What does the UN’s declaration mean on a global scale as well as here in North America for both the public and private sectors? Will governments, academia, and businesses small and large work together and accomplish the UN’s lofty goals? That’s a question that can’t be answered until 2033.

Ambitious agenda
In 2015, the UN presented 17 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, which, nine years later, are far from realization.

Environmental goals include climate action to slow down and reverse global warming, which is receiving a great deal of the world’s attention but so far lacking any agreement between nations as to how to achieve it. Finding and developing alternative and clean energy, ensuring a clean water supply and sanitary conditions, protecting oceans, and using land beneficially are also on the list.

Social and economic goals focus on eliminating poverty and hunger and ensuring quality healthcare, education, gender equality, economic growth, decent work opportunities, responsible production and consumption, and industry innovation. Governance goals focus on peace, justice, strong institutions, and partnerships to meet the goals.

If even one-tenth of this is to be accomplished by 2033, it will take a monumental commitment on the part of the international community as well as the formation of partnerships at every level between government agencies, businesses, multinationals, and academia.

Within the U.S. and Canada, it will require cooperation between the federal governments and state and provincial leaders, and a willingness to hear what scientists have to say—which means funding research and making science-based decisions.

Government response
All too often these issues become politicized. For example, at the time of writing, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is embroiled in a month-long disagreement with seven of the provincial leaders and the leader of the opposition, Pierre Poilievre, over the matter of increased carbon tax on fossil fuels to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) and positively affect climate change.

Hopefully, by the time this article is published, a compromise will have been reached, but the dispute reveals the pressure governments are under trying to resolve issues as they struggle to reach the 2030 and 2050 goals for net zero carbon.

In addition to internal disagreements over how to address climate change, governments are currently faced with rising international instability—the war in Ukraine, and the strife in Gaza and Sudan—all of which threaten the UN’s goals. Added to this volatile mix is that it’s an election year in the U.S. with Canada facing an election in 2025 if not sooner, which makes pleasing the electorate—who may or may not care about issues such as climate change, clean energy, or any of the UN’s other goals—a major consideration.

However, the days of cutting our respective governments slack to deal with what they assess to be the more pressing situations may have come to an abrupt end on April 9.

That was the day the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France signaled a wake-up call to governments around the globe when it ruled that “Switzerland’s failure to adequately tackle the climate crisis was in violation of human rights, in a landmark climate judgment that could have a ripple effect across the globe,” as Laura Paddison wrote for CNN.

The court’s ruling pointed to “critical gaps” in national legislation to reduce planet-heating emissions, as well as a failure to meet past climate targets, resulting in climate change-fuelled heat waves that undermined the health and quality of life of its citizens and put them at risk of dying.

Sustainability and business
According to a document prepared by the UN committee around meeting the 17 goals, “It’s in businesses’ interest to find new solutions that enable sustainable consumption and production patterns. A better understanding of environmental and social impacts of products and services is needed, both of product life cycles and how these are affected by use within lifestyles.”

An article by Dr. Eduardo Ordonez-Ponce of the Faculty of Business of Athabasca University suggests that businesses, in particular multinationals, have unique opportunities to play a critical role in sustainable development. By taking a proactive approach, they can do more to promote sustainable solutions that will make a societal and environmental impact, while themselves remaining profitable.

“They have access to leading-edge technologies, worldwide reach, and the capacity to develop large-scale solutions for sustainability,” he writes in The Critical Role of Business in Sustainable Development. “Further, when businesses join cross-sector partnerships for local sustainability, they aim to contribute to addressing the environmental and sustainability challenges of the communities they are part of.”

He goes on to say that multinationals are positioned to tackle challenges such as inequality, biodiversity loss, and the development of clean, affordable energy. However, those challenges are too complex for businesses to solve alone, and they need to work with local communities.

“Imagine if corporations improved sustainability standards in those places where they operate and lead by example instead of taking advantage of lax regulatory systems. They could attend to the needs of the communities affected by their operations, enhancing their positive impact and reducing the negative effects of their actions.”

A serious approach
Here at FMG Publishing, we are greatly encouraged by what we hear directly from the smart and savvy businesspeople we speak with for our features. They’ve told us how they and their companies are investing in research and development to sustainably improve their product offerings at scale, and how they support their employees and their local communities.

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Andrew Mutch, President of Michelin North America (Canada) with headquarters in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia and three manufacturing facilities in the province. He explained Michelin’s all-sustainable strategy based on its philosophy of balancing people, planet, and profit, which ticks all the boxes of the UN’s goals for sustainable development.

“Every direction and every decision Michelin takes must balance those factors because you can’t be sustainable if you’re only great with people and profitability, but not respecting the planet,” he said. “But at the same time, we have to be profitable so that we can invest in our people and re-invest in innovations that will benefit our planet, and that includes how we make tires, how we reduce our footprint from a manufacturing perspective, and how our products will make a more sustainable future.”

Michelin has invested heavily in technology to reduce the rolling resistance of tires used on transport trucks. This is of critical importance because the higher the resistance of the tire, the greater the strain on the combustion engine, with more diesel fuel consumed to overcome it, resulting in higher levels of GHG emissions.

Through its GreenerFleets business, Michelin has now partnered with the Canadian government’s Green Freight Program and is acting as a consultant to fleets across the country who are enrolled in this incentivizing program, helping them to optimize the energy efficiency of their entire fleet.

It is estimated, Mutch told us, that in the next four years, the 93 fleets involved with this program will be saving 159,000 tons of CO₂. And that’s not all. Michelin has invested $300 million in a Green Mobility Plan to modernize its Nova Scotian plants and has formed a joint venture with another company to explore uses for hydrogen fuel cells capable of powering a vehicle.

A role for smaller business
But it’s not only large companies like Michelin, with 74 plants and over 132,000 employees worldwide, who are concerned about sustainability.

In the June issue of Manufacturing in Focus, we’ll be featuring AmeriGlobe, a bulk bag manufacturing company based in Louisiana with two facilities and 100 employees.

We spoke with company owner and president Daniel (Dan) Schnaars Sr. and his son, Vice President Daniel (Danny) Schnarrs Jr., who told us how they have invested in research and development through a partnership with Dow Chemical to create a fused woven polypropylene bulk bag, something the industry said couldn’t be done because of the inert nature of the material. But now these fused bags, used to transport tons of dry goods—food ingredients, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, fertilizers—have the potential to be a game-changer in the greening of the supply chain. Because they are not sewn, there is no chance of contamination or product loss from a sufficiently fine product sifting through the 13,000 needle holes in each bag. And because they don’t require 10-square-foot polyethylene liners, the amount of plastic used is greatly reduced. In addition, the bags are completely recyclable.

According to Schnaars Sr., “If we flipped the market and our fused polypropylene bag became the industry standard, there’s the potential to get more than a billion pounds of plastic out of the product stream.”

And that’s the result of one small company willing to re-invest its profit into scientific research to make a better product and a better world.

On bringing back business
We also had an interesting talk for the June issue of Manufacturing in Focus with Scott Gaylor, owner of Jupiter Protective Flooring, which installs high-performance, seamless coatings on floors in manufacturing plants, including food processing facilities and waste management facilities in the Toronto area.

The process eliminates various sanitation issues that arise when bacteria mix with concrete dust and enter the food processing equipment—as has happened, causing a nationwide outbreak of food poisoning—or leach out into the environment from a waste management plant.

But our talk ranged beyond what Gaylor’s company does (which does tick the box of the UN’s sanitation, health, and clean water and land goals), as he spoke of companies that had moved their manufacturing plants offshore and the difference they could make if they returned to Canada. “I realize there will always be imports and exports,” he said, “but I wish we would see a political push to bring manufacturing back. People have excuses to go offshore, but in my opinion, it is to take advantage of cheap labor and that’s not fair. So much pollution is created in third-world countries where they operate without regulations, and then the product is put on a container ship and shipped back here, creating more CO₂ emissions. I just don’t see the logic,” he said.

Are the UN’s 17 Goals by 2033 in reach?
We don’t know and we can’t predict. One thing we do know, after speaking with so many business leaders over the years, is that in a myriad of ways, each one is serious about doing the right thing to improve life on our planet. And that makes us hopeful.

