In the years since, the company has shown a remarkable degree of resilience, forged over decades of success. Allied Blower is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year, and Bruce Wendel is bullish about the U.S. expansion and the prospects for the company’s future. Wendel is one of three owners of the business; he is Principal and General Manager of Allied Blower & Sheet Metal Ltd.—the Canadian side of the company—and President of Allied Blower USA Inc.

Based in Surrey, British Columbia, the company now has a manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama. This manufacturing centre will ultimately support several service centres in the area. “We’re licensed in five states, with projects in most of them,” Wendel says, “and we’re working on two more.” The company currently works in Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, and Georgia.

The lumber industry in the Southeastern United States is rich with opportunity and is driving the expansion. South of the border, there are more independent lumber producers than in Canada, and this provides companies like Allied Blower with openings to connect directly with more owners making decisions for their business.

“These companies have deep connections to their communities,” says Wendel. “You’ll go into a community where ‘XYZ Lumber’ has operated for 100 years, and see ‘XYZ’ high school, ‘XYZ’ medical pavilion, ‘XYZ’ golf course. The owner is right there in the community, running the business with their family.”

Natural resources are big business for Allied Blower. The company serves the lumber industry in both Canada and the United States, in addition to the potash and uranium mining sector and some customers in manufacturing as well. Wherever a process produces airborne dust, there is a potential role for Allied Blower’s equipment and services, and those services are end-to-end.

“We design the systems for our customers. We manufacture 90 percent of what we put in, both the equipment and the ductwork, and all of that equipment is certified to various National Fire Protection Association standards,” explains Wendel. “We do the installation, commission the systems, perform inspection and maintenance. We do upgrades when a customer wants to increase the throughput in their plant or when they install a new machine.”

Allied Blower’s in-house capabilities are complemented by a network of strategic partnerships that it has built with other companies in the industry. These partners include companies like Air Cure, a baghouse filter technology company; Fargus-GreCon, a supplier of spark detection and extinguishing systems; and Albarrie, a manufacturer of non-woven filter fabrics and bags.

The team stands behind its systems, providing rapid support when a customer’s critical equipment malfunctions. Whatever the industry, downtime is costly.

“Breakdowns always happen on Friday night, of course,” Wendel laughs, “but we answer the phone and get right to it. We’ll get a crew there on the weekend and get it done. We’ll drive parts there if we need to or send them air freight—whatever it takes; we won’t walk away from a job until it’s right. We have strong relationships with our customers, and we protect those relationships.”

This commitment to its product and service has created loyal customers. “We’ve got a broad install base and a great reputation in the market,” says Wendel. “When it’s time for new equipment or upgrades, our customers come back to us.”

Like every other industry, technological developments are changing the game for Allied Blower. The next big step? Automation.

“Right now in the market, there’s a lot of instrumentation. Sensors are monitoring equipment and processes end-to-end. But automation? Not yet. That’s the push; that’s the future. Automation will mean that we’ll know what a piece of equipment is doing based on differential pressure or velocity or volume of air. We’ll know whether something’s wearing out or not working correctly, and we can provide that information to the customer,” says Wendel.

He is mindful of the fact that these kinds of proactive insights prompted by data may be perceived as intrusive. He understands that there is a balance to be struck: providing just as much information as the customer needs and no more. However, the potential to reduce costs for customers–particularly costs resulting from downtime–makes some level of automation a logical next step for Allied Blower.

With loyal customers returning to Allied Blower for additional equipment and services and a burgeoning expansion in the United States, there are few things that provide an impediment to growth. The biggest single challenge is people, specifically the availability of the highly skilled tradespeople that Allied Blower needs to serve its customers.

The people the company needs are primarily sheet metal workers certified by the Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB) in Canada and the American Welding Society (AWS) in the United States, having some experience working in industrial environments. Those people are in short supply and extremely high demand on both sides of the border.

“Access to skilled trades is certainly a challenge,” Wendel says. “It’s worse right now in the U.S. than in Canada; the labour market is tight here, but it’s even hotter there.”

When talent is in such high demand, there are a number of ways to approach the problem. A company can try to compete with compensation packages or provide a working environment and culture that attracts talent from other companies. It is more difficult when high-demand talent is also in extremely short supply. In that case, a company has to do all those things and more.

For Allied Blower, ‘more’ means developing its own talent pools. The company deliberately creates breaks for younger people with limited experience to enter the company and train as they work, and apprentices are a key pillar of the talent strategy.

“It’s important for us to create a career path,” Wendel says. “We provide opportunities for people to come in and have a great job and one that they can translate into a career path. Some of the tradespeople will ultimately move off the tools into an estimating role or eventually a management position.”

Allied Blower supports the growth and development of these employees by funding training provided by local educational institutions. This may include technical training in the trades or estimating or even leadership training for those on the road to management roles. “We’re doing the same in the U.S. You have to have a certain number of journeymen before you can hire apprentices, of course, but that’s started.”

Not surprisingly, another challenge associated with a shortage of talent is succession planning. When younger employees are staying for shorter periods of time in any particular job and company, it is tough to build the kind of strength that a business needs for sustainable growth. “Succession is definitely a challenge. We’ve got key people moving toward retirement age, and it’s tough to lose that experience. We hope to bring more people in and transition those people into the leadership of the company in the future.”

In the meantime, as Allied Blower approaches its golden anniversary, it has both a proud legacy and a very bright future to offer that next generation of leaders. Renovations to the facility in Surrey are underway, and there are plans afoot for well-deserved celebrations marking 50 successful years in business.

