One such product is the desiccant breather. These devices prevent moisture and particles from entering equipment when it ‘breathes’ when air expands and contracts as a result of changing temperature or displacement in hydraulic systems. Without a device like this, the lubricant will become contaminated and, over time, the machinery like pumps or gearboxes will accumulate damage.

In the last few years, Des-Case has undergone some big changes that have led to significant growth. In 2018, it acquired RMF Systems, a company based in Holland that is leading the European market in products designed for hydraulic oil and lubricant cleanliness. It has continued to expand its footprint in Europe and the Middle East since that time, and most recently, it opened offices in Shanghai, China and Mumbai, India.

Making these strides in expansion can be attributed to adding key members to the team of approximately 120 employees. A strategic alignment in early 2021 led to a few organizational changes. Part of the initiative included welcoming new Chief Executive Officer, Marcus Pillion, as well as new Chief Commercial Officer, Jason Bendon. Under their leadership, the company expects to proceed with further expansion and acquisition going forward.

Given the unique circumstances of the last two years, it is particularly impressive that Des-Case has seen such success in global expansion. While so many manufacturing companies struggled to outlast the pandemic, Des-Case has found a way to not only survive but grow. Throughout the pandemic, production reliability has been a huge concern, and this is where the team has proven its value.

“Especially for plants that suffered shutdowns or had less people on staff, reliability was a big focus. So, we helped a lot of those reliability maintenance managers with training; we offered a lot of webinars, and we went fully digital really quickly,” says Head of Marketing Franziska Martin.

Already familiar with digital output before the pandemic, the company concentrated its attention after 2020 on providing weekly webinars to the many customers who were interested in staying informed. One of the primary objectives of these helpful webinars was to educate manufacturers on how to keep equipment clean during a planned shutdown or when production gets backed up so as to maintain the life of the equipment.

The shift to remote work was more challenging for the sales team, accustomed to traveling and making sales visits in person with customers. This was particularly a hindrance for the European offices that were in lockdown for a much longer period. Sales teams are no longer confined to virtual visits, and they are happy to be out and about once again.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic had little effect on the company’s business demand and growth, the resulting supply chain shortages have been a challenge more recently. Fortunately, Des-Case has had no major issues producing its breathers, unlike many of its competitors in the industry at this time. The only constraints are pertaining to supply chain shortages of truck drivers and logistical challenges of on-time shipments to other countries.

A key beneficial aspect of improving digital platforms in the last two years is that it helped to develop and bring together the global team as it expanded. “Working just through digital platforms as a team and then having new members start in China and India, it felt almost normal. Now we still haven’t met them in person because travel restrictions are still in place in certain countries, but it helped make them feel like part of the team even if they weren’t necessarily in the same country,” says Martin.

In six out of the past seven years, Des-Case has continued to be named one of the Top Workplaces in Tennessee by The Tennessean newspaper. The staff members choose to stay and grow their careers here because of the company’s commitment to creating a positive workplace culture, and the high number of long-tenured employees proves it.

Another reason people choose to stick with Des-Case is the excitement of working with such an innovative company, currently leading the industry in lubricant cleanliness. It is a company always focused on enhancing the performance of its products to serve its customers better with long-lasting solutions. For example, in 2019, the company found a way to improve its desiccant breathers and increase the airflow, which extends the life expectancy considerably.

Indeed, “People make the difference in our business. We are fortunate to have such a hardworking, driven organization that also values the importance of having fun as well. It is a joy and honor for Des-Case to continue to be recognized for this distinction,” says Marcus Pillion, CEO of Des-Case.

Des-Case offers one of the broadest ranges of breathers available on the market. Another product the company is highlighting is its hydraulic offline oil filtration system. It is a dedicated filtration unit designed to remove solid particles and water from the oil.

In 2020, the company also launched a remote diagnostic monitoring solution in the form of a subscription program. The IsoLogic® sensor technology provides the company’s breathers with the first remote diagnostic tool of its kind. It is operated via Bluetooth, and its sensors collect valuable information to monitor the reliability of the breathers. The subscription program allows the company to proactively monitor this data for its customers.

This comprehensive solution is especially appealing to the large OEM market. “The IsoLogic® breather can be mounted on remote or hard-to-access equipment, thus decreasing lube routes and minimizing the risks of falls when trying to access hard to reach areas,” explains Martin. “It’s one way of making a workplace safer for employees just by not having to check on equipment.”

Raising awareness and keeping its customers informed is an essential secondary priority of the business. “We are the original provider of the desiccant breather, and we are still the industry leader in reliability products and services that extend the life of industrial lubricants. I think what sets us apart from the competition is we not only sell the products, we also educate the market. Des-Case is recognized as an industry ‘Thought Leader’ in equipment reliability and lubrication and part of our offering is to pass that knowledge on to our customers. We want them to know what’s in their oil and what they can do about it because there has to be predictive and preventive maintenance options to support it,” says Martin.

The Des-Case team spreads awareness by speaking at symposiums and trade shows, publishing articles from the service team, on-site education in the field, and hosting its free webinars.

