From its base in Clinton Township, Michigan, Xcentric Mold and Engineering provides in-house custom injection molding, CNC machining, and 3D printing services for crafting parts from plastics and metals. Its headquarters is supported by a twin manufacturing location in Shelby Township, Michigan, and both facilities are near Detroit for easy access to its main client base.

Although it serves many industries, most of the company’s clients operate in the medical, industrial components, consumer electronics, aerospace, and automotive manufacturing fields. Xcentric especially relishes bringing complex projects to life and creating components that are difficult to engineer and manufacture.

Always assuring clients of its best care, it is dedicated to aligning its products and services with their expectations and requirements. “[We have a] renewed focus on the customer experience, the speed at which we deliver quotes, quality products, on-time delivery, and high-quality interactions with our technology and teams. We’ve relaunched our amazing customer experience initiative to [underline] that customer experience is the number-one priority for our team,” says Matt McIntosh, Chief Executive Officer.

An emphasis has been placed on increased service awareness as the company expands its presence throughout the country. “We are currently focused on maximizing our potential in the United States, which we have the capability of serving in full,” he adds.

Keeping its mold design and tool-making capabilities ahead of those of its competitors, the company employs enterprise resource planning and design software suites that complement its vast expertise in injection molding. Its technological investments are not limited to the manufacturing side of the business, either. Its sales team and project managers benefit from systems such as Salesforce to support seamless communication with clients and provide a much-improved project journey over alternative communication methods.

The company improved its 3D printing capabilities about four years ago when early adopters created a heavy demand for quality and speed in this technology. Today, Xcentric Mold and Engineering’s 3D printing portfolio includes Stereolithography (SLA), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), MultiJet Printing (MJP), PolyJet Printing, ColorJet Printing (CJP), and Markforged printing (MKF), respected in the industry for rendering parts of superb complexity and strength.

3D printing is indispensable for rapidly making fully-functional prototypes at a much-reduced cost. This means going into full fabrication for clients significantly faster. Its guarantee of speed is also evident in its CNC tool machining department where machined parts have been produced within two to five days since 2018.

“Our expertise here gives us capabilities to design and manufacture tools for a range of simple to complex parts. On top of that, we do it with the speed and efficiency that our customers have come to expect from an elite rapid prototyping manufacturer,” says McIntosh.

Founded in 1995 by brothers Brendan and Damon Weaver, it was built on the expertise they gleaned from years in the industry. Concluding that molders at the time were all pretty much the same, the Weaver brothers set out to do things differently. Together, they set up processes that would transform the future of injection molding in this highly industrial area and automated what had traditionally been a mainly manual process. While several economic downturns and recessions have shaken many manufacturing outfits, Xcentric’s differentiating factors have allowed the company to soar.

Xcentric Mold and Engineering has relationships with engineers from myriad fields and a deep understanding of its specialty which means that its molds are delivered to clients with a lifetime guarantee. That is how confident this company is about its capabilities.

The company’s sales team is as well-versed in the production process as the rest of the company. An exhaustive understanding of the technical side of the product is instilled in each salesperson from the beginning by familiarizing them with all engineering and production processes. Thorough training leads to clear communication with both clients and engineers, resulting in a smoother, faster, and more enjoyable journey from the drawing board to delivery.

Xcentric’s comprehensive training process is naturally a great drawing card and so its group of around one hundred staff members is always growing. “This place is great because just walking around the building and talking to the team on the plant floor, you get a real sense for just how much they care about this business. They care about our customers, and they care about each other. Everyone here is committed to Xcentric’s success. It’s a true testament to the type of people we have here,” says McIntosh.

Complementing its attention to detail in its technology and manufacturing processes, hiring recruits is not left to the luck-of-the-draw. A strong technical background, an appreciation of urgency, and pragmatism are all qualities that are valued in prospective candidates, as is the ability to transition concepts from idea to delivery of designs that are both functional and of superior quality. Solid communication skills and a willingness to collaborate with engineers openly and productively are also essential requirements.

As with everything else this company touches, it overcame the trials that COVID-19 presented. “I’m very proud of the way our team embraced that challenge and found creative ways to stay operational. Our IT team did a fantastic job of securing technology and deploying it so our office staff could work from home. At the production facilities, we followed all state, local, and CDC guidelines to ensure a healthy and safe place for our team,” McIntosh says.

The results are outstanding. Since February, the company is back to pre-pandemic growth rates despite the knock-on effects that shipping difficulties create. “The team did a great job adapting to the influx of orders and has continued to maintain on-time delivery rates in the ninety percent range,” adds McIntosh.

