One of the oldest building materials, metal has played an important role in construction for thousands of years. From residential structures to commercial and industrial buildings, metal wall panels and metal composite material (MCM) crafted from steel, zinc, copper, and other metals are increasingly popular.

From its modern 60,000 square foot fabrication facility in the Town of Triadelphia, West Virginia, ECMS produces some of the highest-quality metal panels available.

Working on projects from a single panel to multi-million-dollar projects, East Coast manufactures natural metal, MCM, plate, architectural trim, and single skin panels. Known for its abilities to solve complex problems, the team at ECMS regularly tackles construction projects for universities and colleges, large corporations, government, automotive, hospitality and tourism, residential, retail, sports, and other sectors.

The ECMS advantage
One reason clients keep coming back to East Coast Metal Systems is its capabilities. A full-service business firmly rooted in construction, ECMS can take projects from manufacturing to installation.

From pre-construction services including design-assist to estimating and budgeting, shop drawings and engineering to Secure-Scan®, project management, logistics, installation consultation and training to job closeout, East Coast’s dedicated staff are partners to their clients every step of the way.

“Our people, that’s what makes us unique,” says company Vice President John Trifonoff. “Our breadth of experience in the people we have, and our expertise and longevity in this industry.”

In many ways, Trifonoff exemplifies the in-depth expertise in construction embodied by East Coast staff, who know and understand the minutiae of not only how wall panels are produced but also how they are secured to structures.

Trifonoff’s service with East Coast goes back 28 years. Starting as a shop apprentice sweeping the shop floor, he left work early to go to graduation. Always good with his hands, the young Trifonoff has always been interested in fabrication, visiting his uncle at his fabrication shop as a young boy. He started working as a young boy helping his mom paint, mowing grass, then accepting his first job at Kroger as a maintenance worker.

While still in high school, he was working in commercial refrigeration, fixing ice machines, and doing general maintenance for area refrigeration companies. Taking a pay cut, he left and signed-up with the sheet metal union, becoming a foreman early on. From running the midnight shift as foreman to running the afternoon shift, then mornings, he advanced to superintendent, interim general manager, general manager, and Vice President about 10 years ago.

From a fabrication standpoint, East Coast will ship anywhere in the United States; for installation, the company serves customer east of the Mississippi up and down the East Coast.

Growing over the years to about 25 office staff and several hundred shop union and field employees, East Coast’s team of sheet metal craftsmen includes everyone from apprentices to experienced journeymen with a wealth of industry knowledge and understanding.

“Some of our best attributes are being able to solve problems,” says Trifonoff. “Look for the solution, make no excuses, but have a positive attitude towards the problem.”

Flexible and unique
With the positive attitude of “nothing too small, nothing too big,” East Coast’s staff, size, and investment in machinery enable the company to put major emphasis on turning projects around quickly.

To this end the company moved from its smaller site to a new six-acre site in 2017 with combined fabrication / office space of about 80,000 square feet – including provisions for future expansion. This is where the company fabricates its composite panels that include MCM with steel, stainless steel, titanium, zinc, copper, or aluminum, resulting in two metal skins bonded to a thermoplastic core.

The result is modern, sleek panels in different thicknesses, colors, profiles and shapes that are attractive, durable, and adaptable to different designs and application methods.

Together with custom-made single skin and plate panel fabrication, East Coast is famous for its wet joint and dry joint systems. These include the EC-100 WET JOINT MCM SYSTEM™ and the EC-150 WET JOINT PLATE SYSTEM™, which use mounting extrusions that are interlocked, sealed with silicone, and ideal for simple and complex construction projects alike.

Dry joint products include East Coast’s EC-200 DRY JOINT MCM SYSTEM™ and the EC-250 DRY JOINT PLATE SYSTEM™. Mounted using aluminum extrusions, these dry systems are available in different thicknesses.

In the United States, standard panel sizes are five feet/60 inches (1.52 m/152 cm) wide by 16 feet (4.87 m) long. Although width is limited, the company can create panels 30 feet in length (9.1 m) if requested by clients.

Secure-Scan® 3D laser scanning
Recognizing a need in the market, East Coast Metal Systems provides clients with Secure-Scan, along with project management, logistics and other construction services. Secure-Scan is an incredibly accurate 3D laser scanner service.

“It was difficult for a lot of our customers to scan or field-measure,” comments Trifonoff. “There was always a disconnect between us being able to produce product, and our customer being able to get something they could use on the job and eliminate remakes.”

A technology developed by the company’s own engineers, Secure-Scan uses lasers to record precision three-dimensional images of a building after installation of the substrate – even hard-to-measure complex curves – with pinpoint accuracy.

Once the job is scanned, images are delivered to East Coast for processing and expert analysis, and metal panels are custom-fabricated, crated, and shipped to the project site for installation. “Secure-Scan bridges that gap between them being able to field measure accurately and efficiently, and us getting the information we need accurately,” says Trifonoff.

For customers, the technology serves as yet another example of what sets East Coast apart from the competition.

Leading the industry
Growing steadily since it was formed in 1990, East Coast Metal Systems remains an industry leader. Working mainly for industrial and mine service companies in the early years, the company shifted its focus to meet demands from clients requesting architectural work including roof panels, roof flashing, and wall panels.

In 1996-97, ECMS became one of the first companies in the U.S. to take on zinc wall panels, in this case for a well-known university, even flying in experts from Germany to assist with the work.

“It was a great-looking job,” says Trifonoff. “Because of our skill sets and especially our craftsmen, we could do a lot of things other people couldn’t do, including radius work, custom jobs, and restoration work with copper and zinc.”

Just a few years later, East Coast began making MCM panels with Citadel a unique composite of aluminum and natural metal.

Then, in 2004-2005, the introduction of its own systems saw East Coast become involved with Reynobond. This led to its work on the wall panel side of the business, eventually seeing the company incorporate products not only from Reynobond, but also Alucobond and Larsen. “We could put their product on our systems, where before we were limited to the Citadel products, and it really started to grow for us. Once that happened, we were able to open our door to those other products.”

Strong company culture
With a mix of new and seasonal workers, East Coast is facing up to the need to replace older staff as they retire.

Fostering relationships with local trade schools and high schools and working with a full-time recruiter, with the union and with an apprenticeship fund training-facility for recruitment, the company attends job fairs and sits on committees for joint training centers.

“Opportunities for young persons in construction trades have been overshadowed for years with the whole ‘You’ve got to go to college’ line. Well, I’m proof that you can do college later,” says Trifonoff. “Working in a trade is rewarding if you’re willing to work hard.”

Privately-owned to this day, the company’s strong internal culture sees East Coast treat staff and clients alike with respect. There is no doubt that this deeply ingrained attitude will help shape the company’s future for the better.

“East Coast is a partnership,” comments Trifonoff. “We want to be a partner with our customers, understand their needs and have an understanding of the process, and help them understand our process and the construction industry itself. We are a resource. I want customers to come to us with questions and problems so that we can help them along their way.”

The post Seeing the Potential in All Projects<p class="company">East Coast Metal Systems</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Named after founder August Claas in 1913, the company has expanded its reach globally to more than 160 countries across five continents. But while the group’s harvesters first reached North America in the 1950s, the CLAAS of America sales unit was formally organized in 1979. Today, there are two operational units in the U.S.; CLAAS Of America Inc. handles sales, while CLAAS Omaha Inc. manages the production of combines for the North American market.

We spoke with CLAAS of America President and General Manager, Eric Raby, in March 2018. More than three years later, it is a very different world but still one that requires agribusiness. Raby and CLAAS Omaha’s new President, Matthias Ristow, laid out the company’s groundwork moving forward. Ristow, who has more than seven years of experience with CLAAS, has recently taken over responsibility at CLAAS Omaha and is supervising the company’s production of new cutting-edge line of combine harvesters.

Now in their second year of production, the company’s LEXION 8000-7000 Series harvesters boast the highest capacity in their class combined with unprecedented fuel efficiency. The machines harvest an average of 20.3 acres per hour, which the company calculates to as much as 31 percent higher than other harvesters. This is largely due to its patented APS SYNFLOW HYBRID threshing and separation system. Pre-separating up to thirty percent of the grain before it even reaches the threshing units and twin separation rotors, the unique system provides higher output using less fuel while not damaging the crop itself. “This is a completely new range of combines, from top to bottom,” Raby remarks. “You never think that combines can any get more capacity or more efficient, but we find ways to do it.”

In addition to its harvesting efficiency, the LEXION DYNAMIC POWER system helps farmers reduce fuel costs by being up to thirty percent more fuel-efficient than competitors. This helps the machine harvest up to 7,240 bu/hr and unload more than five bushels per second. Finally, a DYNAMIC COOLING system and central lubrication system help keep the engine and all moving parts running smoothly, reducing maintenance and downtime.

The new LEXION is merely the newest addition to CLAAS’s extensive product line, which extends from combine harvesters, forage harvesters and tractors to mowers, tedders, rakes, and square and round balers. The new harvesters also sport the company’s seed-green color. Raby hopes this will reinforce the company brand beyond traditional marketing.

As Raby described, the company is in the midst of a transition that began before the pandemic. For the past five years, he estimates, CLAAS has been increasing its distribution network. The result, he says, is more cohesive; far from increasing complexity by adding more vendors and products, the practice actually helps simplify the distribution network—in defiance of traditional logic. “It’s really easy to make things complex,” he says. “It’s more difficult to make things simple.”

By diversifying the distributor network, the company offers a closer relationship with its dealers and end-users, superior to a simple transactional relationship. Raby says the results have been positive, with no signs of abating. “We’ve seen good growth in the past few years, and it looks like the current trajectory, especially with current trends in the market, will continue to propel us forward.”

