A brief history of women in manufacturing
Originally from the Latin words for hand and make, the term ‘manufacture’ clearly stands for one of the most enabling activities of our modern society. And if you think about it, women are the original manufacturers: they give birth to and raise the next generation of workers. From housework to handicrafts and cottage industries like weaving, women have long produced value inside and outside of the home.

Although manufacturing has always been male-dominated, women have worked in these settings since the first industrial revolution, when steam and water were first used to mechanize previously manual activities, upping productivity and output. With these new powers, a “man’s work” could be done with greater ease (and less sheer muscularity). This was the first instance of technology being the great equalizer between men and women.

This change coincided with another: the presence of women operating machines in the factory setting. However, this participation in the job market depended on a woman’s race, class, age, and marital status.

It should be noted that while this period saw white women entering both schoolhouses and factories in greater numbers, women of colour were still enslaved. And, despite their newfound “freedom” to work, women in factories laboured for a fraction of the wage of their male counterparts and lived in boarding houses to protect their virtue.

It wasn’t long before these women were speaking out about the confines of their situations—the long hours, the strict conditions, and the low wages. They organized protests and the first female labour movement was born.

Standing up, speaking out
In the 1830s, female factory workers in Boston formed the Lowell Factory Girls Association and the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association to collectively protest women’s new challenges in the factory. From Boston to Dagenham and everywhere in between, this would kickstart what would become a century and more of women organizing for their rights.

Another major event with a resounding impact on the 20^th century was the invention of electricity, which made factories productive for longer each day, no longer limited by the available light of day. The ‘division of labour’ also came about, which redefined gender roles and how the factory operated.

Factory work and dirty, hard jobs were viewed as a man’s work, with women increasingly filtering into teaching, nursing, and other caretaking industries that became feminized. Progress was steady but slow. In the early 20^th century, only 20 percent of women worked outside the home in what was defined as “gainful” employment. Of course, that ignored work done inside the home such as housework and childrearing, work in a family business, and side businesses like childcare operations, catering, farming, and other cottage industries. And so things continued until the war.

The First World War turned everything on its head. While men were conscripted to fight, women not only continued with their household and childcare responsibilities, but also joined the war effort, both as soldiers and as manufacturing employees, once again for a fraction of the pay of their male counterparts.

Women stepped in to keep the economy going, powering the war industry at home. This work was invaluable, but again, only temporary. As war came to an end and soldiers returned home, they would reassume their positions in industry and women were expected to move aside and return to their pre-war status quo.

The power of education
The post-war boom saw the introduction of the Fordist period which was defined by the advent of mass production, the assembly line, and the standard working day. This also saw the rise of the homemaker (but again, only for the classes that could afford to live on one salary). Despite this trend, there was also a marked rise in the number of women becoming educated.

While some women had this opportunity (mostly those in the higher socio-economic echelons), those with limited education could be found in factories and labouring jobs. There was also an increase in women entering the new clerical field, but this was innately connected to a woman’s marital status. In 1930, 50 percent of single women were employed in the U.S. labour force versus only 12 percent of married women. Women were increasingly taking up careers but were still likely to stay at home once married.

However, with the advent of World War Two, the economy once again turned to women to fill in for their conscripted male counterparts. Well-known campaigns like Rosie the Riveter and other wartime propaganda called on women to step up to the war effort at home. Women like my grandmother who shovelled coal at the steel plant in my hometown for $0.65 an hour, (which was good money in those days, even if it was a fraction of their male counterparts’ pay) once again proved that they could be productive workers and mothers and caretakers at the same time.

A period of empowerment
There was no denying the role women played in the war efforts and the strength of the economy, and as a result of increased access to education, and to improving technology and automation, more women were joining the workforce—and staying—than ever before.

Between 1930 and 1970, 50 percent of single women were still employed but the number of married women in the workplace jumped to 40 percent. This was due in part to changes taking place in society at the time. Women were asserting their self-worth and were increasingly proving their value at a student level, and as workers and people. They were more than just a bundle of maternal instincts and a capacity for reproduction. Some women were choosing not to have children at all thanks to the expansion of birth control options.

This enabled more educational and career freedom. While some women aspired to be doctors, and lawyers, and move into other professions they were previously excluded from, other women remained in factory settings. Women already knew they could do anything, but now they were increasingly “allowed” to.

To the glass ceiling
In the 1990s, 74 percent of women aged 25 to 54 were employed versus 93 percent of men. However, participation peaked in the late 1990s at 76 percent for women. More women were employed than ever before, but that didn’t mean they were advancing in their careers relative to their male counterparts. The glass ceiling was real.

Leadership is still male-dominated. For every 100 men who get promoted, only 86 women will, and in 2021, only eight percent of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies were women, although that was the highest ever. The percentage is even lower for people of colour which goes to show that more needs to be done to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion across industries.

Women still face countless challenges in the workplace including unequal pay, gender bias, discrimination, harassment, security fears, a lack of support, insufficient leave or childcare options, and as a result, a more difficult time achieving a positive work-life balance. This is compounded for women of colour.

These barriers are not only preventing women’s full participation in the economy but also standing in the way of optimal productivity and profitability. At a time when skilled and unskilled labour is in high demand, these labour pools should be tapped so that women can step up and save the day once again.

Industry 4.0 and counting
Industry 4.0 poses a unique opportunity for manufacturing. Electronics, information technology, and automation started taking shape in the late 1960s, but industry 4.0 has advanced manufacturing to new heights, enabling greater achievements than ever before. Unfortunately, due to talent shortages spurred by attrition and the need for new skill sets, the full potential of industry 4.0 has yet to be realized.

Currently, there are over half-a-million manufacturing jobs vacant in the United States, a figure that is expected to reach 2.1 million by 2030, with approximately 80 percent of manufacturers struggling to fill their ranks.

It’s high time that manufacturers once again looked into the numbers of women and other underrepresented demographics in the industry. And with regard to ensuring optimal productivity, research shows conclusively that a more diverse team can improve rates of innovation, sound decision-making, and problem-solving capabilities. Diverse companies enjoy a two-and-a-half-times higher cash flow per employee, and revenue can grow by up to 20 percent more than industry median financial returns. Hiring women and people of colour can have resounding impacts on a company’s bottom line, although this shouldn’t be a surprise.

There have been countless moments where women have bolstered the strength of the manufacturing sector throughout history, usually when it is needed the most. If history has taught us anything, it is that when the power of women is leveraged, it can result in a stronger home, community, workplace—and bottom line.

The post A Woman’s Work<p class="company">The Role of Women in Manufacturing</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

VanTran Transformers came to be in 1963 when Al Bolin and some of his electrical engineering colleagues recognized that a movement was underway in the electrical market that left a gap in transformer offerings.

Increased urbanization at the time meant that utilities required large capacity kilovolt-ampere (kVA) distribution class transformers for specific underground use and VanTran Transformers saw an opportunity to meet this new demand with best-in-class custom solutions and exceptional service, which has been the company’s way ever since.

Built upon this principle, and now led by Al’s son, Don Bolin, who climbed the ranks to CEO, VanTran Transformers remains true to its roots, answering the call of its customers and the market by making the most of the opportunities that arise.

Anticipating demand
When VanTran Transformers was established, there was a belief that utilities would be its primary market, but this was not the case. Instead, it found success mainly in the commercial and industrial sectors. Utilities required high-volume, low-cost, low-price offerings, which was not its niche.

Instead, VanTran’s leadership remained focused on investing in its capacity to produce unique solutions, a commitment that continues to this day. Douglas Getson, Director of Sales and Marketing, explains that the company recently underwent a round of investment that expanded its capacity to deliver the quality and service the market has come to expect from it.