While he is well aware of the difficulties ahead, the leader remains optimistic about the future. “We believe the economy is going to rebound in 2021, and manufacturing is set to take a big step forward. We have plans to increase more than thirty percent this year,” McIntosh tells us, noting that this trend is evident in the growing demand for domestic manufacturing partners.

Although it looks at 2021 as a recovery period, the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines offers great hope for employees to be able to return to the office soon. “Additionally, that is combined with an increased demand for on-shoring which should continue to create more demand for Xcentric. We continue to forecast strong demand from automotive, packaging, industrial, commercial, and medical device markets for injection-molded products,” McIntosh says. From this, there should be a corresponding rise in product developers and engineers approaching with new projects.

Plunging into a pandemic world has led the company to rediscover its true strengths from its perpetual investment in operations, lean manufacturing, and sales and marketing, and Xcentric is preparing to welcome ever-greater numbers of new partners seeking it out for unmatched service.

The post Celebrating 25 Years of Molding Excellence<p class="company">Xcentric Mold and Engineering</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Cogent supplies specifically to businesses involved in electrical machinery that use electrical steel products, with almost 100 percent of Cogent’s products and services going toward the upkeep of motors, generators, and electrical transformers for power supplies or conversion.

The company will frequently supply transformers that go into specific electrical devices like MRI machines or various other types of transformers (pull-top, padded mount, large substation) in a countryside setting.

Company president and CEO Ron Harper is quick to point out further instances involving the unique applications that the company is a part of, such as acting as supplier for a small customer out of Quebec which had an emergency need to build power supplies for hospital beds, or for one of its American customers providing power to mobile hospitals in need.

Electrical power is Cogent’s game, and it can act as a supplier for it in myriad dynamic and versatile ways.

Harper details Cogent as being a make-to-order product business with a low level of standardization and high turnaround; as a result, Cogent places a premium value on being reliable as a supplier in terms of delivering its products and being available to clients as much as possible.

Speaking the client’s language
The company’s client focus comes through in aspects like its approach to problem solving, where Cogent employees will work together with clients on a design and product applications to get the best result. “We have more client product design engineers on our staff than most competitors combined,” Harper continues. “We can speak the language of our clients.”

The company’s clientele can always feel like they have the best materials, the most reliable delivery, and the flexibility to make changes at any time.

Harper describes the company as one that is very material-driven, an identity which exists at the other end of what he views as a directional choice within the industry.

On one hand, there are those businesses in the electrical space that lean toward a commodity-focused experience due to the industry’s very nature and the raw materials that go into supplying it.

Cogent finds itself on the other side, finding great success by integrating products and services in a more solution-oriented approach to product supply.

Harper explains that 100 percent of the company’s raw material stock is a thin-gauge electrical steel product which is finished into electrical components. However, while many people in the industry have a similar background in steel and so approach it in a similar way, the Cogent team engage differently with the product.

Engaging strategy
Their difference – and their strength – comes from working closely with clients in an advisory role, and from taking up a more strategic position than many competitors, who are used to a more transactional relationship, care to do.

Looking back on 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic presented its own challenges and opportunities for Cogent as an established name. Harper feels that the company managed the unusual situation generally quite well thanks to its large and diverse workforce, which worked hard to keep the virus out of the business and implement changes and new practices to maintain and protect the bottom line.

The company was designated an essential business from the beginning with orders and demands picking up in the pandemic’s early months as clients looked to get ahead of changes in their supply chains.

Harper admits that the first couple of months were the hardest, however, due to the uncertainty and discomfort many felt at the changes in the workplace and the world. Challenges cropped up as employees began to stay away from the office out of health concerns. The company filled the gaps with workers who had been displaced at other industries due to quarantine measures.

This, along with the constantly changing communication around the virus, its effects and its spread, fostered an industry-wide tumultuous climate. Fortunately, this company was able to gets it feet back under it in quick time and remains on steady ground to this day.

Flexible and adaptable
Harper admits that a lot of the challenges faced by Cogent, outside of the outstanding global circumstances, are not unique to the company and are handled deftly by a “flexible and adaptable team which can work in a client-focused way and is willing to put the effort in.”

Cogent’s raw materials are 100 percent steel products with steel markets going through surprising developments at the end of 2020. A shortage in materials and an increase in price means that the industry is seeing supply-and-demand constraints but with an added challenge for Cogent of significant growth occurring in the electric and hybrid vehicle markets.

Demand is constraining the supply of raw materials and it is a challenge for companies to source the materials to supply long-term and potential clients, leading to a skyrocketing in prices.

Seasonal challenges
The company also has its own share of typical seasonal challenges as well as those that are more recent and market focused.

Cogent rents two large heat-treating facilities that experience a major rise in heat during summer weather conditions, which can become a health and safety problem at times.