This growth may well help CLAAS continue to diversify its product line. Raby points out that, while CLAAS of America’s product line is extensive, it does not yet supply equipment for planting, tillage or spraying—all vital components of the farming process. Yet he and the leadership team hope that, by expanding its distribution network, the company’s suppliers may be more amenable to this development.

“Over time, not only do they become more dependent on us, but we become dependent on them,” he says, developing a relationship that is more than a mere convenience of transaction. “We partner with dealers on the basis of promoting that business together,” he continues. “When we’re dependent on each other, it becomes a relationship that seems to be much more synergistic.”

This reflects CLAAS’s desire to develop close relationships not merely with suppliers but with end-user farmers as well. The company has a history of staying in touch with vendors and customers long after agricultural shows. On a smaller scale, the company goes directly to the source. In ‘customer clinics,’ company sales representatives and product specialists meet with dealers and customers to discuss harvesting practices and harvesting issues, and to collect performance feedback from customers.

As an essential business related to food production, CLAAS of America was largely unaffected by COVID shutdown measures; indeed, Raby relates that, though many employees worked remotely, the company more than rose to the challenge. “Despite the adversity that the pandemic brought, we were still able to deliver our best fiscal year ever.”

Yet, so much of CLAAS’s business model remains face-to-face. It is difficult to demonstrate a combine harvester virtually, after all, and the company is looking forward to resuming in-person farm shows throughout the country.

Thanks to successful pre-pandemic planning and CLAAS’s role in an essential industry, its goals remain steady and ambitious. “Our goal, over the next five years, was to double the size of our business in North America,” Raby recalls of the 2019 decision. “That’s a pretty tall order.” Yet bold new developments are keeping the company on schedule to achieve this.

It recently opened a trailblazing new tractor factory in Le Mans, France. The product of three years of development and €40 million in investment, this ‘Future Factory’ will utilize the latest digital technologies such as virtual reality throughout all stages of assembly. Additionally, new automated guided vehicles (AGVs) move tractors around the facility and are capable of moving up to twenty tons of material at a time. The result is unprecedented production totals. When fully up to speed, CLAAS predicts the factory will produce up to 13,000 tractors annually.

The company’s move into automated vehicles is further reflected in its new minority shareholding stake in Dutch start-up AgXeed, which is working to advance automated farm machinery. Raby describes this, like its customer relationship, as symbiotic. “This gives us an opportunity to start to leverage the technology that they have…with some of the tractor savvy that we have. So that’s very exciting.”

But closer to home may be where CLAAS’s most effective development is taking shape. The company’s new training academy, 20,000 square feet of space in Omaha that is the product of two years of development, heralds a bold new chapter in the company’s labor recruitment, workforce development and dealer training. The academy hosts the company’s new apprenticeship program, mirrored on the same system, which has built and maintained the German economy for centuries.

Apprentices work at CLAAS in a laboratory setting, learning the intricacies of agricultural machinery. The second half of the program, partnered with Omaha’s own Metropolitan Community College, provides further academic and practical training. After three years, apprentices take an exam administered by the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest. The program is globally respected and provides candidates with accreditation that opens doors to employment anywhere in the world. Ristow says that this particular apprenticeship program, while new to North America, will help provide a steady supply of skilled labor. “It’s pretty much the backbone of the German economy, a continuous supply of qualified employees,” he says.

This global reciprocity that makes the apprenticeship program powerful, as Ristow notes that CLAAS operates similar programs in Russia and Hungary as well. “Everyone who has that certificate is known to have a certain level of knowledge,” he says. Finally, while the program is designed to move employees into CLAAS’s production side, they can easily move to service as well. “They have the training; they have the know-how,” Ristow says, “and they should be of interest to our service team as well.”

With these developments and despite increases in steel and fuel prices, CLAAS’s team is confident about the future. The company earned the Equipment Dealers Association’s dealer choice award just before this writing, its third such award in four years, demonstrating its strong customer service prowess. Yet new product developments are on the horizon, and the company is already increasing its production capacity to accommodate them. Despite the cyclical nature of agriculture, CLAAS remains a constant. As it looks ahead to future decades of service, the company will always be outstanding in its field—in every sense of the phrase.

The post Farming For the Future: New Developments, Facilities and Labor Practices<p class="company">CLAAS of America</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

“We design, manufacture, engineer and do everything in-house right here in Bay City, Michigan,” says BPM’s Jim Forgash. The company is a third-generation family-run business, and Forgash is proud of its longevity and its team of 50 employees, including machinists, engineering, and electrical engineers who have almost 500 years of combined experience among them.

Family pride
As Vice President of Sales for the past decade, Forgash looks back and reflects on everything his staff and family have accomplished over the years. Founded by his grandfather Tony Forgash, Sr. and son Tony Forgash Jr. as JETRO Inc. in a Bay City garage, the company soon emerged as a leader in the design and development of strand pelletizer technology. It was purchased by Conair in 1974, with the division renamed Conair JETRO, and Conair centralized all of its remote manufacturing facilities to Franklin, Pennsylvania years later in 1997, with Bay Plastics Machinery then formed by Tony Forgash Jr. and others, including best friend Richard ‘Dick’ Fetter.

“My father and a couple of people were offered transfer positions,” shares Jim Forgash. “Dad didn’t like the idea of all his people going away and losing opportunities, plus he didn’t want to move from small town Michigan to small town Pennsylvania, so they basically all left the company and started up Bay Plastics.”

Now BPM’s Vice President of Technical Development, Fetter worked with Jim’s father at Conair JETRO from the early 1980s until the company closed operations and moved to Franklin. Among the company’s employees are six staff members approaching retirement, who started with the business when it was Conair JETRO after graduating high school about 40 years ago. “We do not have a lot of turnover at Bay Plastics,” Forgash says, his voice full of pride. “That’s one thing that we’ve been pretty fortunate with. Typically, when people come, they stay. Because we’re specialized, and because we are creating specialty pieces of equipment, it’s important to us we keep our people.”

Custom products, parts and service
A pioneer in the strand pelletizing industry, Bay Plastics Machinery is an expert not only in custom manufacturing including manual and automatic strand pelletizers, air knives, water baths and conveyors, but also in spare parts, rotor sharpening and repair, and onsite lab services, rebuilding and repair. Offering technical support that is second to none, BPM’s skilled engineers help clients identify needed parts such as rotors, bed knives, feed rolls and bearings quickly and efficiently. With a massive million-dollar inventory in spare parts in stock and ready to go, keeping client strand pelletizers up and running is rarely an issue.

While a strand pelletizer may resemble a material grinder, manufacturing strand machines requires a completely different skill set. Precision cutting machines operating at very high speeds, strand pelletizers are capable of tolerances that are sometimes smaller than a strand of hair.

With customers worldwide including a large base in Asia, Latin America, and Europe, BPM finds clients either come to them knowing what strand pelletizing machines they need, or approach the company asking for advice, with staff willing to help. “Most of the time, we’re making recommendations and guiding them along the way, based on the application,” explains Forgash. Working closely with clients, the company discusses applications and secondary equipment around extruders and dies, overall design, cutting chambers, custom bases if requested, heights, infeeds, special chutes, how the unit discharges, and even custom paint colors. “We really work around what the application is going to be, and then work with the customer to make sure that our fit is right in line and user-friendly.”

Since Bay Plastics Machinery is a custom manufacturer of strand pelletizing systems, it focuses on designing systems around what the customer’s application is going to be, providing them with a true custom approach. Except for outsourcing components, everything else is done in-house, providing even greater quality control over the end product. “We’re not outsourcing things overseas, and we’re not buying components preassembled,” states Forgash of the company, which even builds and wires its own electrical cabinets much of the time.

Client-first approach
Promoting the company through direct contact and through a social media presence on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, BPM recently hired a marketing assistant and is creating a video library for the benefit of its many customers, which range from major chemical and petroleum facilities – Bay Plastics’ core base – to mom and pop garage shops. “And we literally service all of them, and everyone in between,” states Forgash. “We’re not afraid to travel the globe, and our attitude is: none too big, none too small.”

Taking on a customer-first approach to business means that if a client has an issue, Bay Plastics is right on it. And to ensure customers are familiar with its equipment, the company is creating a series of videos on training, maintenance, and preventative maintenance. “When we have a customer that has a very specific need we may not have a general video for, we’ll make one,” says Forgash.

Working toward a bright future
Like other companies, Bay Plastics has experienced its share of ups and downs. One of the most recent was the passing of Jim’s father Tony at the end of June at age 80. As one of the founders and Chief Executive Officer, Tony was truly a plastic industry innovator and an astute entrepreneur. An ‘old school’ draftsman who held several patents for his outstanding work, he remained modest about his many accomplishments. Jim tried several times to get his dad nominated as Innovator of the Year; Tony wanted nothing to do with it.

“‘It’s not about me, it’s about keeping focus on the company,’” he would say. One of the most telling lines in Tony’s obituary from his family reads: “His innovations, along with his brilliant mind, helped him turn a small town business into a global enterprise.” Truer words were never spoken.

Today, the company that started off in a garage 60 years ago remains an industry leader, not only in its home state of Michigan, but worldwide. Led by President and Chief Operating Officer Jason Forgash and a team of top-notch executives, Bay Plastics Machinery will continue to live up to Tony’s words for years to come: “We build better quality machines, we provide better service after sales, and we offer a more personalized experience tailored to each customer’s desires.”

