The uni-MIST is now only one of more than 20 complete lubrication systems developed by Wallace "Wally" Boelkins, who purchased the company in 1968 from its founders. Then a design engineer at Pneumo Dynamics in Grand Rapids, Wally saw the potential of applying small amounts of lubricant / coolant to the interface between the tool and the work piece to remove heat and prevent friction - a simple concept but one not embraced at the time by industries applying hundreds of gallons of water soluble oils.

The uni-MIST company purchased by Boelkins was operating from a garage containing a desk and workbench. He was the only employee for the first 5 years. In 1984 Wally hired Larry Tilma, a recent graduate of Calvin College, to assist with assembly, shipping and other duties in the business. Today 23 years later, Larry continues with the company as General Manager, having oversight of 25 employees, day to day operations, and international sales.

To reflect a broadened scope and increased capabilities, the company changed its name to UNIST, Inc. in 1996. By that time, "mist coolant" was no longer the company's core business. With a look toward precision in all fluid application (stated then in the company's new logo - Precise Fluid Dispensing Products), UNIST was now manufacturer of a comprehensive line of fluid delivery systems for a wide range of fluids. UNIST products are used primarily in metals manufacturing operations including drilling, milling, tapping, sawing and forming to name a few. The automatic systems control fluid volumes, velocity and location.

UNIST also began to emerge as one of the leading companies to openly promote NDM (Near Dry Machining) and other MQL (minimum quantity lubrication) processes as performance alternatives to flood cooling. For many companies who had been "kicking the tires" when it came to trying another lubrication method, UNIST was now helping them to "go out for a spin." "We operate on the assumption that an extremely small amount of lubricant can almost perform miracles when it is correctly applied. Less really is more." says Wally Boelkins. UNIST believes MQL is the future of machining.

In the mid 1990's, UNIST also began to extend the "less is more" concept to the metalforming world. At the 1994 IMTS show, the company unveiled it's first lubrication system designed exclusively for metalforming - the uni-Roller. The internally fed roller system which applies a thin, even film of lubricant onto coil stock, blanks and other flat stock, paved the way for what has become a complete system of lubrication solutions for the metalforming industry, including manual and powered rollers, programmable controllers, LVLP spray nozzles and supply systems. This relatively new business area is rapidly accounting for nearly half of the company's sales.

UNIST has many milestones to look back upon over these first 50 years. Wally Boelkins has been a pioneer in specific technologies such as through-tool lubrication, positive displacement co-axial spray, and tool / motor lubrication for pneumatic hand tools. The company has owned more than 20 patents and there are new ones pending. UNIST technology has set lubrication standards in specific industries such as aerospace, where the world's largest aircraft manufacturers broadly utilize standard and customized UNIST systems on their shop floors. The can making industry has almost exclusively adopted UNIST's lubrication technology for high speed operations. UNIST's vegetable based lubricants, developed specifically for NDM processes in machining are endorsed by several of the highest volume machine tool manufacturers worldwide.

However, the opportunity for UNIST is more about what the future has to offer than what has been accomplished in the past. The potential for world wide distribution of equipment and services is greater than ever before. The company has a solid network of 18 independent representatives and over 200 distributors with their attention focused aggressively on the UNIST business. Industry is beginning to widely embrace NDM concepts, providing the opportunity to retrofit thousands of existing machines, and equip new machining cells with the latest technology to apply small amounts of fluid while delivering maximum production.

From the company's 40,000 square foot manufacturing facility located on 5 acres just minutes from the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Wally Boelkins, his managers and engineering staff are keeping their finger on the pulse of lubrication for industry. They have steadily become the resource companies turn to for innovation in lubrication processes. They continue to pursue growth among traditional metals operations, while they foray into new adventures. Some of the latest places the UNIST logo can be found are food manufacture, dental hygiene, and plastics.

The company is a unique mix of family atmosphere and professional image where good people are allowed to do what they do best. The average years in service are 15. At age 74, Boelkins continues as President and sole owner. He remains actively involved in the company's daily business, designing products, improving manufacturing and traveling to customer sites in the US and abroad to maximize system applications - sometimes teaching, sometimes learning. A sailor, fisherman and world traveler, Wally can be found visiting both friends and customers with his wife of 52 years. He often enjoys vacations with any number of his 6 children and 22 grandchildren. "We better have some fun if we gotta work." He says. Wally, his wife and 6 children all attended Calvin College. They rarely miss a home game.

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