Additionally, the company has two demonstration trucks that are used for educating its customers and distributors. The Mobile Reliability Experience was launched in 2016 but due to the pandemic, it had a slow start. “Now out all over North America, this is a great tool for any customers to learn and observe lubrication best practices in a state-of-the-art reliability truck,” explains Martin. “Our sales team demonstrates how to protect and clean lubricants throughout their lifecycle, as well as assess critical assets and provide product samples to show [return on investment].” The trucks also came in handy when manufacturing plants were still inaccessible since they were able to park outside the building to have people visit in a safe environment.

Known for providing quality desiccant breathers for almost forty years, Des-Case now offers much more. “With the whole educational aspect, it’s a holistic approach. From the beginning to the end, we have products and offerings that support your company and your lubrication program,” says Martin.

In the future, Des-Case looks forward to a steady path of growth. It has plans to continue to expand both organically and through acquisitions. By building its sales force in its current locations and branching out to new countries, the company’s goal is to serve the market on a larger scale. “Des-Case’s workforce is as strong as ever and as we continue to grow globally; we are excited about what the future holds,” says Pillion.

The post The Original Provider of the Desiccant Breather<p class="company">Des-Case Corporation</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

IMPACT specializes in tools and systems for both flatbed and rotary converting presses. Flatbed presses move vertically to stamp out material like a cookie-cutter, while rotary presses curve the material around a cylinder to engrave the image on the face. Offering both services in an extensive variety of sizes is somewhat unique in the industry.

As all industries move toward a more sustainable future, the focus for many is on improving run speeds and quality while managing the cost. This is where IMPACT can generate the greatest benefit. It has several products in the works that are applying technology and automation in a way that may change the way converting and tooling are viewed in the industry.

“We’ve taken a very refined and focused strategy toward how to not only make those tools and those systems, which we still do but how to make those in such a way that our customers are getting more out of their capital and out of their equipment. We are not just making a tool; we are providing them with a whole solution,” says Chief Executive Officer Christopher Merendino.

IMPACT has introduced a service element to its business called the ‘Tech Team.’ This consists of experts in several converting disciplines who embed themselves into the customers’ facilities to make recommendations that will enhance the entire operation. These recommendations vary from how to maintain the equipment and proper balancing to performance improvements that allow the equipment to function more efficiently in conjunction with the tools.

“Our tool is basically when a material becomes a product. We are literally there when the conversion occurs,” says Merendino. “So our whole strategy is focused around providing the best quality that allows print presses to run more efficiently, but also to provide service and expertise on how to design whatever it is that’s being converted, how to run the capital more efficiently, and to provide the best converting experience overall.”

The broad spectrum of tools and sizes enables the company to partner with customers in specialty markets from corrugated boxes for packaging to heart valves. Where IMPACT is less involved is in short-run, easy-to-produce, paper labels for the commodity market. It tends to find itself in the more challenging specialty space that requires more of an engineering effort.

IMPACT is, in fact, an umbrella brand encompassing six leading American tool and die manufacturers. All six were purchased by a single private equity company called Auxo Investment Partners, established in 2016.

One of the first two acquisitions in 2017 was Bernal, LLC, a manufacturer of the largest rotary tools for massive die systems used for long-running products such as fast food containers or beverage containers. Another was Atlas Die, LLC, known for producing steel rule dies for over sixty years. Steel rule die-cutting is a popular and inexpensive way of converting using a flatbed die cutting press.

In 2018, Midway Rotary was acquired into the platform to fill a gap in the group’s portfolio. It makes solid, narrow-mid web rotary tools for complex applications. These tools are regularly used in the automotive and medical industries and can handle the hardest-to-cut materials used in various markets. Atlas Die’s sister company, Atlas Chem Milling also joined the team in 2019 and rebranded its name to AtlasFlex. It specializes in flexible rotary and flatbed die innovations using a chemical etching process, and these are used for lower-cost, short-run applications.

The group of companies joined forces but were still operating largely independent of one another, with separate sales teams and differing strategies. In 2019, the companies recognized the value of creating an association between different divisions to encourage more lead sharing and collaboration.

“The first thing that was done was that the sales focus was concentrated. Not to the point where everybody sells everything, but really to the point where everybody understands everything so that they can always get somebody to the right contact for any converting application,” explains Merendino.

The IMPACT name was created to present the group’s well-rounded service offering while leaving the legacy brand names intact. Having all the companies under one brand solidifies, both to the customers and internally, that the main goal is to offer the best converting solutions for any application.

The acquisitions did not stop there. IMPACT expanded into California with the purchase of Die Craft, LLC in 2020. Die Craft works in pressure-sensitive converting for a variety of industries using a wide range of solutions. In the same year, GC Dies was acquired and this helped to complete the one missing link in IMPACT’s ability to create any converting solution. GC Dies is a steel rule die manufacturer that specializes in flat and rotary corrugated material.

In the early stages of the pandemic, IMPACT saw its customer base adapt to changing markets. Some transitioned into the medical space to produce personal protective equipment, particularly in the automotive industry. Others saw a spike in sales because they supply grocery stores, and people were cooking from home far more.

“We were an essential business because, if you go into a grocery store today, about roughly eighty-five percent of things that are in a box of some sort are made by one of our customers, using one of our tools,” says Executive Vice President of Sales Scott Ellison.