“We could try to mirror the large North American suppliers and build high volume production lines, but what the market still needs is unique solutions, and that’s hard to do when you construct a facility to build the same types of product with little variation. Instead, we built our manufacturing process around the ability to be unique across each order,” he says.

“The company has doubled its capacity over the last four years. The demand for transformers in North America is quite high for us right now, so we’re one of a handful of suppliers that can currently still deliver into next year.”

VanTran transformers are used in a variety of applications and environments around the world, including onshore and offshore oil and gas, which means the needs of its customers are as varied as the transformers themselves. Despite this diversity and Van Tran’s recent growth, its processes are lean and streamlined to the customers’ benefit.

Agility reigns
“We’re not encumbered with layers of management that take time to assess opportunities,” Getson points out. This is important to Getson and VanTran customers alike. “From the point of request to providing the solution and an offer, to placing an order, to us delivering drawings, and to then going to manufacturing is a very short cycle, which is difficult to reproduce in a large company just because of their sheer size.”

Getson shares the process. “First we make investments in our assets, putting in infrastructure that will more than cover our needs for several years,” he says. And, as is the case with the most recent round of investments, he says that the plan then is to focus on staffing the expansion.

With its primary product lines (petroleum-based and biodegradable vegetable-based, ester-filled distribution-class transformers with up to 10 megavolt-amperes (MVA) rating and primary voltages up to 35 kilovolts) VanTran designs and manufactures transformers for a very discerning clientele. These are the clients that require the speed and agility that only a manufacturer of Van Tran’s size can offer.

“We’re not dealing with mom-and-pop businesses, we’re dealing with large international corporations, and I would say they appreciate us because they know that large companies are difficult to maneuver, so the last thing they need is their supplier to be difficult to maneuver through,” Getson says. VanTran’s agility in adapting to changes in the market is something that clients value.

Poised for opportunity
While pandemic-related supply-chain disruptions were the demise of many companies across industries and sectors, VanTran Transformers saw the opportunity to grow and did so exponentially, making strategic investments in its capacity to take advantage of a changing marketplace.

Infrastructure investment—like the kind that took place in the 1960s leading to the formation of VanTran Transformers—is set to enhance the trajectory of the company once again, as the needs of aging infrastructure in the United States are now beyond critical. As Getson notes, “It’s akin to what’s happening in general construction where cities just need a facelift. You could say that’s similar to what’s happening in large industrial complexes.”

Multifamily residential construction is also driving demand, and despite any anticipated slowdowns in residential construction, the deficit of a million housing units in the United States will keep that demand strong for some time.

Getson also highlights opportunities in the renewables market and the electrification of North America, “Governmental investments are expanding solar and then, on top of that, anything battery-related, even at the utility level, is driving demand for transformers.” He notes that VanTran Transformers is prepared to absorb any demand.

Additionally, the transition to electric vehicles (EV) will remain a driver for large infrastructure investments for at least a decade to ensure that there is sufficient access to charging stations to power the transportation networks and vehicles of the future, as well as industries like oil and gas which are also undergoing electrification.

Calculated growth
In addition to changes in the markets it serves, there are opportunities for VanTran Transformers thanks to market consolidation. From a product standpoint, Getson says, “We are looking at developing additional product lines to serve underserved requirements,” once again staying true to the core of the company’s founding and operation.

He adds, “There are fewer manufacturers of unique transformers because of the larger players shedding those and going more toward mass production because there’s that kind of demand. This is going to create opportunities for product offerings that may not be mass market, but there’s a need for them.”

In doing so, VanTran Transformers continues on its chosen way: addressing a gap in the marketplace with specially engineered custom transformers. While the market has transformed, the company has stayed true to its high-level clients, constantly refining the business model that’s served it so well for six decades and does still.

“We’re not looking to grow haphazardly; this company has been around since the 60s because it knows who it is, and even though we’re growing it, we’re growing it based on what’s made it successful over the years and scaling that up,” says Getson of the company’s future.

With a keen business sense and a strong leadership team, VanTran continues to strategically select its moments to grow, identifying opportunities, anticipating demand, and reaching a broader market with products and services for an upper range of customers, more than meeting market requirements for liquid distribution class transformers and service.

The post Seizing Opportunity in a Transforming Market<p class="company">VanTran Transformers</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

These drying systems bring together the knowledge and abilities of a highly skilled manufacturing staff, including engineers and designers, all with rich technical know-how. With more than 30 highly trained machinists, welders, electricians, technicians, and craftsmen working at ASI’s Green Bay, Wisconsin-based 65,000-square-foot manufacturing plant, the facility can meet customer needs by operating on several orders concurrently thanks to its numerous manufacturing bays and cranes.

“It’s hard to capture all the industries our dryers are used in,” says President Angela Krueger. While the company doesn’t always know what product is going to be made due to proprietary information, she explains, “we do a lot in the fiberglass mat industry, and since about 2000, we’ve made a fiberglass mat dryer, which we call a through-air dryer, about every three to four years. These are the largest dryers we make, and can be as big as several rooms.”

With a width of about 17 feet and a height between 12 and 20 feet, this very large equipment takes up most of ASI’s manufacturing space. The company also does a lot of work for the battery industry, in particular with electrodes, anodes, cathodes, and separators, and is also currently working on a fiberglass mat proposal for flooring material.

ASI also works with adhesives and release liners used for labels, other applications in the energy storage area, and a number of specialty, proprietary products such as flexible printed circuit boards, thermal barrier applications, and filtration media.

“In a nutshell, the dryers that we manufacture are used for pretty much any kind of product in a continuous operation,” says Lead Engineer Jim Rechner. “It could be all kinds of industries. It’s more or less the drying concept we really focus on.”

Krueger herself is involved personally from beginning to end of a product and process, and enjoys being part of the sales cycle, which can last a year or more.

“It’s very exciting to work on a project that eventually sells and to see that come to reality on the shop floor,” she shares. “I find that very gratifying. We’re turning out several proposals every week, and it’s a good feeling when one sells and we can see the build and eventually the installation and producing products for a customer.”

As President of the company and a woman working in a traditionally male-dominated industry, Krueger also appreciates both the challenges and rewards inherent in her position.

“There are not a lot of women in tech in manufacturing,” she says. “I would love for there to be more women in manufacturing. I have two daughters, and I’m encouraging both of them to pursue some type of STEM career. It’s a very rewarding career, and you’re always learning something new.”

Krueger is always open to supporting and encouraging other women in the business while combatting stereotypes of the construction industry. “It would do a lot to bring up the possibility of getting into this field in middle school and high school,” she says. “As a society we talk about being a veterinarian, or a doctor or lawyer, and we don’t think about how things are made and how we can be part of that process. Getting people to think about that at a younger age would get more people, especially girls and women, into it.”

Times are changing for the better, however, and ASI is seeing those changes firsthand.

“I have seen a pretty dramatic and positive shift to more women being in the manufacturing fields,” says Matt Kartheiser, Assistant Shop Supervisor. “When I first started here 10 years ago it was kind of the way that it’s always been, but in the last three years or so with the recruitment efforts we’ve made at some of the trade shows, or at some of the welding colleges and technical schools, I will say I’ve seen a large explosion.”

While initially there might have been one or two women in a class of 30 to 40 men, just this last year, he says, it was split almost 50/50. “I don’t know if the schools are promoting the idea of going into a skilled trade versus a more traditional career, but there definitely has been a positive shift that way,” he says. “ASI in particular has always been open to either men or women working here; we welcome both.”

The company has had several women working on the floor who were “phenomenal,” he says, adding that ASI will continue to strive to even things out between the sexes, including forming a partnership with a local welding school to help spearhead that effort.