The post Manufacturing Moving Forward<p class="company">Welcome to the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Supporting manufacturers
“We serve our clients in a number of ways,” says President Dennis Gilbert. Consulting is one major area of support. This might be in the form of project management or in helping manufacturers meet industry standards and regulations. Whatever the need, IMC boasts the expertise for tackling industry-specific challenges unique to manufacturing.

The team can tailor a solution to meet an individual manufacturer’s specific concerns. “Part of our process is interviewing them to determine where they are, the current state, and where they want to go,” says Business Advisor Tim Davis. Then, the team will determine “how our offerings line up with that.”

IMC offers a variety of training services, “whether individualized or small group training, to much larger implementations of training. That might be a 200-employee company, where we retrain 80 or 100 of them,” Gilbert says.

“Our flagship programs are largely in the area of Lean manufacturing, or what you might call continuous improvement,” he explains. Lean Manufacturing Level 1 and Lean Manufacturing Level 2 are offered every spring and fall. Each program consists of eight sessions, held every other week.

“Those are big programs for us,” he says. “We do a lot with those. We also do what is often called soft skills or essential skills training.” These classes cover skills “that are connected to developing supervisors, developing plant floor leaders.” The Center also offers higher level training, including for C suite employees. Other programs cover ISO, OSHA, and safety training, as well as IT and cybersecurity support. “We have subject matter experts in-house and third parties that we work with on various topics when we need to,” says Business Advisor Rick Terry.

The team can also assist in HR matters. “We help companies think about succession planning, competency requirements for job roles, things like that,” says Gilbert. “A lot of small to midsized manufacturers—which is our entire marketplace—they are looking for how they can onboard the right leaders in their team. Sometimes that might be in family-owned businesses—it might be the mother, father, grandmother, or grandfather leading the business. And then they’re trying to exit the business, but they want to have the business go on to succeed. They sometimes have children, grandchildren that might be interested, and sometimes they don’t. So, there’s a lot of work around succession.”

Lean manufacturing
“In very general terms, [Lean manufacturing] provides a system that companies can use as a guide to make themselves better, to improve in all areas,” says Terry. “It [involves] determining your current state and then your future state of where you want to be, and sets a direction to start making changes to get there. It doesn’t mean every change results in a positive result,” but every result is evaluated to determine the next step of improvement. “You’re continuously trying to move toward that level you want to be at.”

Lean manufacturing requires everyone’s input and participation. “The process itself works on engaging folks in an organization at all levels,” Terry says. “You need that top leadership… but you also need the folks that work on the floor in that organization. A lot of times, they are the subject matter experts in their area, and you need that information in order to assess both the current and future state of where you want to be. I think that’s a good thing about Lean manufacturing; in order to work and to be successful, you need to engage everybody.”

Training and guiding manufacturers in the principles of Lean is a key IMC goal. “Our Lean program is very thorough and broad,” says Davis. “Lean itself is really [about] identifying and eliminating waste. So our program is heavy on teaching people to be able to see what is waste, what is value added, what is not value added within their own work environment. We’re really working on teaching people to fish instead of handing them fish. And so the people who are doing the work get trained on how to recognize waste, good flow, quality, and value within their own work environments, and then are able to work on the problems themselves.”

Success stories
Diamondback Automotive Accessories, Inc. is an excellent example of a business utilizing IMC’s services to achieve continuous improvement. The Philipsburg, Pennsylvania-based company manufactures load-bearing pickup truck covers and accessories, primarily for outdoor enthusiasts. The business was experiencing rapid growth—25 percent growth in 2020 followed by 45 percent growth in 2021.

But, along with this impressive expansion came a new challenge, picking the correct parts for shipment.

To solve the problem, IMC’s Continuous Improvement team led an effort that included onsite guidance to reduce picking errors, and off-site coaching utilizing a number of Lean tools such as A3 thinking, PDCA cycles, DMAIC projects, FEMAs, and Coaching Katas.

This effort improved manufacturing communications, enhanced data visualization, deployed new equipment, improved labeling, and changed or improved processes. Within one year, picking errors dropped from 2.29 percent to 1.29 percent. Now, the company is all set to achieve their next target goal, which is an error rate of under 1 percent.

Another success story showcases IMC’s IT expertise. NuVisions Center works to improve the lives of people with vision, physical, or mental impairments and educates the public about vision loss. The Lewistown, Pennsylvania-based organization currently employs 44 people with disabilities across various industries. In order to keep an existing employment contract, the organization needed to achieve a higher level of cybersecurity. Compliance requirements for government contracting can be challenging for small companies with limited resources, especially since these requirements continue to evolve. NuVisions Center did not have in-house IT support, making it even more difficult for them to meet the new requirements.

IMC provided professional assistance, guiding the company through the process every step of the way. As a result, NuVisions Center successfully achieved the new cybersecurity requirements, saving an employee contract and retaining three jobs for their workforce.

Looking ahead
Going forward, “we have a lot of plans,” says Gilbert. A key goal is to reach more manufacturers and increase IMC’s impact within the communities served. “Manufacturing is a very important sector to Pennsylvania,” he points out. “So, some of our goals are not financial per se, but more about the impact that we create by helping companies, helping manufacturers, and then also from our own internal outlook, how can we deepen not only that impact, but our penetration?”

The team has determined that “six months ago, we were at about a 40 percent penetration rate, and now we’re at about a 55 percent penetration rate,” Gilbert shares. “[This is] measuring, of course, that we’re reaching more people, we’re talking to more people, we’re giving more and more people advice and training.”

Already an important pillar of support for Central Pennsylvania’s manufacturers, IMC is well positioned to broaden its reach. With a dedicated team ready to offer expert guidance, training, and more, the Center is sure to help many more manufacturers and communities enjoy a bright future.

The post Supporting Central Pennsylvania’s Manufacturers<p class="company">Innovative Manufacturers' Center</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

A history of growth
Incorporated in 1995, Curry Fluid Power is the first spinoff of Curry Supply which was established in 1932 and is owned by the Ritchey family. Originally named Central Hydraulics, it offered an inventory of hydraulic hoses, belts, and other components that supported both in-house and customers’ parts needs.

“Curry Supply Company manufactures service trucks like water trucks and mechanics’ trucks, lube trucks, and more, so Curry Fluid Power was a spinoff of that, which was hydraulics, fluid power, and the parts division. We started in a small barn with a couple of people, and the main customers back then were local guys,” says Vice President Ryan Stoltz.

As well as supplying parts, Curry Fluid Power repaired hydraulic cylinders, pumps, motors, and valves. As the services multiplied, so did demand, and in 2008 the company expanded into a larger facility in East Freedom, Pennsylvania, where it operates to this day.

“We found that a lot of the cylinders and things needed parts made, so we added a machine shop to make those parts and then that turned into manufacturing new components and cylinders,” says Stoltz.

This move enabled growth in capacity through the addition of a fully equipped machine shop, but it was still not enough to satisfy demand. The following year, a new facility was opened in Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, just south of Pittsburgh and close to the Marcellus Shale formation, a booming sector that Curry was well-equipped to support.

In 2016, further growth took place with the addition of 32,500 square feet of space to the company’s machining and repair shops. In the following years, its operational footprint expanded to Phoenix, Arizona to better service its market presence across North America and globally.

“We’ve kind of become a one-stop shop, so we have the manufacturing and the repair and all the components that go with it. So when somebody comes to us, they don’t need to go anywhere else for their fluid power needs. They can call us and no matter what it is, we can help them out and do what they need us to do for them,” says Stoltz.

To further deliver on this commitment across the company’s footprint, the third location, which was added in Phoenix, Arizona, enables the team to respond even quicker.

As Stoltz explains, “Based on our inventory and where the customer is, we’re able to pick and choose where we ship product from, so we can get them what they need within a few days’ freight anywhere in the U.S.” The result? New customers, more quotes, and unlimited potential for growth, he says.

Evolution and adaptation
Throughout its evolution, Curry Fluid Power has continued to add capacity and size to sustain its growth. With three pillars to its operation, it has a strong foundation to grow on.

“Manufacturing, repair, and distribution—they’re the three pillars of our business. We’ve just continued to add machines, add people, get into new customers, and really diversify our total product offerings,” says Stoltz. “On the distribution side, we sell all the components that go with it: the hoses, the fittings, the adapters, any other hydraulic components.”