Currently, in most industries, there is relative uncertainty surrounding supply chain issues. As everyone adapts to unpredictable changes, IMPACT strives to help mitigate the volatility of the market for its customers. It does this by applying the best business models and approaching its customers as partners.

The staff members at IMPACT took many precautions to help protect each other from COVID-19, and this helped to create an even tighter bond within the team. On the sales side, however, it brought a set of new challenges since the typical face-to-face sales techniques were not permitted. Luckily, this challenge has lessened in the last few months, as companies have started to allow salespeople back in to pitch newly launched products.

The main focus for the IMPACT brand today is building a common culture across all of its companies while respecting their skills and creativity. Traditionally, it would be very difficult to combine several successful, well-known tool and die manufacturers into one collaborative team of separate companies. Each has distinctive strategies, experiences, and talents. If the parent company expected everyone to follow all new standard operating procedures, the inventive vision of each company would be squandered, and product quality would drop.

IMPACT has taken on this formidable task by ensuring that its senior management and technical team are spread across all the companies to build a similar culture while allowing each process to run differently and independently. “We’ve been able to build a platform where all of our back end, the [enterprise resource planning], and the operating systems that are necessary between every facility so that we can manage the business, is the same across the platform. But each facility is very, very different, and we think that difference is what drives the culture and what ultimately brings happy employees. We’ve been very fortunate,” says Ellison.

IMPACT would like to hire more people than it has at the moment, though it does not have the mass turnover problem that seems prevalent within the industry. Recruiting can be a challenge, yet retention is no problem. IMPACT has long-tenured people because it provides good employee incentives and engagement.

The separate plants get together for social activities, and there is plenty of transparency between the companies in discussing potential new products and the benefit of investing in particular equipment with the capital expenditure. The goal is to manage the companies in a way that inspires other tool and die manufacturers to sell to the IMPACT brand. Hopefully, others will be interested in acquisition to give their employees the opportunity to work with such an outstanding team.

The innovative group of companies will continue to become more efficient and more service-oriented in its partnerships with customers. “I think we have a great platform with really exceptional employees and the best talent in the world for what we do. And that is a phenomenal launch point to just continue to expand and to grow and hopefully welcome other companies under the umbrella,” says Merendino.

The post Uniting Six Tool and Die Manufacturers Under One Brand<p class="company">IMPACT Converting & Systems Solutions</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

The company manufactures overhead bridge cranes, gantry cranes, jib cranes, monorail systems, hoists, and custom lifting equipment. This overhead lifting expert has grown to become the largest independent crane and hoist company in the United States, providing manufacturing, distribution, and full customer-centric service.

“We do everything from the design, the engineering, the installation, the inspection and maintenance, and the repairs of overhead cranes and hoists. That makes us very unique because the industry is often fragmented,” says Ace Industries’ Chief Operations Officer Daniel Arwood.

The various services offered by Ace Industries are frequently split across separate design engineering firms, steel erectors, inspectors, service providers, and original equipment manufacturers. “We really bridge the gap for our customers, but we specialize in the niche of overhead lifting with overhead cranes.”

Ace Industries provides light-duty ergonomic lifting solutions as well as large overhead cranes with the capacity to lift hundreds of tons. The lighter lifting solutions, which are regularly used for automotive plants and assembly operations, require a deep understanding of ergonomics, since employees are using lifts repeatedly throughout the day. The heavier projects in need of large equipment such as power generation, metals production, and forestry operations call for Ace’s expertise in automation and reliability engineering for process applications.

In addition to establishing itself as a quality manufacturer and designer of lifting equipment, Ace is known for providing exceptional customer field support in these demanding environments. Its equipment goes into heavy industry processes, so in order to design the equipment efficiently, the team must comprehend its application. Ace has the experience to navigate the safety requirements, physical requirements, and other environmental factors within heavy industries.

“We’re a technical company at heart, and we really focus on servicing and manufacturing critical equipment. We focus on building reliable equipment, and we try to service that equipment with efficiency and speed, and that makes us a unique fit for companies in aerospace, military and defense, paper and forestry, metals production, automotive, oil and gas, energy, and power,” says Arwood.

Ace Industries was founded in 1932 under the name Ace Electric Company, by Daniel’s grandfather Harold Arwood, Senior. It began as a motor repair facility with an office on Edgewood Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia, steps away from the Georgia State Capitol. The intention, from the outset, was to create a family business, and by the 1970s, Harold’s son Bud had taken over and led the expansion into the crane business. Bud’s children Josh Arwood, current CEO, Cheryl Rossborough, CFO and Daniel Arwood, COO comprise the third generation of Ace Industries ownership.

With Bud Arwood at the helm of the company in the 1970s and 1980s, Ace transitioned from a small electric motor repair shop to a parts and new equipment distributor for US-based hoist and crane manufacturers. The company had excellent inventory controls and the ability to ship the same day, which was rather unique at the time. This quality led Ace to become a master dealer for Coffing, Yale, Budgit, Shaw-Box, Harrington, R&M, Stahl, Duff Norton, and the Columbus McKinnon Corporation.

