Mark is repairing a Peerless 7000 donated to Operation Double Eagle

This is a guest blog written by Mike Rollins, Director of Sales and Marketing. Remember that he is trying to suck up to me because he took my granddaughter away for three weeks.

How many times have you smashed a knuckle working on something in the shop and thought “#$*!@ engineers. Whoever designed this piece of &&^% needs to try working on it themselves. Who puts a bolt there!?” I know your pain, man. Been there. Cool part, though, is that Mark Pilger, owner of SIP Corporation, has been working on his machines in the field for 35 years.

Before Mark bought SIP, he designed laser-guided missiles at Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin) where he was one of the first engineers to use Computer Aided Design (or “CAD,” as you and I know it). He then worked at Zurn Industries, designing the internal components for nuclear power plant cooling towers. He also worked at Johnson & Johnson, where he designed central venous catheters for measuring heart flow rates. We talk about precision in cutting units, but that’s baby talk compared to the tolerances required for catheters and laser-guided missiles. Now, while all of these companies had incredibly sophisticated engineering departments, the manufacturing was done somewhere else. Mark eventually took a job at a small startup, where the engineering and manufacturing were both done in the same building. The company was eventually acquired by British Viggo (the European Johnson & Johnson) and Mark was promoted to Manufacturing Manager, where he could get his hands dirty.

In 1988, when I was born, Mark and his wife, Michele, bought Universal Gear Corporation, which included the Whittington Vacuum Pumps and SIP Grinder divisions. All three had been run into the ground by the previous owner and by 1990 Mark determined that the best candidate for revival was the SIP division; so, he focused his effort there. Side note, and for another article (wink, wink Mark): Mark is only the third owner of SIP in the 121 years of our company’s awesome history!

Alright, back to 1990. In the beginning, Mark did everything: engineering, manufacturing, supervising, and sales. With limited resources, Mark felt that direct contact with the customer was going to be his best chance. So, unhindered by preconceived notions, he began his effort to design new, competitive grinders. With a clean slate in the industry, Mark’s first all new design was the Peerless 2000, a revolution in reel grinding. Simply put, the 2000 is a fixed surface plate, with a grinding head built in. Mark wanted to go beyond the idea of adjusting your grinder to the CU (cutting unit), and instead focused on adjusting the CU to be correct, by using your grinder as the measuring device to do so. Throughout this process, Mark focused on durability, simplicity, precision, and speed. To this day, the principle of focusing on the geometry and uniformity of your CU’s, while in-grinder, has opened all kinds of untapped and unlimited possibilities (also another article for another day *winks, again*) that I could talk about for 10 hours.

Later, frustrated by imprecise reel center shafts, Mark patented a new type of pi tape, made out of mylar. Also, regardless of what people will tell you, Mark has the first patent for fully automatic relief grinding (check with the patent office if you don’t believe me). He then developed the Ideal 1000, the first automatic, dual head bedknife grinder. Now, Mark was well aware that his designs were new to the industry which, by default, made them radically different. So he decided to include free factory training with each unit sold. We still offer free factory training to this day.

Mark eventually had three regional managers doing the training and maintenance when the housing bubble burst. In 2005, he once again took over the job of Regional Manager for the eastern United States. The downturn in business and being in the field for 10-12 weeks per year made it a very productive time for him to develop new, even better products.

So, being in the field and experiencing the problems that equipment managers have to solve each day, along with significant alone time to think as he was driving, Mark then developed the Ideal 1100 Bedknife Grinder and the Peerless 7000 Reel Grinder (still a surface plate, with a grinding head built in). Not quite satisfied with the 1100, he then did a complete redesign of the bedknife grinder and came up with the Ideal 6000, my favorite machine on this planet (also another article I’d love to write). Mark then, along with IGCEMA (International Golf Course Equipment Manager Association, precursor to the GCSAA’s EMCP and CTEM programs) developed the RHOC (reel height of cut gauge, pronounced “rock”). He never stopped making improvements to his machines during this time, either, including the pin alignment system and the v-support pallet for the bedknife grinder, all designed by an engineer that had to go in the field and work on the machines he designed! He also instituted the 1-2-3 Rule which basically said if three customers commented about a feature, he would do something about it. My wife, Anne, would yell at me for generalizing a group of people, but it’s true: I always tell people that, when it comes to machinery, engines, etc., most engineers sit at a desk and live in a theoretical world, while you and I are living in the real world. Because of his dedication to growing this company and being in the field with you, Mark lives in BOTH.

I’ve seen Mark work in the field. I’m not kidding when I say I’ve heard him mumble “Which dumb engineer designed this!?” as he was lying on the ground, fixing one of his own machines. SIP thrives on these experiences, along with customer feedback, good AND bad. Mark actually listens to you. He listens because he’s been in the field, he’s worked on his own machines, and he’s taken grenades in the trenches, WITH YOU! That will never change here at SIP.