The post Clearing the Air<p class="company">Allied Blower </p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

So, too, is DYNA Products, headquartered in the village of Millington, Michigan. In business since 1998, DYNA has primarily focused on equipment serving the firewood processing industry. The company manufactures and sells a full line of wood processors, up to and including its newest model for 2024, the SC-16 Rapid Split.

According to Chris Wilcox, Industrial Sales Team Lead with DYNA Products, the features on these new machines show how DYNA acts on cues from the market. “We listen to our customers,” says Wilcox. “We brainstorm with the engineers and figure out the most valuable thing that our customers want. The SC-16’s auto cycle was one of those innovations.”

DYNA’s current product line spans almost the entire cycle of wood processing. “Not only do we do firewood processors, we do auxiliary units as well. We build everything from standalone conveyors to tumblers, splitters, bundlers, and grapple units, and we’re now getting into chippers as well. We encompass the whole wood processing market, from end to end.”

DYNA’s machines make difficult work faster, easier, and more profitable for end users. “I wish I’d had these machines when I was younger,” Wilcox laughs. “I wouldn’t have been out there with an ax and a chainsaw.”

In-house expertise
An expansion of the company’s facilities in 2022 paved the way for growth, adding a new fabrication area and a paint and blast area to DYNA’s 51,000-square-foot facility. That expansion helped DYNA secure additional manufacturing capabilities, including its most recent acquisition of Vortex woodchippers. According to the company, DYNA Products now has exclusive rights to manufacture and market the line of products using the patented Vortex design.

However, the growth of its wood processing product line is but one example of DYNA’s diversification. Wilcox was initially brought into the company to grow the industrial sales business. His role has expanded since then, translating into a broader range of both work and customers.

“We’ve got a tube laser, a sheet laser, and we have multiple CNC mills,” he says. “We have several lathes. We do custom electrical wire harnesses in-house. Fabrication, paint, blast, and of course, all of our own assembly in-house as well. We were outsourcing some of that work, but we’ve brought it back in-house.”

This in-house capability has allowed DYNA to take on work from companies in diverse industries, ranging from an infrared and gas heat-equipment business to large trailer manufacturers, to a high-volume pump manufacturer, to companies that make pool lifts and dock lifts.

Deep roots
The company’s foundations are rooted in the forest. DYNA was founded in 1998 by Nathan and Norman Miller. The brothers manufactured specialty log furniture processing equipment in their father’s fence post business. Their love for woodcraft evolved into an entrepreneurial drive to serve the wood processing industry.

Norman Miller later sold his share, and Nathan now serves as CEO of DYNA Products, owning the company with three other people who joined later.

The company is Amish-owned and operated, and unabashedly wears its beliefs on its sleeve. It begins with the company’s mission statement and continues with a set of 12 core values: teamwork, respect, personal development, integrity, humility, honesty, good communication, servant leadership, family, excellence, accountability, and solution orientation.

Wilcox stresses that these values aren’t just words on a page; they’re manifested in the way people work with each other, both within the company and with others. “Our mission statement is to be a blessing, to be the hands and feet of Jesus. That is who we are,” he says.

It starts when a new employee joins. Wilcox joined DYNA Products about two years ago from the corporate world, and he remembers the interview well. “This was the longest interview I’ve ever had; it took just over two hours. They were very thorough and asked some excellent questions. Not just about my skills and experience—about me as a person.”

Growing its presence
The business has grown far beyond its modest beginnings, with three dealers in the United States, located in Kentucky, Wisconsin, and California, as well as a dealership in Japan.

In addition to these sales dealerships, the company also has rental centers located across the United States. Some are DYNA-authorized, and there are also private rental centers as well; DYNA is a member of the ARA (American Rental Association).

“We’re always looking for new rental centers across the U.S. That’s something unique that we do; no other manufacturer rents this kind of equipment. We say it’s like buying a car—you can try before you buy,” Wilcox explains. Indeed, some long-term renters will ultimately purchase a machine of their own and rent it to others when they’re not using it, an additional source of revenue.

Most of the rented machines ultimately make their way back. “The majority of machines come back to DYNA. We take those machines and we go as deep as we need to for refabrication purposes. Then we put them back out on the market for sale, with a one-year warranty.”

Naturally, quality is paramount for DYNA Products. “DYNA is the only manufacturer that has a three-year warranty on a new firewood processor,” Wilcox says proudly. The industry standard, in contrast, is only one year. Some companies, he notes, have tried to offer warranties similar in length to DYNA’s, but have backed away.

The company’s values underpin every decision it makes, particularly when it comes to keeping its customers happy. Wilcox remembers an incident where a DYNA machine was sold with a defective motor (not made by DYNA but by a supplier). Most companies would have swapped out the motor; instead, Wilcox remembers, DYNA stepped up and gave the customer an entirely new machine.

Coming through
Even companies who always do the right thing, without fail, face headwinds, and DYNA is no exception.

Currently, the biggest single challenge facing the business is inflation. When the products you sell range from $30,000 at the low end into the six-figure range, interest rates have a significant impact on your customers. DYNA posted record sales for the first quarter of 2023, but the second and third quarters were challenging. Happily, Wilcox reports, the business is starting to see an uptick.

However, he says, everyone in the company remained positive, optimistic, and focused on the future through the challenging months. Good business decisions mitigated some of the effects: the used market and the rental market sustained DYNA’s business in a way that wasn’t the case for some companies.

Wilcox says that DYNA Products is a “blessing” to the community in which it operates, and vice versa. DYNA provides about 60 people with good jobs in Millington—a small village of just over 1,000 people—and in the surrounding communities. The local restaurant, at which many employees enjoy meals throughout the week, is also supported by DYNA’s presence.