The expansion into manufacturing and services in the nineties was based on a combination of market changes and end user demands. As international equipment manufacturers entered the U.S. market just as domestic suppliers went through a wave of aggregation, customers began to look to Ace to guide product design and selection decisions for increasingly complex lifting scenarios. As the company was able to offer both domestic and internationally supplied components for its clients, Ace was able to simplify selection decisions and provide the most effective solution to its clients.

To increase its capacity to manufacture overhead cranes, Ace acquired a new facility just outside of Metro Atlanta and soon began to open regional service centers. The first were in Birmingham, Alabama and Cincinnati, Ohio, and since that time, the company has continued a methodical expansion both organically and through the acquisition of other crane companies. Ace now has over thirty-six offices in the U.S. from Florida to Washington State, and in the future, it hopes to expand further into the Midwest and Northeast.

Ace began during a difficult time following the Great Depression, and it has endured a number of economic and political challenges throughout its journey. These have taught the company to be adaptable and pivot when necessary. “There are great legends at Ace about the many changes that have happened, and I do say legends because Ace has been around for a lot of years, and we have developed a reputation in the industry for being ethical, responsible, responsive, customer-centric and good at what we do,” says Arwood.

Many companies in the manufacturing industry have experienced a ripple effect in material prices and demand due to the pandemic. Steel has seen significant price fluctuations and caused inflationary pressures for overhead crane manufacturing since it is the primary commodity used in a crane. “When you’re building a crane project that has 200,000 pounds of steel in it, and the price of steel goes up from $0.85 a pound to $1.35, it’s a problem, but I think we can reasonably expect to see that stabilize,” explains Arwood.

The company’s services are considered essential since overhead cranes are used to transport products through manufacturing facilities. If it had suspended its services, it would have caused a bottleneck in production. “It has been really important for our business, for Ace to be able to continue to faithfully serve our customers safely through the pandemic because of the highly essential [production]. Lights need to come on; oxygen needs to be produced; toilet paper needs to be made, and we are right there lockstep with our customers during this time through it,” says Arwood.

Another current challenge in the market is the demand for sub-assembly components. However, Ace has also found ways to work around this complication to ensure that its customers do not have to face the chaos behind the scenes. “Our inventory on hand has been able to float the sub-assembly components problems. Our sourcing and materials management for steel has enabled us to price effectively and not pass massive cost price increases to our customers and that directly translates to our customers being more competitive, saving money, and being more efficient,” says Arwood.

Ace is leading the overhead crane and hoist manufacturing industry with its experience and drive. Chief Executive Officer Josh Arwood is the outgoing president of the Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA), an organization that helps set the standards for the entire industry.

This display of leadership is also clearly extended within the team. The company’s leadership regularly spends time in the field working on equipment with the service technicians and all employees support each other and each other’s customers as one large team across regions.

The overhead crane industry is rapidly changing hands due to consolidation, and the future of the market is somewhat unknown. No stranger to this type of environment, Ace is focused on its strategic goals, and it is strongly committed to continuing the enduring legacy that has been established.

“My daughter, who is nine years old, has repeatedly reminded me over the past few years that someday she wants to work in the family business, so I think we’re doing something right,” Arwood says proudly.

Ace plans to continue expansion on the West Coast, where there is plenty of opportunity, the Midwest will follow, and finally, the company will establish itself in the Northeast to offer full coast-to-coast overhead crane services. “In an industry that is changing and moving fast, where private equity is running through and buying up crane companies, we’re going to continue to do what we do best, which is continue to grow our expertise, our skills, and our strategic advantage,” says Arwood. “We’re going to continue to do that without taking on debt or taking outside capital, and we’re going to stay true to our people.”

The post A Family Business Committed to its Legacy<p class="company">Ace Industries</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

“The business model that we take with our customers is really one of customization. We aim to dig deep into the problems that they have in their manufacturing application and projects and come to find a customized solution of adhesives for what their pains are,” says Oliver Ellsworth, President of GDI Adhesives.

GDI’s five divisions, including a consumer division that sells a product known as glue dots, serve its vast range of customers. In addition to manufacturing, GDI also innovates and converts adhesives like the glue dots. Glue dots are used in two vastly different markets: one is for industrial purposes, while the other is in the consumer field for scrapbooking within the craft and hobby sector. Since the beginning of the pandemic, crafting stores have seen a boost in sales as people are staying at home more, which has allowed them to discover creative outlets and has led to an increase in craft projects.

“We call our company a vertically integrated adhesive manufacturing company that not only manufactures the adhesives, but we also innovate and convert, so we really think of ourselves as an innovation hub,” says Ellsworth.

Oliver Ellsworth grew up alongside the family business, Ellsworth Adhesives, which is GDI’s parent company today. Ellsworth Adhesives is a distribution company that is likewise dedicated to finding customized adhesive solutions for customers, primarily in electronics, automotive, and product assembly.

“I was born with the company, and I grew up with it, and as I fondly like to refer to the boardroom, which was my parents’ basement when the company started, I was getting my diapers changed on the main road map table, so I’ve known nothing different,” says Ellsworth. The Ellsworth Adhesives Corporation has branched out globally, and now it has operations on five continents with over 1,100 employees in total.