The company is also a large supplier to the US market of distribution transformers which typically become casualties of hurricanes and tornadoes, leading to peak demands during those seasons.

There has even been a pickup in demand recently thanks to the freezing temperatures seen in Texas in the early winter months of 2021.

Dealing with these unpredictable emergencies is nothing new to Cogent, which will typically rearrange its production around clients in need, and turn its services around in a couple of days with its usual customer-first attitude. Clients’ problems and emergencies are responsibilities the company takes on as they happen and it looks to rise to the challenge even better with the aid of its new backer.

Ownership change
Since a previous feature on Cogent Power in Business in Focus Magazine in 2019, the company has undergone an ownership change, being acquired by a large Japanese company called JFE Holdings (part of the JFE Shoji Corporation), making Cogent a part of the JVI Electrical Components Group.

Cogent is now affiliated with a group inside a large business where electrical machinery, along with the specialized nature of Cogent’s products and services, are uniquely aligned with a new strategy.

Harper explains that, from a component side, the company has primarily provided transformer components, but with new ownership comes a capability and capacity that can enable Cogent to grow into more motor and core components.

JFE is also a critical supplier with Japanese auto manufacturers where future opportunities lie in electric- and hybrid-vehicle motor manufacturing, especially as gasoline and diesel systems change to more sustainable options.

This means that corporations like JFE will require more of the products and materials that companies like Cogent process. Harper summarizes JFE’s role: “JFE is a regional leader in Japan and has a strong strategic vision to be a bigger player as the new market emerges.”

Cogent is more than ready to be a part of the long-term vision of JFE Shoji. Harper foresees that many short-term challenges may soon crop up on the supply side of the business, but the new parent company expects growth from Cogent in the next 10 years by taking advantage of its new markets and strengthening its transformer position.

Big part of the plan
Cogent looks to continue supporting local partners moving toward electrical and hybrid vehicle solutions in that time. As Harper says of the current state of play, “Cogent is just starting down the path but will be a big part of the plan moving forward.”

The company will also continue to be part of developments in the electrical grid and will be looking into opportunities to make the grid more efficient and intelligent in how it supplies power to businesses and residences.

Cogent Power has gone through a lot of growth and challenges, but Harper recognizes that it has been built on the support, strength, and flexibility of the entire team.

“We couldn’t have gotten to where we are without a team focused on growth – a team that was a helpful contributor in getting the business to where it is,” Harper summarizes. New developments and exciting plans lie ahead for this business in the coming years.

The post New Owner, New Horizons, Same Commitment<p class="company">Cogent Power</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

This family-run business is headquartered in Mindelheim, Germany, with a North American division in Bluffton, Ohio. The latter operation does its own design and manufacturing work, creating and building machine tools, manufacturing systems, and related software while offering top-notch customer support. GROB products and services are popular with clients in the medical, automotive, aerospace, defense, mold and die, job shop, and energy technology markets.

The biggest change since we last spoke, COVID aside, has been the rise of the electric vehicle (EV) market, says Universal Machine Sales Supervisor Derek Schroeder of GROB Systems Inc.’s North American operation.

“We had talked in 2019 about our product line for assembling electric vehicle components – whether that’s hybrid or full electric. We invested heavily in that in past years, and now it’s really coming to realization,” he says.

Although North America’s automotive manufacturing sector is still centered on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, EV production is rapidly accelerating. For companies that provide services and equipment to automakers and their suppliers, EV manufacturing involves more than just a technology change. The EV manufacturing sector is far more diffuse than traditional auto production, which is dominated by a handful of big original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

“If you Google ‘electric vehicle manufacturers,’ you’re going to come up with a huge list, where in the past, we knew who the automobile makers were. Now, when we build those relationships, instead of ten main customers, it’s ten times bigger. We have to broaden our efforts [to find customers],” states Schroeder.

Flagship GROB products include universal machining centers, which are built in Bluffton for North American customers. For the growing e-mobility sector represented by EVs, GROB offers motor and gearbox housing manufacturing, stator and rotor assembly, and mechatronics, among its services.

Last October, GROB’s German parent company hosted a virtual open house event and used this digital showcase to introduce the G150, a five-axis universal machining center. In addition to its compact design, the G150 offers high productivity, precision, and accuracy. This universal machining center has two rotary and three linear axes for five-sided machining and five-axis simultaneous interpolation. This machine is unique in the market as the only horizontal 5-axis of its size.

The company hosted another digital open house this March during which it unveiled a line of four-axis universal machining centers. The G440, G640 and G840 are heavy-duty machines designed to boost productivity while offering maximum flexibility and stability. FANUC or SIEMENS machine controls are available for use with these machining centers.

