Automated Work Trucks
On November 8, 2021, Walmart—the largest grocery retailer in America—made high-tech history in its hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart announced it had successfully used fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) to transport goods along a two-mile route. This driverless pilot program, which saw Walmart partnering with AV firm, Gatik, began in August 2021.
Think-PLC
Think-PLC designs and builds new automation control systems and keeps legacy control systems running long after they were installed. Among key services offered by this Lexington, North Carolina-based company are installation, fabrication, manufacturing, consultation, training, maintenance, and repairs. The company is also a solutions partner with German technology giant Siemens, and works with clients worldwide in manufacturing, machine building and other sectors.
Samuel Automation Solutions Group
Things are booming at Samuel Automation Solutions Group (Samuel ASG) of Waterloo, Ontario. “We’ve gotten stronger. We have a greater reach and expertise. Being part of a much larger organization demonstrates stability that the smaller independents don’t always have,” states President Robert Lague.
Peninsula Plastics
Big changes have taken place at Peninsula Plastics Ltd., a start-to-finish custom injection moulding company in Fort Erie, Ontario, since it was profiled in February 2021’s Resource in Focus magazine. There has been a change of ownership in this family firm and some exciting new products—including a cutting-edge plastic garbage can.
Diversified Chemical Technologies
Diversified Chemical Technologies, Inc. (DCTI) has passed the half-century mark as a highly-successful African-American-owned business in Detroit, Michigan. With multiple divisions, the growing company specializes in cleaning products, chemicals, adhesives, and sourcing solutions for both MRO and office supplies, and continues to move into new markets.
Coherix, Inc.
Coherix, Inc., of Ann Arbor, Michigan aims to dominate the precision industrial sealant and adhesive dispensing market through its pioneering products and cutting-edge technology. The company designs and builds three-dimensional (3D) machine vision systems and software for monitoring and inspection.
JN White
JN White is a fast-growing firm headquartered in Perry, New York, that manufactures custom graphic overlays, membrane switches, display backlighting, and complex user interfaces. Its primary services are rapid prototyping, custom assembly, manufacturing engineering, vendor managed inventory, and switch testing. The company adheres to strict industry standards to maintain consistent quality.
Performance Plastics Ltd.
Performance Plastics Ltd. (PPL) of Cincinnati, Ohio marked its fortieth anniversary this year as a leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance thermoplastic components. The company works with specialized polymers and tight tolerances, and follows rigorous quality assurance protocols. It anticipates big growth shortly, based on its wealth of experience and cutting-edge products such as EnduroSharp® aerospace maintenance tools.
ProVantage Automation
ProVantage Automation, a Brantford, Ontario-based systems integrator and custom machine builder, marked its tenth anniversary in business this April. With its three in-house engineering and design disciplines of automation control, data management, and mechanical design, the company designs and builds automated solutions for clients in the food and beverage, paper converting, and consumer products sectors. ProVantage’s industrial solutions boost productivity and improve quality and efficiency for clients. The team at ProVantage has the expertise to design and deploy a complete end of line packaging system or cater the solution to be a retrofit versus a new asset.
Patriot Products Group
Patriot Products Group designs and manufactures pump system packages. The company offers diesel dry prime, diesel wet prime, sound attenuated, electric dry prime, and electric wet prime packages that can incorporate skids, trailers, control panels, and fuel cells as well as pumps and engines from various manufacturers. The young business is presently in a growth spurt, spurred by technical know-how and a flair for customization.
CO-AX Valves, Inc.
co-ax valves inc. (CVI) has come through the COVID crisis in a strong position, with new markets, new products, and new ways of doing business. The Bristol, Pennsylvania-based subsidiary of German parent company müller co-ax gmbh designs and manufactures valves for a wide array of customers. Its valves are used in industrial settings to control vacuums, liquids, gaseous substances, and gelatinous materials.
The International Safety Equipment Association
The International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) represents companies that make the workplace safer. Due to COVID, the association’s mission has taken on a new urgency. When the pandemic began, ISEA worked with its members and the federal government to replenish depleted supplies of crucial protective equipment that would mitigate the spread of the virus.