The post Simply Better Quality<p class="company">Bay Plastics Machinery</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Now with an impressive 35 years in the business, ASI manufactures custom drying solutions in its 65,000 square-foot facility for the converting of film, foil, paper, nonwovens, and other flexible web-based materials, as well as products conducive to a continuous process environment. This variety of applications and industries results in dryers ranging from as short as 36 inches to monsters over 200 feet in length.

In the hands of ASI’s clients, these products are destined for end uses in any and every industry, such as flexible packaging, construction materials, batteries, automotive products, labels and adhesives, and paper, graphic arts and textiles, to name a few.

“Up until the late 90s and early 2000s, ASI’s focus was on graphic arts dryers, newsprint, and magazines,” says Jason Allington, Vice President and General Manager. “Now we’re focused on custom drying systems and a completely different business model. Where before we were making many of the same type of dryer, now we’re not making as many, but they’re all unique and designed to fit an individualized customer’s process.”

With an eye to specific drying needs and control requirements, ASI works closely with clients to meet performance and control specifications, while also adhering to specific space constraints. The technology is impressive and the inventory is extensive, but customer care remains paramount.

“That’s where we’re still at today, always working on new technologies and making our systems more efficient and finely-tuned,” says Allington. “All of our systems are custom. We base the sizing of these systems off of proprietary modeling software and this has been tuned and tested for our technology, allowing us to design a system that not only fits the customer’s application, but also ensures the environment will be safe and [that] they’re going to be operating without any sort of damage to the equipment or personnel.”

As many of ASI’s systems are utilized to dry volatile solvents, safety is a major priority for the company, he says.

ASI has made a considerable effort to develop its customer service group, with three dedicated service engineers who take turns being on call, even after hours.

“If something happens, someone will answer the phones,” says Angela Krueger, Purchasing and Marketing Manager. “And they do everything from troubleshooting to parts sales. They’re also the ones who fine-tune the equipment at startup, balance the air flows, and also train the operators and maintenance people on how to operate our systems and get the best out of them. They maintain them so they keep working, and our dryer systems last for decades.”

The ASI team not only create products that will keep customers satisfied, but they also strive to truly understand what the client needs now and years from now.

“One of the big focuses is always trying to work with customers on their process in order to understand what they’re doing so we can apply what we know to it,” says Allington. “We don’t always know what their process is or how it works, but through conversations we’ll find out little nuanced things that they may not think are important but do apply to their application.”

Because of that, customers will come to ASI with other problems that might not be dryer related, whether it’s condensation at the dryer entrance or exit, or recovering solvent. ASI prides itself on helping clients with equipment outside of what would normally be deemed its scope of responsibility.

ASI also continually educates clients on the industry and the mechanics of the equipment they’re using.

“A big focus in the past four years has been on educating our customers about what the equipment we’re giving them is capable of,” says Allington. “Any company has turnover. We’ll often get calls from the new guy who doesn’t know how to operate something, so we’ll put together a class, and either show up or do it virtually, where we can explain exactly what functions they have to play with and how those functions affect what’s going on in the system.”

A lot of the mechanics aren’t inherently obvious, he adds. People who are under-educated on the equipment will often make the opposite changes they’re supposed to. “By educating them, they get to know they can trust us, they learn what our stuff does, and that just helps people to want to work together.”

Speaking of turnover, adds Krueger, ASI still employs the first two engineers that were ever hired by the company, and the head of service has been at ASI for more than 20 years. “We have a wealth of knowledge within this one building,” she says.

ASI’s wide variety of drying systems and configurations are a point of pride for the company, with designs including roll support, flotation, vertical, belt supported, infrared and lab line.

“We’re constantly working on new designs,” says Allington. The company services diverse industries that require different types of dryers, from processes where cleanliness isn’t a necessity, to HEPA filtration, to a step higher with 100 percent clean air required for optical or computer applications.

“With all those different things, we will blend them together to create something that probably hasn’t been done before in order to fit somebody’s individual application,” says Allington. “We’re always looking at an application and figuring out whether we have the technology in place as something we’ve done, or do we have to work on something new?”

Customers have numerous options to choose from. A popular one is a retraction system that permits either the top portion or the bottom portion of the dryer to move, allowing a technician to get inside the dryer for web up, cleaning and maintenance.

“The fastest way to make something is continuously,” says Allington. “We’re finding more and more applications where something might have been made in a batch oven or in small portions and they’re realizing if they can adapt this, and figure out how to make it continuous, then they’re going to be making more profit.”

Recent industry trends toward continuous processing have been seen in batteries, electronics, circuit boards, and a variety of items that not only have to be kept scrupulously clean, but also have to be very uniform. ASI has had to work on uniformity, not only with air temperature, but also with air pressure being applied to the web or substrate.

As ASI breaks into the EU market, the CE restrictions regarding health, safety, and environmental protections have not been an issue for ASI.

“We’ve always done things, going back years and years, for CE restrictions and or ATEX,” says Allington. “Our regulations here have modified over the past three or four years, and we’ve had a big focus on trying to make sure we have the knowledge in-house for what goes into a CE design. We’ve worked with outside contractors, had sit-down meetings and reviewed designs to ensure that what we’re doing is acceptable and CE compliant.”

This has gone a long way in helping to open up another market for the company in Europe. “In the past couple of years we’ve sold a dryer to Scotland, two dryers to Poland, and we have many outstanding bids on dryers for the European market,” adds Krueger. “We’re definitely selling a lot more in Europe than previously.”

Looking ahead, ASI is eyeing new markets as they continue to expand, and as companies try to figure out how to make things faster.

“There’s been a lot of focus on batteries,” says Allington. “That technology has been changing. We worked on a battery line a couple of years ago and we’re working on getting more. That’s been a big area of growth for us.”

Construction for reverse osmosis media – media used to clean or desalinate water for drinking – has also been a major focus, along with the portions of layers inside cell phones and screen covers.

“As world trends go, then so does the technology,” says Allington. “Making it efficient and cost-effective is when we get brought in. That’s really where our expertise pays off because we’re used to working on so many other different types of systems. We can help a customer develop a process that’s never been done before, or to at least allow the flexibility that they can cover any different areas of the unknown.”

In some applications that means ASI builds them a lab oven and clients test it out for some while before buying a production oven.

To get into these new markets, ASI tries to add a new trade show every year. This past year, of course, has seen the cancellation and postponement of most large-scale gatherings, which has been detrimental to many industries.

“We’re doing something new called the Battery Show,” says Krueger. “We’ve made dryers that are used to make different batteries, so shows are good for our visibility and growing our market.”

As with most companies, ASI has felt the impact of COVID over the past year and a half, but has pulled through. As the company doesn’t have employees working in confined spaces, it was easier than for most to stay open and do so safely.

“We never shut down. Our manufacturing floor was always operating,” says Krueger. “There were always a couple of people in the office, and some people working from home. But the fallout we’re seeing now is the rapid price increases on all of the inputs to our system, like the metal, burners, fans, and electrical components that are just going up astronomically.”

To enhance future growth, ASI recently applied for a workforce development grant with a rigorous training schedule for all employees. Managers will also receive different types of managerial training in an effort to keep ASI competitive and efficient.

“I think working on our efficiency has been a major focus so we can do more with what we have before we get to the point where we need to expand,” says Allington.

As a smaller company with less than 50 employees, ASI is able to stay flexible, says Krueger, but there’s always room for improvement.

“We’re seeing a transition from the older generation, who are starting to retire, to younger people coming in and taking up a more managerial leadership type role. I think it’s really great timing for us as a company, to apply for a grant and get this type of training.”

Moving on from COVID, Allington sees the handling of future meetings continuing to limit numbers of people, as teleconference calls take up less time overall.

“That alone showed that it can be done,” he says of the trend to virtual meetings. “We got our VPN up and going right away, and that has allowed employees, who might have had to take a day off previously for any kind of reason, to bring their computer home and get work done. That has actually been great.”

As a younger generation graduates from school and enters the workforce, he thinks the flexibility of working in the office or from home will be very enticing. Regardless of which new practices stick and which don’t, Allington looks to the future with optimism.

“We’ve definitely learned a lot this last year,” he says, “and there’s a lot to explore throughout the upcoming years.”

The post Custom Drying Solutions for Better Production Lines, Products, and Profits<p class="company">ASI, Division of Thermal Technologies, Inc.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

As one of America’s most trusted plastics engineering firms, Parkway Products specializes in creating complex high-performance plastics and engineering resin parts solutions. It employs five diversified engineered technologies, namely High Performance Polymer Molding, Machined Plastic Solutions, Magnesium Thixomolding, Thermoset Molding, and Thermoplastic Injection Molding for manufacture, machining, assembly, automation, and even supply chain management. Its exclusive fabrication technologies produce parts that are perfect for applications that require extreme strength to withstand great friction, high temperature, vibration, and chemical exposure. The quality of its work is widely respected, landing it the #72 position on Plastics News’ ranking of the top one hundred injection molders.

In 2019, the company made several acquisitions and now has nine fully-integrated facilities operating as one firm throughout the U.S. and Mexico so clients can always find a Parkway facility within reach. Its facilities can be found in Asheville, North Carolina; Fort Collins and Loveland in Colorado; Greeneville, Tennessee; Seneca and Westminster in South Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; Rockford, Illinois, and Saltillo in Coahuila, Mexico.

Parkway’s two hundred-plus clients operate in several markets, including aerospace and electronics, healthcare, agriculture, heavy truck and off-road, and other automotive and industrial sectors. Out of this group of loyal clientele, around twenty-six are Fortune 500 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

The company’s facilities share the same operating system and software to ensure uniformity and to provide clients with a sense of familiarity no matter which branch they use. “Our customers get a consistent, high-quality offering from Parkway that goes way beyond a basic transactional relationship,” says Andrew Green, who has been the company’s Chief Executive Officer since November 2020. “They come to us for a partnership that they can trust. To get the parts developed in a way that not only meets their needs today but will also serve them well over the life of their program.”