At GDI Adhesives, a positive work environment has resulted in true commitment and reliability within the workforce. The average tenure of its sixty employees is between eight to ten years, and the company attributes this achievement to its internal culture. A vital part of the culture at GDI involves group collaboration. The leadership encourages all teamwork efforts including team lunches and wearing GDI Adhesives logo wear.

“As far as my leadership style, I think the employees that are hired are capable of making the decisions to do their own job. We largely provide them with an autonomous leadership style that lets them run their divisions and departments with their own choices, along with guidance that we provide ahead of time as a vision for the company,” says Ellsworth.

The pandemic was a real challenge, although the company proved its resiliency throughout the tough year. As a manufacturing facility, most of its employees have always worked within the facility itself to produce products. During the pandemic, when the company had to allow employees to work remotely, self-motivation skills were tested, and the trust between people was strengthened.

Since then, GDI has adapted by developing a hybrid style with a combination of working from home and coming into the office periodically to allow for collaboration. Now that the country is in a post-pandemic state, it has maintained this style because it improved the work-life balance of its employees. With the opportunity to work partially from home, the team is happier overall.

Despite the pandemic, 2020 was GDI’s most productive year to date. “I think that some of the biggest challenges in our lives and companies bring out the best traits in us. So COVID, although it was very challenging from many different pain points, we also were able to turn inward a little to improve.”

Ellsworth describes the beginning days of the pandemic as a retail apocalypse. Large stores including Walmart and Michaels, who are some of GDI’s foremost customers, stopped ordering altogether. The company found ways to adapt to the market and decided to take the time to work on its internal processes.

GDI built a 170,000-square-foot manufacturing facility during the pandemic and improved its overall operation in preparation for more growth. “It’s all about the capacity we see for the future. We built a facility dedicated to manufacturing industrial adhesives and pressure-sensitive adhesive applications, and we see that as the future of manufacturing in North America,” explains Ellsworth. Adjusting to the complications of such a large expansion under stressful conditions is quite an accomplishment.

Today, the market is full of supply chain challenges, labor shortages, and price increases due to inflation. Fortunately, GDI has prepared itself for anything after emerging from this pandemic and is already ahead of these new challenges. There is also a new hopeful mindset because no challenge seems to loom as large as the difficulties of last year. The only other event in recent history that the company can compare it to is the 2008 financial catastrophe. Any extreme circumstances like these will have a significant impact on a business, but GDI is proud of its team’s flexibility in hard times.

“We’re in great shape coming out of this, and it’s a tribute to our employees and their work habits. We’re just really dedicated to our jobs, and in the end, it’s all about our families, but our jobs help us ensure that our families have security, and I think that’s what it’s all about,” says Ellsworth.

Innovation is a central part of GDI’s vision, and it is constantly pushing itself to explore the future of adhesives. The company invests in its customers by taking on their manufacturing problems and finding efficient adhesive-based solutions for them.

Approachability is another important value at GDI. To be accessible for customers at any level, the company is proactive about communicating and providing a seamless partnership.

“We also are dedicated to commitment. We are committed to not only our customers but also their manufacturing applications, and we do whatever it takes to accomplish what they need,” says Ellsworth.

GDI follows through on its commitments because of the expertise within the team, according to Ellsworth. The company is made up of tenured people who understand pressure-sensitive adhesives better than anyone else in the entire industry. The staff is experienced, battle-tested, and highly dedicated to solving customers’ problems.

“It’s all about being very open-minded with our customers—new and existing customers—for what they are trying to manufacture in the industrial world. We don’t say that we will always come up with the ultimate solution, but we will use every resource possible to see that to the end, and that’s what we’re dedicated to,” says Ellsworth.

Through its connection with parent company Ellsworth Adhesives, GDI has global connections and can provide logistical solutions for any corporation across the world. Often, companies have multiple international locations, and GDI can provide its service while fully comprehending the issues that arise in international transportation.

As GDI continues to grow, the team anticipates that pressure-sensitive adhesives will become a key aspect of new manufacturing processes. Pressure-sensitive adhesives are quite simple; they have instant bonding and fewer VOCs; they are FDA approved, and they are safe to use in many situations. It is a product with a bright future in manufacturing.

Ellsworth expressed his hope for North American family businesses in the future. “North America, in general, is extremely resilient in terms of its workforce and family businesses specifically in adaptability. Through challenging times, it brings out the best things in us, and this is one of those times. We really see ourselves as a much more capable adhesive solution provider for customers because it has been so challenging.”

The post Pressure Sensitive Adhesives Manufacturer Showing Resilience in Hard Times<p class="company">GDI Adhesives</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Under the Genturn brand, Expand Machinery offers multitasking computer numerical control (CNC) Swiss screw and Swiss lathe turning machines. This line is equipped with an assortment of auxiliary attachments such as spindles and shaping tools that enable operators to perform a range of turning procedures. The Genmill brand provides CNC vertical machining centers and 3-axis to 5-axis milling systems that come standard with 12,000 RPM direct drive spindles. These high-speed systems can greatly increase the output rate and improve the workflow of many machine shops.

