OMAX celebrates 25 years of waterjet manufacturing

Figure 1. Attendees of the OMAX Corp.’s 25th anniversary celebration got the opportunity to tour the company’s demonstration lab where they saw a waterjet cut 0.25-in. stainless steel parts.

The waterjet manufacturer that started in a garage has come full circle with the launch of a new product line—a smaller-sized, self-contained waterjet that can operate comfortably in a garage.

At its 25th anniversary celebration on July 27, OMAX® Corp. hosted customers, suppliers, former employees, local dignitaries, and the trade press at its Kent, Wash., headquarters and manufacturing facility. All attendees got the opportunity to tour the campus (see Figure 1) and learn just how the company approaches sales, service, support, software development, manufacturing, and training.

In comments made to the guests at lunch, Dr. John Cheung, a founder of the OMAX Corp. and its current CEO, said that in 2017 alone the company debuted two product lines, bringing the total to four, and posted $110 million in sales revenue. He added that since 1993 the company has generated $1 billion in revenue and sold more than 5,000 waterjets to manufacturers in 65 countries.

One of the product lines launched in 2017 was the ProtoMAX® abrasive waterjet, a compact, self-installed cutting system that is designed for low-volume cutting, making it suitable for small job shops, classrooms, maker spaces, or even for personal use in garages. The device delivers 30,000-PSI cutting power with a 5-HP pump and can cut material less than 2 inches thick. It’s also designed to plug into a 240-V outlet and can be connected to a normal water hose. Work material is submerged under water for clean, quiet cutting.

“There is still plenty of room for growth for waterjets,” Cheung said at the celebration dinner that evening.

The ProtoMAX joins the GlobalMAX®, which is designed for basic waterjet cutting, the Maxiem®, and the OMAX line of waterjets. That’s quite the lineup compared to OMAX’s early days, when Cheung and the other company founder, Dr. John Olsen, developed new motion control technology and used that to differentiate its waterjet from others on the market. Things really took off when software was developed to make part design easier and cutting results more precise.

In recent years, OMAX has focused more on consolidating its manufacturing efforts, believing that if it can control more of its production efforts, it can stay on top of quality and product delivery commitments. As a result, the waterjet manufacturer is fabricating 70 percent to 80 percent of the parts that go into its waterjets, according to Stephen Bruner, OMAX’s vice president of marketing. OMAX has about 220,000 sq. ft. dedicated to research and development, service, training, and manufacturing (see Figure 2).

“As an American supplier, we have found that investing in our business and capabilities has really paid off for us,” Bruner added.

Those unable to make it to the Pacific northwest will have a chance to see the ProtoMAX at IMTS in Chicago, Sept. 10-15.

Figure 2. This metal sculpture, which was fabricated in honor of the company’s 25th anniversary, sits in an OMAX building dedicated to training and software development.