With three stocking locations, a large inventory, and expansive in-house expertise, customers can depend on Curry Fluid Power for same-day shipping and unmatched service whether they’re looking for a part, repair, or manufacturing support. The company’s machine shop can design, reverse engineer, and manufacture OEM cylinders and other components; provide testing and quality control processes; and repair cylinders, pumps, motors, and valves.

As a Danfoss Authorized Service Center, Permco and Youli Valve Master Build Center, and member of both NAHAD (The Association for Hose and Accessories Distribution) and the Hose Safety Institute, Curry Fluid Power offers expert service supported by modern facilities and a deeply rooted commitment to success.

“All our facilities are very modern, so that helps attract and retain employees. All our machines are new and well maintained,” Stoltz says, a significant contributor to the company’s success.

A culture driven to succeed
Talent attraction and retention are a big part of Curry Fluid Power’s secret sauce. It has become a place to grow a career, and this fuels the passion and drive that show up throughout its staff.

Now 40 years old, Stoltz has spent 24 years with the company, moving up through the ranks and, he says, growing his commitment to the company’s success. “We all feel like owners in some sort of way even though we’re not. We’re all invested in the company, and it feels like ours,” he says. “We’re young and hungry as far as the culture goes. We have a lot of young guys, people who want to grow and see the company grow. It’s a family-owned company which keeps us all close, and we like to promote from within.”

This sentiment was shared by Vince Heaton, Production Manager, who referred to the ownership team and their “fearlessness” in including employees in the company’s success through open feedback loops and a decision-making process that puts stock in its employees.

Heaton says, “When you come to [management] with an idea and you want to try this or that, the answer is always yes. They invest in us, they believe in us, they believe in the company.”

Director of Business Management Frank Spaid agrees. “It’s not a factory atmosphere where you just come in and do your job and leave after eight hours. Just about everybody in the company is involved in some way shape or form as to the outcome of it.”

The employees on the shop floor are empowered to make decisions. From the leadership perspective, “the people that are close to the problem get the chance to fix the problems. I think that’s allowed us to move faster, think faster,” explains Heaton, confirming that this approach gets the job done and done well for customers.

Eyes on the future
As most companies know, growth presents both an opportunity and a challenge, and that holds true for Curry Fluid Power. While the opportunities are endless, the team must ensure it has the capacity and resources to satisfy demand.

“We have to be able to increase capacity, improve our processes, and get faster and more technological, and personnel is always tricky. Not a lot of people are going into machining and welding and those kinds of trades anymore, so one of the hardest things is finding new personnel and retaining them. That’s a challenge,” says Stoltz.

Curry Fluid Power has planned a remodel that will add 20,000 additional square feet of space to house machinery. The company has added staff as it has grown and will continue its quest to acquire additional facilities or operations to sustain its expanding footprint. Curry Fluid Power is also investing in further improving the working conditions for its employees, a testament to the concern of the company’s ownership for the people who have served it so well.

Highly valuing relationships and respecting its people, Curry Fluid Power shows every day what makes it the partner of choice for parts, repairs, and the manufacture of fluid power solutions for customers in North America and around the world.

The post Passionate About Fluid Power<p class="company">Curry Fluid Power</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Founded by the grandfather of John Morrissey—who today serves as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development—the company has forged a legacy of innovation, quality, and exceptional customer service.

Getting its start manufacturing brake lining and harness rivets in 1920, Chicago Rivet built its first rivet setting machine in 1925. In the 1930s, the business went public and is still traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The mid-1940s saw the company continue to grow and introduce new products, including the Model 912, the most popular riveter in its automatic equipment line, and it remains active in their riveter product line to this day. Chicago Rivet also received awards and commendations from the U.S. government as a critical parts supplier during the WWII effort.

Into Pennsylvania
In 1946/1947, the company explored opening a facility outside of the Chicago area for manufacturing fasteners and rivet setting equipment. Looking at different parts of the United States to expand, the business decided on Tyrone, Pennsylvania. With nearby railways, the location was ideal for shipping products across the country.

“That really made the company become a choice after World War II,” says Morrissey of the growing business, which saw the new Tyrone facility begin manufacturing product alongside the Chicago facility in 1948. “They’ve been a vital source of our products and output since that time.”

When the Chicago area facility closed in 1980, Tyrone became the primary maker of all fasteners—which are ISO 9001 and IATF 16949 certified—along with all rivet setting and assembly equipment. “Tyrone, Pennsylvania really is a key driver in our success,” says Morrissey of the facility, which has also achieved Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame status for Blair County businesses.

Ongoing investment
To maintain its prominent position in the industrial fastener industry, Chicago Rivet has invested about $18 million over the past decade in facility upgrades and capital equipment. According to the company, this gives Chicago Rivet “greater capabilities and efficiencies in producing complex geometric fasteners,” and results in lower costs to customers.

Planning to use the Tyrone location as a springboard into the future, the company recently updated its website with a virtual plant tour video of the Tyrone facility. “In addition to our detailed cold-formed part capabilities, a user can also examine several different case studies, highlighting how our engineers carefully studied various customers’ applications to create the optimal solution for their customers’ fastener and riveting equipment challenges,” says the company.

The company’s Investments in the Future section highlights some of Chicago Rivet’s many equipment purchases, such as in-house drill and tap capabilities. “This gets back to optimizing and providing in-house pricing for secondary operations on parts that require a drill and tap with some of our customers,” says Morrissey. “If we can bring that piece of equipment in-house and do that on-site, that’s a benefit to the customer, both from a price point and lead time perspective.”

Other investments, such as optical sorting and high-speed headers for better output, also result in cost savings for customers.

To make rivet-setting equipment, the company uses a series of automated mills and lathes, which also represent some of its investment. All CNC machines have been upgraded to a new standard, saving time and money. Setup time is critical and ranges from four to eight hours, and with updated equipment, setup can be achieved from outside the machine, so while producing part A, part B can be set up from the outside and the conversion is seamless.

Along with bringing in key technologies to the cold heading industry, Chicago Rivet & Machine has also made many upgrades to its Tyrone, Pennsylvania facility. These include replacing the roof, installing new LED lighting, resurfacing the floor, and more.

“When you look at the overall package, it’s been done in a way that money is allocated every year to making improvement projects within the facility to keep us competitive,” says Mike Sweitzer, recently retired Plant Manager of 30 years in that position at the Tyrone facility.

These investments and improvements are making Chicago Rivet even more flexible and responsive. “Being able to adapt is going to be a key driver for us in the future,” observes Morrissey. “And if we can be more efficient and the header operation can work on the next job, it increases our efficiency. So this type of equipment and investment allows us to be competitive in the industry.”

Another reason spurring the company’s recent investments in technology is the shortage of workers facing America’s manufacturers. To attract the next generation of workers, Chicago Rivet is involved with high school programs in Blair County and is looking at recruiting young people with mechanical aptitude who want to go into manufacturing. Being located near Pennsylvania State University is also advantageous for a company seeking students with technical backgrounds.

Range of capabilities
Over the decades, Chicago Rivet has emerged as a critical supplier to the automotive, appliance, and electrical industries, among others. Along with manufacturing a diverse line of rivet setting equipment, tooling components, and machine parts for its riveters, the company is also known for creating custom-designed automated assembly systems.

At its Tyrone facility, Chicago Rivet also makes many fasteners and cold-headed parts, such as self-piercing, split, tapered, collar, complex, and shoulder rivets—to name a few—from aluminum, brass, carbon steel, copper, nickel silver, and 302, 410, and 430 stainless materials.

“Our dimensional capabilities range from a .562 maximum diameter and 5” maximum length on solid parts, and a .500 maximum diameter and 3-1/4” maximum length on tubular cold-headed parts,” Morrissey states. “We can provide fastener head designs such as six-lobe, oblong, slotted, oval, flat countersunk, stamped, decorative, and button-head configurations. Finishing options include black zinc and black oxide, Magni, galvanizing, painting/Japan, brass, copper, gold, nickel, tin, zinc, anodizing, and silver plating.”

All of the company’s rivets are made with remarkable precision. Machinists need to pay the closest attention to hole diameter and wall thickness to prevent the collapse of parts in the forming process. This all goes back to Chicago Rivet’s ISO credentials. At the smaller end, Chicago Rivet can produce parts in .034 diameter wire. These include tiny brass case rivets with a hole at the bottom, used to attach handles to pocketknives, and case rivets for eyeglasses. “It’s something to watch when you can produce a part that small,” says Sweitzer.