For customers who are interested in the high quality of Expand Machinery equipment, but do not require full CNC, the Ganesh line offers manual toolroom CNC lathes and milling machines. This brand contains knee mills, bed mills, and lathes that combine the simplicity and ease of manual machining with the quality and service that comes with any Expand Machinery product.

In addition to providing this wide array of machining products, Expand Machinery also services the equipment after the sale. “We don’t just sell this equipment: we service it; we do after-sales service; we have extra parts for the customer, and we also do application training wherever needed. These quality services are all under one roof, so we sell the equipment but we also have the things surrounding that to support the machines too,” says Ravjeet Singh, general manager at Expand Machinery.

The company was founded in 1985 under its original Ganesh name to present the highly competitive manufacturing industry with the most efficient machining tools possible. From its beginnings as a small family company, the business grew very quickly by focusing on supporting the customer’s needs first. Expand Machinery now has a 15,000-square-foot production facility and 40,000 square feet of warehouse space.

In 2015, the company pursued a partnership with an investment group that was, unfortunately, not successful, and this led to the name change in October of 2019 as part of restructuring the business. “That’s how the name Expand Machinery came about. It’s the exact same product line, the same machines, the same everything, but due to legalities and liabilities, the name was changed to Expand Machinery,” says Ravjeet. The revival received a positive result, and the company’s reputation for customer service prevailed in the machining market. The only setback was timing since shutdowns from the COVID-19 pandemic would occur in approximately six months from that time.

The family atmosphere in the workplace environment was one of the key focus areas in the restructuring initiative in 2019. The investment group that is no longer affiliated with the company had tried to transform the team into more of a corporate organization, and this is what Expand Machinery believes went wrong. Since the beginning, the company has highly valued its family atmosphere and its service-focused approach toward customers, vendors, and suppliers. Fortunately, the team has been able to return to its former ways and maintain its close-knit foundation.

Expand Machinery now has a smaller group of employees since the pandemic began, with fifteen people across the production team, sales, management, and the ownership. It expects to build its numbers back up soon as businesses across the country are finally ready to restore their operations. Part of the reason the company has been able to maintain its team during the erratic year of 2020 is that its business shifted more toward the distributor network versus direct sales. Before last year, Expand Machinery did have distributors throughout the country, and that network has now become its primary source of revenue.

“The pandemic, of course, hit everybody in 2020. We were lucky that we had a very good existing customer base, and one industry which was booming even during the pandemic was gun manufacturing. A lot of our machines do sell in the gun manufacturing business, so we definitely had a good run even with the pandemic,” says Ravjeet. “But overall, we were down approximately twenty to thirty percent.”

Luckily, most of the manufacturing industry is picking up again, and Expand Machinery is already seeing an increase in business in the first quarter of 2021. Most of the industries it works within are beginning to return to pre-pandemic levels of operation, which has translated to growth for the company. The aerospace industry, in particular commercial air travel, has lagged but the situation is expected to improve in the coming months.

During this readjustment period, the biggest challenge for Expand Machinery as well as businesses in many other industries is the increasing cost of materials and a severely backed up supply chain in the factories. The components required to make machines are delayed in delivery, which results in delayed manufacturing machines for customers, and the prices are skyrocketing at the same time.

Now that the market is growing again, Expand Machinery is excited about its recently launched key models. The Genturn-52CS Y2 is an 8-axis Swiss mill/turn center with a two-inch bar capacity that produces complex work in just one handling. The entire Genturn line is based on the done-in-one model, and this addition continues the theme.

A wide range of machining procedures can be completed on one machine, and the new product has received an overwhelming response from the company’s customers. Currently, customers are eagerly awaiting their new machine, as the company is running on backorders for that model.

The steadfast values and principles at Expand Machinery are how the business reached early success so quickly and how it recently rebounded with such force. “We always do what’s right for our customers, employees, business partners, vendors, and suppliers. Being honest, that’s pretty indispensable,” explains Ravjeet. Expand Machinery develops personal relationships with its customers, and this has helped it continue to reach the next levels of success.

As the industry steadily moves toward increased automation, Expand Machinery adds more robotics integration to its machines. The future of the manufacturing industry is exciting, and the company anticipates this development with enthusiasm. It has not set specific goals due to the still unpredictable nature of the market and supply chain but is prepared to be flexible and adapt to any challenges that may come its way. The path forward will be led by the needs and demands of its customers, and Expand Machinery prioritizes its customer-centric approach.

As the world returns to normal, so do the industries to which Expand Machinery offers its line of machining products. The company also anticipates more growth in the coming years. This year it has already seen twenty to twenty-five percent growth over last year’s numbers.

In the last thirty-five years, the Ganesh title and brand has developed a reputation for quality, and although the company has gone through some huge changes, it is determined to demonstrate that its values and principles are unwavering. With its roots as a family business, Expand Machinery has maintained a strong footing in the market because of its commitment to high standards for quality equipment and for the service it delivers to customers.

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The strategy has allowed SPS to develop solutions for even the most difficult problems. For example, the Canadian pharmaceutical industry has strict regulatory compliance requirements for high-purity piping systems, and SPS has been completely unrivalled in its service to that market. Being able to develop systems that meet these strict specifications is a key component of the company’s success and a direct result of its approach.