The success of its growing manufacturing capabilities and technological investments is evident in its fast-expanding client base, with the new Rockford, Illinois facility bringing with it an increase in business from the aerospace sector. This branch is focused on advanced technologies, molding with high-performance polymers and CNC precision machining of plastic parts combined with value-added services such as automated assembly and complex design for manufacturability.

Even more exciting is its Greenville, South Carolina headquarters located at the Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research (ICAR) on the aptly named Research Drive. “This location allows us to be in the sandbox, so to speak, where advanced manufacturing technologies are being developed,” says Green. The company invests in platforms that allow it to continuously improve its technological systems, keeping it up-to-date with the latest developments in the field.

Parkway is structured to assist its customers in transitioning between old and new technologies with the help of multiple proprietary manufacturing technologies. “We can help steer and guide customers down the path to help them from our research and development side with what they are developing,” says Patrick Hunter, the company’s Executive Business Developer. Hunter points out that Parkway’s new Rockford facility especially allows the company to shine.

The Rockford, Illinois facility “has enhanced our development capability. Because we’re able to work with customers on further looking at high-end engineering-grade materials giving them quick-turn application parts that they can then do field testing with quickly,” Hunter adds. This means that the entire tool development cycle is much shorter, bringing components to market faster and helping customers operate and improve their capacities with more complex technology at much greater speed. This inevitably results in a better quality final product while saving customers time and money.

One great example of how the Rockford facility’s capabilities benefit big industry players is how it is helping aerospace customers switch from expensive, heavily-machined components to high-performance, molded alternatives that do not need secondary machining. These solutions are every bit as durable and functional as the original versions but are also more repeatable and much more cost-effective.

The plastics industry is not without its challenges in this pandemic recovery period, causing both customers and suppliers to have a hard time planning for the future. These challenges have arrived in the form of price spikes, component shortages on everything from computer chips to nuts and bolts, plus a general uncertainty on what demand really is out there. Parkway Products, however, knows that trust and solid relationships will help deal with these. “Relationships are critical because we can reward those who have truly partnered with us with consistency, quality, supply, innovation, technology, and responsiveness. We can work together to problem solve given the trust we have with them and that is really where value is created,” says Green. With speed and bespoke solutions fast becoming the norm, Green forecasts these types of relationships to increase in number and importance.

With its close-knit family dynamic, the company’s first response to the still-raging global health crisis was naturally to protect its people. “Our focus needed to be on keeping our employees safe and healthy. We were navigating through territory that was unknown to everyone. The goal was to continue doing business as usual as much as possible [while] keeping our folks safe and healthy. [This] was the most important thing,” says Amber Galford, the firm’s Vice President of Human Resources. Part of its strategy looked at what was working or not working for other companies and applying safety and other procedures that best suited its teams and its business structure.

This approach placed the company and its teams across the country in a strong position. The result of operating smoothly was that its existing clients and several new ones could depend on Parkway Products as a go-to supplier. Galford is confident that keeping the company’s people and their families in good health keeps the business going and growing during an economic challenge the world has not seen in many years.

During this time, the company continued supplying its clients with parts and technological product launch management. “During the pandemic, there was a tremendous need for oxygen concentrating equipment for life support throughout the world. We were able to use our technology to make essential components,” says Green. The company also launched robotic assembly for fabricating larger numbers of thermoplastic components for another client in the healthcare industry. “This helped save lives throughout the world but it all started with a Parkway team that was able to keep each other safe and healthy and took care of each other and our customers,” Green adds.

The new CEO is full of praise for his employees. “I’m amazed by [them], I’m proud of the resiliency of our associates, of our team members. They stepped up [to the challenge] and were able to do a lot of good,” he says.

Galford supports this statement, highlighting her fifteen years at the company as being a member of a big, caring family that loves one another. “It makes for a very strong unit of people. The best part is that it is true. This [family] feeling has certainly helped us navigate through these tough times,” she says.

The Vice President knows what she is talking about. Since starting with the company in 2007, when it had only around one hundred employees, she has seen it grow to about eight hundred people over the past fourteen years. She ascribes the firm’s success at building team spirit to its insistence on letting its people know that they matter and that they are appreciated as leadership focuses on making the company a preferred employer throughout its regions. This has allowed it to increase the team in such a way that, despite its size, has maintained warmth and a feeling of belonging to something greater.

As a token of thanks to its people, the company provides a wellness program managed by a dedicated team that oversees the health of all who work for Parkway Products. Employees enjoy having access to health professionals and are incentivized to participate. “We do everything we can to create an environment [in which] we can help folks make healthy decisions about smoking and exercising,” says Galford. “We encourage our employees to get involved in activities that benefit them from a health and wellness perspective.”

This sense of family is extended to the greater community as the company supports as many charitable causes and organizations as it can, annually. From community activities to a Toys for Tots drive at holiday time, the list is hefty. Greeneville, Tennessee, gains its support every year during its winter athletics season, as do many other initiatives that the firm knows are close to its people’s hearts.

Parkway is known for forging ahead no matter the challenges. “It’s been a proud moment here for us to reach our seventy-fifth year in business. The statistics are pretty telling. I think only one in three businesses last ten years; about one in ten last sixty years. I’m looking forward to a time when reconnecting in person is possible,” says Green. Starting this past April, the company started celebrating its anniversary at its plants, and celebrations will last until April 2022.

Management is ready to support his vision and continue the legacy of integrity that has brought it this far. He points out that the company has seen many economic cycles come and go and that this will not change but that its resiliency will continue to carry the company far into the future. As 2021 has seen ongoing growth, Parkway Products is ready to take on whatever comes next.

“We don’t spend our time and resources cultivating awards. Saving people’s lives by supplying life-saving equipment around the world and being able to launch projects during the pandemic: that’s what matters to us,” says Green. “Our customer list is the envy of many in the industry. That’s what is gratifying to us. That’s where we [continue] to spend our time and energy. Our goal is to reach the century mark.”

Value addition is not going away at Parkway Products, and this formidable team will undoubtedly reach that hundred-year goal over the next twenty-five years.

The post Saving Lives and Molding Futures, One Partnership at a Time<p class="company">Parkway Products</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Columbia primarily creates parts and products from customer design ideas, with an eye toward improving quality of life. This process is called design for manufacturability or DFM, and it entails “making the design suitable for manufacturing and repeatability,” explains Vice President and General Manager Matt Howard.

The company frequently tweaks customer designs for injection moulding purposes, and whether using a customer’s design or its own design, production is done domestically. “Every single product is made in Canada. Every single product is made in our facility here. That’s a big one for us,” Howard states with pride.

The company sometimes hires offshore suppliers to build moulds, but otherwise, its tool room, production, shipping, and warehousing facilities are all based in Surrey. It has over two dozen moulding machines ranging from 17 to 750 metric tonnes and an array of machine tools, robotic systems, quality control inspection equipment, and an electrical discharge machine or EDM. A little over a decade ago, Columbia opened Western Canada’s first ISO Class 7 clean room, a 50,000-square-foot space that is used extensively for medical-related work.

“Our products and customers are very wide-ranging,” Howard says. Among other items, Columbia produces parts for air seeders, transmission shields and gearbox housings for the agricultural sector, roof vents and steering column caps for the industrial sector, and specialized drilling and blasting components for mining markets. While it also does work for commercial clients, the medical sector is the company’s biggest revenue generator. One common thread is that, regardless of industry segment, every product the company makes serves the purpose of improving quality of life—whether it is a cell culture plate for cancer research or an agriculture seed meter to help improve a farmer’s seeding accuracy.

For its medical customers, Columbia produces laser-etched anti-doping kits, pill vials, and isolation tubes used to separate blood and bone marrow. The company also teamed up with a client to make customized cell culture plates in various formats including 6 well and 24 well. The isolation tubes and anti-doping kits are Class 1 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medical devices.

Over the decades, Columbia has established a reputation for excellence and high standards. The firm is ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certified and has a Medical Device Establishment Licence (MDEL) from Health Canada and is a registered establishment with the FDA. Establishment status is granted to companies that meet government standards for manufacturing medical devices.

The company employs a comprehensive quality management system that “starts from design and development of products all the way to shipping and handling and customer complaints. It covers every aspect of our business, from mould validation to supply chain audits, to the quoting process,” Howard states.

The company is also renowned for its innovative spirit, as exemplified by its interest in sustainability. It regrinds as much plastic material as possible. What can’t be reground and put back into the manufacturing stream is sold “for pennies to a local plastic manufacturer that sorts it… so our facility has no plastic waste going into the landfill,” he says.

It partnered with a firm called Good Natured Products that specializes in bio-based, biodegradable plastic. As a result of this collaboration, Columbia converted a product line of office items from “high impact polystyrene to a flax-based plastics and a [polylactic acid]-based plastic that is essentially corn-based,” notes Howard.

The firm was an early adopter of three-dimensional or 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing. It uses its 3D printer to make prototypes for customers and develop tools for the automation department. The company is currently looking to upgrade its 3D printing capabilities.

“We’re trying to find the right 3D printer for what we use. We don’t really use it as a revenue stream. It’s a means to an end,” Howard says of 3D printing, noting that it is “useful, but you can’t replace the strength of injection moulding with additive manufacturing.”

Such cutting-edge developments are a far cry from the company’s humble beginning. The company was founded in 1945 in Vancouver, BC, in a 5,000-square-foot facility where it did injection moulding for a small clientele.

At some point during these early years, then owner Len MacDonald started working with an accountant named Ian Howard. Ian sensed possibilities in the fledgling firm, recalls his grandson Matt.

