What are your duties with Delta Research?
I was formerly vice president of sales, and now I’m vice president of operations for Delta Research, which is one of the companies underneath the Delta family of companies. We have four companies altogether: Delta Research, which is a TS-16949 automotive transmission manufacturer. We mainly produce gears, shafts, machined housings, and assemblies. That’s the company that I’m mostly involved with.
As a partner of the Delta Family, I’m also tied into Delta Gear, which is our aerospace arm making all different kinds of gears and gear sets and assemblies for the aerospace industry. Our third company is Delta Inspection, which is a full service gear-inspection company. They provide anything from complete transmission breakdowns, reverse engineering, sorting third party dispute resolutions, and ISO certifications of gauge calibrations. Basically, if you need your gears checked, we’ll check them for you at Delta Inspection.
And finally, we own a shop management software company, which was a 30-year-old company, and we’ve owned it for five of those years. We’ve had the software for decades, but we bought that software and rebuilt it from the ground up to make it in line with the new millennium. We have roughly 500 customers across North America that currently use the software.
So with regards to me, I manage the day-to-day operations at Delta Research along with a team of people who work with me.
I still manage some of the sales of the business, but we’ve been transitioning me to more operations as part of our business continuation plan.
Delta Research is really the founding company of the Delta Family of Companies. My grandfather-in-law, Alex Sakuta, started the business back in the ’50s, and my father-in-law, Bob Sakuta, became formally involved with the company in 1978. Since then, he’s been growing the business. Delta Research has grown from its humble beginnings from a 20-man shop in the ’80s to what is now the Delta Family of Companies with approximately 170 employees and three facilities. It’s more well rounded, has more depth, and we have a much deeper bench of talent.
In regards to Delta Gear, I’m on the board of directors there. I deal with more strategic development and strategy. We’re involved in many different aerospace engine applications at Gear. With regards to turbine engines, we serve most of the major engine makers, as well as helicopter and tilt-rotor aircraft.
What is Delta Gear’s core philosophy?
The key is to continue to grow and build relationships between customers by meeting their needs and helping them solve their gear-related problems. We focus on a business of mutual respect between not only our customers, but also our employees both of which we need to have a successful business.
What does Delta Research do for the gear industry? What sectors do you serve?
The majority of what we do at Delta Research is related to the automotive transmission industry. We are really the main prototype manufacturer of electric-car transmissions. Nearly every U.S. car company that has made an electric car, we’ve participated in the development of their transmissions or drive units. But also in Europe, we’ve made many different transmissions for European companies — in China and Australia as well.
We like to pride ourselves in being the electric-car transmission prototype company of choice. But more than that, we’re also a production manufacturer of gears, shafts, and carriers from low-volume production in the thousands to high-volume production in the millions. We’ve done both for over a decade. We’ve been in high volume for over a decade. We are ISO/TS16949 certified like any typical production facility would be.
What are some of Delta Gear’s proudest moments?
Delta Gear is a full service aerospace gear manufacturing house. Anyone who walks through our building knows that we are the real deal. In terms of capabilities, there really is no private company that’s as capable as we are in manufacturing precision gears, shafts, and gearbox assemblies; however, we’re more flexible than the big, billion-dollar companies out there.
We do a lot of development of the next-generation engines. We’ve been working on future vertical takeoff projects as well as the current production of commercial and military aircraft engine components and sub-assemblies.
What can Gear Expo attendees expect from Delta Gear’s booth?
We’re going to have the best and the brightest there showcasing our knowledge and understanding of gears and leading-edge technology. We’ll help provide expertise in manufacturing feasibility, industry trends in materials, and new methods of manufacturing — all of which will help our customers to improve the value of their products. I’m really hoping that the main engine makers for the aerospace industry participate in the show. That way they can gain a better understanding of how we handle gear programs and life-of-contract implementation from launch to production — the steps that we would take to ensure a good launch and a successful transition of parts to our company.
What can the gear industry expect from Delta Gear in the future?
Our vision is to become North America’s No. 1 source for high-precision gears, shafts, machined housings, and complete gearbox assemblies. And with our new equipment that we’re purchasing, it will make us even more efficient, more capable, and more valuable to our customers. We like to talk that we are the factory, and that we can do it all.
For more information: www.delta-gear.com