DYNA means more to the community than just its direct economic impact, though. The company supports the local school through advertising and yearbook sponsorships, and participates in benefits in support of community members. Just last fall, remembers Wilcox, there was a benefit for a family whose daughter required major surgery, and DYNA stepped up to help.

“We want to do the right things,” Wilcox says. “That’s where integrity comes in. If you can give back to the community, it shows what kind of company you are.”

The post Deeply Rooted and Branching Out Worldwide<p class="company">DYNA Products</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Enrico Giannetti is founder and President of Dorian Tool International, and he has made his choice.

“The competition from all over the world is fierce,” he says. “Dorian Tool can’t compete with low-cost products coming from some of these countries; instead, we focus on developing high-tech products for customers that demand high performance.”

Giannetti is no stranger to pivoting when needed. He opened a machine shop business in 1980 in Houston, Texas, and that shop served some of the major international companies in the energy sector located in Houston and Dallas at the time: Schlumberger and Otis Engineering, among others. It quickly grew to be successful and profitable—at least, that is, until the spring of 1982.

Through the early 1980s, the oil industry crashed. Adjusted for inflation, prices plummeted from around $140 per barrel coming into the 1980s to less than $30 per barrel by the middle of that decade. Needless to say, there were severe consequences for any oil-related business, including Giannetti’s machine shop. It would have been understandable if he had simply folded and moved on to other pursuits. He did not.

“We had to evaluate our options and make the best decision in accordance with our situation,” he recalls. “In 1984, we moved all the equipment into our property in East Bernard, about 50 miles southwest of Houston, and a new Dorian was born.”

Today, the company employs about 50 people. Apart from Enrico Giannetti as President, other key staff includes Yolanda Giannetti as Vice President of National and International Sales and Director of Administration, Human Resources and Customer Service; Sarah R. Ortega-Durón in Marketing; Douglas Amerson as Operations Manager; Hector Chavarria as Manufacturing Product Manager; and Baris Cezaroglu, Vice President of Engineering and Manufacturing.

That team and the talented people with which they work produce and sell a wide range of high-end machining products to a nearly limitless range of customers.

“Our customer list includes automotive and aeronautics manufacturers, medical equipment manufacturers, companies in the energy industry, and the Defense Department,” says Giannetti. “From a hobby shop to a large manufacturing company, anyone that does any kind of manufacturing could be our customer.”

To those customers, Dorian supplies tools engineered for cutting, knurling, turning and boring, threading, and grooving metal on both CNC and manual lathes and systems for holding those tools. It is perhaps in this latter category—the company’s tool-holders—where its innovation is most clearly evident.

The company’s tool posts hold multiple patents, with industry-leading indexing and locking technology. Its quick-change system—a universal boring and milling bar with quick-change tool heads—offers significantly increased efficiency, leading to less time spent changing tools.

Digging even more deeply, the company’s components and parts also employ unique innovations that allow its customers to save time and money.

For instance, each Dorian ER collet—the part that secures the bit in a cutting tool—features 16 full-length slits, in contrast with the eight more typical in competing companies’ collets. This allows the collet to collapse much more uniformly, providing a concentric 360-degree gripping surface for the tool and reducing component wear and tear.

Dorian’s proprietary vibration damping system absorbs vibrations caused by cutting tools, offering better accuracy and surface finish in addition to longer tool life. The company’s components also offer a through-coolant system, supplying coolant to the cutting edge for improved tool life and, therefore, reduced costs.

As he operates a manufacturing business which, in turn, has manufacturers as its customers, Giannetti is understandably passionate about the industry.

“Manufacturing is the pillar of a stable economy in any country in the world. At Dorian Tool, we’re proud to produce some of the highest-tech and high-performance toolings in the world. We bring our tools and technology to our customers—other manufacturers—helping them to become more competitive and profitable as well.”

The ‘international’ in Dorian Tool International’s name is no exaggeration. Its customers are global, as is the company itself, with international sales representatives located in Germany, Canada, Italy, Mexico, and China.

The team also participates in trade events that expose its products to potential customers around the world. The International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) is held every two years in Chicago, and Dorian Tool participated in the 2022 event. It also participates in AMB—the International Exhibition for Metal Working—held annually in Stuttgart, Germany.

A global approach makes sense as manufacturers of all sizes and types face a host of challenges: competition from around the world, pressure on prices, skyrocketing costs, and more. When asked about the most serious difficulty facing his business, though, Giannetti answers quickly.

It is about people: “Finding new employees is the greatest challenge in our industry,” he says.

The difficulty is that in today’s world, manufacturers like Dorian Tool exist in a constantly changing space between the traditional labor-intensive nature of manufacturing and the current high-tech form of the industry.

“Too many young people—the next generation—are not interested in working in a manufacturing plant,” says Giannetti. “There is still a lot of manual and physical work involved in the job. At the same time, though, in today’s machine tool industry, most of the equipment is driven and controlled by computers. Without a good education, knowledge, and experience, it is very difficult for anyone without proper preparation to operate a CNC (computer numerically controlled) machine tool.”

Dorian is routinely in need of CNC machinists, mechanical engineers and programmers, sales engineers, and technical leads. To overcome the hurdle presented by a shortage of talent, the company has put a number of strategies in place, tightening its procurement focus for capital equipment and purchasing advanced equipment that can operate with less human input.

“In the manufacturing department, we are changing and simplifying the manufacturing process and getting new equipment which will help us to overcome the manpower shortage.”

As manufacturing technologies and equipment evolve, so too will the industry, and Dorian Tool International will continue to evolve and change direction as it needs to as well. This company will not let the race for the bottom in price and quality distract it from its focus; instead, it will innovate, develop new tools and products for its customers, and constantly raise the bar for quality.