Handling Systems & Conveyors
Handling Systems & Conveyors, Inc. (HSC) of Little Rock, Arkansas, specializes in large material handling equipment used to transport parts and structures in industrial settings. More specifically, the company—which marked its thirtieth anniversary this year—designs, manufactures, builds, repairs, services, and installs cranes and industrial conveyor systems. Its clients are primarily found in the heavy manufacturing sector, where conveying and lifting large items are central to the workflow.
Dynamic Blending
Fast-rising contract manufacturer Dynamic Blending makes cosmetics, personal care items, nutraceuticals, and dietary supplements. From its base in Vineyard, Utah, this young company offers turnkey services with an emphasis on innovation and quality. The firm has been gaining attention thanks to its rapid growth and some high-profile projects.
Harcourt Industrial
Harcourt Industrial, Inc. boasts a legacy spanning over a century, a culture of innovation and engineering excellence, and a project portfolio that includes battleships, jumbo jets, and rockets.
IDP Group
The IDP Group has done a major pivot, with a new focus on steel-based pre-fabricated construction solutions that might help address housing needs in rural or isolated locales. The company has also embraced an innovative manufacturing methodology that aims to “turn construction into Advanced Manufacturing,” as Operations Manager and Partner Hamed Asl puts it.
LasX Industries
LasX Industries, Inc., founded in 1998 in St. Paul, Minnesota, has new products, a new customer service initiative, and a new focus. When profiled April 2018 in Manufacturing in Focus magazine, LasX custom designed and manufactured industrial laser systems for materials processing. Since then, the company has been shaping its most popular ‘Engineer to Order’ platforms to a ‘Configure to Order’ product line to offer customers more competitive options with quicker order fulfillment—still customizable, and tailored to meet customer requirements.
ArtiFlex Manufacturing
From its Grand Rapids, Michigan headquarters, ArtiFlex Manufacturing, an innovative, vertically integrated enterprise, has big plans for growth based on partnerships with other businesses. The firm’s name—an amalgam of artisan and flexible—summarizes its unique approach to design and manufacturing, with the company organized into four groups devoted to innovation, tooling, automation, and manufacturing.
Machining Tolerance Measurement Meets Industry 4.0
Metrology equipment manufacturers are increasingly adding Industry 4.0 features to instruments that measure machining tolerance. The goal is to improve accuracy, speed inspection times, enhance data collection and analysis, and lower verification costs.
Metro Compactor Services
If there is a secret to the success and longevity of Metro Compactor Service, Inc., it is that the family-run firm offers top-of-the-line waste and recycling equipment as well as ‘Super Service.’
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Schmalz
Good companies change; great companies evolve. And few have adapted over the years like Schmalz, starting in 1910 as a razor blade business in Germany. Founder Johannes Schmalz was an entrepreneur far ahead of his time—how many businesses establish their own hydroelectric plant on a river to power their machinery?
bioLytical Laboratories
Early illness detection is a precious tool for maintaining health and making rapid, well-informed health decisions. And it’s something bioLytical Laboratories Inc. has honed via its leading-edge solutions for infectious illness diagnosis, the first step in connecting patients with proper care and treatment and even saving their lives.
Photodigm
Back in March, Congressman Colin Allred toured Photodigm’s facilities in Richardson, Texas, and liked what he saw. A member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas’s 32nd district, Congressman Allred’s visit underscored the importance of America’s CHIPS and Science Act.
Torvan Medical
A leading company in the design and production of products for medical and scientific sectors, Torvan Medical employs exemplary craftsmanship with a focus on creating and marketing cutting-edge products for infection control and preventing cross-contamination. Whether it’s ergonomic decontamination devices such as sinks, height-adjustable workstations, or endoscopic cabinets, Torvan continually stays ahead of the curve.
PAMA Manufacturing and Sterilization
In little more than a decade, PAMA has grown into one of Canada’s top specialists in ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization and the manufacture of medical devices. Focused on single-use custom medical kits and accessories for other businesses through its private label, PAMA (short for Production of Advanced Medical Accessories) also meets the needs of customers through its own brand.
SterileCare Inc.
Catheter lock solutions are medically tested and approved liquids used to promote the anti-coagulation of blood and to provide antimicrobial protection inside catheter tubing while it is not in use. But not all lock solutions are equal. Canadian SterileCare Inc.’s patented KiteLock 4%, a non-antibiotic antimicrobial catheter solution, is destroying superbugs on home soil and beyond.