“That being said, it’s a sort of nontraditional path for a lot of women to follow,” says Krueger. “It’s nice to know there’s a way to encourage women and girls to even consider it or look at it, because I don’t think it’s traditionally brought up to them as they’re looking at their futures.”

Krueger herself has much to share about the time and positive experiences she’s had in the industry. “It can be stressful at times, but ultimately it’s a great career,” she says. “I love always having to learn something, and being curious and staying curious. You have to be comfortable not always knowing the answer, but being willing to find the answer.”

When it comes to future plans for ASI, the company has a lot on the go, including a return to trade shows after years of COVID cancellations. In an ongoing effort to push into more markets and get the company name out there while still providing a high level of product and service, this year ASI will be exhibiting at the Tape and Functional Film Expo in conjunction with the Silicone Expo in Detroit, Michigan.

“It’s a slow process, to grow,” says Krueger. “[Growth is] dictated by the workforce you can find and, of course, the economic climate. But we’re a bit insulated from the ups and downs because of our long sales cycle and long lead time. There’s some fluctuation, but we’ve held steady over the years and we’re trying to expand and grow a bit every year.”

On the manufacturing side, ASI’s biggest future plan is getting the next career generation established. “A lot of people at ASI have been here since the company was founded,” says Kartheiser. “With so many reaching retirement age, we do have a lot of big shoes to fill.”

This means ASI is looking forward to getting its next 30-year crew together, as within three to five years many of the founding employees will be retired or close to it. “We’re really excited to be moving ahead and getting the next generation of professionals and the skilled tradespeople to take the reins for the next several decades,” Kartheiser says.

Krueger defines it as a bit of a transition period, transferring valuable knowledge and skills down to the next generation, along with looking for ways to automate as much as possible.

“Automation is a big push in manufacturing, and it’s a challenge to bring it to our industry because all our equipment is custom-made,” she says. “There are some areas where we could possibly use some type of co-bot for welding, but we’re just starting to look into that. We have invested in new, higher performing capital equipment in the last few years, including a press brake and folder.”

Along with continuing to push forward with technological advances, ASI sets itself apart from competitors through its customer process, thoroughly analyzing what’s needed to develop a functional project.

“A lot of our competitors have a standard piece of equipment they put in line and say, ‘here you go, this will work,’” says Rechner. “It does work, but how we came to be is we looked at each process with the customer and came up with the best solution. Not a solution, but the best solution.”

Since ASI houses everything in one building and is involved in the process from beginning to end, it’s able to service customers to a level that competitors simply can’t.

“We really are a one-stop shop, versus some other OEMs or other manufacturers that might need to reach out to other organizations to put all the pieces together,” says Kartheiser. “ASI can do everything under one roof, and especially on the manufacturing side. Approximately 85 to 90 percent of every piece of equipment that leaves here is built by hand in-house, so we’re able to control our quality procedures and all of our quality checks much closer and to a higher degree than a lot of our competitors.”

Customers know there’s an individual with a face behind every product that’s built specifically for them, he adds. “We’re very proud of that. And being a local company and very family-oriented, we have very good relationships with our customers.”

Although there are other companies building similar dryers, many of them must outsource every aspect aside from engineering, whereas ASI boasts tight quality procedures from start to finish. “That’s why our dryers perform so well,” Krueger says. “Our customers are routinely very impressed by how well our dryers hold their set points, both temperature setpoint and nozzle velocity setpoint. That’s because we control all aspects of how they’re designed and made.”

That commitment extends to customer service as well, with a four-member, dedicated service team that handles all after-market activities, including installation supervision, startup and commissioning services, parts ordering, troubleshooting, and preventive maintenance. ASI aims to have at least one field service engineer in the office to handle incoming needs from customers.

“Whenever the drying impacts the quality of the product, that’s where our dryers excel, because of the engineering and the construction of them,” Krueger adds. “They’re made to perform and hold their setpoints, so you get uniform drying and a high quality finished product.”

ASI products last so long, in fact, the company is now doing control upgrades on dryers they made in the ‘80s and ‘90s. The dryer body is still perfect—it’s only the controls and electronics that need upgrading.

“There’s one on the floor right now—a piece of equipment built 30 years ago,” shares Rechner. “It still works like a charm and just needs a little bit of a rebuild. But that’s not an uncommon story for us to hear about something we built back in the ‘80s. It really speaks to the longevity and care as far as the construction.”

With that attention to detail and precision, there’s no doubt ASI products will last another 30 years. “Everybody that’s here is extremely proud of what ASI has done over the years,” says Kartheiser. “We’ve always been a small business, but we’ve always been able to meet any challenge. We’re still rising to the occasion and expanding and meeting deadlines no matter what’s going on in the world.”

He adds that everybody, from the front desk to the lead engineers, has a personal investment in what they do, caring both about ASI’s reputation and its customer service.

“I don’t think there’s an individual here that doesn’t put 100 percent into what they do every single day,” he says. “And that’s why our customers continue to come back to us year after year, or even decade after decade, because they know the level of care and trust we put into it.”

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Vexos came into existence after a merger between Staci Corporation out of LaGrange, Ohio and EPM Global Services from Markham, Ontario in 2014. Innovative business practices and state-of-the-art global facilities have made Vexos a leader in the delivery of electronics manufacturing services (EMS). Vexos’ global manufacturing footprint of approximately 300,000 square feet extends across North America (with facilities in Markham, Ontario and LaGrange, Ohio) and Asia (with facilities in Dongguan, China and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), enabling them to reach and serve its large customer base around the world. Vexos has a range of advanced capabilities which is supported by its cutting-edge manufacturing facilities network.

“One of the benefits of Vexos is that we can offer value out of any of our four facilities based on what clients’ business objectives are,” says Brad Koury, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Vexos Ohio.

Vexos is the go-to solutions provider for original equipment manufacturers in the automotive, medical, internet of things (IoT), industrial, communications, aviation defense, and space industries across North America, Asia, and Europe. Vexos prides itself on providing a personal touch in EMS services with a culture that emphasizes customer-centricity, responsiveness, flexibility, executive engagement that understands the needs of customers, and effective communications across all levels of the organization. This level of customer focus combined with unique offerings in custom commodity support, global footprint, leading-edge value engineering (DFX) services, global supply chain management, and support forms a cohesive offering that sets Vexos apart. Vexos is deeply involved with provisioning highly complex, fine-pitch electronics assemblies, electromechanical assemblies, full turnkey solutions, and custom mechanical parts, making its selection of services truly impressive. The company is always receptive to new technologies and new ideas that its customers may provide.

While other industry players may offer similar products, Vexos’ impressive range of technologies and value-added services is a great differentiating factor for the company. “Our service levels and capabilities are validated by the fact that we are being acknowledged independently as a leader in this space,” says Cyril Fernandes, Senior Vice President of Global Business Development, Vexos.

The acknowledgment includes an all-time record for the firm when it received five Service Excellence awards from Circuits Assembly in 2022. This is in addition to awards received in 2019 and 2021. Vexos won awards for Overall Satisfaction, Flexibility, Technology, Manufacturing Quality, and Value for Price. “These awards provide further recognition of our commitment and dedication to our customers. It reinforces how we do business with a singular focus on lasting relationships and global success. I find it particularly encouraging that we continue to maintain and increase our momentum in terms of capabilities and services, helping Vexos to offer its world-class service levels,” Fernandes continues.

Vexos believes each customer is unique, with their own project requirements, and thus arises the need to craft exceptional EMS programs designed around their core needs in the product introduction, product launch, production, and sustainment stages of the product lifecycle. The company offers a diverse range of services, including Value Engineering and DFX capabilities which ensure customers have a comprehensive and seamless experience with Vexos beyond traditional EMS offerings.