GROB continues to update and enhance its line of GROB-NET4Industry software solutions, which link machines, computers, and smart devices in online networks. Various programs run simulations of manufacturing processes, connect machines to an enterprise resource planning system, or offer intuitive controls for running machines unmanned. The GROB4Portal meanwhile, is a secure, cloud-based system that allows customers to access company solutions and data and perform other tasks.

GROB-NET4Industry solutions are “becoming even more important in the days of COVID because people need access to their machines when they’re not there,” Schroeder says. Users can check machine performance data on their phones or other smart devices.

The company also designs and builds a line of products for automating manufacturing operations. Offering palletizing systems, part handling systems and industrial software is part of its strategy to be a comprehensive equipment provider.

“The more engineering and specialized solutions we can add to a piece of equipment, the more successful [we] will be in selling that equipment, and it brings benefits to the customer as well,” explains Schroeder.

GROB Systems, Inc. maintains high standards with ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certification from National Quality Assurance (NQA) for “design, manufacture, and installation of special equipment for automotive machining, assembly testing, and handling.”

The company recently registered with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) program, as run by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, U.S. Department of State. ITAR regulations govern the export of space and defense-related equipment and services. Having this registration clears GROB to apply for U.S. defense-related aerospace projects.

ITAR registration “really sets us apart from other machine tool builders. They’re not building machines here. They’re based in Germany or Japan. They’re not able to go after these projects because they can’t handle the technical data. With us being based in the U.S. with U.S. employees, we’ve made the investment necessary to safeguard that data and go after those projects,” Schroeder explains.

GROB’s high standards have been recognized within the industry where it won a Ford ‘World Excellence Award’ in 2019, the latest of several recent honors from automotive OEMS. It also picked up awards from General Motors and Honda in the U.S. in 2019.

The company responded quickly when COVID spread early last year. Masks were made mandatory, and visitors to the company’s Bluffton facilities were tested before being let inside. During the early weeks of the virus, staff in the sales, engineering, and administrative departments worked remotely. The manufacturing operations in Bluffton did not close, but workstations were spread out, and employees were instructed to distance themselves.

“We never shut [the plant] doors for a single day here. We were lucky enough to stay open,” says Schroeder. “When everyone came back to the office, we made use of every space we could in the company to make sure there was a good distance between everybody. Where we couldn’t, we made dividers.”

Before COVID, the company introduced a customer support system that allowed its technicians to “see the customer’s piece of equipment remotely, which included being able to see the actual screen” the client was viewing, he says. Staff can fix the majority of problems safely without having to go on site. This remote service, performed with the consent of a customer, has proven hugely helpful in the COVID era.

“We deal with customers across North America. When they need something, we can get online in minutes and help them,” Schroeder states.

Promotion and marketing have also gone digital due to COVID. The company created a series of monthly educational webinars on a variety of topics and sales meetings are now held on platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Webex.

The company has adapted quickly to this new, online world, and “generated just as many good leads last year as we would have in trade shows,” says Schroeder. Such leads are important given that the “decline of commercial aerospace,” has led to reduced sales of GROB universal machines in that market.

In pre-COVID days, over half of GROB’s universal machining centers “were going to some type of aerospace application.”

COVID largely curtailed international and domestic air travel, which has meant less demand for new aircraft. This, in turn, has meant less demand for the equipment needed to make aircraft parts and components. Fortunately, GROB found new markets for its universal machining centers in the mold and die and defense manufacturing sectors, for example.

Despite COVID hurting business, the company stepped up to help those affected by the pandemic. When automakers announced plans to make medical ventilators, which were in short supply, GROB provided equipment and other components to aid in the production process.

“We were involved with that pretty heavily for a couple of months. We were using our own project management, our engineering, our production and our assembly. Several groups within the company were into that fairly heavy,” recalls Schroeder.

GROB employs about 580 people in North America, up from approximately 500 workers in 2019. While the firm has an office in Michigan, most work is done in Bluffton, Ohio.

Last year marked the thirtieth anniversary of the introduction of the firm’s apprenticeship program in North America. The four-year program entails a mixture of classroom learning and on-the-job training. Approximately 40 percent of the workforce in the Ohio facility has been through the apprenticeship program.

The program “has really expanded over the years. I think we had our biggest class in 2019: forty apprentices,” states Schroeder.

He is optimistic about the future of North American operations. “On the universal side, with the addition of our new products, we anticipate year-over-year twenty to thirty percent growth.” GROB has several more products in the works.

“We are looking ahead. We have a team in Germany that looks at trends in the market. That’s how we were prepared for the EV change. We see other changes coming, and there will be new products,” Schroeder says.

The post Electrifying Success in Midst of COVID<p class="company">GROB Systems Inc.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.