Ian “believed that plastic was the future,” continues Matt. “One day [my grandfather] came home, took a second mortgage out on the house then told his wife he had just bought a struggling plastics company. That was 1962.”

The firm has been in family hands ever since. Ian’s son, Greg Howard, remains company president and majority shareholder but is not involved in day-to-day operations. The other owners include Matt, his brother Patrick Howard—who works as vice president of operations—and their uncle Brent Howard.

Family ownership “is an advantage because people see stability. My brother and I are incredibly close. I’ve got a business partner I can completely rely on. I can trust him blindly. Actually, I can trust our whole management team blindly,” Howard states.

He cites nimbleness as another secret to Columbia’s longevity. “Fast, agile companies stick around. People with forward vision stick around. Look at where we are today, the amount of products and industries we have ended up in.”

Another secret to the company’s success has been a collaborative approach, and one area that has proven particularly powerful has been partnering with product development firms locally in Vancouver as well as one of the more advanced California firms. In some cases, these collaborations have extended from initial design concept through to branding and packaging. “When synchronizing with the right people and bringing our manufacturing expertise to the table with their product development and branding skills, it’s become a successful combination that allows our shared client to make their visions a reality,” says Howard.

When the firm started, it did injection moulding for the forestry sector, among other markets, before expanding to stir sticks and chainsaw components. The company continued to move forward and developed an expertise in products for the electronics and telecommunications markets. For a time, IBM was Columbia’s biggest customer.

During the 1990s, many North American manufacturers moved operations to Asia and other low-cost locales. With its business going offshore, Columbia pivoted and found new customers within the medical devices sector, says Howard, adding that such acts of corporate flexibility are only possible because the company has a dedicated, loyal staff. “In order to be agile, you need people you can trust and people need to trust you. Being agile isn’t easy.”

Having a strong workforce is the number one factor behind the company’s success, he continues, noting that Columbia has built a strong culture built on improving quality of life not only for end users but for its entire team. Columbia pays and treats its workers well and they are loyal in return. During his time at the helm, Ian offered financial aid and other support to workers in need. This enlightened approach has continued, as demonstrated when the pandemic hit in 2020.

“People were scared. It was a very challenging time,” Howard remembers. “We were very swift in implementing COVID procedures and policies above what was recommended.”

The company introduced hand sanitizing stations, masks, and social distancing. From early to mid-2020, only employees and outside workers performing equipment maintenance were allowed inside the facilities. Partitions were put up around work cells, and the company board room was turned into a temporary lunch hall so employees could eat in a socially distanced fashion. Last year, Columbia Plastics gave its workers a ‘COVID bonus’ to thank them “for how they handled the situation,” he says.

With regard to the shutdowns’ impact on revenues, “We were fortunate in that we have large product lines where we have purchase orders for a year out with our customers.” Eventually, however, the company’s clients “went into a holding pattern,” and Columbia was forced to carry out “a pretty significant layoff for six weeks,” he acknowledges.

Before COVID, the company had roughly seventy-five employees. At the height of last year’s temporary lay-off, the figure dropped to maybe fifty-five to sixty people. Some laid-off workers were hired back, and personnel numbers now stand at around ninety people.

The virus spurred Columbia to create a COVID test kit that is being used right now. “We went from prototype stage to launching production in six months. It’s a Health Canada Class 1 device,” Howard notes.

Columbia likes to maintain close ties with its suppliers. The company has about “ninety-plus plastic SKUs,” and a “supply base of over 300 suppliers,” he says. “We have preferred suppliers we work with [particularly on the resin side] and look to source from first.”

Even as prices for materials rise, Columbia plans to stick with its existing suppliers. “We’re not going to be transactional and take our business, shop it around, get the best price, and ruin the relationship [with an existing supplier]. We want to maintain long-term relationships with suppliers rather than shop their business. That’s also how we expect customers to treat working with us. We want customers to feel like they’re working with a trusted friend,” states Howard.

He expects that in five years the company will have a second facility dedicated to making medical devices and anticipates that the firm will be “forty to fifty percent larger, with a lot more automation.” Automation is intended to augment workers’ abilities, not replace them, he adds.

Indeed, despite advances in technology and manufacturing methods, Columbia has no intention of abandoning the old-fashioned qualities that have ensured its success, namely loyalty and close personal ties with workers, suppliers, and customers.

“Being around so long, things change. But as we tell people: last year was our seventy-fifth anniversary [and] we want to get it to our hundredth anniversary,” says Howard.

The post Celebrating 75 Years of Innovation and Employee Relations<p class="company">Columbia Plastics</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Starting off as a full-service metal stamping business called the Banner Die, Tool & Stamping Company, Banner has grown into a complete metal products group. Back in 1999, it was renamed Banner Stamping Company. And just over a decade later, in 2011, it was renamed again as Banner Metals Group, a name better representing the many services it provides.

With industry expertise covering aerospace, automotive, commercial truck and off-highway, and lawn and garden, the Ohio-based business is known for its ability to adapt to changes in the technologically fastest-evolving marketplaces.

Survival by systematization
Like most businesses, the Banner Metals Group was affected by COVID-19 from early 2020. But while the company didn’t have a specific pandemic plan, Banner had strong systems in place, including a plan for response to terrorism created and introduced after the attacks of September 11, 2001. “For a small company, we are highly systematized,” says company President and Chief Executive Officer Bronson Jones.

With a background in systems, Jones embarked on his career as a tooling engineer for Rockwell International on the B1-B Bomber program. He moved into a structural airframe mechanic position on the B1, traveling to California for final assembly and then to Texas to work on the planes at Dyess Air Force Airbase.

His résumé includes working as a tool and die maker at Superior Die, Tool, and Machine Company, and in a management position at McDonnell Douglas on the C-17 Cargo plane and the MD-80, and also on MD-11 commercial planes before coming to Banner in 1993.

Aerospace, Jones says, has always been an active part of his career, and indeed, a large portion of Banner’s business is the providing of components for aerospace brake, landing, and seating systems.

In the automotive sector, the company supplies frame and seating products. Other long-term markets include products for the building and construction industry, along with off-highway equipment and semi-trucks, with items being shipped throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, France, and Poland.

Supplying many of the best-known aviation companies with parts, Banner found its major customers being impacted by the COVID-created downturn in the airline industry. Fortunately, thanks to its existing robust business-continuity planning, Banner Metals was prepared for the loss of a major customer.

“We didn’t lose the customer, but our customers lost a ton of business because of the abrupt shutdowns of the airlines,” says Jones. With clients having contractual obligations to Banner for up to 90 days, the first half of last year saw product being bought, but with demand drying-up after that for about five months.

Building brakes, breaking through
Standing apart from the competition in the aerospace market, and with only four percent of competitors supplying to the aerospace market, Jones says that while aerospace is high volume, the service side of the business is where the volume is.

“The brake of the airplane is the razor blade of the industry,” he says. “It’s a perishable item, and it wears out.” Making hundreds of thousands of brake components in steel and carbon brakes, Banner parts are selected for planes from Airbus, Boeing, Cessna, Bombardier and others, along with some rotary-wing aircraft.

Involved with aerospace since the early 1950s, Banner mainly produces the stainless steel and aluminum components found in braking, landing, and seating systems, supplying product to big-name clients like Safran, Meggitt, and Collins Aerospace. Banner is currently in talks with Parker Hannifin, which specializes in motion and control technologies.

Deemed an essential business, Banner continues to operate during the pandemic. And although the company saw a significant drop in revenue because of the sharp decline in air travel, customers in other markets not as affected as airlines enabled Banner to continue operations.

“Since we had a Business Continuity Management System already in place, we were able to quickly make the necessary adjustments to persevere,” says Jones. “The pandemic was not the first time an unforeseen event occurred – like the 9/11 terrorist attacks – but certainly a major event, nonetheless. Although business is still down, we are seeing an increase in air travel and an uptick in revenue. Hopefully, the worst is behind us.”

Staying safe
With just two confirmed cases of COVID-19, most of Banner’s staff of 25 have already received their first vaccine. Keeping COVID out of Banner meant the company had to make changes quickly. Faced with the constantly changing challenges of the latest guidelines from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), Banner went into action.

Owing to the hands-on nature of the business, remote work was only possible for a handful of employees, so the company ensured the safety of workers through social distancing, masking, hand-washing, scrupulous wiping down, the limiting of travel and visitors, and virtual meetings.

“Establishing COVID-related policies for our employees and frequent communication was critical,” says Jones. “Given how little we initially knew about the virus, there was much uncertainty, and anxiousness for us all.

“As the leader of this company, I needed to assure everyone that Banner was committed to keeping them safe, remind them to follow our guidance at home, and not to be distracted during their time here which could have resulted in a lost-time accident. Fortunately, we have a great management team who were able to adapt and respond to this new threat.”

Known for its outstanding safety record, Banner is approaching almost 700 days without a Lost Time Injury (LTI). The company has instituted a robust Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S) system that uses an outside consultant with previous Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) experience, along with a committee made up of employees.

“Everyone knows their roles in reporting any potential safety issue, and we have an incentive-based suggestion committee that rewards and encourages those who report,” says Jones. “Our equipment has the latest safety systems and ventilation systems for our welding systems eliminate potentially harmful fumes and smoke.

“Since the nature of our business is safety critical, and we provide safety critical products, safety is discussed frequently and is embedded in our culture. Safety audits are routinely conducted.”

Strict, stricter, strictest standards
Meeting the highest quality-management and aerospace standards, Banner Metals is ISO 9001 and AS 9100 Registered, and TS 16949 Compliant for automotive products. With many of the parts produced at Banner being used by demanding Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive companies and commercial and military aircraft clients, Banner ensures all compliance obligations are met, as well as strict safety, operational, and regulatory requirements.