From prototyping to product launch and logistics, Vexos guides and supports its clients from pre-conception to delivery with attention to detail and optimal design. To achieve the best results, design-for-excellence methodologies guide organizations to make the best decisions when choosing materials, fabrication processes, assembly, manufacturing, cost, testing, and reliability studies. “We have modern warehousing logistics services that allow us to pipeline materials and products for our customers. Be it overseas or North American-based, we bring it to our LaGrange, Ohio facility with twenty-four-hour turnaround release times,” says Koury.

Vexos‘ partnership with its systems and equipment suppliers is the key to its success. Automation of traditionally manual activities, including mechanical assembly, soldering, and even warehouse automation, has provided game-changing efficiencies, traceability, and throughput. It provides an infrastructure for further automation extending into manufacturing execution, job management, and reporting at a level that could not be realized without these systems.

In addition, Vexos is giving its manufacturing execution system an overhaul and will be moving to the Aegis FactoryLogix software. The beauty of this transition is that the two companies—Vexos and Aegis FactoryLogix—received Service Excellence Awards from Circuits Assembly in 2022.

When the impact of COVID-19 rattled supply chains around the world, Vexos stepped up by advising its customers on the processes they needed to put in place to meet customer demand. Vexos initiated a comprehensive communications program with its customers that provided timely information on materials’ lead time and pricing issues. This enabled Vexos and its customers to make smart supply chain decisions in a timely manner.

On the supply side, Vexos worked closely with its supplier networks, both locally at the site level and globally by taking a page from its customer approach. “We engaged at the most senior levels with our supplier network at a regular cadence to discuss approaches to Lead Time increase. To help our customers, we enabled and ramped up Strategic Materials Analytics programs. These dynamic programs enabled our customers to make the right decisions in terms of materials investment and focus, thereby mitigating the component shortage issues,” says Fernandes.

Vexos is working with Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio with its micro-electromechanical systems study program to help talented students build careers while pursuing their post-secondary education. Vexos supports this college post-secondary education program with on-the-job training to provide students with the necessary hands-on experience. This is a small example of Vexos’ dedication to developing people, which has resulted in over four hundred loyal employees in North America.

“It is a fantastic developmental ground for the workforce here within our facility. We have quarterly curriculum reviews where Vexos, along with other contract manufacturers, provides input to the program to ensure that it stays abreast with manufacturing processes currently used within our manufacturing facilities,” says Koury.

The two leaders are especially pleased with their teams’ incredible work and the perseverance they displayed during the height of the COVID-19 emergency, describing staff as showing true leadership across facilities while making a “truly collaborative effort.”

“Our facilities were deemed essential as we provide assemblies, systems, and products for medical applications. In many cases, the end-use applications of the products that we build were essential in the fight against COVID-19. As an organization, we demonstrated our capabilities, our commitment, and the singular focus of our organization from top to bottom to meet our commitments,” says Fernandes.

Vexos also supports local charitable events. In 2022, Vexos announced its association with Tree Canada. Together with other industry partners, Vexos organized a tree planting event where 375+ trees were planted in a conservation area in Markham, Canada. Participants in the event were from the local electronics industry, customers, and local municipal officials. The event was a success, and demonstrates the importance of sustainability and community involvement to Vexos.

The company’s leaders are steadfast in continuing its growth by leveraging the unique attributes that have made Vexos an award-winning leader in its domain.

The post Taking Electronics Manufacturing to New Heights<p class="company">Vexos</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

The head of a family of seven boys, Parr initially began a painting and wallpapering business in the 1970s; around 1980, his business began supplying collision and repair shops with small fasteners like nuts, bolts, washers, and screws. The business continued to evolve and expand over the years, switching focus to manufacturing and structural sectors, as well as supplying to bigger repair shops than before on a business-to-business level.

Over time, each of Herb’s sons became involved with the company in various positions, and as the current Director of Marketing and Sales Tim Parr explains, Herb’s grandchildren have become involved in the business as well.

Fasteners Direct “just kept growing, and we kept pushing it to have work for the family,” Tim Parr says. However, it is not just the Parr family that benefits from the close-knit culture. The company strives to promote an employee-friendly atmosphere, with effort put into its values of honesty and integrity.

“Atmosphere is very important because it translates to customers,” Parr explains, meaning that a harmonious business leads to a satisfied clientele, which the company has had since the beginning.

Even after more than forty years, Fasteners Direct is ever-evolving in its approach to the various markets it serves. In the past few years, it has been developing systems to help customers come up with more efficient procurement systems, as well as working to simplify the process of fastener manufacturing and distribution using methods like inventory control systems, specialized packaging, and the effective leveraging of its global network.

These new developments have been developed alongside its classic services, including its inventory management systems, custom kits and labeling, and client rebates. In doing so, the company has been developed into a more structured business that continues to help customers become more efficient.

To maintain the personal customer experience that is the bedrock of its style, the company works to deliver every order by way of the client’s preferred shipping method. The team will show the customer all the things they can do from a services standpoint, while letting the client choose what they feel is most important, allowing Fasteners Direct to customize the order to these choices.

This could be anything from priority shipping and packaging to staff measures or anything else under its purview. The approach supports the company’s trademark personalized experience, one that often bests the competition’s customer service, as other companies can be unwilling to offer this level of individualized assistance or lifetime assurance.

Companies across the sector are still calling on Fasteners Direct for its attitude and products as strongly as ever. Parr and the company are seeing strong and steady growth in the construction industry at this time, with stock shortages and supply chain issues that sprouted from the pandemic now reducing quickly. Many of its vendors and competitors alike have a large amount of stock, even tending toward overstock in some places, and are more heavily promoting sales resulting from this surplus product.

Both the company and the broader industry are very strong, a welcome change after several years of struggle; however, this does not mean that the company is resting on its laurels or that it is unprepared for any potential shakeup. Parr recognizes that as market pricing evens out, as it has been lately, the pendulum can often swing the other way making pricing, in his words, “a bit weird.”

The company is adjusting to conditions as fast as possible and is keeping itself nimble in preparation for any surprises to come. Parr explains that, at times, clients believe that retaining the services of Fasteners Direct is only a small piece of a project, but what is more often the case is that the need for specialty items is unanticipated and then becomes an emergency.

At all points, the company ensures that this kind of stressful situation does not happen through its commitment to personalization. It accomplishes its goals of equipping every client with what they need rather than simply talking about them.

Looking ahead, the company will be investing in state-of-the-art kitting technology to assemble multiple products into one package. It is in the final stages of signing a million-dollar investment in new machinery that will speed up this kitting process, which will be especially helpful as manufacturers prefer to have parts that are used for building a very specific unit in their business.

The team will also be examining the prospect of modernizing their packaging processes, an aspect of the business that seems to be the biggest need across the industry right now and is one of the company’s premier services.

Another of the company’s attentions is on shifting further afield. Up to around three years ago, it only worked within a 150-mile radius of its home in upstate New York. However, in the last six months or so, the company consensus is that it is more beneficial to find customers in need of its systems, even as far out as 1,500 miles to states like North Dakota and Texas.

This change to a larger physical spread has also led to being more specific in choosing the customers with which the company works. “Our personalized services aren’t needed by everyone but the ones that need it really need it,” Parr points out. To meet this new objective, the company will be spending time expanding its onsite systems and updating them, while creating new and modern technologies that will help both itself and its existing customers. A new scanner system is just one improvement on the way.

With all these themes in mind, Fasteners Direct will also offer modern advancements to customers as soon as they are released. The main goal for the rest of the year will be to make sure existing customers are up to the level that the company wants them to be, which is why setting up its new kitting machinery and having the sales department drive that aspect of the business will be of utmost importance. Otherwise, the company will be keeping true to its classic customer-centric approach, as it has served the business well for so long and continues to do so well into its fourth decade.