In the late eighties, a Canadian pipe fabrication outfit was acquired by an American company. The Canadian facility was quickly closed and all operations were moved to a new factory in Wisconsin. This left a talented group of engineers, welders, fabricators, and construction workers in a bind. They were offered positions at the new facility, but the prospect of relocating to an entirely different country made that option a tough one to choose. Eventually, those workers decided to bet on themselves, by pooling their skills together and forming a new company in the wake of that takeover.

Today, after more than thirty years in business, Stainless Piping Systems has a dedicated team of professional engineers, technical designers, specialized steamfitters, welders, and installation experts. This level of experience and proficiency has resulted in a well-deserved reputation for quality and a stunning portfolio of landmark projects.

The company more than doubled in size in 2018 to work on several large projects taken on that year and then doubled again in 2019. Despite issues affecting the entire industry throughout 2020, SPS has been pushing forward and has maintained its size.

Stainless Piping Systems leverages the latest technology to ensure that its designs are perfectly suited to the project at hand, and to make certain that the installations are completely accurate in following those designs. The company’s design team harnesses the power of building information modelling, or BIM, to model not only the equipment but the entire building and all the piping within it to within one-sixteenth of an inch.

The design team will model the building and piping systems in a virtual, three-dimensional drawing, and then design the new system within that virtual environment before installing a single pipe. This permits the team to engineer the best possible solution, while significantly reducing oversights and errors.

Once the design team has finished engineering a solution for the project at hand, the BIM outcome is sent to the fabrication team which will use them to prefabricate sections of the system to those specifications. The prefabricated piping components are then shipped to the on-site installation team which can use GPS positioning technology to install the components precisely where they are meant to go according to the model.

“We use BIM to essentially turn the virtual world into reality. We have used this method for very small to extremely large construction projects and all with great success,” says President and Senior Project Manager Dave Damen.

As the technology advances, Stainless Piping Systems is prepared to adapt. The next phase in modelling technology is the PointCloud system. Where BIM helps the company turn virtual models into reality, PointCloud helps it turn reality into an accurate virtual model. Traditionally, BIM models have been generated using measurement data from the original architectural drawings of a building. Unfortunately, these drawings are not always a flawless reflection of the space. For some older buildings, they might not even exist.

With PointCloud technology, SPS can take pictures of the space from various angles, and the software can calculate the exact measurements on its own, rather than depending on old measurements that may or may not be accurate. This method returns precise data from just a simple series of photographs leading to huge cost and time savings for installations in existing facilities.

“So there’s no more confusion of going by old drawings of what the building was intended to be, but it’s what the building actually is. All of this put together means that we’re able to install with the same efficiency in existing buildings that we are currently able to do in new buildings,” says Damen.

Although site offices are located all across Canada, the operational base of SPS can be found in Toronto, where it has 25,000 square feet of fabrication and testing space in its state-of-the-art facility and an additional 25,000 square feet of warehousing availability for project-specific requirements.

The company has completed exciting projects straight across the nation from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island, and it plans to have a more active role south of the nation’s border in the coming years. This plan has unfortunately been stalled due to the complications of COVID-19, but SPS has stayed in touch with its American partners and looks forward to a time when it will be possible to establish a larger presence in the American market.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, SPS has continued to provide steadfast support to its partners in the five essential industries it serves. The company’s main presence is within the pharmaceutical industry, but it also operates in the medical, food and beverage, manufacturing, and construction markets. Serving such a breadth of marketplaces is a challenge in that each has a specific set of requirements, but by diversifying its customer base, SPS has remained strong and prepared for any unpredictable obstacles in the road ahead.

SPS has worked on several notable and memorable projects over the course of its history. One of many examples was eight years ago when it installed high-purity piping on every floor of a twenty-one-storey building for the research tower at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, also known as SickKids.

“We have a proven track record in the industry. In fact, recently the company was nominated for a CanBIM Spotlight award for the design, fabrication, and installation of twenty-seven kilometres of high-purity piping and twelve process skids at a 500-million-dollar Canadian vaccine facility built in Toronto,” says Damen. The piping was packed into the massive building so tightly that it would not have been possible to coordinate without the use of BIM. This nomination demonstrates that the company has become known throughout the industry for quality service and skill across every facet of its operation.

“We’re trying to harness the power of technology to work on these projects, and that was a great project to work on that really showcased the use of technology and the resources we have available,” says Damen. As a strong, unionized company that works well collaboratively, SPS was able to pull together a team of one hundred employees to support this construction project over a two-year span.

The company’s ability to successfully merge the three core disciplines of engineering, manufacturing, and construction into one efficient operation is a major differentiator. Typically, separate organizations will be brought in for each of these tasks, and this can create communication issues. Having everything under one roof enables close alliances between teams, resulting in less risk, more precision, and faster delivery.

Stainless Piping Systems will continue to embrace the industry’s shift toward a digital reality. Having been at the forefront of technology from its beginning, the company is prepared to adopt any technology that can improve its ability to serve its customers.

“We are a driven company comprised of forward-thinking team players, ready to change the industry and have fun while doing it. We strive to always learn, connect, and deliver excellence,” says Damen.