As an International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) compliant facility, Banner is subject to the rigorous U.S. Government control of the manufacturing, sale and distribution of military and space-related products as defined in the United States Munitions List (USML).

This provides for a comprehensive list of safeguards, among which are that foreign nationals are not permitted into Banner without a guide, and all hires must be citizens, or have passed a thorough background check.

“We have a list of products that we make that are designated for military use, and those have to be stored separately and not just sitting out on a shelf somewhere,” Jones says. To achieve Government certification statutory info must be provided, including names, Social Security numbers, and even birth places of directors, including Jones himself.

Since counterfeit is big in the aerospace industry (largely because a quality premium is paid for aerospace products), Banner has extremely strict controls over where they buy material. In fact, some countries are simply listed as ‘do not buy’ and this includes raw material – and not just coils or bars of metal – but right down to determining where the ore came from.

Another issue is cyber security, which requires data to be accessible only through secure portals, according to requirements of the Defense Federal Acquisition System, commonly known as DFAR.

With defense regulations being so demanding, Jones says not every metal manufacturer can handle the work. “That’s why a very small portion of metal stampers ‘dabble,’ he says. “You can’t ‘dabble’ in aerospace, you’ve got to be all in, or not.”

“The Banner Difference”
Unlike some companies, Banner Metals Group works with clients throughout the manufacturing process from start to finish through a proven, codified process called The Banner Difference.

When customers approach the company with a design proposal or a problem they are encountering, Banner starts with a “Discovery”. During the discovery, Banner learns what their needs and concerns are; from there, company engineers provide a proposal based on Banner’s vast knowledge of the metal-forming process.

“We do not offer design as a service, but certainly offer design assistance to reduce cost or improve quality,” Jones says. “Prototyping is not a core business for Banner, but we offer project management of prototyping with our partnered suppliers.

“Once production begins, our managers meet with key managers of the customer to conduct Care Reviews, which allows Banner to gain insight on how we can continue to improve our partnership. We have customer relationships that began decades ago.”

Looking back over its century of service, Banner Metals is justifiably proud of both its accomplishments and its strong local presence. Based at its current location since 1932, the company has had five major additions over the decades, and its facility is currently at 72,000 square feet.

With the current COVID-19 crisis, Banner, like many businesses, had to put some plans on hold. Intending to invest in new capital equipment to improve both its service to fabricated metal-product customers and its machining services, the company had to hold off on these plans for the time being.

Plans for Banner’s 100^th Anniversary celebration, which started in 2019, were relaunched earlier this year. “We have issued a press release to numerous publications, created a new 100^th Anniversary logo, added some pages to our website, and we are tentatively planning a small celebration for the end of the year,” says Jones.

Receiving awards for its work, including recent recognition from the Ohio Senate and House of Representatives, the group looks forward to the next chapter of its long history.

Partnership in practice
As it acquires new customers – usually the kind who are looking for a partnered relationship – Jones says that Banner finds confirmation every day that for partnering to flourish, investments – both intellectual and emotional – need to be made in good faith by both companies.

“We like to do business with those customers with like values and the highest level of ethics,” says Jones. “Banner is known for service and problem-solving. We are planning for Banner to continue to build on our history, and we’re expanding our services in machining and fabricated metal products which complement our foundation, metal stampings,” he shares.

“Investments in automation will continue to streamline our operations as well. Other markets where we see opportunity for us are electric and autonomous vehicles and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. We look forward to the next 100 years.”

The post A Century of Service, a Day at a Time<p class="company">Banner Metals Group</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Since Industrial Magnetics, Inc. was profiled in October of 2019’s Manufacturing in Focus, the Boyne City, Michigan firm has bought another company, celebrated a sixtieth anniversary, endured COVID-19, and expanded its plant.

Chief Business Development Officer Dennis O’Leary describes the purchase of Walker Magnetics as “the single biggest change” at IMI. “We’re very acquisitive, as our track record from the last five years shows,” he says. “Meaningful acquisitions are the most effective way—if done correctly—for us to grow.”

Indeed, over the past few years, IMI has purchased Sterling Systems & Controls in Sterling, Illinois; Javelin Manufacturing in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Prater Industries in Bolingbrook, Illinois; and Clamp Manufacturing Co., Inc. in California. When possible, IMI centralizes the operations of firms it acquires in Boyne City.

Walker Magnetics, a former rival of IMI with facilities in Windsor, Connecticut, and Columbus, Ohio, was purchased last September. Walker designs and manufactures industrial magnetic solutions for material handling, scrap magnet, recycling separation, lifting, and work-holding applications.

O’Leary says that the company is “always looking” for potential purchases. He describes IMI as “really a fabrication shop that specializes in magnetic circuitry design,” and says that if a company “fits into our value streams, we’re open to [acquisition] discussions.”

Industrial Magnetics went through a huge expansion in 2015, adding 18,000 square feet to its Boyne City plant. To accommodate new employees and operations gained through recent acquisitions, IMI has embarked on another expansion involving 36,000 square feet of new manufacturing space. Construction will be complete this summer.

This growth comes as Industrial Magnetics marks two big birthdays. Both IMI (founded in 1961) and Walker Magnetics (founded in 1896) passed major corporate milestones this year.

“We’re celebrating our sixtieth anniversary, and Walker Magnetics is celebrating their 125th. That makes us feel like children compared to them. It’s really been a fantastic acquisition for us—a company that’s been a competitor of ours for a long time,” laughs O’Leary.

“I think honesty and integrity are probably our two mainstays. We have [standards] internally that we expect of all our employees. We really strive to make sure relationships with our customers and our channel partners who help broaden our customer base are more than transactional. There must be a mutually beneficial relationship for both sides of the transaction. We like to make it’s more than just ‘What’s your price?’ and ‘Do you have them in stock?’ For us, it’s ‘What’s your application? We would like to provide you with a solution and then be your go-to the next time you have a need.’” he explains.

IMI serves the welding, fabrication, automotive, conveying, recycling, stamping, mining and aggregate, food, feed and grain, and petrochemicals segments and is organized into segments, reflecting these markets. At present, it has an Automation group, Mag-Mate ® group, Tramp Metal group, and a new Smart-Mag® group.

The automation group specializes in end-of-arm tooling, lift systems to move steel parts and sheets, magnetic conveying rail, and magnetizers and demagnetizers, among other items. These products are used in applications such as conveying, fanning, transferring, lifting, stacking, and de-stacking metal components.

The Mag-Mate group concentrates on magnetic assemblies and fixture magnets, holding magnets and shop tools, lift magnets for transferring and moving parts, electromagnets, manhole cover lift systems, raw magnet material, cutting table tools, and a range of other products.

Tramp metal is metallic scrap that may end up on conveyors and must be removed. The Tramp Metal group is focused on liquid line magnets, pneumatic line magnets, conveyor line magnets, and gravity feed magnets. Magnetic separators offered by this group are used to remove unwanted tramp metal from products and equipment.

The new Smart-Mag group offers programmable smart magnets and products. O’Leary describes Smart-Mag as “a totally unique, standalone technology. It’s been a good revenue stream that we think has a lot of upside to it. It’s very much a different product than anything else we sell. It’s relatively new… and for kind of next-generation, disruptive applications. For example, instead of using mechanical latching systems for cabinets and panels and doors and drawers, you can utilize Smart-Mag technology to perform the same function but in a more efficient and effective manner.”

Smart-Mag products were originally sold through the Mag-Mate group, but the company “decided to pull [Smart-Mag technology] out, create its own product family and give it some space,” he adds.

It also sells testing and inspection products such as electronic magnetic pole testers, magnetic inspection probes, and magnetic pull test kits.

As O’Leary notes, IMI does most of its own manufacturing. The decision by some North American companies to move manufacturing operations offshore was “a short-sighted move,” he says. “We lost a generation of tradespeople because of it.” While the “per piece cost of an import is demonstratively less than something we could manufacture here,” there are numerous disadvantages to offshore manufacturing.

There can be long lead times and problems with consistency, quality, and supply. The company does buy some imports, including small assemblies and raw materials, but wants to keep its manufacturing operations in-house.

“When you look at the spaces in which we exist, we’re generally viewed as a company that’s respected. We don’t like to lead with price. We like to provide solutions first. That sets us apart,” he says.

Another thing that sets IMI apart is the company’s commitment to cross-training. The firm teaches employees how to perform different duties in different departments. Cross-training has been “critical to our success and meeting lead times,” and ensures that “just because somebody’s gone, we don’t have to slow down in that department.”

The advent of COVID-19 was an unexpected development. When the virus spread was particularly high, the Governor of Michigan closed schools to prevent further transmission. As a result, two IMI employees opted to leave the company so they could look after their kids at home.

Otherwise, “everybody in our company worked a standard workweek. We had a number of people who worked from home. If they could do their job from home, we encouraged them to work there until we felt everything was a little more under control. We didn’t put anybody on reduced hours,” O’Leary states. Some of IMI’s services had to be conducted virtually via computer during the worst of the pandemic.

New health measures were implemented to reduce the risk of COVID infection among staff. “We had to shut down all our entrances except two. We had one shop entrance and one office entrance, and everyone took a scan in the morning before they get into the building. [Employees] filled in a daily health screen with eight questions. Once it gets completed, it goes to the HR department to be checked and logged on a daily basis. We have hand sanitizing stations and masks all over. We did everything required by CDC and subsequently MIOSHA [Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration],” he says.