Fasteners Direct aims to continue to serve as the go-to provider for its specific services and systems while remaining family-oriented—as it has been since the beginning.

The post Where Customers Are Family<p class="company">Fasteners Direct</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Boudreaux investigated the possibility of combining companies in the Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Missouri, and Kansas markets and achieved enough outside financing to purchase six companies to combine them into one entity. He admits that there were multiple identities and cultures and every company wanted to be at the forefront. Thankfully, all were able to rally around a singular brand and identity, and within the first few years, the new brand and model proved to be effective.

This would become Vector CAG, and although how the entity as originally designed was not the original goal, it has become central to the company’s success, culture, and identity.

In determining what they would do differently in the market, the team aligned with key manufacturing partners like Endress+Hauser, and sought to identify as a business that understands technical multi-industry applications. More than that, they sought to establish themselves as “a team of problem-solvers,” as Boudreaux defines it, filled with skilled engineers committed to a solutions and service mindset.

Service became and has become a key aspect of Vector’s identity and an area marked for growth; beginning with only one service engineer in the original six companies, the company now sports closer to thirty.

Over the past decade, Vector has aligned with over thirty industry partners. Endress+Hauser stands as both the flagship brand and the genesis of the company, being that it is the business that helped start the company. Both companies now reside on the same Houston campus.

In 2013, the company began with over one hundred manufacturing partners, which was a practice that Boudreaux realized was not sustainable. The first twenty-four to thirty-six months became about getting behind manufacturers that aligned with the Vector brand and saw growth opportunities within it; from there, the company was able to narrow the focus and move forward with both short- and long-term strategies.

As Vector continued with mergers and acquisitions early in its lifecycle, the team found power in communicating its story through both word-of-mouth and social media. The company, Boudreaux remembers, “didn’t have the horsepower of a corporate brand at the time,” as a hub company usually has a marketing department to help mergers happen smoothly but was able to tell its story through face-to-face client relations and now has grown to the point that it has adopted an effective engine for marketing.

He credits partners like Process Level Technology, Phoenix Contact, Brooks Instruments, Smith Analytical, and Endress+Hauser for staying aligned with Vector, as these relationships have made a difference to customers, establishing the company’s marketplace identity and inspiring confidence. These relationships are important to its continued success.

Boudreaux feels that a lot of companies can get wrapped up in only one industry or with a few specific customers. “Without diversification,” he notes, “we can’t go forward or grow,” so focusing on this in the last three to four years and making investments toward that goal has been of great importance so as not to simply rise and fall with the market’s tide.

Vector works with some core industries like oil and gas, food, water, and chemical, but is also investigating investing in emerging ones. Industries can be volatile, with large- and small-scale economic pressures and global implications, so the company focuses on what it can control. The industry is constantly growing, with consumer demand being a primary driver. Boudreaux explains that market share growth will be another constant focus, regardless of any kind of industry flux.

He indicates three major, regular challenges for the company: growth during uncertain times, adaptation to the speed of a customer’s business, and supply chain and labor constraints. Each of these areas has its unique aspects and are always being actively managed. The company is keen to focus on its diversification and market share, and most importantly, on selling its value-added services to take care of the lifecycle of a product or solution.

Boudreaux believes that the better Vector is at onboarding new people, the better it will be at having workers that understand every tool available to them. “Our people make the difference during uncertain times.”

Vector is still small enough to be flexible, meaning it does not take long for it to get a feel for or react to its customers’ needs. This became especially helpful in the initial year of the pandemic when many of its customers’ businesses were forced to fluctuate. By showing its flexibility, it earned the trust of its clients.

As for market constraints, the company stays in touch with its manufacturers and customers to understand the business climate and to avoid supply chain complications. Many manufacturers appreciated the approach of adjusting to client positions and to where the supply is, which allowed Vector to do unique things like order ahead of time without formal purchase orders. This led to better market share and further business, as its competitors were not able to pivot as well as it did.

Boudreaux cites the company winning the Top Workplaces – Houston for 2022 distinction in its fifth straight win in the category as personally meaningful, as it is an external signifier of a strong internal culture. One practice the company sticks by to benefit its workers is excluding non-compete contracts. “With non-compete agreements, we stop competing for our employees. We took a different approach and began to make ourselves more attractive as an employer to recruit and retain the best talent.” Vector also prioritizes work-life balance for its employees, especially after a fraught time in the industry like the one resulting from the pandemic.

He recalls how the team taught him a lot during that time about rallying around the common goal of survival and about the resilience and grit of the organization. “We treat team members like we treat our customers: respectful, sincere, flexible, and [encouraging] healthy challenges,” he says.

With respect to these healthy challenges, the company has gained a reputation both internally and with its partners for encouraging one another to constantly mark areas for growth and improvement. In the last few years, it has introduced a new pool of people to its veteran engineers and has put together a strong and efficient and rigorous onboarding process that has narrowed the typical settling-in window for new workers from two to three years down to three to six months. This has created an environment wherein, given the right tools, talented people can be generated to take on new positions while improving their skills and the output of the company.

As for the common customer question, ‘What else can you do for me?’ once Vector earns a customer’s business, their questions become more complex and the bar for the level of support is raised. This means that Vector must continue to raise its processes, infrastructure, and knowledge to further increase its value.

For the upcoming two to three years, the company will be focusing on its processes and infrastructure investments, with 2023 marked for adapting to incoming economic pressures.

This year marks the company’s tenth anniversary, and Boudreaux reveals that a banquet is planned in celebration. “When we have those functions,” he says, “It’s not about an entity or brand, it’s [about] celebrating the people… our people make the difference… individually, we’re good, but together, we can be great.” He forecasts that his team will come out with another record year and that big things are on the horizon for Vector CAG’s second decade.

The post Celebrating a Decade of People-Led Success<p class="company">Vector Controls and Automation Group</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

The company’s offering includes welding automation and material handling equipment.

Armed with a highly skilled engineering department that includes qualified mechanical engineers, CAD technicians, controls engineers, and computer programming engineers, the company’s robotics and full CNC machining centres maximize productivity, resulting in cost savings for over 4,000 customers located across six continents and 53 nations.

Originally a small but profitable oil and gas service company, LJ was acquired by Ryan Holt, Adam Carpenter, Tim Robinson, and Brian Carpenter, who saw a great opportunity for growth, growing the company nearly 20-fold in the years to come.

“We immediately started getting into exports and other industries,” says Holt. A first big break included a project in Japan for power generation equipment where, after discovering they enjoyed the adventure of dealing with different industries, the owners started to diversify out of oil and gas.

“We were trying to get into things like wind and green energy and solar facilities,” says Holt, adding there were numerous other areas they looked at as well. “We got into the aerospace industry. So with some of the profits that came out of that, we were able to reinvest and diversify.”

Today, aerospace is LJ Welding Automation’s largest single industry served and one the largest pending projects in company history is within that field.

“There’s so much volume there in terms of scale and size that we could justify doubling our footprint,” Holt says.

Despite the company’s success in aerospace, however, the diversification and growth away from oil and gas does not mean it’s the enemy, Holt mentions. “It’s just not our primary focus,” he says. “Our passion is helping North American fabrication facilities be the most productive in the world, whether it’s a railcar or oil and gas facility or rocket ship or wind tower. They all require quality metal fabrication equipment, so you have to be able to build these things. And it has turned out to be an exciting industry because you can touch everything everywhere. We see things we have had a hand in, including high-rises, for instance. These are covering virtually everything.”

The company’s growth has included a 15-year partnership with Linde, a USA/German global Fortune 500 company that now handles the U.S. side of LJ’s business. “Our partnership with Linde is a perfect dovetail, a really good fit, and we’ve been partners ever since. They spotted us when we were small and saw something in us and now we’re their specialized material handling and welding automation equipment provider.”