To power the future of manufacturing in America, Enrico Giannetti has one hope; his passion for the industry is clear, as it is a rallying cry shared by manufacturers across the country and beyond.

“Expand education in manufacturing technologies,” he implores. “Get young students thinking about our industry and fill the classes with them, creating a new wave of personnel to fill the shortage of this great industry.”

The post On the Cutting Edge<p class="company">Dorian Tool International</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

The products the company sells are often used in mission-critical applications, like aerospace and medical products manufacturing. Building trust with customers is just as critical, and that means ensuring that components are exactly what they’re supposed to be. This is one reason the company is embarking on what Bruce Tharpe, K-1’s Manager of Strategic Allotments & Cost Analysis, calls an exciting new journey.

The company is highly accredited. It is AS9120 and AC0056 certified—both for its work in aerospace and defense—and also possesses ISO 9001 quality management certification. K-1 Technologies is now pursuing certification for all three levels of AS6081. With the support and assistance of its partner, Global Electronic Testing Services, K-1 has installed the equipment and accessed training for its staff that AS6081 certification will require.

According to NQA (National Quality Assurance), the body that provides the certification, the AS6081 standard was created due to a significant and increasing volume of counterfeit electronic parts found in the aerospace supply chain. The safety risk posed by these fraudulent parts is clearly unacceptable in these kinds of applications.

“You have to have those safeguards in place,” Tharpe says. “We have a responsibility to our customers to safeguard their reputation and their warranties. We’re putting up an even stronger defensive front to make sure they don’t receive substandard parts.”

For K-1 Technologies, the first level of protection is careful management of its supplier relationships. “We have 15-year relationships with some of our suppliers,” Tharpe says. “We know and trust them. A new supplier really has to prove themselves over time.”

Along with supplier management and product inspection, he says, AS6081 testing will complete the company’s three-prong strategy to protect its customers against the risks of faulty components.

In the past, K-1 Technologies has outsourced this level of testing when it’s been required. Going forward, the capability to do it in-house will mean consistently faster turnaround times for customers. And it’s not just about delivery timelines; according to Tharpe, the company plans to ultimately provide a minimum Level A testing under the AS6081 standard by default on every component it sells.

It’s all about building a high level of trust with customers. K-1 Technologies offers a 10-year warranty on its products, and this change means backing that warranty up with the confidence of extensive testing.

“We don’t have the luxury to make mistakes that could affect our reputation,” Tharpe explains. “Larger entities have more security because companies have to purchase from them; they can make mistakes. If we make a mistake, we could lose a customer forever. Our service has to be at a higher level to retain customers and continue to grow.”

Building relationships with customers as a trusted partner is nothing new for K-1 Technologies. In fact, it’s embedded in the operating philosophy of the company, and has been since day one.

The company was founded in 1995 by David Razawi. Razawi was working with a company that—like K-1 does today—provided support with distribution. Tharpe, who worked with Razawi at the time, remembers him saying that he thought the business could do better than a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. “He’d say, ‘This can be done better. This can be done more efficiently, and more with the customer’s unique needs in mind.’”

With that end in mind, Razawi launched the business, and it’s been growing ever since. “The business was founded on the philosophy of building relationships,” Tharpe says. “Being closer with customers—not growing so large that everything becomes automated and you lose that personal touch.”

The company’s CEO, Michelle Gorman, sees that philosophy embodied in the company’s operations to this day. “We learned early on that great OEMs and CMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers and Contract Manufacturers) not only produce top products and excellent manufacturing,” Gorman says, “but the supply chain is supported by creative and flexible partners willing to do more and take on more responsibility. That’s the main reason we go above and beyond what our customers expect, even in an industry where extreme challenges, countless competitors, and fluctuations in demand are commonplace.”

The flexibility, and the personalized approach, pays off when it comes to attracting customers. “A significant number of our new customers come to us when they run into a roadblock with another supplier,” Tharpe says. “When there’s something another supplier couldn’t or wouldn’t do, we’re able to help them.”

For K-1 Technologies, this is what it means to be a true partner. It’s evident in the way the company responds to unforeseen events to support its customers.

When the pandemic first hit, the company’s leadership knew that their customers were at risk of supply chain disruption. The team immediately began using business data to predict what the impacts were going to be, and how best to mitigate them.

“We saw it coming,” Gorman says. “We knew this was going to create significant supply problems for our customers. Many manufacturers were shut down for several months, and that was on top of existing shortages. The pandemic compounded a situation that was already challenging.”

Although the impact of the pandemic on business was unprecedented, K-1 was able to anticipate and respond to the challenge because it had supported its customers through previous interruptions over its nearly 28 years in business.

“There was the analog to digital shortage in the late 1990s. There was a severe capacitor shortage, with the boom in cell phones, when demand for tantalum outstripped the supply,” recalls Tharpe. “More recently, there’s been an MLCC (multilayer ceramic capacitor) shortage.”

Sales Manager Dan Duffy agrees. “After years in the industry I learned many times how I could make a difference in our customers’ supply chains,” he says. “K-1 can do things other suppliers can’t or simply won’t do, saving them money and headaches in the process.”

Anticipating what was on the horizon, K-1 tapped into its global network of suppliers to identify alternate sources of components and other products. Moreover, throughout the worst of the supply chain challenges, the company kept prices as reasonable as possible, narrowing its own margins to help customers control their costs. Notably, the company did this at a time when some others were taking advantage of shortages to increase their margins.