For all these efforts, COVID did affect IMI’s balance sheet. “Our topline revenues took a dip, but we’re still very profitable. The last few months were really good. [That period] coincided with the acquisition of Walker, so that helped picked up our revenue. In 2021, it’s been a great first four months,” states O’Leary.

Due to COVID, the company temporarily switched to a mostly online promotional strategy, reaching existing and potential customers via social media posts and email. Now that the virus appears to have peaked and vaccination levels rise, IMI looks forward to attending live trade shows again.

In addition to its extensive product line, it offers services ranging from preventative maintenance and magnet audits to plant audits and lift magnet testing and certification. Lift magnet repair is a new skill, added after the Walker Magnetics purchase. This service was “a big component of that acquisition,” says O’Leary, noting that this is, “something we’ve never really got into before.”

Into the future, O’Leary looks forward to more acquisitions, employees and revenue. “At one time we were fifty employees. Now we’re at 115. We’ll be 130 by summertime,” he states. Within five years, he hopes the company will be “somewhere north of $100 million in revenue.”

As IMI moves forward, one thing that will not change is the firm’s client-first focus and emphasis on product development. “We continue to run our business the right way. We will continue to be profitable, which will satisfy our shareholders. We will continue to strengthen our employee base. With strong employees come strong products. And we’ll continue to have more satisfied customers. That’s kind of the magic mix if you will,” says O’Leary.

The post Expanding its Staff, Facilities and Portfolio<p class="company">Industrial Magnetics, Inc.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

With over 100 years in the raw material industry behind it, Possehl Erzkontor, parent company of Possehl Erzkontor North America (PENA), evolved from a traditional trader in raw minerals into a quintessentially modern end-to-end logistics and raw materials, chemicals, and trace-elements supplies partner with a vast reach and set of capabilities.

It is currently established in nine locations, with PENA in North America, and presence across Europe, South America and Asia. In the past twelve months, PENA has shipped between locations such as China, Alaska, and Puerto Rico, and even further afield, cultivating unique relationships with clients and suppliers.

The company’s materials selection is as vast as its service offering – and its geographic reach. In Northern America, with a selection of hundreds of minerals and chemicals of different specifications and grades sourced globally, the PENA team is a formidable force ready to deliver exactly what clients need, at the right time and right price.

Growing infrastructure
Apart from major investments in technology, Possehl Erzkontor North America is also making significant investments in its infrastructure. The latest addition to the American facilities is a brand new warehousing unit. Close to its USA headquarters in the heart of the American steel industry in Cincinnati, Ohio, the facility became operational at the end of July 2021.

The company also has warehouses in Proctorville, Ohio, in the Tri-State region of West Virginia, and in Kentucky. Still more are situated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; and around Alabama. From these strategic locations, PENA manages tremendous logistic feats employing ocean freight, barge, and domestic road haulage, delivering simply enormous cargo to clients from global suppliers.

The company’s latest North American facility offers a lot more than storage space, however. It also meets an entire range of its clients’ needs, such as sourcing, processing, testing, packaging, warehousing, and inspecting of the client’s raw materials.

“Anything that needs to be done in a warehouse we can do for our customers,” says Niklas Luedemann, general manager. In addition to this facility, he describes a strong new chemical division, as well as another new division that focuses on securing sustainability throughout its operations, plus new business.

The business of building relationships
When it comes to locating suppliers, there is no such thing at Possehl Erzkontor North America Inc. as simply hopping onto the internet and hitting the first listing that pops up on international material-trading sites.

With supplier partners in such locations as Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, and more remote places, the firm ensures that it first builds personal relationships with each of its material suppliers through personal visits and thorough site checks before it does business with them – or not.

Everything is checked, from seeing that the right procedures are followed and the correct certifications are in place, to ensuring that packaging satisfies the most punctilious requirements.

“We don’t buy from anyone we don’t know because, in the end, this product arrives with our name on it. We have a focus on working with reliable sources. We value long-term relationships. Most of our suppliers we have known for 30 years or more,” says Luedemann.

The company’s technological advances alone have greatly boosted its capacity for expansion. Brand new technology allows clients to track their shipments in real-time, while providing anytime access to all documentation and information like contracts and pricing, etc.

“It’s like a one-stop-shop experience. Since Jan Weber, our new CEO, took over last year in February, we’ve seen a real change not only in the market but also internally. We’re adapting to the new challenges that we have,” says Luedemann.

The result is a team committed to improving the quality of its customers’ supply chain. To achieve the tremendous value the company offers its clients, attention to even the minutest detail is crucial to ensuring an overall smooth transaction.

The company’s value additions cover logistics, repackaging, sizing, market knowledge, and well-informed recommendations. “The world has become so transparent, just selling raw materials no longer cuts it,” says Luedemann. “We take care of everything. From when the material leaves the mine to when it arrives in the right packaging, at the right time, at the right price, at my customer’s door.”

Adding abilities
The firm’s recent expansions include becoming the official owner of the German mineral processing firm, Mineralmahlwerk Hamm GmbH, in the city of Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, on January 1 of this year.

One of the world’s largest magnesium oxide (MgO), and alumina processors, this globally established mineral-processing firm mills around 180 000 tons of MgO annually. “[Mineralmahlwerk Hamm GmbH] is a great addition to our team. Not only that we now have the processing capabilities but also the people that come with it and their immense knowledge of the market,” Luedemann tells us.

The acquisition has also brought the company a step closer to a full one-stop-shop experience for customers, adding to its ever-growing selection of quality services. What’s more, the new key account manager, Jeff Tiang, adds 24 years of transatlantic raw material-sourcing knowledge to the company’s arsenal.

Possehl Erzkontor grew out of the visionary international trading activities of Emil Possehl in Lübeck, Germany, and was founded in the early twentieth century,

Success in trading, even survival, has always meant having a finger on the pulse of global events. As a result, when China opened for business toward the latter part of the last century, Possehl Erzkontor North America Inc. was poised and ready to do trade. Through all the diplomatic, trade, and environmental challenges faced by the two countries, Erzkontor stayed attuned to and in step with even the most marginal market shifts.

“We have seen a lot of changes in [some Asian markets] in the past five years. Contracts not honored, environmental issues, legal issues, companies dissolving and starting again. With our reliable long-term partners, we are in a good position. If customers buy from Possehl Erzkontor they know they get good cargo,” says Luedemann.

The North American outfit settled into its current configuration in 2006. Subsequently, a robust bulk-cargo customer base was established under the leadership of Joe Hughes, then president and general manager, who came to the firm in 2007.

Luedemann joined the team in 2017 with the mandate to diversify the company’s offering and client base. In the process, the firm grew its team to five sales representatives, two supply-chain consultants who work in close collaboration with the administration, accounting, and IT teams.

“I think the best description of our team is highly motivated and always available,” says Luedemann. He also highlights the importance of the Possehl Erzkontor corporate values passion, competence, reliability and respect. He adds, “I’m proud of our team with all the challenges we had [during COVID-19.] We’re looking forward to traveling. We’re looking forward to seeing our customers face to face.”

Delivering expertise
For Possehl Erzkontor delivering materials to clients is the crucial central process that needs to be thoroughly mastered and performed to perfection every time. As the industry is close-knit and comparatively small, Luedemann notes, it is not unusual to deal with as few as 200 people across the entire industry, “especially the refractory” market, making it vitally necessary to build close, lifelong relationships.

Typically, the company prepays suppliers for raw material which is then brought to a port where the company has a dedicated local team performing a complete analysis of the material in a third-party laboratory.

Considering the vast quantities of materials shipped, and the cost attached, double-checking specifications is key to delivering the correct goods. If tests are not performed scrupulously correctly, chances increase that clients will run out of materials – to mention but one of the undesirable knock-on effects of this sort of error.

“There are a lot of good offers out there, and we see every time that people fall for them. [But] with our service we believe that we can ensure that our customers remain competitive in the market in the long-term,” says Luedemann.

Close relationships with suppliers are key to client success, Luedemann affirms. Part of this is the teams understanding of the nuances of intercultural communication. The team also understands the value of convergence both in terms of language and customs.

“Our connections in the market and our experience are very valuable. I’m always happy to rely on my colleagues in Europe who have the experience if I need anything – we’re in close contact,” he says. “You need it to have the trust. Because we’re not speaking about single container purchases, we’re speaking about vessels carrying materials worth millions of dollars.”

International relations
The company’s deep understanding of international relations, customs, and protocols is perhaps its greatest value to clients alongside its razor-sharp logistics skills and product knowledge. These are of course all valuable add-ons that cheap internet deals are unlikely to provide in the same way.

So when one considers all that can go wrong, and the sheer scale on which it can happen, and considering the size of the orders that Possehl Erzkontor North America Inc. handles, hiring this team for large-scale international raw material and chemical purchases appears to be a pretty sound strategy.

How Possehl Erzkontor North America Inc. went out of its way to find solutions for customers who were waiting for massive orders when COVID-19 restrictions hit is, on its own, an example of its sterling commitment to its clients.

Then, when the market exploded back into activity, the Possehl team was again found ready, pulling together orders from its warehouse stocks for clients who might otherwise have been left in the lurch.

Another great support for clients that it arranges wherever possible, is to unload river-barge cargo downstream and transport it by road instead, saving customers a wait of up to fourteen days, advancing production and reducing downtime. “Our clients’ success is our success,” as they say at Possehl.

But for this international team, the success that it likes to see in the world goes beyond that of staff and clients, extending to the causes close to the hearts of its staff around the world. To the Cincinnati team, the local children’s hospital is the organization of choice that benefits most from the company’s largesse. This is just one of the ways in which Possehl Erzkontor North America Inc. gives back to the place it calls home.