Working with a multinational company with experience and a presence, and with a focus in the USA, LJ Welding Automation’s most recent development involves cobot welding systems—aka collaborative robots—a technology that has revolutionized the automation world and one that Linde has entrusted to LJ. “They’re quite happy now because six months ago they were just bringing it to market and we were the catalyst to finish this,” Holt says. “Now we’re building these advanced machines nonstop because our customers need this equipment to combat the well-known skilled welder shortage plaguing North America.”

While continued growth is on the horizon, Holt says the company needs to be cautious about how much it takes on and the scope of the work.

“I think now we’re at a point where we’re less obsessed with growth and more excited about running our operation better,” he says. “On the other hand, we have got new opportunities that would force us to grow. So we’re not trying to grow for the sake of growing, but as you get out there and do more projects, you build a reputation.”

A good, solid reputation means more work coming along, even without advertising or marketing, Holt adds. “LJ is very specialized in our field, definitely at the leading edge of what our customers need,” he says. “One thing leads to another kind of thing. That’s how it happened in aerospace.”

Although Holt is unable to give the company’s name, LJ’s work with a major space company—directly related to a rocket launch—has led to 85 subsequent contacts. “Suddenly you’ve got 15 aerospace companies in your portfolio and all of them want to deal with you because you treat them well and you do what you say you’re going to do,” says Holt.

And growth is always good, of course, as long as it’s handled properly in both scope and scale.

“It’s just a matter of pacing ourselves, because we take on projects that are extremely challenging, and we always deliver on them, so we’ve never had an issue with delivering,” Holt continues. “Maybe to a fault, because we sometimes do things we shouldn’t even have to do and we essentially fund projects with our own resources to make sure we go above and beyond. You take on projects that are very complicated, and sometimes you just have to deliver at any cost, even if it requires using our own resources.”

That ongoing commitment and dedication to stellar customer service are key, and one the company takes to heart, especially because the work LJ does is so customized, which means clients can count on the work being done and being done properly.

“They have to take a chance on you,” Holt says. “If somebody gives us an order, they are saying, ‘we trust you; don’t let us down.’ Our business is not letting people down.”

He notes that this level of commitment and service leads to word-of-mouth referrals and repeat business. “The old adage is: if you make someone happy, they tell one person; if you let them down, they tell seven or more.”

This may entail taking on fewer projects or simplifying and not trying to shoot for the stars every single time, he adds. But what also sets LJ apart from competitors is its relentless pursuit and never giving up, which is a testament to those who work at the company.

“When we do an aerospace project, our engineers are giddy with excitement,” Holt says. “These projects are amazing. You go down there, and you see astronauts walking around and you’re dealing with space engineers who are young and ready to give all their waking hours for a cause. It is an intoxicating thing.”

The companies LJ works with know this, too, and it’s part of the reason they like working with LJ—the excitement and investment in success, whether it’s building things that directly relate to a rocket launch, a complete prototype of a 3D-printed rocket, or touring aerospace facilities in Los Angeles to see their handiwork firsthand.

Reaching for the stars doesn’t mean they’re forgetting where they came from, however, says Holt. “Some of the best customers that we have are right in Alberta, but we’re just looking to the future and staying on the world stage,” he says. “We just decided we wanted to try and do something different. It’s not the easiest thing to do because Alberta was a very high-cost place to run a business.”

Creating an infrastructure that’s relativity expensive to operate from means trying to be cost-competitive in the world, and trying to operate in a place where costs are so high isn’t easy, he adds. “So, you need to hire really smart people, and get out of their way. That’s how we not only compete, but win.”

The post From Alberta to the World Stage<p class="company">LJ Welding Automation</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

These same values continue to fuel the longevity of the Talbert Manufacturing brand in the present. The company, now celebrating 85 years in operation, has the next generation of leadership but the same commitment to building exceptional equipment and relationships with its customers in mission-critical sectors, as well as the dealer network that supports them.

Setting the standard for 75 years
Talbert Manufacturing has numerous well-engineered trailer designs to its name, many of which were industry firsts, but it is the removable gooseneck trailer that remains its crowning achievement. This year, the removable gooseneck trailer is celebrating 75 years of protecting equipment and saving lives and it continues to be a source of pride.

Troy Geisler, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Talbert explains, “The removable gooseneck changed the landscape of heavy haul for the best.” This lightweight, simple, yet durable trailer design improved safety for the equipment, the cargo, and the operator, which set the industry on a new trajectory.

The removable gooseneck was the start, but Talbert didn’t stop there. The design evolved throughout the years with the non-ground bearing hydraulic detachable gooseneck introduced in 1962, an innovation that would improve clearance and stability, and thus safety, when loading and unloading. Previously, the trailer would sit upwards of fifty inches off the ground for rear loading, but this angle was steep and risked tipping without warning. Talbert’s travelling axle and hydraulic tail series decks can be lowered to ground height or raised to shipping dock height to mitigate these risks.

In 1970, Talbert raised the bar with its new, patented Hydroneck design that offers greater customization options to balance weight distribution without having to rely on pre-set weight and height limits. The Hydroneck is featured on both the double drop series and the lowboy series. Alternatively, end users rely on Talbert’s ratchet neck design which includes safety pins to secure the gooseneck. This model boasts five or seven pre-set heights that are customizable to any application’s requirements and lend to improved ease of loading and unloading.

Twenty years later, Talbert designed and patented its mechanical removable gooseneck trailer, a lighter weight option to the hydraulic model that is ideal for double drop trailers and longer-distance trucking routes where the load is on the truck for several days until it is unloaded on a smooth, flat surface.

From the mechanical detachable removable gooseneck to the hydraulic detachable and non-ground bearing iterations that were developed throughout the years, to being the first to use high-strength heat-treated (T1) steel and the first to design and incorporate air suspensions, self-steering axles and load-dampening spreader bars, Talbert Manufacturing’s trailers and equipment have continued to push the limits in size, strength and performance.

“When it comes to our trailers, there’s so much to consider outside of the type of neck or trailer weight capacity. That’s why each trailer is built to the needs of the operator,” Geisler explains. “Each trailer we build and each innovation we come up with focuses on balancing operators’ needs when it comes to productivity and safety.”

85 reasons to celebrate
A business surviving for 85 years is no accident. What makes it possible at Talbert is the wealth of expertise contained within its ranks. Some employees have been with the company for upwards of 40 years, which offers a depth of industry knowledge of the trucking industry and the continuously evolving regulatory structures that vary state to state and country to country.

“It’s a great honor to work for Talbert Manufacturing because of how we are received out in the marketplace, how proven our trailer is, the design, how reliable it is, and then also the longevity of Talbert staff,” says Geisler. “It’s not easy work; it’s not without its challenges but it’s nice to work for a company that puts its best foot forward.”

Behind Talbert Manufacturing’s talent and experience, upholding and reinforcing its success is a reliable network of dealers to which Talbert provides support to ensure the needs of its end users and the industry are being met. What is more, despite its longevity and success, Talbert Manufacturing does not rest on its laurels. The team continues to find new ways to address the needs of customers while improving the safety and efficiency of a trucker’s day-to-day activities through innovative trailer design and exceptional performance.

“We try to put them in the best possible fit for their needs,” says Geisler, and out of this desire to meet the customer’s needs comes innovation which supports the ultimate goal: “To preserve Austin Talbert’s legacy.”

What’s next?
It is clear that Talbert Manufacturing, like its equipment, is built to last. In the past eight decades the company has faced countless challenges, chiefly the recent pandemic, yet it continues to overcome to fulfill orders. It does so by keeping one foot in the past and one foot in the present to preserve the Talbert legacy while modernizing and growing the company.