For clients, with clients
At Chicago Rivet, most fasteners are made to specific customer designs, which may be tweaked, depending on tolerances. “We’ll work with customers and tell them what we’re capable of holding on our conventional single die headers, and they have a choice to make of whether they can accept that tolerance range, or have to have the tighter tolerance, which may entail a more intricate multi-die header,” says Morrissey.

For one large automotive customer, the company worked with engineers to determine if a part’s head could be shaved to a certain configuration, and if it was best to make a cold-headed or shoulder rivet. This resulted in a unique design on the oblong head, which went into production for over 10 years.

The Chicago Rivet team also works with clients to help them save money by using fewer—or different—materials, manufacturing methods, and finishes. The scrap rate on a screw machine part, for example, is 50 to 60 percent, while cold heading a part doesn’t produce any scrap metal. Modifying parts can thus realize significant cost reductions for Chicago Rivet customers.

Another way the company saves on expenses for customers is through local sourcing wherever possible. Much of Chicago Rivet’s steel comes from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, just 45 miles away.

For the long term
“We try to develop relationships we can make work for a long time,” comments Morrissey. “Again, you have to be cost-effective; we are out quoting and trying to find those low-cost providers, as long as they can meet the quality requirements we have. We are in such a competitive market, and you have to maintain that competitiveness.”

Beyond automotive, which comprises about 60 percent of the company’s volume, Chicago Rivet is active in other markets, such as electrical, HVAC systems, sheet metal, medical, lighting, and cutlery, where rivets are used to mount blades to handles. Recently, the business picked up a new account in the appliance industry, where its rivets will attach roller brackets and coasters to refrigerators and washing machines.

“In the future, we want to continue to diversify,” says Morrissey. “Automotive has been great, but I think it’s important for companies to be well-balanced and diversified. When a particular industry is down, or there is an automotive strike like we had last year with the Big Three, you need to have a buffer in medical, appliance, electronics, and HVAC. So that’s something we’re going to focus on in the future.”

The post Supporting Industry Since 1920<p class="company">Chicago Rivet</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Heading toward its seventh decade in business, API was founded in 1962 by a block manufacturer that started this company to fabricate concrete lintels. From there, the company expanded, changing hands thrice before Steve Kenepp, President and CEO, purchased the company in 2015. API has a long history of precasting, with precast/prestressed concrete building components for parking garages being made in its facilities in the 1980s.

The company went on to make building components for air traffic control towers, airport terminals, and stadiums commercially. Its steel shop opened in 1983, and a new plant followed a few years later. Today, its facilities span 30 acres, with about 14,000 square feet of fabrication area, including a form fabrication shop and steel fabrication shop. Everything happens here, with the exception of galvanizing [for steel components], which happens off-site.

No stranger to change, API is also a company that strives to evolve. Now, it is moving toward design-build and design-assist projects by customer request. Collaborating with owners, developers, and designers, the team helps establish budgets, schedules, and efficiency. The company is comfortably equipped for product development and process improvement, which drives innovation for the company and industry.

To this end, investment in technology has allowed API to incorporate cutting-edge methods with modern materials to deliver a service that keeps customers in the loop and engaged with modeling software in ways that were not possible in the past. A recently acquired computer numerical control (CNC) machine also expands its form building capabilities. The CNC machine is also used to process foam insulation for insulated panel production. API will also soon employ projection lasers in its casting process.

“Laser projection will help us increase the tolerances in our products. It will also help improve the efficiency and construction time,” says Kenepp. “I’m pretty excited about that. It will enhance our production capabilities and help with efficiency.”

Certainly, precision goes into every project and currently, the team is collaborating on a design-assist brick cladding project with Mount Nittany Medical Center in Pennsylvania. The medical center is currently constructing a new patient tower at its existing premises on Park Ave, State College, Pennsylvania. Moreover, there is a series of data centers among the company’s upcoming projects.

For Kenepp, API’s success rides on the quality of his team of around 80 people, many of whom have been with the firm for decades, often straight out of school, some joining as many as 30 and 40 years ago. While entire families and multiple generations work here, people’s tenures remain impressive too. Even the Vice President of Operations has been with the firm for over 50 years, and the Operations Manager started working here during his high school years.

“The people come before the business. It’s really neat to have a group of people that have worked together for so many years. They’re very dedicated people. [In this business], people are our most valuable assets,” Kenepp says.

To keep morale high, an employee engagement committee ensures that everyone has enough time to interact and keep their interpersonal relationships healthy. So that employees remain apprised of the latest developments in the field, the company encourages further training, with support, of course. In addition, leadership respects employees’ personal and family obligations. Holding a firm belief that it is the unspoken mandate of companies to serve the communities in which they do business, Kenepp expresses joy in sponsoring local community events, including high school bands, Little League baseball, and other local charity events doing good for the community.

At API, relationships matter. Serving a 250-mile radius from its plant in Middleburg, Pennsylvania, this architectural precast supplier to the construction industry knows that longevity means doing the right thing consistently and becoming a partner to its customers.

“While we are a manufacturer, our company is as much about the people as the product. We work in more of a family environment here. Culture has a lot to do with what we do,” says Kenepp.

Well known for its high-end architectural panels, the company is proud that most of its sales are of attractive, high-quality custom fabricated components, available in a large selection of custom shapes, colors, and finishes. In addition, it is known for its insulated precast wall panels which are highly sought after for warehouses, data centers, health care facilities, and institutional projects—building types that Kenepp notes are on the rise. The shift toward incorporating this product is driven by modern building demands for energy conservation, reducing building operating costs over the life of a structure.

What does precast concrete offer specifiers and clients and why is it chosen for such a diverse array of projects? Precast meets construction goals of constructability, schedule, and cost, and elevates aesthetic expression. Additionally, designers turn to precast for sustainability attributes such as minimizing construction waste—because components are fabricated off-site—while also reducing impact to surrounding areas. This outstanding building material also delivers excellent thermal performance and fire resistance.

“If you look at long-term durability and resilience of precast concrete, these buildings will easily go from 50 to 100 years,” Kenepp adds, explaining that when precast concrete is replaced, it’s usually to update an overall look rather than because it is structurally unsound. Therefore, performance and longevity are, as a rule, not an issue with this product—these days even less so, as precast elements are continuously improved and developed to protect people and property, as in the case of storm shelters.

Other examples of the latest in precast product innovation include addressing security concerns. Anti-terrorism products are composed of highly engineered precast concrete building components custom-engineered to offer blast loading protection in buildings belonging to the federal government and other buildings requiring safe haven for the general public. “Our connections, reinforcing, and panels are all designed to withstand whatever forces people are looking to protect against,” Kenepp says.

API’s quality speaks for itself, winning numerous awards across many building types over the years. As a PCI-AA-certified architectural precast concrete fabricator, API is capable of delivering the highest level of complexity, crafting uniquely beautiful, sculptural, and effective design solutions.

To illustrate the strength of precast concrete, a boardwalk API built along Long Beach, New York remained undamaged by Hurricane Sandy, even while another boardwalk was entirely destroyed.

“When we installed the last piece of this boardwalk, the people in the community came together in a big gathering to watch. It was amazing. There were a lot of hugs, tears, and all kinds of good stuff,” Kenepp says, smiling and noting how good it feels to return meaning to a community to which such infrastructure gives so much pleasure.

API is also grateful for its rewarding relationships with the small and large contracting partners with which it regularly works. Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, Structure Tone, Gilbane Building Company, and Turner Construction are but a few.

The industry, like most others, is changing, and such industry shifts are also impacting how the company works. Building sites are becoming increasingly cramped, and logistics and execution are more precision-planned than ever. As a firm known for being schedule-driven and doing what it takes to secure successful delivery of its projects, API is increasingly trusted by customers to get their jobs done well, on time, and within budget.

While rising costs are turning building trends toward more modular building in high-density urban areas, the demand for API’s work is also growing. The great advantage of its facility comes to the fore as the company can execute high-accuracy work in a controlled environment, giving the team control over aspects like weather that cannot be controlled on traditional job sites. This is why prefabrication means speed. As on-site assembly takes a fraction of the time of traditional construction, earlier occupancy is just one of the pluses that clients appreciate about this discipline.