A step ahead named “pektogram”
Possibly one of the company’s most impressive attributes is how it approaches its future. In addition to the five-year strategy – Road#2024PLUS – which focuses on verticalization and diversification of the current business model, other pioneering approaches have been taken. One of them: the founding of the brand-new company pektogram.

“Already at the beginning of our strategy and transformation process we realized that we cannot carry out all developments, novelties, and innovations within our own four walls,” says Jan Weber, CEO of Possehl Erzkontor. “pektogram is first and foremost a think tank that looks at the future of the industry and the acquisition of necessary skills. The goal of pektogram is to become the central node for digital, competence-driven change in the raw material industry,” adds Oliver Noske, Chief Strategy Officer of pektogram.

The new company is strategically well-situated in Bielefeld, Germany, in one of the fast-growing European startup and technology hubs. pektogram helps to create the structures that are missing in many companies today to be successful tomorrow – both sustainable and digital. The long-term goal of the company is to develop a cognitive sparring partner for the raw materials industry that is able to coordinate all transactions around value creation, thereby making sustainability a central decision factor.

“We bring agile methods into established structures, creating opportunities for sustainable change,” says Jasper Steinlechner, whose focus is on technology, digital innovation and startup methods at pektogram. “As a partner at eye level, we develop digital prototypes as well as innovative concepts and use our partner companies as multipliers for scaling the newly developed solutions.” The tech-savvy team is superbly balanced by the more than two decades of industry expertise that Weber brings, making for a rare transformative force in this niche.

At this time pektogram is evaluating and developing a customer dashboard that is currently in its trial phase. The aim is to roll out the fully-developed platform in the first half of 2022.The dashboard will bundle all relevant data and information for the customer and make it available 24/7 in a convenient and time-saving way.

Moreover, implementation of its strategy, Road#2024PLUS, will see Possehl Erzkontor North America Inc. developing its offering into a mainly service-based portfolio. Naturally, its choices are driven by clients and market trends and include testing new materials, consulting, warehousing, crushing, and sourcing.

The company’s breakbulk shipping also offers clients a win-win situation with freedom from container stocks, better freight rates, the possibility of river transport, and surplus storage that translates into consistent access to stocks.

“We are looking forward to more verticalization and getting deeper into the supply chain with our customers. We have a lot of experience. And a lot of relationships. And knowledge that is not common and cannot be learned at the university of Google,” says Luedemann.

With all its decades of expertise hard-won through years of travel and firsthand experience of so many country’s differing ways and customs through its parent company, Possehl Erzkontor North America Inc.’s unique preparedness for the North American market is already bearing fruit.

The post From Newcomer to Outstanding Trading Partner in Five Years: A Success Story<p class="company">Possehl Erzkontor North America</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

“Since April of last year, we have expanded our product offering by thirty-three percent, and that was through a pandemic period. We have taken the position that, even though business might not be as strong as it otherwise would be, this is a time for us to continue to be aggressive in product development and product launch activity, so when the market does rebound, we’re ready to service customers,” states Mark Stockinger, Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

Last profiled in the August 2017 issue of Business in Focus magazine, KSPT manufactures solid round carbide cutting tools. Company operations used to be split between Munroe Falls, Ohio and nearby Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. While these cities are only a few miles apart, the company decided to concentrate the business in one locale. It had plenty of land and buildings in Cuyahoga Falls, so the head office and several facilities were moved there.

“Probably the biggest thing that’s happened for our company since 2017 is that we have moved from independent locations here in Northeastern Ohio to one main campus. The headquarter offices, coating facility, and distribution center have all been moved to buildings in Cuyahoga Falls that are adjacent to the main manufacturing facility,” says Stockinger. “The goal being a gain in manufacturing and efficiencies and service of the customer.”

Throughout most of its history, this was an independent entity called SGS Tool Company, Inc. Although now owned by KYOCERA Corporation of Japan, the company continues to make SGS branded products—a point of pride for the decades-old business.

The Z-Carb brand “is the one we’re best known for,” Stockinger says. “But we manufacture an extensive offering of round solid carbide cutting tool technology for the machining and metalworking industry. We offer high quality general application tools to our customer base, but where we really differentiate ourselves from our competition is in the high-performance sector.”

The company excels at providing the best cutting tools for difficult-to-machine materials such as titanium, Inconel, high-temperature alloys, and composites.

KSPT maintains a network of other facilities, including a research and development (R&D) facility in Munroe Falls, a service center in Orange, California, the KYOCERA SGS Tech Hub in Danville, Virginia, and a medical device manufacturing plant in Columbia City, Indiana. Medical, aerospace, defense, general engineering, power generation, and automotive are the main sectors served. The firm is excited by “the prospect of growth in the electric car market. Round solid carbide cutting tools will still be needed for manufacturing electric cars. However, they will be different than those used for internal combustion engine cars. This is something the business needs to be ready for,” says Stockinger.

KSPT developed a proprietary software program called Tool Wizard to help customers make cutting tool selections. After being updated in 2019 to incorporate new features and new information, the program is being overhauled once again. “Our R&D team has come up with some things that we’re hoping will take Tool Wizard to an even more sophisticated level and be a more powerful tool for those using it,” he states.

The company has also updated its quality assurance certifications. In addition to being ISO 9001: 2015 certified, it now has ISO 14001:2015 certification for environmental management, and its California facility has ISO 45001:2018 for occupational health and safety management.

The company was founded in 1951 in Akron, Ohio. It was a business that specialized in regrinding work for the tire industry. Over the decades and under the leadership of Jack and Tom Haag, SGS expanded its services and employee numbers and began to emphasize round solid carbide cutting tool manufacturing. The Haag family sold SGS Precision Tools to KYOCERA in 2016.

Stockinger believes that consistency is behind the company’s longevity. “Servicing the customer, quality of the product, commercial strategy. Management structure and practices have been consistent since the business first opened. KSPT has a demonstrated history of keeping the customer first in mind.”

The KSPT corporate culture has also been a big factor in the company’s long-term success, adds Chief Financial Officer Jeff Zaucha. This culture “starts at the top and drives down in the company. It’s why KYOCERA is our owner. [KYOCERA] wasn’t the first company to come calling, but it was the only one our owner thought would keep our culture going. They have the same philosophy on how to run the business and treat people. Your largest asset is your people. We make decisions based on people and make sure we take care of them first and foremost,” he says.

This people-first culture was on full display when the pandemic struck last year. The firm followed health and safety guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), augmented with protocols from state medical officials. A mask mandate, hand-cleaning and social distancing policies were introduced at KSPT facilities. Some employees were furloughed during the worst of the health crisis, but the company was able to hire workers back when conditions improved.

The firm launched a webinar series followed by an online tool clinic during the COVID lockdown. The virtual clinic was designed “primarily for our distribution partners, but end-users also participated. We teach techniques on how to select and apply tools effectively in different material groups,” explains Stockinger, who adds that the company looks forward to being able to host in-person tool clinics once the COVID threat dissipates, later this year.

KSPT continues to embrace a spirit of innovation and is looking closely at 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing.

“We have not yet implemented any 3D printing within our facilities [but] we are ready to take that step. We think in the next year there’s opportunity to bring in some 3D printing technology to help with the design of new products,” he says.

The KYOCERA Tech Hub, established in 2018 in Danville, Virginia, also reflects the company’s ethos of innovation. The hub was set up to provide aerospace tool design and regrinding services for a plant run by Rolls-Royce, one of the company’s largest clients. Rolls-Royce eventually shuttered its Virginia facility, and the technology hub was reborn as a standalone venture offering services for a broader clientele.

The hub is “now standing on its own two feet. It continues to do what it was intended to do when it first opened, and that is to provide application-driven special tooling to end-users that have demanding applications,” states Stockinger.

KSPT continues to donate cutting tools to university engineering programs. These outreach efforts “help them learn how to machine and build something while getting better introduced to cutting tools. So, we’re helping to develop a new generation that will hopefully come into our industry,” he says.

Working with university engineering programs is one of the ways KSPT is addressing its biggest challenge: the skills gap. Workers are ageing across the entire manufacturing sector and not enough young people are entering the field to replace them.

“As our workforce continues to age, all that tribal knowledge is going to walk out the door. We have to find that next generation of associates who are going to make the company grow. We want people to get over the stigma that manufacturing is a dirty industry. If you come to our facilities, you’ll see they are state of the art and clean as you could find,” states Zaucha.

Manufacturing has become increasingly technologically advanced. “It’s now all math and computers to make tools,” says Zaucha, and this is a point the company highlights when talking to technology-savvy teenagers. It tours high schools to raise awareness of career opportunities in manufacturing and brings on young people as summer interns. When possible, KSPT hires them on a full-time basis after they finish school.

“Hopefully, we can continue to develop our workforce to help this company remain strong and go for another sixty years,” says Zaucha.

As for the immediate future, KSPT has plenty of products in the wings. “We have an aggressive product launch schedule for the upcoming twelve months. We will be going to market with continued material-specific, high-performance drill offerings. You will see an expansion of our end-mill offering to include high-performance products for market segments such as mold and die. There will be continued expansion of our micro-tool line as well,” says Stockinger.

The company’s growth strategy has been strengthened by its experience in dealing with the pandemic. “If we’ve learned anything from the last year and a half it’s that you have to really be a balanced company commercially to withstand different pressures that come along. Five years from now, I would like to see us have as diversified a customer base as we can so that we’re not overly reliant on any one segment. As we diversify, we want to continue to be a market leader in the round solid carbide cutting tool market and consistently deliver quality products and services that are innovative,” Stockinger says.

The post Marking a Major Milestone with New Products and a Spirit of Determination<p class="company">KSPT</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.