Now, K-1 Technologies is helping its customers again with the flip side of that equation. Prices have dropped, and K-1 is making sure its customers know so that they can take advantage of the savings. In some cases, Tharpe says, those savings can reach into the seven-figure range.

This is another example illustrating how K-1 Technologies goes above and beyond. The company has the capacity to offer VMI (vendor managed inventory) service to its customers. K-1 purchases the components and stocks them, delivering them at the moment they’re required by customers. For those customers, keeping these components off the shelves—and the balance sheet—adds up to significant cost savings.

Unlike some of its competitors, K-1 Technologies offers the additional security of guaranteeing the price of those components through the life of the order. This gives customers a greater level of predictability when budgeting and forecasting. “Even a small price variance can add up very quickly,” Tharpe says. “Multiply that variance by hundreds of different line items, and it can become a logistical and financial nightmare.”

Given the compounding effect of price variances on large numbers of components, K-1 Technologies is always looking for innovative ways to reduce costs for its customers.

“We’ve picked up manufacturers and brands that are less known in the United States,” says Tharpe. “They’re ‘white label’ companies; they make the products for everyone else. The products are exactly the same, but their costs are lower because everything is done in-house. It’s vertically integrated.”

Indeed, K-1 Technologies occupies a uniquely balanced position in a competitive market. The company is large enough to have the capacity to offer its customers a comprehensive line of products and advanced distribution capabilities, and still small enough to provide flexibility and a personal touch. And now, with its pursuit of AS6081 certification, K-1 Technologies is building on a quarter-century of relationships with suppliers and customers alike, taking trust to an even higher level.

The post Trust at the Highest Level<p class="company">K-1 Technologies</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Hangcha was founded in China in 1956, and in 1974, its first forklift rolled off the manufacturing line. Since then, the company has become an international leader in the industry. Figures from Modern Material Handling (MMH) magazine place the company eighth worldwide in sales volume. Today, that market leadership continues, with over 80 subsidiaries in countries around the world and industry-leading technology.

Hangcha forklifts have been available in Canada for some time but, in 2019, the company deepened its footprint here. Robert Pitzul, Vice President of Sales for Hangcha Canada, was the catalyst. At the time, Hangcha forklifts were entering Canada’s dealer network through an importer. Pitzul approached the company about putting facilities on the ground in Canada, and with a U.S. expansion just under their belt, Hangcha Group agreed.

Hangcha Forklift Canada was incorporated in 2019—just in time for COVID to put a damper on its plans. The delay was only temporary, and the team picked up the keys to the warehouse in the fall of 2020.

Today, most of the company’s 35 employees are located at the headquarters just outside Montreal, in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec. That first location was only one piece of the puzzle: the company also has a 30,000-square-foot warehouse showroom in Mississauga, Ontario and another 14,000-square-foot warehouse in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Louanne Rioux, Sales and Marketing Director, explains that the locations are strategically chosen, as is the inventory. “We wanted a presence from the West Coast to the East Coast because there are different applications and needs from one region to another. This way, we can provide the units best suited to the market.”

That line of units is broader than most, offering forklifts from Class I to Class VII, all manufactured by Hangcha.

The distribution facilities are a key differentiator between Hangcha and its competitors. The Mississauga warehouse has over 300 units on display for its customers, representing its full line of products. With that volume of inventory on the ground and a robust distribution system in place, Hangcha can offer customers much faster access to needed equipment. “Our lead times are second to none,” Rioux says. “Even if we have a factory order for a unit that isn’t already here, it only takes 16 to 20 weeks to deliver on average. Waiting periods of 12 to 24 months are more typical [in the industry].”

Randy Thistel, Regional Sales Manager for Hangcha in Ontario, points to that investment as an indicator of how Hangcha Group approaches its international expansion. “Hangcha has invested in the warehouse and put product on the floor. They made that commitment to have the units available for the dealer network and the end users. This is essential to what our success is going to be,” he says.

When it comes to forklifts, Thistel has “been there, done that.” He has worked in every corner of the industry for 30 years, from service to operations to sales. The decision to join Hangcha was an easy one for him. “I had known Robert for about 10 years. When he talked to me about Hangcha, how they were investing so many hours in development, taking a top-notch product to market at an affordable cost, I couldn’t say no.”

Rioux may be newer to the forklift industry than Thistel, but for her, Hangcha completes a circle. “Previously, I’ve worked in international shipping and logistics. My role here is closing the loop from ocean freight to logistics on the road to forklifts. It’s an exciting industry; it’s challenging, it moves fast, and it’s necessary.”

Working to establish Hangcha’s presence in Canada has been a whirlwind. “I was employee number three. It’s been an interesting ride. I worked with Robert to develop the structure, the dealer network coast to coast. Then we worked to build the sales team, starting with inside sales first, then the outside sales territories.”

The company has grown quickly in a short period, and it is intentional about the culture it is building. “It took some trial and error over the four years, but we have a dream team now. We’ve got over 100 years of combined industry knowledge and history on our team.”

Both Rioux and Thistel stress that the values of the company are not just words on the wall. The values of integrity, teamwork, responsibility, and sharing are embedded in the way the company does business, and decisions are made collaboratively.

“We’ve got a great foundation with our people,” Thistel says. “Every puzzle piece makes us so much better, and we make key decisions together, as a group. We’re creating things the right way.”

One of the challenges involved in expanding the company’s business and presence in Canada is introducing a technology that is still relatively new to the market: lithium-ion batteries. Traditionally, forklifts have been operated by either diesel, propane, or lead-acid batteries.