“Modular construction is a trend that is just going to become bigger and bigger, and customers are yet to come up with anything we can’t build,” Kenepp says. As this team of problem solvers heads into the future, they continue holding to their maxim: if you can draw it, they can build it.

The post Custom Precast Concrete Without Compare<p class="company">Architectural Precast Innovations, Inc. </p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Systematix began life in 1988 as an automation company in a small facility in Waterloo, Ontario, and was originally the spinoff of an industrial fastener business. Over many years, its brand slowly grew thanks to the work it found within window and door manufacturing. From there, the company expanded its services into diverse industries like automotive and medical device consumer products, as well as into new energy solutions like solar, electric, and wind power. Today, now as Samuel Automation, the company continues its evolution as a home-grown Canadian company with a global reach.

Regional Manager Don Weber says there are many types of automation in the market today, and this can lead to some confusion among potential clients, so the company feels that specific language about automation is all-important to its identity. To that end, the company distinguishes itself by focusing on custom automation, an engineering-intensive style that involves assembling precision parts and offering a turnkey solution when it comes to automation across a variety of sectors.

“Our specialty is projects with multiple parts that need verification and testing,” says Weber.
“We do very well at that.”

In 2021, the company was acquired by Samuel, Son & Co., a Canadian metal manufacturing and supply giant with over a century to its name. As its partner, Samuel Automation now has far greater support for its operations, giving its two bases of operation in Waterloo, Ontario and Tucson, Arizona a boost while granting it additional resources to balance its workload.

The acquisition has even led to integrating more partners into the fold, and this has resulted in the creation of Samuel Automation. The group is a triumvirate consisting of Systematix itself and its partner organizations RAMP (a custom automation manufacturer based in Waterloo) and CAID Automation (a custom automation manufacturer based in Tucson). This new acquisition within Systematix, as well as the ongoing collaboration with multiple divisions of Samuel, Son & Co., has been a big factor in the company’s recent successes and overall positive momentum.

Leading the way into new endeavors has become practically inseparable from the modern Samuel Automation approach. Over the past year, the company has begun partnering with various OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to do further energy product development.

Weber says that the clean energy market is really changing now. Instead of just offering clients in the new energy space a machine to build a product, Samuel Automation will partner with them early on to offer engineering, research and development, and product development services for a more holistic approach. This allows the client to get their product to the market faster and more economically. This step is still in a nascent phase, but the company continues to move forward, intending to implement automation and make processes around it more efficient for clients.

Reflecting on the company’s ongoing work in the green energy market, Weber notes that Samuel Automation has been working on more projects involving fuel cells, battery modules, and other clean energy initiatives. This work is meant to both promote and develop these products while building the automation to manufacture them.

Many markets want to switch to more sustainable solutions; for example, within the realm of custom automation, there is a significant appetite from customers to move to electric drives instead of pneumatics. While pneumatics is the most widely known energy solution in automation today, electric drives use considerably less energy and are preferable when moving toward greener automation.

This desire for new energy solutions gives Samuel Automation more versatility in the market, as electric drives are programmable and use less energy with more flexibility, with the ability to add more products to a line in the future or to accommodate more than one part on a machine.

Indeed, flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to programming automation based on a customer’s needs. “Everything we do is custom,” says Weber. While forming early partnerships with clients is a big part of this approach, it also involves getting into the details of what customers want and understanding the unique challenges of each.

When someone wants a product with many pieces and precision assembly and wants these at a fast rate and with data collection and storage after the fact, every job is about getting as many details as possible on the part. From there, Samuel Automation can scale a custom solution to the market that works in every way the client needs.

This process illustrates that the team operates on the adage of ‘work smarter, not harder.’ Weber points out that this attitude is much needed in the industry, as is alignment between customer needs and the services it provides. “We try to be very honest and transparent with the customer,” he says, and much attention is paid to ensuring that Samuel Automation can indeed provide the best help to achieving a customer’s goals.

For example, during the custom build/design phase of a project, the team goes to great lengths to make sure it shares its three-dimensional designs—constructed in design software SolidWorks—so the customer can review it in detail before any metal is cut. This guarantees that the customer fully understands and is comfortable with everything from the product side, which can, in turn, save a lot of work later during the review process. Indeed, the word ‘custom’ is only meaningful if the end user has as much control over automation design as possible.

Currently, Samuel Automation and the custom automation sector at large are seeing increasing levels of activity from customers. The company itself has a very broad range of industries and products being brought to market, albeit with a degree of caution as many clients need to acknowledge various factors when moving forward with projects, such as economic difficulties, current global trends, and world events. The custom automation industry is seeing many new technologies, products, and exploration within those areas and, barring any hesitancy from its clientele, the business is ever ready to move forward with the next automation solution.

Weber says that moving forward into 2024, Samuel Automation will be looking to promote the technical strength and experience of the three sister companies under the umbrella of Samuel, Son & Co. It will also push its growth in multiple new industries, like new energy, and continue to diversify as much as possible.

Samuel Automation will “grow and improve and work with our existing customers and new customers alike,” as Weber says, to continue being the premier choice in its field for custom automation solutions.

The post Work Smarter, Not Harder<p class="company">Samuel Automation</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Accelerate, put on the brakes, or make a turn, and our tires wear just a little. But all that speeding up, slowing down, and cornering adds up to more than 6 million metric tons of tire dust in the atmosphere each year. That means particles in lakes, rivers, oceans, and places as far away as the Arctic.

And that’s just the tire dust from driving. The average car owner will also replace their tires about every five years. That is a colossal amount of more than one billion tires bound for landfills each year, while an estimated four billion tires already sit there.

There are not a lot of easy solutions to this problem. Part of the issue is that most car tires are made with vulcanized rubber, which includes sulphur and other chemicals that improve the durability of rubber but also make them much harder to break down. So, one of the more appealing ways to deal with tires that are no longer on the road is through the circular economy.

Finding new and different ways to use old tires can go a long way to extending their lifecycle and reducing their impact on the environment. One company playing an especially important role here is Dinoflex.

Quality floors
Founded in 1989 in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Dinoflex has been manufacturing high-quality, sustainable rubber flooring from recycled tires for 35 years.

All the rubber comes from within 500 miles of its factory and that means the company is scooping up rubber that would otherwise end up in landfills. The importance of this work has become ever more obvious as the impact of climate change is seen in the company’s own backyard, with the traditionally damp Pacific Northwest experiencing drought and wildfires as a result.

“Being in business for 35 years in any industry isn’t easy. But there are some core values that Dinoflex has held to throughout its history,” says Mark Bunz, CEO of Dinoflex. “It takes a winning culture centred around a group of people with a desire to be better every day.”

One of those core values is innovation that extends from process to product to customer activities. “This helps us introduce unique products and strengthens our partnership with customers,” says Bunz.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that this rubber flooring is also beautiful—from dark interlocking mats for home and commercial gyms to vibrant colours and textures for inspired living and workspaces, retail showrooms, and many more such applications.

The Dinoflex difference
The process of turning tires into flooring is called vulcanization. Remember how tires are made from vulcanized rubber to make them last longer? When recovering the tires and converting them into flooring, a combination of solvents and ground-up rubber is used to bring the rubber back to its natural state. From there, the material is converted into flooring, which opens up new options for material that would otherwise be landfill. Additionally, Dinoflex’s manufacturing approach sets it apart from other companies.

While most companies manufacture rubber in cylinders, Dinoflex flooring is moulded in block format. This makes a big difference because rubber that is formed using cylinders tends to want to snap back to its original form. But because the rubber that Dinoflex produces is made flat to begin with, the flooring stays flat—exactly what you want from a floor.

The company has doubled down on this process with its “Made Flat, Stays Flat™” guarantee that ensures rapid installation and a product that will never curl for the life of the installation.

A great example of Dinoflex’s creative solutions in action is Flyover in Chicago, Illinois. This interactive virtual reality tour allows people to experience the city in a 360-degree theatre at Navy Pier. To help bring this to life, Dinoflex delivered 13,000 square feet of rubber flooring that included 94 circles, which contained numbers displayed throughout as part of the immersion.

Then there is the company’s delightful work at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. When you walk into the main lobby of the hospital, you will see a floor covered by bright, kid-friendly colours displayed in overlapping circles. Because it is made from the durable rubber of converted car tires, the flooring will stand up to the thousands of big and little feet that pass through the facility every day.

