SMI began life in 1990 as a distributor focused exclusively on supplying customers in Southern California with Linear Motion products. Almost immediately, we expanded into Northern California and eventually all of California. The products supplied were based upon the current needs of our customers and included Linear bushings, precision ground and hardened shafting, Ball and Leadscrews and simple actuators. We quickly expanded our product offering to include square rail technology, precision slides, cross rolling elements and sophisticated actuation assemblies. Our claim to fame then, as it is now, is our ability to offer customers overlapping products providing a number of solutions for a single application, giving true flexibility in product selection. As a small distributor SMI did something very unique. We began bringing Engineers on board to assist in applications at the field level. Now we were able to aid in the design process, offer a number of solutions and still offer pricing comparable to factory direct. Several years into our life, it became apparent our customers were in need of extra machine work and modification to off the-shelf items. Since our founder had a great background in machining and machine tool technology, the transition to a machining facility was rapid. We began offering customers modification opportunities to linear components and systems to adapt to specific needs. In the years since, we have maintained our focus within the Motion market place and have continued our expansion. We still offer Engineering assistance at all levels from design to application and carry overlapping lines from around the world with leading names in the industry. We still have extremely competitive pricing due to our buying power, and captive Machining capabilities dedicated to our customers motion needs. Now, SMI has developed a line of products based upon what our customers have demanded and could not find elswhere..These new products are based upon the premise of start with the simple solutions first and keep the cost down. So many times we have heard our customers complain about the level of sophistication manufacturers go through to supply a product when all they needed was a Simple Slide. We took this to mean what you will see in our Simple Slide section. A low cost, nominal precision slide in a variety of lengths and widths with immediate availability. The MP Stages, XLA Stages, ECO Stages and now the Slick Stick products are a direct reflection of past applications combined with market input requesting size, precision levels and costs. These stages are made with various levels of precision and tolerances based upon your needs, specific to your requirements, with off the-shelf availability.