The post Serving Essential Industries with High-Purity Piping<p class="company">Stainless Piping Systems</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

“We have grown to be far more than just a bottled water company, and we wanted our name to reflect that. Ice River Sustainable Solutions represents where the brand is today and its ongoing efforts to protect the environment for generations to come,” says Crystal Howe, the company’s Sustainability Manager. Using innovative resources and methods to retain plastic material within the value chain, IRSS has managed to keep over 450 million pounds of plastic out of landfills since 2009.

A more recent development for the company is its move from partial ownership to full ownership of C.R. Plastic Products. This branch of the company transforms recycled plastic caps and other recycled materials into quality, eco-friendly, outdoor furniture. IRSS experienced further growth with the introduction of BMP Extrusion, a partnership with Greenlid that provides a line of compostable products, the opening of the Shelburne water plant, the acquisition of Urban Polymers in Toronto, and an expansion of its recycled polyethylene terephthalate (RPET) production capacity.

The new Blue Mountain Plastics Extrusion (BMPE) plant has a modern film extrusion and printing facility. It produces thin, strong, engineered coalition shrink film that allows Ice River Sustainable Solutions to use less plastic wrap for its bottled water. “Due to its thin gauge and high strength, it reduces the plastic required to pack heavy products. With water being so heavy, it drastically reduces the amount of plastic film we need to use,” explains Howe. BMP Extrusion also has a state-of-the-art printer capable of printing eight colours with in-house ink-mixing and precision automated mounting.

Using BMP Extrusion’s advanced equipment, the Ice River Sustainable Solutions team has been focused on incorporating recycled material into its plastic film which is a new innovation for this type of blown film. Starting with post-industrial recycled material (PIR), they have achieved twenty percent recycled content, and they expect that number to increase over time.

With the Shelburne Water Plant, IRSS now has the entire operation—water plant, film plant, and recycling plant—all in one location. “Shelburne now takes us through the closed-loop cycle from film, RPET, and water production in one place. The water plant is state-of-the-art with a turnkey Krones [bottling] line and an Elettric80 Forklift and warehousing system,” describes Howe.

The company is eager to bring people in for tours when possible again after pausing the visits temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic. The tours are interesting and engaging because visitors can watch their material go from the Blue Box right through to a finished product, which will hopefully lead to an increase in recycling and create greater trust in the larger recycling system.

Ice River Sustainable Solutions is committed to closed-loop recycling to eliminate waste through the reuse of materials. The company purchases PET, Type 1 post consumer bales from local material recovery facilities, and although some of the material in the bales is not perfectly usable PET for beverage containers, IRSS is continuously innovating to find a use for it all. The cap material is sent to C.R. Plastic Products to be turned into high-quality furniture. The company uses all of the green PET material from the Blue Box in its own Ice River Green Bottle Co. brand which keeps an additional 5 million pounds of plastic out of landfills every year.

“It is an exciting time to be part of the circular economy in Canada. With eleven years under our belt, we are excited to see more companies join in,” says Howe. “We are completely committed to producing only the most environmentally-aware products and packaging.”

The impact of COVID-19 put a great deal of stress on supply chains across the globe, but Ice River Sustainable Solutions was more fortunate than most. As a result of its vertical integration and local feedstock of PET for recycling, the company was well prepared for such an event. It did not have any supply chain interruptions since its PET bale supply is from local curbside collected material. Because of this, when the demand for bottled water increased at the beginning of the pandemic, IRSS was not only able to meet customer needs but was able to support the community with water donations and RPET bottles for hand sanitizer. Ice River employees are incredibly passionate and although COVID-19 was challenging for essential workers, they worked hard to ensure that bottled water was available to all who needed it.

The area of challenge is the misinformation and negativity surrounding plastics. “We feel that we represent the positive side of plastics. We want people to see what can happen when plastics are used responsibly. Plastic has a lot of good qualities but need to remain in the value chain and not in the environment,” says Howe.

Stakeholders in the plastics industry now recognize that keeping plastics in the value chain is essential, from a financial perspective as well as for environmental reasons. PET plastic is easily recyclable over and over again. The industry does not want it to end up in landfill.

The best way to stimulate change quickly is for industry groups, government, and environmental organizations to work together to find common ground. Ice River Sustainable Solutions is excited to be a part of that change as manufacturing, in general, moves towards cyclical models.

IRSS has been producing 100 percent recycled bottles since 2010. “The beverage industry is working hard to increase recycled content in their containers. The recycling industry is always finding new ways to recycle packaging, and brand owners know consumers want more sustainable products and packaging,” says Howe. Having worked to become a trusted voice for the recycling industry, IRSS is proud of the relationships it has formed with the government, customers, and suppliers.

Ice River Sustainable Solutions has earned its reputation as an environmentally-friendly bottled water company that has grown into a leader in continuous improvement of the plastics recycling industry. “I think, over the last few years, to be recognized as a company that can help and be a solution to the plastics problem has probably been our greatest success,” says Howe. With Co-Owners Jamie and Sandy Gott as the creative minds at the helm of the company, there are lots of new developments on the horizon. “We’ve developed an excellent team at IRSS, with a passion and dedication to the environment, and it’s very exciting.”

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