Cutting-edge cutting
What makes these complex designs possible is water jet cutting. As the technique suggests, the technique uses water pressurized up to 392 MPa (MPa stands for megapascal). A pascal is a single unit of pressure, and a megapascal is one million pascals. And yes, 392 of them can accurately cut through just about anything.

When this technique is used in rubber flooring, it can create almost any unique design. Dinoflex offers multi-coloured logos and geometric patterns that can be developed for a guaranteed fit with a client’s existing flooring with minimal variation. While a lot of these projects are for commercial purposes in collaboration with architects and designers, Dinoflex can also provide custom solutions for spaces as small as 300 square feet, in colours of the client’s choice.

Beyond the processes used to guarantee the quality and durability of Dinoflex’s flooring, the company’s innovation has led to more by-products—which would otherwise have been relegated to landfill—used in flooring production.

“We have added our post-industrial by-product to the backing of our Stride Fitness Tile, which helps to increase the impact insulation class level,” Melanie Haskell, Vice President of Sales at Dinoflex, explains. (Impact Insulation Class, or IIC, is a measure of how much sound a floor can absorb as people walk on it.) These gym tiles are engineered with an impact-absorbing grid to reduce sound and vibration.

“Another program we have launched is our Armor X, which is a unique, dual-layer flooring solution. Its polyurethane wear layer and fitness backing contains post-industrial by-product and is incredibly durable, impact-resistant, and self-healing, so there’s no need for costly repairs from indentations,” Haskell adds. “It’s the perfect choice for any fitness application.”

The ultimate goal is to achieve zero waste, something Dinoflex is on track to accomplish. The team is regrinding the manufacturing waste and incorporating it into its products like outdoor tiles for landscape and rooftop spaces, as well as the backing material for its Armor X flooring.

All this innovation and effort have continued to pay off for the manufacturer. The company recently announced a $10 million expansion to its Salmon Arm facility, which is Dinoflex’s third notable investment since 2018. It includes new equipment and automation that significantly increases the company’s capacity to meet the fast-growing demand within the commercial space as well as retail verticals.

This investment is not only a sign of growth; it’s also a commitment to even more innovation, says Bunz. “We’re an industry leader because of our world-class products and focus on innovation,” he says.

In-house innovation
Research and development takes place in-house, a differentiator in the industry and a win for business partners who can review various iterations quickly. “We can do our own testing and launch products much faster. This is a huge advantage and can shave months off timelines for clients.”

The expansion comes at an important time, as applications for recycled rubber surfacing are quickly expanding beyond the typical applications of sport and fitness. Customers are looking for more vibrant and pastel colour concepts for high-traffic spaces like restaurants, event spaces, and retail showrooms. With this growth, Dinoflex can now offer designers more options to include recycled rubber in projects for new builds and renovations. Ultimately, that’s also good news for the environment as green construction innovations come to the forefront.

“What manufacturers do now will reach far into the future and ensure the safety and protection of the Earth, as well as their customers and their employees,” says Bunz, happy to mark the company’s impressive 35 years while looking ahead. “By emphasizing products and creating sustainable processes, we’re also attracting new customers. It’s the direction our world is heading. Environmental responsibility is the future of business right now.”

The post Rubber Reimagined – Turning Old Tires Into Fine FlooringEngineered for Evolution<p class="company">Dinoflex</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Known as one of America’s top experts in plastics rotational molding, Redline’s success is the result of generations of planning, dedication to customers, hard work, vision, and leading, never following.

Redline’s roots go back to 1922. Starting as Dow Canvas, the company focused on the tent and awning industry for about 50 years. Purchased by the Webster family, the business expanded to include making covers for marine and power sports customers. The years to come saw the company acquire Premier Plastics and Leisure Designs, sell its marine division, and change its name to Redline Plastics.

One stop, many services
Committed to meeting the unique needs of all customers, Redline Plastics is a one-stop shop.

Handling everything from sourcing to manufacturing, finishing to assembly, and shipping means clients don’t have the stress, expense, and waste of working with multiple companies. Known for rotational molding, compression molding, and vacuum forming, Redline’s services also cover industrial cut and sew, fiberglass reinforced plastics (FRP), full-scale design engineering, and 3D printing and prototyping.

With two convenient locations—its Manitowoc, Wisconsin headquarters, and another manufacturing facility in Hartwell, Georgia—American and international clients know Redline has them covered from project start to finish.

Growth and acquisition
One of Redline’s greatest strengths has been its success in bringing other companies into the fold for the benefit of both business and customers. A recent one was Quality Holdings, with the acquisition finalized on March 20, 2023. Quality Holdings coming on board opened the compression molding market to Redline and expanded its geographic footprint.

“Quality Holdings was a strategic buy to get us to a different region of the country where we identified opportunity,” says company President, Nick Murray. “Logistically, we can serve our customers better as well as access customers in a different region and develop expertise in that area.”

For Murray, the strategic acquisition fits Redline’s growth plans in many ways, including location. At the small end of its products, the company makes parts such as handholds a few inches long for climbing walls. But at the large end, Redline has the machinery to mold parts up to 16 feet (4.87 m) in length, which makes for onerous shipping. Also sizeable are the various types of tanks made, which weigh from 300 to 600 pounds (136 to 272 kg).

“One of the nuances of rotational molding is that oftentimes we make very large parts that don’t ship well, so getting to different geographic regions helps us to compete logistically and also garner new areas of business,” says Murray. “Quality Holdings was one of those strategic buys that got us to the Southeast, where we identified a lot of rotational molding opportunities. There are some decent names in the area, but we felt we could compete.”

Providing Redline with tremendous upside potential, the Quality Holdings acquisition (now Redline Georgia) has seen some customers transfer locations. That way, clients get better shipping prices and other cost synergies. “It doesn’t matter to us where the business goes,” Murray says, “we’ll service it regardless. We’re more than happy to help our customers strengthen their business and maintain our relationship with them as well.”

Lightweight and durable
In past decades, many of the products Redline makes now were made from metal, which has its disadvantages. Unlike plastic products, steel and other metals are heavy. They corrode and will hold a dent instead of rebounding.

In recent years, Redline has seen a big switch from metal to plastics and an additional reason is that plastics, unlike metals, do not require welders to produce the products. “A lot of companies have transitioned from metal diesel tanks into rotationally molded plastic ones,” says company CEO, Chuck Webster. “You don’t need a welder. It’s lighter, stronger, lasts as long, and performs as well.”

Plastic also outshines metal for many other applications. These include municipal playground components such as slides, handholds, and roofs. Some other products now being made of plastic are equipment shrouds/cases, construction vehicle components, mechanical housings, bins and tubs, lawn and agriculture machine components, and floor cleaning components.

The non-rusting properties of plastic are crucial. “From durability to an environmental stress/longevity standpoint, many of the plastic solutions we offer are splendid for long-duration applications in many industries,” says Murray. And for makers of agricultural and construction equipment focused on smaller and more efficient engines, plastic means less weight. In the United States, many municipalities now also require dumpsters behind restaurants to have a plastic liner to prevent rust from seeping into groundwater.

To prevent this entirely, some restaurateurs are choosing all-plastic rotationally molded dumpsters, which are longer-lasting and easier to transport. “Lots of positives come from going with something that’s plastic instead of metal,” comments Webster.

Winning culture
At Redline, a cheerfully positive, sometimes irreverent company culture remains a powerful motivator for all employees.

“Rather than traditional corporate values like integrity, accountability, honesty, and similar boring and meaningless words or phrases, we developed cultural behaviors, actionable things that we all strive to do to build a place where we want to work,” says the company in the ‘How we Redline’ section of its website. “When we researched cultural behaviors, they were boring and did not resonate with us. So, we made our own! After all, who wants a career at a company that has bland values? That’s not our style!”

So, instead of preaching old clichés, the company’s pithy values include ‘Shut Up & Listen,’ ‘Be a Ninja’ (in taking personal responsibility), and ‘Recognize Awesome’ (for employees who go above and beyond). This upbeat culture has seen Redline named one of the ‘Best Places to Work’ by Plastic News for the fourth year in a row.

