Limited seating. Register early for your favorite combos.

Tour transportation sponsored by JCCS CPA, PC; Montana Department of Environmental Quality; Port of Montana and Kalispell Chamber of Commerce.  

Tour attendees must ride buses to the tour sites to avoid disruptions on-site and allow room for bus parking.  Safety gear is required at several sites. Please wear close-toes shoes, no loose clothing, and bring your safety glasses if you have them. No cameras, please.

Option A: Bus to AMAT Main Plant/Assembly (formerly Semitool) & Nomad Global Technology Solutions

Option B: Bus to AMAT Birch Grove & Timberline Tool

Option C: Tour Fun Beverage Plant & bus to Algae Aqua-Culture Technologies

BRIEF TOUR SITE DESCRIPTIONS 

Algae Aqua-Culture Technologies

Visit this brand new facility located on the Stoltze Land and Lumber Company mill site in Columbia Falls. AACT scientists and engineers have taken a unique approach to the production of biofuels and soil amendments, drawing on simple biological principles with components like a biomethane generator, a photo-bioreactor and the AACT Green Power House that work in concert with each other or independently. AACT bioprocessors can be applied to numerous industrial or agricultural applications to make them cleaner, more efficient and ultimately more profitable.  AACT systems use sunlight, biomass while consuming waste heat and carbon dioxide to support the cultivation of energy-rich biomass converting it into fuel and rich, organic fertilizers. Ideally suited for the production of combustible gasses including syngas, methane and hydrogen used to generate electrical power.  No waste products are generated by the system: the by-products from one phase of the system becomes an input for the next phase.
 

 

AMAT – Main Facility

Sub-assembly, Final Assembly and Functional Test of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.  Equipment ranges from two chamber tools to as large as 22 chamber tools that are larger than a full sized pickup.  The equipment is fully automated with robotics for handling silicon wafers and primarily use liquid chemicals for processing the wafers.  The process chambers include metal deposition such as copper and gold and various cleaning chambers.    

 The facility has mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, software and process engineering disciplines and reliability and process labs.  These resources combined with the manufacturing resources here and at Birch Grove enable a vertical integration business model with rapid prototyping capabilities.  All support staff required for the Semitool Business Unit are also located at this facility. 

Lab Viewing of R&D Application

ISO 9001 Certification:  Quality Management System

ISO 14001 Certification:  Environmental Management System

 

AMAT – Birch Grove

Is the state’s premier fabrication facility supporting semiconductor equipment manufacture and Research & Development. It operates with three shifts and 141 employees.

Operations include

·        Machining (metal & plastics and includes 60 CNCs, 5 Axis, and Wire EDM) 

·        Welding (metal & plastics)

·        Powder Coating & Teflon Processing (compression molding Teflon resin into billets)

·        Stock Cutting (Band saws, 4 KW Laser & Water Jet)

·        Sheet Metal (fabrication and assembly)

·        Quality Inspection

This facility has ISO 9001 Certification:  Quality Management System and ISO 14001 Certification:  Environmental Management System.

 Fun Beverage Inc – the FUN Place!

Fun Beverage, Inc., headquartered in Kalispell, is not only base-camp for Seeing to Learn activities; it is also a customer focused, diversified wholesale beverage distributor of Beer, Wine and Soft-drinks, distributing over 3000 different sku's to over 400 accounts in a distribution area that covers five Montana counties. Its 2010 case volume was 1.2 million. Its home is a state of the art distribution facility.  Through a series of acquisitions, 6 to be exact, and embracing new products, Fun Beverage has grown from one of the smallest distributors in Montana to one of the largest.

Learn about its Keys to Success to meet the demands of customers that want what they want, when they want it, at the price and quantity we agreed, 100% of the time. Observe how systems help manage product from 200 suppliers, the sku’s and daily demands of distribution to customers in the heart of one of Montana’s premier recreational and outdoor-focused locales. Fun Beverage has invested heavily in technology and best practices over the years in order to turn complexity into competitive advantage. Suppliers have increased from 50 to over 200 and SKU’s have increased from just under 900 to over 3,000 in the last 20 years.

Learn how they were able to eliminate an entire loading shift and reduce company man-hours by 15% and OT by over 80% while at the same time achieving record case volume at Order Fill Rates above 95% with a new integrated, paperless, route accounting system that tracks all purchases, receipts, inventory, orders, deliveries, sales and receivables in real time. And learn about the advantages of arming the entire field sales and delivery team are armed with smart phones and ruggedized handheld computers communicating in real time.

 

NOMAD Global Communication Solutions

Nomad was started by 4 guys that had an idea; 9 years later they employ over 80 people, designing and manufacturing some of the most advanced mobile communications systems available.  Nomad’s products range from bumper pull trailers with as few as two workstations, up to chassis-based systems with 10 workstations, conference area, galley, restroom and living quarters.  Nomad’s target customers are emergency first responders, disaster management and fire suppression teams, military field teams and emergency service professionals that require remote communication ability.  Nomad’s products are designed, engineered and manufactured in-house where its quest is always for new and better ways to integrate advanced communication technologies in turn-key mobile platforms.  During the tour you will see multiple units in different stages of production.
 

  Timberline Tool