In 1995, a series of
cost effective stud mounted rocker arms that were destined for the back pages
of the more expensive Miller Engineering Stand and Stud designs were spun off into a
separate company: PVS.
The goal of this new company was
simple: provide Miller's MID-LIFT Geometry for a cost effective stud
mounted rocker arm market, and give engine builders on a budget something
better than the "machine shop" rockers being made by shops with
little or no automotive valve train experience - or understanding.
Additionally, make a BETTER
rocker arm than America's most popular stud mounted rockers. The MID-LIFT
geometry assured this, since no other rocker arm was made this precisely. But the manufacturing had to be novel to combine all
these goals into reality.
Hitting a new bench mark in pricing while providing features no
other manufacturer has ever offered meant breaking away from the high,
monopoly oriented pricing of domestic material suppliers. So in 1997 Jim used his international
expertise, established overseas offices and engineers who work exclusively for
him, and began importing aircraft grade alloys from Germany and Asia, made to
custom specifications from
prototypes developed in-house at MEI. This was then combined with
unique manufacturing techniques that achieved new
standards with more affordable
pricing. As the smaller quantity production was converted into larger batches,
typically running 40,000 pieces, quality control needed to be redesigned to
meet this. Minor inconsistencies in colors, heat treats, and tolerances forced
Jim to redesign production methods. Today, the final products are
finished, totally inspected and assembled
in-house on the same high tech machines used to complete the more expensive systems
made entirely by MEI in
the Pompano Beach facility. You might call these the "generic" version of
MEI products.