“We’ve worked hard to develop a culture where people want to work together but also function in a high-performing environment,” observes Murray. “Our ‘How We Redline’ culture describes our 14 cultural behaviors. And while we make them fun and entertaining, they all have large base meanings describing how we expect our employees to act in our organization. Many find it refreshing.”

Motivating staff, says Murray, comes from several directions. One is Redline’s diverse range of products, which encompasses consumer goods to components. “I think our employees love the diversity that they see regularly and seeing their product in the field or store,” he says. “Being a contract manufacturer for a large segment of our business allows us to see many unique projects that span many market segments, which is fun for employees. Likewise, for some of our invented product, people like to see the innovations we can bring to the market.” He adds that employees are incentivized through a quarterly bonus program based on performance.

To keep current and potential customers up to date with developments, Redline has a news page at redlineplastics.com/about-us/news/. Some recent recognition includes Plastic News’ Processor of the Year and third place on the Top 25 Fastest Growing Companies list for Northeast Wisconsin in 2024. Other honors include being nominated for the Manitowoc Chambers Awards of Distinction, being a finalist for the Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year award for the last three years, and receiving the Energy Excellence Award from Focus on Energy.

Redline is proud of its long-time partnership with the Lighthouse Recovery Center as a recovery-friendly employer and recently received the Recovery Ally Employer Award.

“Many of our employees are on their road to recovery and sustainment, and we have formed a great relationship with this recovery center and have benefited from many of the great employees who have come from their program,” says Murray. “We see this as an opportunity to give back to the community. That’s one of our driving factors, and it’s worked out to be a great partnership. They are good people trying to get their lives back together, and it’s something we can be proud of.”

Future footprint
In the future, Redline plans to continue growing through sensible business execution and employing more good people. Webster envisions the company pursuing more areas of the domestic market in the short term, and possibly internationally, while supporting its people, communities, and customers with its robust technical expertise.

“We’re looking at different parts of the country that we feel would be opportune for a rotational molder with the kind of expertise we have: able to do difficult projects, and still deliver what the customer’s looking for, what many other rotational molders aren’t capable of doing,” says Webster of the company’s footprint.

“Long-term, I see us in several different geographical locations outside of just Wisconsin and Georgia.”

The post Molded Plastics Haven’t Just Arrived; They’re Going Places<p class="company">Redline Plastics</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

GMB is best known as a custom cooling bed specialist that also provides integrated scratch-free roll systems and other products. GMB Heavy Industries is favoured by some of the world’s leading industry giants in steel manufacturing for providing engineering and equipment that enables steel mills to add value and quality to their products.

To answer this need, the company primarily offers equipment involved in the final processes of manufacturing long products. This includes everything from rebar to flat bar, angle iron, channel, and square bar. “GMB Heavy Industries is specifically focused on what we call the finishing end of steel mill production,” says General Manager Wayne Baxter.

Following fabrication, hot, freshly forged long products are set down on its cooling beds, followed by other processes like strapping, which is done right at the end before the products are stored or shipped. By strapping long products securely into bunches, transporting and moving them is made considerably easier.

GMB also supplies custom entry troughs, gearboxes, and other products used in finishing metal to a high standard. With the help of its team of nine engineers, managed by Filipe Cadete, the company can limit customer spending by integrating new components in such a way as to enhance and retain as much of their current equipment as possible.

A place for people
Many employees have served the company for over a decade—some for over a quarter of a century and longer. Three new designers recently joined and are currently being mentored by some of its seasoned professionals in the industry. GMB’s commitment to taking care of its people is evident, and Baxter is positive about the value of building a life within the steel industry.

“It’s a very lucrative environment; we all need steel to build. Our products are utilized in roads, bridges, buildings, those kinds of good things,” he says, pointing out that for governments to maintain infrastructure, steel is necessary.

With much of its new clientele arriving through word-of-mouth marketing from existing customers, the company’s digital marketing presence supports what its collaborators already know about its outstanding service. To further establish and maintain face-to-face relationships, its representatives make certain that all customers feel included in the GMB family loop. Of course, when they need any new equipment or adjustments to existing systems, GMB is always ready. As well as problem-solving, engineering, and manufacturing, the company’s project managers oversee delivery and installation.

“We have an installation team that’s been working with us for 20-plus years, so we have the expertise to be able to install our own equipment. It gives customers the full gamut of the project and only one person to point a finger at,” Baxter says. Its New Brunswick-based team of installers perform around 10 two-week-long heavy-duty installations every year, ensuring that machinery is operational without wasting time.

Whenever possible, GMB’s technicians are on scene within 24 to 48 hours of receiving fault reports to take care of any equipment emergencies that may arise. “It doesn’t typically happen because once we install a piece of equipment, we’ll stay there during the commissioning phase to ensure that things run smoothly and correctly,” Baxter adds.

Since big projects for the company can span a year to a year and a half, generally costing between five and eight million dollars, keeping customer satisfaction in mind throughout that period necessitates clear communication and tight management of all aspects of such projects. Being a comparatively smaller outfit, GMB has also learned how to employ its available technology more effectively than other companies in the same field.

Responsive and responsible
GMB Heavy Industries is committed to fabricating equipment that stands the test of time in rough environments, so its vision of developing machines that perform as intended and for far longer than others means setting its design bar ever higher. Making equipment that lasts two to three decades comes from cultivating and retaining a deep in-house understanding of their maintenance.

It also is a consequence of actively opposing built-in obsolescence, seizures, and other machine problems. Customers have the option to replace or change components and aspects of their workflow as the company has included easy access points into its systems, significantly improving the long-term cost of ownership. “Our mission is not to be the cheapest company in town; our mission is to be the most robust, maintenance-friendly, maximum production-uptime equipment provider,” Baxter says.

“Everybody in the steel industry needs to work with GMB because we are fast responders. Among our competitors, we are outstanding in how fast we respond and solve their problems,” says Digital Marketing Specialist Makan Ayoughi, who has been with the company for eight years. For Ayoughi, seeing the proof of the company’s value in its customers’ satisfaction levels and bottom lines is a tremendous reward.

Although the company does roam outside its primary work in support of customers’ needs, by concentrating on its core strengths, GMB Heavy Industries ensures that its services remain top-notch. Its teams receive regular feedback regarding installations, and the company uses this to continuously improve its systems. As a result, performance, installation, and distribution are constantly evolving.

Because the company prizes open communication, it especially values its employees being open about what they think works and what does not. One case in point is listening when the installation team pointed out that improving delivery logistics would improve overall logistics. Considering that it takes around 25 truckloads to deliver a semi-preassembled cooling bed system, it is a tall order.

Now, the company is busy improving this system, while also posting its engineers in customers’ facilities more often. In this way, it will deepen its understanding of continued system demands post-installation. The exercise has the added benefit of improving future design and engineering based on the accumulated knowledge garnered from hitting the road and speaking to people.

The GMB team is also traveling to attend AISTech, the Association of Iron & Steel Technology annual trade show hosted from May 4 to 6 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. “We’ve been participating in this show for many years now. Our team looks forward to welcoming old and new customers at the AISTech show in May,” Ayoughi says. The mounting excitement is palpable, and the event promises to be another great success for exhibitors.

A history of innovation
The company’s founders, Gordon Muir and Iain Barnie, arrived in Canada from Scotland in the late 70s. Following a few years of working in the local steel mill industry, the two opened the firm in the early 80s. By solving concerns for customers, the two partners were soon being trusted to make big problems disappear, putting the business on a streak that is still going. Today, the management team includes Wayne Baxter and Filipe Cadete.

The early 90s saw the introduction of metal recycling equipment like vehicle shredders—all designed and fabricated in-house—motivating further innovation, while the late 90s were full of firsts. In 1997, the company installed its very first complete cooling bed. In 1999, its first scratch-free roll system hit the market. 12 months later, its first four-crank shear, or sheet metal cutter, saw the light. Little did the team know then that the dream of becoming a premium equipment supplier to the North American market would become a reality only five years later.

Between 2009 and 2011, the GMB team focused on fabricating steel mill entry and exit roller feed tables, and 2014 welcomed a next-generation cooling bed that rivalled what was commonly available. By 2020, the company was ready to take on the market as a turnkey metal equipment supplier and complete any steel mill equipment project.

Consequently, growth has been generous over the years. With comfortable expansion allowing the company to develop its engineering and design division while improving its production at a steady pace of around 10 to 15 percent annually, its growth rate satisfies the company’s owners as they prefer to provide customers with the consistency they have come to appreciate.