“With lead-acid, the more the battery drains, the less power you have,” Thistel says. “Your lift speeds will slow; your drive speeds will slow.” Lithium batteries, on the other hand, deliver full power continuously, and they are designed for what Thistel calls ‘opportunity charging.’

“With lithium technology, the battery wants to be charged all the time. The operator can charge them when they’re on break or at lunch, and you’ll never run out of battery. We have them in 24-hour applications, which would have been impossible for a lead-acid battery.”

What about durability? “We have some units with 4000 hours on them, and the batteries are still running perfectly. We stand behind them. We offer a 10-year warranty on larger units, five-year on the smaller units. It’s a strong warranty, and I believe we’re changing the industry for the better.”

Thistel and Rioux are clear: for Hangcha, the future is lithium. “By the end of 2024,” Thistel says, “we’ll have lithium in every unit, from a 100,000-pound capacity forklift right down to a 2,000-pound walkie. We’ll have lithium technology for it all.”

One reason this technology makes sense is cost savings, and for owners, those savings add up. “We’ve done the research,” Thistel says. “Over the first 10 years, between the purchase of the unit, charging, fuelling, and repairs, the cost savings amount to about $150,000 per truck.”

Although relatively new technology to the forklift market, lithium is catching on. In fact, Hangcha is putting these batteries into service with forklifts from other manufacturers.

“With our universal lithium battery system program, we can put lithium technology into any brand,” Rioux says. “If someone has a forklift with a lead-acid battery that’s no longer useful, we can install a lithium battery to replace it. The owner can keep it running, instead of scrapping the whole machine.”

“We’re even doing that for new trucks from other brands,” Thistel adds. “Dealers are putting our lithium batteries into new forklifts with lead-acid batteries because the technology is just better.”

For Thistel, the support Hangcha Canada receives from the manufacturer is key to the company’s continued growth in Canada. In addition to supporting its dealers and end users through the adoption of lithium battery technology, the engineering team in China also responds directly to input from this market. “We can take something to the manufacturer, and they’ll implement it immediately if it makes sense. We don’t have to wait until a whole new line comes out.”

How can a company respond that nimbly? The scope and scale of the facilities in China are part of the answer. The company has one million square metres of manufacturing space there and is continuing to grow and expand. If you are having trouble imagining that, it is understandable, and Rioux has a helpful parallel. “It’s the equivalent of 633 arenas,” she laughs.

“When we took our dealers there,” Thistel adds, “it helped them understand what Hangcha is doing and how they’re doing it. They saw the quality of the facilities firsthand and the sheer professionalism of the people.”

Hangcha Group’s expansion into Canada is a textbook example of how to do it well, and it is all about commitment: investing in the right spaces, putting quality products on the ground, and hiring and empowering a ‘dream team’ of the right people. This approach is not a one-off, either; in the few short years since its Canadian expansion in 2019, Hangcha has employed the same principles and expanded to Mexico, Brazil, Australia, and the Netherlands.

“Hangcha has committed to be the best at everything we do,” Thistel says. “We want to have the best product, the best availability, the best parts department. We’re continuously improving. We want to be the best, to set the bar for the industry in Canada.”

The post Lifting the Industry Higher<p class="company">Hangcha Forklift Canada</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

The business was founded as a small tool shop 50 years ago by John Basso, Sr. “It was a 5,000 square foot shop, and he and two people worked in that facility for two years,” says John J. Basso, Jr. “I graduated from the University of Detroit with an architecture degree in 1975, and I came on board.”

From those humble beginnings, a thriving business grew, with much of that growth coming from strategic acquisitions made over the next several decades. “My father received a large Ford Motor Company program in 1975, and we added another 13,000 square feet. At that point, we were up to 45 people. In 1978, we moved to our current location—into a 26,000 square foot building—and went up to 110 people,” John J. Basso explains.

In the late 1980s, the business purchased Bespro Pattern and in 1992, acquired American Tooling Center, a tool and die shop with 52,000 square feet and 50 employees. In 2000, the company purchased Midland Design Service and, in 2007, acquired a larger facility—125,000 square feet—in Jackson. Finally, in 2018, the company acquired an operation in Lansing from Demmer, Inc., incorporating it into the American Tooling Center operations.

The owners of Demmer, Inc. knew how the Basso family ran their business and had confidence that their employees would be well taken care of. For Diversified Tooling Group, which had become an International Traffic in Arms Regulations-registered (ITAR) supplier in 2005, the move represented the opportunity to increase the amount of work it did for the defense sector.

Today, a third-generation owner of the Basso family is involved, with John M. Basso serving as Vice President of Operations for the company, and that company has come a long way from its initial 5,000 square feet and three employees.

“The total footprint of the company today is 775,000 square feet of heavily craned industrial buildings that we own and operate,” says John J. Basso. “Across that space, we have 350 highly skilled employees.”

Having led and grown the business to that degree in the 50 years since 1973, one might think that he would be ready to retire. One would be mistaken.

“My father passed away when he was 86. He worked until three weeks before he passed. I’ve been working here for 48 years. I’m 70 years old; I’m still working every day, and I have no intention of retiring.”

Whenever the day for retirement comes, the company is in good hands. John M. Basso outlines how his grandfather’s and father’s acquisition decisions have led to a uniquely broad range of solutions for their automotive and defense customers.

“This company has evolved from my dad buying different companies, and the goal was to provide a fully integrated solution to our automotive customers. We can help them with engineering, prototype, or full service tool and die, where we’re responsible for everything. You give us the CAD product data; we’ll provide a tool that makes a perfect sheet metal part, whether you’re talking about prototype or production dies.”

It is the end-to-end solution—vertical integration—that differentiates Diversified Tooling Group from other companies in the space.