“We find a happy medium: we listen to the voice of the customer and adapt to those changes, all the while just keeping it simple and preserving how Austin Talbert created Talbert—all of the innovations that have come from Talbert, including the safety standards,” explains Geisler.

As to the ‘current normal,’ and what the future holds for Talbert, he says, “We don’t subscribe to the fact that this is what the world is going to manifest to. We’re going to go back [to the way things were]—maybe not 100 percent, but we are ready for this current normal to evaporate and get back to work.”

For Talbert, the pandemic served as an opportunity to grow from the inside. The last two years have been dedicated to self-improvement and capacity-building at its two locations in Indiana and North Carolina to ensure that when the market returns to strength it can compete with other major players from around the world, for parts, customers, and market share.

The plan moving forward is to grow whenever possible, but for now Talbert Manufacturing continues to identify ways to improve, ensuring that it continues to design and manufacture the best solutions for its customers to remain competitive as a North American leader in specialized heavy-haul solutions.

The post Preserving a Legacy<p class="company">Talbert Manufacturing, Inc.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Raise3D was introduced to this up-and-coming market through a Kickstarter campaign, which saw the company’s N Series of 3D printers taking just 41 minutes to reach the funding goal of $50,000. For Raise3D, the campaign’s success also signaled the growing need for “an aggressively priced prosumer 3D printer,” and led to the successful launch of the N1, N2, and N2 Plus 3D printers, according to the company.

Steady growth
In 2016, the company not only won a MAKE award for the N2 Plus as Best Overall 3D Printer but also unveiled ideaMaker, a unique slicing software designed for easy use with 3D printers. The next year, 2017, saw the official launch of Raise3D’s products in Europe and yet another MAKE award, this time for Best Larger Format 3D Printer.

The coming years saw Raise3D maintain its successful growth trajectory and bring more products to the market. After obtaining a round of financing, the company launched its Pro2 Series at the Rapid+ TCT Show in April 2018.

That September, Raise3D won awards for Best Large Format 3D printer and Editor’s Choice from All3DP, and in December, Raise3D officially released its enterprise-level cloud platform, RaiseCloud. More awards followed in 2019, including Best Large-Format 3D Printer from both Make Magazine and All3DP.

That year also saw the launch of the E2 at the TCT in Birmingham. An easy-to-use industrial-grade 3D printer, the durable desktop E2 is focused exclusively on the education sector.

Throughout 2020 to 2022, Raise3D’s success continued, with the company receiving even more awards and releasing more innovative products. On the awards side, Raise3D was recognized for the Best Large Format 3D printer from All3DP and was among the Best 3D Printers of 2020 from TechRadar.

2021 saw the company secure B+ round financing, and the official release of the Pro3 Series, the E2CF, the RMF500, and MetalFuse at TCT Asia. And in February 2022, Raise3D obtained C-round financing, and the market welcomed the release of its Hyper FFF™ Technology in November.

Hyper FFF™ technology
Last year, Raise3D launched Hyper FFF™ and high speed filaments. Designed and engineered for efficiency and performance, these products will bring a marked increase to FFF printing rates, with no loss to the quality of printed parts.

“Raise3D’s high speed filaments are an important part of our Hyper FFF™ technology,” says the company in an interview. “Hyper FFF™ is a flexible solution promoted by Raise3D, where the speed of prints is much greater than conventional FFF 3D printing, and includes comprehensive technological innovations in software, hardware, and filaments.

“Raise3D not only optimizes the corresponding software, improving the control and slicing but also provides a hardware solution based on Pro3 series printers, which allows every printer equipped with the Hyper FFF™ to maintain strong dynamic stability during high-speed printing.”

Along with software and hardware optimization, Raise3D has also released two new high speed filament lines, the Raise3D Hyper Speed and Hyper Core filament lines. “They are designed to comprehensively improve the performance of high-speed printing of both the software and hardware in Hyper Speed Mode,” says Raise3D. “The Hyper Speed line aims to provide cost-efficient and optimized performance filaments for general-use cases.”

Raise3D Hyper Speed filaments—including Hyper Speed PLA and Hyper Speed ABS—are made to withstand higher speeds, yet maintain high quality. When printing at high speeds, filament is rapidly fed into the heat block. Since the polymer has little time to reach a molten state, this can cause nozzle clogging and poor bonding quality between layers. Realizing this, company experts knew there had to be a better way.

By optimizing the molecular weight and tuned flowability, the Raise3D Hyper Speed PLA filament can achieve faster melting in the hot end, and much quicker cooling after the material has been extruded.

“As a result, the surface quality of parts printed using Hyper Speed filaments is smooth and most of the sharp details are maintained,” says the company. “Most importantly, thanks to optimized molecular weight, Hyper Speed PLA shows excellent interlayer bonding quality and Z-direction strength, so it can be used for concept models and figures, prototyping, and so forth.”

Raise3D Hyper Speed ABS can achieve faster melting and cooling during high-speed printing, with a lower temperature gradient and inner stress of the printed part. And with almost no warpage and improved interlayer bonding, Hyper Speed ABS is also perfectly suitable for many functional prototyping parts and tools and fittings, with many different possibilities for post-processing.

“The Hyper Core line aims to provide industry-leading solutions mostly based on composite filaments,” says Raise3D. “It uses an asymmetrical filament structure to optimize the mechanical strength and layer combination strength under Hyper Speed printing and to tackle the nozzle abrasion issue. It’s targeted at tough working conditions with extreme performance requirements.”

Dynamic technologies
Constantly progressing for the benefit of its customers, Raise3D is the innovator behind many other products, including the RMF500. Designed, manufactured, and optimized by the company’s material scientists, the RMF500, an industrial-grade FFF 3D printer, consumes less energy, yet achieves maximum cost-efficiency in terms of material performance versus process cost.

Bringing flexible manufacturing capacity to the production floor, the RMF500 provides a high-volume production process for high-performance composite thermoplastic parts, with reliability and repeatability.

Specialized in printing complex workpieces with a high strength-to-weight ratio in a single print using fiber-reinforced thermoplastics such as PA12CF+, PPA CF and others, it features accurate and repeatable positioning, consistent extrusion flow, a high print speed, and large build volume. “These features enable the RMF500 to deliver large batches or workpieces in a highly efficient manner,” say the people at Raise3D.

Another unique product is MetalFuse. The world’s first second-generation desktop metal solution, MetalFuse was developed jointly by Raise3D and BASF Forward AM with the goal of helping customers achieve simple, fast, and more environment-friendly independent small-batch production of high-quality metal parts. It includes state-of-the-art products such as the desktop metal 3D printer Forge1, the debinding furnace D200-E, the sintering furnace S200-C, exclusive metal slicing software, IdeaMaker Metal, and Ultrafuse® from BASF Forward AM to form a complete solution.

“MetalFuse utilizes the Catalytic Debinding process, which can reduce the processing time by up to 60 percent, and increase the density of a part by up to 97 percent of the density of wrought iron,” according to Raise3D.

“By using BASF Forward AM’s metal filaments, Ultrafuse 316L and Ultrafuse 17-4 PH, MetalFuse is capable of improved printing repeatability and a greater yield rate. MetalFuse has reliable MIM compatibility thanks to BASF’s Catamold technology and its efforts in additive manufacturing. With this solution, MetalFuse’s advantages include low overhead costs and the ability to perform batch production.

“MetalFuse saves more on energy and is more environmentally friendly when compared to conventional processes, such as CNC and SLM (Selective Laser Melting).”

Pro3 series
Along with the RMF500 and MetalFuse, Raise3D is recognized for its Pro3 Series, which comprises the Pro3 (with a build volume of 300 x 300 x 300mm). The Pro3 Plus, with a build volume of 300 x 300 x 605mm, fulfills the requirements of large-scale production and multi-sized rapid prototyping.

