Shop produces for land, sea and air
Meet family-run BVI Machining and how Esprit helps keep this modern shop running.
By Esprit
At BVI Machining Inc. in Katy, Texas, just west of Houston, the Kallergis brothers — Nick, Mario and Kostas — carry on a machining legacy that reaches back decades.
“We were pretty much raised in my father’s machine shop that he started in 1974 with all manual machines,” said Mario, vice president of operations.
The shop stayed manual until 2005 when Mario, fresh out of University of Houston with a computer science degree, came in and started to push for automation by purchasing BVI Machining’s first CNC machine.
In 2009 came a serendipitous introduction of Esprit CAM software to BVI Machining when a client recommended the product to help facilitate collaboration. It soon became apparent that Esprit, part of the CAD/CAM portfolio of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division, was the right choice not only for the client but for supporting a growing suite of BVI Machining’s own products.
Like a lot of businesses on the Gulf Coast, BVI Machining has roots in the oil and gas industry. The company started out making valves and blowout preventers. Lately, though, in addition to job shop work for clients, the brothers have focused more on 6061-T6 aluminum automotive and marine parts shaped from billet on a Mazak Integrex e-1550 VII with the help of Mazatrol and Esprit. The current product line includes unique items, such as billet crossbars for the C8 Corvette and a front half for Mercury 2.5-L (0.66 gal.) outboard motors, both of which are the only products of their kind being made today. For small-block Ford engines, BVI Machining also makes its X1 cylinder head, two of which feed major boost pressure to eight hungry cylinders in Chris “Boosted GT” Hamilton’s yellow Mustang, as seen on the Discovery Channel show “Street Outlaws.”
Having forged its path by land and sea over the years, the business has begun to set its sights higher: Houston’s flourishing space exploration industry. Companies setting up shop at Houston’s new spaceport are increasing demand for machining services, and the Kallergis brothers are keen to be on the leading edge of the boom.
“We see more space companies joining the Houston business community soon,” Mario said.
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