“First, it’s engineering, which is [performed by] Midland Design,” John J. Basso says. “Then it’s patterns, which is Bespro Patterns. Then prototyping at Superior Cam and then tool and die, which is at American Tooling Center. We have a full-service tool and die operation. We’ll take product design from our customer base; provide the upfront engineering; build the patterns; supply a prototype for the entire vehicle—hoods, doors, roofs, whatever it may be—then we’ll design and manufacture the production dies.”

That diversification—notably part of the business name itself—is not only a differentiator, it is one of the reasons Diversified Tooling Group has thrived for over a half-century.

“If we were just a stamper, we would have gone out of business,” says John J. Basso. “Because sometimes stampers don’t have any work. We put more legs under the table with eleven different product lines.”

And while this makes the business more complex, it also makes it more resilient to market shifts.

“It’s a lot more difficult to control, to quote, to estimate, to engineer, to build, to deliver. But we have a variety of product lines for automotive and a variety of product lines for defense. It’s why we’re still here. 30 years ago, there were 50 major die shops in the state of Michigan. Today there are only about 15 left in the whole state to produce stamping dies.”

As Diversified Tooling Group has acquired companies, growing the range of services it offers its customers, it has also invested in the capital equipment to deliver those services.

“We’re a growing company,” John J. Basso says. “Every year, we add additional buildings; every year, we add additional equipment. Seven years ago, we bought a state-of-the-art hot stamping press from AP&T in Sweden. We were the first ones in North America to install that type of technology. We have 39 CNC mills—some of the largest CNC mills in the state of Michigan—and we are in the process of buying three brand new CNC mills right now. We just purchased two new CMM machines and three new scanners in the last six months,” he shares.

Over the decades, the technology used to operate that equipment has of course changed dramatically, requiring further investment. “We have over 500 computer devices that operate in our company. We spend over $400,000 a year in software maintenance for our CAD software.”

These investments have allowed the company to adapt nimbly to changes in the market and to opportunities such as those in the defense sector.

“Welding is the most important part of defense work in our industry,” John M. Basso notes.
“There are a lot of quality requirements, and we have certifications in welding—NAVSEA in particular—that separate us from the competition. We also have certified weld inspectors that allow us to inspect our own welds. We’ve invested in the qualifications and certifications and the training of both our weld inspectors and our welder’s equipment.”

Basso’s comments underscore the most important investment of all for Diversified Tooling Group: its people. That investment is embedded in the history of the company.

“When my dad bought American Tooling Center in 1992,” recalls John Michael Basso, “he instituted a federally approved journeyman apprenticeship program, and we still have that in place. Right now, we have 14 journeyman apprenticeships in that program. We pay 100 percent for an engineering associate’s degree, and we push our people to do it. I’m paying for two people right now to receive a bachelor’s degree in engineering. We’re trying to educate our workforce.”

This focus on training and developing employees is not just a ‘feel good’ commitment. It is borne, at least in part, out of necessity. “There hasn’t been a lot of push for secondary education outside of going to college. That’s the lifeblood of what we need. We need skilled trades. We train our own people; we invest in our people. We are training people for America.”

The owners of Diversified Tooling Group started spreading the word very early on. They welcome classes of students for shop tours throughout the school year, give presentations at local high schools, and sponsor a high school robotics team. The company is connected to all three community colleges in its area, and staff members participate in job fairs and Manufacturing Day.

This commitment to developing tomorrow’s manufacturing workforce is rooted in a fierce pride for this sector in America, and the family pride lives on in the younger generation.

“We have a passion for keeping manufacturing in the United States and a passion for our people,” says John M. Basso. “A big part of the reason we do this is to support our 350 employees and their families. Somebody has to take the torch and keep pushing for manufacturing in the United States. That’s what we’re doing.”

John J. Basso, along with his son, continues to build on the proud legacy begun 50 years ago, always with an eye to the future. “You have to keep adjusting and adapting to the world. The world is not static; you’ve got to be dynamic. You’ve got to read the future and keep moving in that direction.”

The post A Diversified Portfolio Brings 50 Years of Success<p class="company">Diversified Tooling Group</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Cadman Power Equipment is one of those businesses. Today, Cadman is a global company, with distribution facilities overseas and more than 25 percent of its sales outside North America. But it is a company with a rich history. That history begins with helping people deal with serious challenges, and that is a goal that continues to this day.

Craig Cadman is the President and CEO of this third-generation family enterprise based in Courtland, Ontario. The company was founded 71 years ago by Craig’s grandfather.

“My grandfather was working for my great grandfather, who had a jewelry manufacturing business,” he explains. “My grandfather wanted to do something other than making rings and tie tacks.”

Craig’s grandfather saw his entrepreneurial future taking him in a very different direction: farm equipment. He started Cadman Power Equipment in 1952, selling lawn mowers, rototillers, and similar machines. Just one year later, Ontario farmers would face a challenging growing season.

“There was a really hard drought in 1953,” Craig shares. “My grandfather got into the irrigation business, selling pipes and sprinklers and pumps, and that was when the company started to flourish.”

Several years after the drought, things changed once again. “It rained in 1956—a lot. Irrigation wasn’t so hot,” Craig says. “So my grandfather took on the Ford tractor line, while maintaining irrigation as the main work we did.”

The business then began passing to the hands of the next generations of Cadmans. “My grandfather sold Cadman Power Equipment to my dad in 1969. At 21 years old, he became the owner and president of the company, and the youngest Dealer Principal for Ford tractors.” The company continued to sell tractors until the financial crisis of the 1980s. When interest rates skyrocketed, Cadman’s tractor business suffered, borrowing rates for that equipment being out of reach as they were for most farmers.