A culture of success
A well-equipped, 12,500-square-foot facility is used effectively through intelligent planning and logistics; GMB also has a metal scrap recycling plan in place. Other sustainability strategies include using environmentally safe coolants in its equipment, LED lighting throughout its plant, and a largely paperless office.

GMB also consciously creates a pleasant atmosphere for its people, celebrating big wins with them in the form of get-togethers and meals. The joy is even spread throughout the community. Apart from sponsoring local soccer teams, the company enjoys sharing around the festive season every year when it joins in clothing and food drives and matches employee donations to worthy causes.

Building on its existing success, GMB Heavy Industries has its eye on employing more engineers, with a good mixture of younger and older professionals being the ideal. In addition, by diversifying the types of clients it serves, Baxter believes the company can further deepen its expertise in its current range of products and services while keeping its team intact and growing. This is one team that is looking forward to a bright future.

The post Fine Metal Finishing<p class="company">GMB Heavy Industries</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

“We are adding another 135,000 square feet of new production area, and we have the option to add another four construction stages of similar size, which provides us the flexibility to expand our company further as business keeps growing over the next years,” states Chief Sales Officer Thomas Neubert. “These expansions are being driven by the need for more space for projects in the EV (electric vehicle) industry.”

Once the expansion is complete, the Bluffton facility will top half a million square feet. The Ohio plant is GROB’s only North American production plant, although the company also has production plants in Germany, Italy, India, China, and Brazil, and service and sales offices in 15 additional countries in the world.

Since last year, GROB has launched new solutions and maintained a hiring spree. “As of today, we’re at 839 employees [in Bluffton], plus around a ballpark of 50 contractors. So there are about 900 people here. At the end of 2025, we project around 1,100,” says Apprenticeship Training Supervisor Mark Reed.

Founded by Dr. Ernst Grob in Munich in 1926, the company was initially known as a manufacturer of machining centers. Over the decades, it expanded its product line and global presence. The Bluffton branch was founded in 1983.

While serving a variety of sectors including aerospace, defense, energy, medical, and die and mold, automotive now accounts for roughly 80 percent of the company’s workload, says Neubert. Half of all automotive work involves EVs. GROB designs and builds systems for producing rotors, stators, electric drive units, battery cells, modules, and packs for the e-mobility market.

In order to optimize weight, several OEMs shifted from using several smaller sheet metal parts to produce certain parts of the chassis to so called “mega-castings,” gigantic aluminum die cast parts, that make up half of the vehicle’s structure. Such structures are also used for battery housings in EVs. Given these realities, GROB recently expanded its F-Series with the larger G900F and G920F machining centers specifically designed to process such mega-castings. The G900F/G920F has a work area that stretches to 2.1×3 meters or “about the size of a table. That’s the size of the battery trays,” notes Neubert, saying that, down the road, the company may build even larger machining centers for aerospace parts.

GROB’s parent company has joined forces with German firms Durr and Manz to provide equipment for the entire process chain for producing lithium-ion batteries. These batteries are intended primarily—but not exclusively—for use in electric vehicles.

“We are now at the point where we have groups working together in all three companies between marketing, sales, and product development… The corporation is not only for cars,” says Neubert. It is also looking at “stationary energy storage systems and maybe consumer electronics. That could be something in the future.” The company will be providing updates about its battery plant plans at trade shows and other public events to come, he adds.

Liquid metal printing is another non-traditional area that GROB is exploring. When we spoke last year, GROB had developed a unique GMP300 liquid metal printer. It has sold a few of these printers to universities and research institutions and is currently looking to expand its customer base.

“This is kind of a niche market, but we have very high printing speed and accuracy which we didn’t find anywhere else. The challenge we are working on is to make it flexible for different printing materials; right now, we can only do certain types of aluminum,” Neubert shares.

For all of GROB’s growth within the e-mobility sector, the family-owned firm has not forgotten its roots. “We are still a company that builds metal cutting machines. This is what we’ve done for nearly 100 years,” he says.

Metal cutting machines, of course, remain popular and profitable, enabling the company to finance research and development into new technology. Going forward, GROB plans for metal-cutting machines to continue to account for a healthy share of company revenue. As such, the team has been designing new machines, enhancing old models, and producing more universal machines than ever before in Bluffton.

“We tell our customers, ‘We want to build the machines for the U.S. market here in the U.S.,’ says Universal Machines, Sales, and Proposal Manager Derek Schroeder.

GROB has introduced Heidenhain controls on mill turn machines—previously, these machines only featured Siemens controls—and continues to develop its GROB-NET4 Industry software. This suite includes GROB4TDX, a tool data transmission solution; GROB4Analyze, which scrutinizes production data; and GROB4Line, which enables operators to remotely monitor GROB machines on a computer or smartphone.

The GRC-R12 compact robot cell is another futuristic addition to the portfolio. The ‘12’ designation refers to the robot’s 12-kilogram payload, explains Schroeder, and the GRC-R12 is designed to be used in tandem with the company’s G150 five-axis universal machining center, primarily for medical manufacturing. While medical manufacturing work is being increasingly re-shored from China, the cost of doing business in North America is still much higher than it is in Asia. Given this, automated solutions that can reduce costs, such as the GRC-R12, “become more necessary,” he says.

The company has also developed an autonomous guided vehicle (AGV) called the GROB Mobile Robot (GMR), a pallet storage and centralized tool management solution that transports pallets and tools without a human operator. Such solutions go a long way in helping clients address the skilled labor gap as, across North America, workers in manufacturing are hitting retirement age and not enough young people are entering the profession to replace them.

Other recent company innovations include a linear pallet system with two set-up stations. One station is manually loaded by a human operator while a robot at the other station performs loading for high-production work. This hybrid solution maximizes choice and efficiency on the plant floor, Schroeder explains.

These advanced solutions are matched by the care and consideration of the Grob family, which still owns the firm. The family is “constantly looking ahead [and thinking], ‘What do we need to develop next? Where do we need to invest in the company to grow with our customers?’ If you look at some of our competition, they are slower to pivot. I would put that on the Grob family being driven to be one step ahead,” he says.

In a reflection of the company’s devotion to quality, ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certifications for the Ohio facility were renewed last year. The firm also has International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) registration, which means it can bid on military aerospace projects.

The Bluffton plant works closely with the parent company. If a customer approaches the U.S. branch with a challenge, an American team will consult with colleagues in Germany. Once a solution is decided upon, the parent company takes care of the final design, while production is handled in the U.S.

This arrangement is clearly working, given how fast the Bluffton branch is growing. And to ensure a steady supply of fresh talent, it offers a comprehensive apprenticeship program. “We’re looking at bringing in between 40 and 50 people a year through that program, which lasts four years,” says Reed.

Apprentices learn both electrical and mechanical skills during an initial ‘basic training’ phase in year one, he explains. After that, they pursue more in-depth electrical or mechanical training. The apprentices begin classes in the fall semester of their first year two days a week at Rhodes State College where they are paid their hourly rate to study electromechanical engineering technology while the company covers tuition costs of their associate’s degree. The rest of the week is spent training at GROB. Over the four-year program, apprentices work toward obtaining a journeyman’s certificate and know they have a permanent job at GROB.

The company wants apprentices “with a positive outlook on life—someone that looks at a problem as an opportunity rather than a defeat, someone willing to learn,” says Reed. The firm also emphasizes interpersonal skills and reminds apprentices that they represent the company even off-duty.

GROB hosts tours for prospective apprentices and their friends and families, and once new construction is completed in 2025, the company is planning to hold a public open house.

Looking ahead, the firm wants to continue growing its share of the e-mobility market, in part by entering the EV battery sector. “We are working on some quotations for battery projects. We haven’t had any battery projects here in Bluffton in the past, but this is logically the next step we want to take,” Neubert shares. “This would be the next big challenge here for the team to implement the technology successfully and develop it on time.”

He emphasizes that, “we want to grow organically—in the range of 10 percent each year—and grow with our main customer base, which is the automotive industry. We want to stay the number-one source of high-volume production equipment in the automotive industry. Whatever direction they will go—if further into EVs or new battery technology—we will provide solutions.”

The post Expanding Its North American Footprint<p class="company">GROB Systems, Inc.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.