Featuring industrial-grade stability and quality and a purposefully versatile design, the Pro3 Series of professional 3D printers is ideal for basic flexible manufacturing, such as prototyping, jigs and fixtures, spare parts, and customized products. “They aim to provide customers both high precision and round-the-clock stable printing to meet the demands of production and rapid prototyping of multiple sizes,” says Raise3D.

With an independent modular extruder and dual extrusion system, the Pro3 Series prints using a variety of filaments with reduced clogging, while allowing for convenient disassembly and replacement of components.

The hot end of the Pro3 Series is easy to remove without tools; it is simple to replace and maintain. And with improvements to its structure, the Pro3 Series boasts a 75 percent increase in the rigidity of the Z-axis rod and the upgraded printing platform, which means better printing results and an easier printing experience.

Today’s Raise3D
Raise3D has come a very long way in just eight years. Growing to almost 400 global employees, the company’s products are available in over 170 countries and territories. With its manufacturing centers in Nantong and Wuhan, China; Asian Office in Shanghai; EU Office in Rotterdam, Netherlands; and U.S. Office in Irvine, California, the company has a new location in Houston, Texas, in the works.

The new office is expected to house a Logistics and Warehousing Center, Sales Department, After-sales Department, Marketing Department, Industrial-grade Machine Showroom, 3D Printing Service Center, and more. These locations—and ongoing innovations—will enable the company to meet the demands of its many customers around the world.

“Raise3D will continue to pioneer flexible manufacturing and push its implementation,” says the company. “Raise3D will focus on adding value via its Ecosystem since the prior purpose we aimed for is to create solutions for industrial manufacturers. This will certainly include high-quality 3D printing hardware, materials, software, services and any other initiatives that can help move productivity and cost-efficiency forward.”

The post Raising the Bar for 3D Printing<p class="company">Raise3D Technologies, Inc.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Hosseini has a history of creative problem-solving showcased through the next-generation technology available through his company. So, it comes as no surprise that the technology wizard was inspired to launch another product when confronted with a frustrating lack of communication while on vacation. “The idea came that if you use the LoRa communication, and somehow we harness the communication in a way that we can connect it to our smartphone, that may help us communicate in the area that the cellular and Wi-Fi is not available,” Hosseini remembers.

Invented by the company Suntech, LoRa—short for Long-Range Wireless Technology—enables long-distance transmission with low power consumption, making it a foundational component of Hosseini’s new invention. While Bluetooth can connect over distances of no more than one hundred metres or so, LoRa’s range is an astounding four kilometres in urban areas and sixteen kilometres in rural regions.

“Initially we developed it for peer-to-peer or point-to-point communication, but came up with the idea to use it for people communication when there is no network available,” Hosseini says. “Our goal, from the start, was to create a powerful and affordable communication device to help us communicate with each other in places where there is no cellular or Wi-Fi coverage.”

The result is the exciting new product Orange Fob Pro. The technology harnesses the power of LoRa, combined with the low power and accurate GPS, to send text messages or short voice messages when other means of communication are not available. The durable, waterproof Fob is easy to take anywhere; it can be worn like a wristwatch, on a lanyard around the neck, slipped into a pocket, or attached to a keychain.

“We make it as small as possible to easily be carried around,” Hosseini says. The battery lasts more than forty-eight hours, and it has wireless charging capability. If users misplace their Fob, it will signal its location, making it easy to find. Users can communicate with another Orange Fob up to ten miles away, and using multiple devices within the area will increase that distance, since messages can be passed through devices to extend the range.

Orange Fob opens a wide variety of possibilities for people in areas without reliable cellular coverage. “The only limitation is you only communicate with your peers [that have] that Fob and are in your vicinity,” he notes. The applications are endless, from rock climbing, skiing out-of-range slopes, and cruise ship travel to road trips, sailing and boating, working in remote locations, and outdoor excursions.

“For example, you go hiking or camping with family and friends and you are in an area that either there is no cellular coverage or coverage is bad,” Hosseini says. “So you can have this Fob with you and the other person, or other people can have the Fob, and as long as you have it connected to your smartphone by Bluetooth and you run the app, you can text message everyone in your group or a specific person in your group. And you can send voice messages.”

This technology can be of critical importance if group members are separated with no other way to regroup. “When you go outdoors and to remote areas, you always have a fear of what can I do if I get lost?” he says. “How I can message my friend or family?”

Orange Fob eliminates these concerns. “From time to time you hear someone in the middle of some trip is lost and nobody can find him for a certain amount of time, or someone left a group [on a] mountain trip and they could not find that person, and, unfortunately, somebody lost his or her life because of that situation but if you have the Fob, you can send the Fob into the mode of help; you send messages to another Fob.”

Not only can people communicate on the go without cellphone coverage, but they can also share their location. For instance, “sometimes you go and travel with multiple cars, and you don’t know if your friends are behind you on the road or past you already.” Typically motorists rely on cellphone communication to stay in touch. “But if there is no cellular coverage, which may happen sometimes, you get lost,” Hosseini points out. “With the Orange Fob, you can also share the location,” allowing travel companions to find one another quickly and easily, and, if travelers are lost on the road or in the wilderness, the app can load offline maps, so they never have to rely on data and cellular connectivity to find their destination.

Overseas travelers find the technology particularly convenient and cost-saving. “When traveling abroad, you need to pay excessive money for roaming and access to text messages and voice,” he explains. “Especially when you are not in your hotel, as hotels usually provide free Wi-Fi. But by using Orange Fob, you can text message to your family and friends while all travelling together. You can share locations with each other and be connected.”

Orange Fob uses a private wireless network, eliminating security concerns. “One of the other major worries we have is cyber security,” Hosseini says. “Is anyone listening to our voice messages? Or can [they] see our text messages? Anything [that] goes on Internet will be recorded on multiple clouds and telecom systems, while when you use Orange Fob, there is no possibility [of] recording or even intercepting your text or voice messages.”

This is not the case with standard cellular communication. “When you send a text message from your phone to your friend, as on the cellular network, what’s going to happen?” he asks. “The message would be saved on your phone. Second, the message would be transferred to cellular wireless, to a telecom tower. And from the telecom tower, it will be transferred to the telecom cloud. And from that telecom cloud, it goes to another telecom cloud associated with the receiver and then would be saved there. And then from there, it goes to a local tower close to your other party. And then, from that, goes to your receiver phone. So these text messages would be recorded all over the place. Even if you delete them from your phone or even if your receiver deletes them from their phone, still there is a record with times and details all over the place.”

But with Orange Fob, if you delete the message, “It’s gone forever. Nobody can track it.” This feature makes the technology popular with companies that need to keep proprietary information safe from competitors. “They have much higher security when they use this fob, rather than communicating to a typical cellular platform,” Hosseini declares. “Imagine you have a company that has a headquarters somewhere and you have a bunch of researchers and they like to communicate. It would be much safer if you use our system to communicate rather than just normal cell phones or computers. If they’re really worried about the safety and security of their data, that’s one of the possible applications of our system.”

Orange Fob also gives the option for messages to be automatically deleted immediately after being read or after a specified amount of time. Users simply choose which security setting to apply to read messages in the easy-to-use app.

How much does this must-have technology cost per month? The answer may surprise you. “When you use a typical cellular network on your phone, you have to pay depend[ing] on what kind of plan you have,” Hosseini says. “But using the Fob, you don’t need to pay anything. It’s just buy the device and use it. There is no payment.”

Arshon Technology will launch Orange Fob in the second quarter of this year. It will be sold in a pair, with the option to add additional Fobs to the order so that multiple people can stay connected—no matter where they go. Not surprisingly, pre-launch feedback is good and it seems only a matter of time before the new product makes a mark on the industry.

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