As a young man growing up in a successful family business in farm country, Craig’s childhood was inextricably linked with the business.

“I went full-time with the company in 1997, but I’ve been here since I can remember,” he says. “Some days my mom would come looking for me, when I wasn’t waiting for the school bus. I was hiding in my dad’s car, because I wanted to go to work, not school!”

He continued to work in the business part-time through the school year and full-time in the summers. “I’ve worked in every area of the company. It was my dad’s idea—he knew that if I worked in every department, I’d know what I was doing when I started running the business.”

A key advantage of family businesses is their ability to pivot and make decisions quickly, and Cadman Power Equipment has continuously shifted to meet its customers’ needs, adapting its product lines in response. Irrigation, however, has always remained its primary focus. In the 1980s, Cadman doubled down and began manufacturing its own line of irrigation equipment, producing its first three machines in 1982 and 12 more the following year.

By 1992, Cadman was the largest manufacturer of hard hose reel irrigation systems in North America, and was expanding its manufacturing and distribution facilities while also looking further afield for new business.

“In the late 1980s, we decided to spread our wings geographically, and started selling into the United States,” says Craig. “We started with nearby states, but by 1993, we had sales people pushing as far as California.”

Adapting its product lines again, this time to include manure management, was an easy decision. “We had always been partially in manure management, selling pumps and fittings. We saw an opportunity to move away from the guns; nobody wanted the spray in the air. We developed the hard hose drag machine and the top spread boom, and added some bigger pumps to do that kind of work.”

The Great Recession of the late 2000s brought more hardship for the industry, and a new opportunity for Cadman. Record-high oil prices drove a corresponding expansion in fracking exploration.

“We didn’t target the fracking industry, but there was a need to get water to frack sites,” Craig explains. “It’s the same thing we’ve always been doing, just bigger. Instead of selling a 150 horsepower engine to a farmer, we’re selling a 600 horsepower machine. Instead of a six-inch hose, we’re selling a 10- or 12-inch hose.”

As the approach to environmental sustainability has changed, Cadman’s products have also evolved. Today, its agricultural irrigation equipment helps conserve water by making sure more of it gets to the soil and plants that need it. “We started manufacturing low-pressure irrigation booms for farmers,” Craig says. “Typical irrigation reels are like a giant sprinkler; they’re about 70 to 74 percent efficient. Our irrigation booms are 90 to 93 percent efficient—as efficient as drip irrigation, with the benefit of washing and cooling the crops.”

This kind of innovation can only happen when a business is committed to listening to what its customers need and want.

“We’re really good at listening to our customers,” Craig says. “Someone might come in here, thinking they need the largest irrigation equipment we build. We talk it out to figure out what he or she really needs. That way, they don’t spend more money than they need to or conversely, buy a piece of equipment that’s too small for their situation.”

To build this level of credibility, a company needs great people, and Cadman’s team is a strong one. “I’m proud to say that the vast majority of our team has been with us over 10 years,” Craig shares. “A good number of them have been with us over 15, even 20 years. Our core group is dedicated, they’re loyal.”

That loyalty has been reciprocated through some challenging times. In the onset of the COVID pandemic, Craig was anxious about the impact that a shutdown could have on the business and on the members of his team and their families. The announcement that agriculture would be considered essential meant the business could remain in operation, keeping its people working.

And Cadman’s commitment to its people extends to its customers, too. “This company has always stood by one thing: no matter what, no matter when, we’ll get you fixed up. There’s nothing worse than downtime when it comes to irrigation, because of the stress to the crop.”

That kind of customer commitment runs deep in the family business. Craig recalls many instances as a child when customers would call at odd hours in need of parts or service. His father would jump in to help however he could. Today, his service team does the same, even as shifting weather patterns in recent years have made it more challenging for Cadman and its customers alike.

“As the weather pattern shifts, it’s really hard for us to know where to put our focus, geographically,” Craig explains. “The unpredictability is harder for the farmers, too.”

Nonetheless, he has remained steadfast in his vision for the future of the business and its ability to help customers facing unique challenges. Cadman excels at helping its customers overcome adversity with innovation, and its equipment is now being used to battle forest fires in a remarkable new way. Typically, water bombers draw water from lakes and drop it on the fire zone itself. This is very expensive. “It can cost upwards of $120,000 per dip, operating one of those big tanker planes,” and the traditional approach comes with other problems as well. It puts human lives at greater risk, and it’s not as efficient. Cadman’s equipment, in contrast, is not only less costly, but it keeps people and property safer, too.

“Using our equipment, they create a giant wall of water,” Craig explains. “For all intents and purposes, they’re changing the atmosphere around the fire. Because the fire draws in oxygen, it draws in the cooler, damp air. That allows the fire fighters to move in more safely, plus there’s a barrier between the fire and wherever it’s headed.” Cadman’s success with this equipment in Alberta has led to interest in California, where, tragically, the need is so acute.

In Craig’s eyes, the future of the business is bright. The team isn’t resting on its laurels; instead, it is building on its success and innovating even further. One challenge is finding the right balance when it comes to technology. Like most other products, Cadman’s equipment has become far more technologically advanced, offering the ability to control an incredible range of functions from smartphones.

“We want to offer technology that’s sustainable, and that takes balance: giving our customers the tools they need without overcomplicating things.”

Like the two generations before him, Craig is up to the challenge. He’ll do it like Cadman Power Equipment always has: listening to its customers, understanding their problems and how to solve them, and providing second-to-none support for the products it provides.

The post A Leader in the Field<p class="company">Cadman Power Equipment</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.