And over the last 20 years or so, we have seen another evolution taking place, as machines that have been in use for years have become highly sophisticated and are now being further enhanced through 3D printing and AI to bring something that manufacturing has not really excelled at until now—customization.

For the longest time, manufacturing has been able to reach the largest number of people by keeping things generic. If something is simple enough, more people can apply it to their needs, even though it may not be the best fit. But now, thanks to a combination of advanced tools, computing, and modern concepts of design, customization for individual consumers on a mass scale is not only possible, but highly sought out.

A fun example of just how unique and individualized a product can be is Nik Lee Industrial Design’s bubble boots. What kid doesn’t like blowing bubbles?

The design company creates shoes that come from kids blowing bubbles. Here’s how it works: they start by scanning a child’s foot through a smartphone app. From there, the child blows bubbles through a straw that they aim at their computer microphone. The bubbles are digitized on the shoe design. The noise that comes from the mic moves the bubbles around on the shoes and once the child is happy (or out of breath), the model is sent to a 3D print farm and a real-world shoe is created—exactly as the child designed it.

“The prompts were refined until I could control the base volume of the shoe. The design of each shoe will be different, so the base design needs to be simple. I was also looking for a silhouette that can be slipped on and off but still offered support,” the designer notes on the company website Nikleedesign.com. Most parents appreciate a supportive shoe that is easy to slip on and off and is fun to wear!

One of the recent changes to the design component of manufacturing is what’s known as computational design. Up to this point, design was largely a passive process: a designer applies their knowledge, skill, and a bit of intuition to create a design using computer aided design (CAD) to help create a product, part, or any other given widget. And this has been very effective, except that it was limited by the time and resources available to the designer.

Computational design is a method that combines algorithms and parameters to create new designs. In essence, that CAD process is supercharged with computer-coded language to create designs or analyze existing ones over and over very quickly. This allows designers to explore hundreds of options and create unique solutions, ultimately opening up new possibilities that might not have been discovered through traditional design. It also cuts costs as the computer does the work. This means manufacturers can make unique products for much less, much faster.

But all of this would not be possible without 3D printing. It’s the 3D printing that can produce many unique parts simultaneously from these computational designs without molds or tools. This is what 3D printing can uniquely provide as opposed to traditional manufacturing techniques.

These advancements can have a particularly important impact on medical products, where one size never fits all. A great example of how this design and manufacturing technology is having an impact started in Colorado where a young first-grader broke his arm. As with many people in that situation, a plaster cast was made to heal the bone. But a first-grader is never really great at keeping things clean and this includes a plaster cast, which he got wet. Unfortunately, this ended up causing an infection and permanent scarring on his arm.

This boy happened to be in a program run by Diana Hall, a chemical engineer. Hearing this story, she felt that there had to be a better way to heal bones. Hall developed a conceptual plastic brace through 3D printing that was both waterproof and guaranteed not to break. This is the origin story of her company ActivArmor, which is the only manufacturer of waterproof casts in the U.S.

The company uses light-scanning and 3D imaging to map the contours of a limb as well as the injuries that require support. From there the process is not unlike making Lego bricks, with high-temperature thermosetting plastic shaped to fit the need. This can include scars and burns as well. In a 2019 article for the Florida Times Union, Hall says about ActivArmor casts: “It’s not going to melt,” and, “you can break every bone in your body before you break this.” The casts and splints can also be used for sprains and carpal tunnel syndrome, and they can be worn on the job and in the shower so people can be active as they heal. Now NFL players have been able to save their careers by speeding up healing time.

The other impressive thing about this product is that now, instead of keeping a wide variety of splints on hand, healthcare providers just need a 3D printer which they can use to create the exact type of brace that a patient needs.

A very different industry is also starting to see the benefits of customization—automotive manufacturing. In Europe, Twikit, a Belgian company that specializes in customized 3D printing products and digital products, is working with BMW Group to customize accessories of cars like the Mini. These include indicator inlays, also called side scuttles, and trims for the passenger side of the interior, LED door sills, and LED door projectors. Customized touches include a light-projecting “welcome (driver name)” on the ground as they open the door. These details can even be initiated by the consumers, allowing them to change and exchange parts as their preferences change—like colors, patterns, and icons, all of which create a completely individual and unique experience for the owner.

And we are really just entering this phase of manufacturing. By using a data-driven approach to design, companies will be able to offer consumers products that can be specifically tailored to their lifestyle and needs. Further, data from the lifecycle of a product can help shape how it can be better designed to last and adapt to a user’s needs over time.

Take a house for example. Data about environmental impact—like wind, sun and rainfall—on a particular house can be used to improve its design and efficiency. Traffic noise can be factored into noise reduction, roofs can be shaped to optimize solar panels and rain collection, or ducts can be shaped and positioned to maximize heating and air conditioning airflow.

As manufacturing and new technology breakthroughs like AI continue to become more intertwined in how we design and produce goods, who knows what else may be possible?

The post Our 3D Future<p class="company">Custom Design from Shoes to Vehicles</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Macrodyne continues to invest in this capacity through both organic growth and strategic acquisition to ensure it has the capabilities to address the rapidly changing needs of industry in the wake of Industry 4.0. The company integrates technology and innovation to bridge the gap between legacy machines that are built to last and the advanced capabilities of Industry 4.0 to unlock the potential of optimized manufacturing processes for customers in North America and around the world.

A global strategy
One element that is common amongst industry leaders is the willingness to invest in internal capacity to sustain and encourage growth. This is especially true of Macrodyne, which, under its new leadership, has infused a renewed sense of energy and purpose into the company over the last five years.

As part of Macrodyne, Dunkes GmbH, a well-established German press manufacturer with a history dating back to 1960, has roots that afford it a strong reputation in the European market. Both companies are built upon sound engineering, but Macrodyne’s engineering expertise gives it the ability to customize to suit, whereas Dunkes’ solutions are more out-of-the-box, which makes the relationship between the two compatible and complementary.

According to Director of Business Development Jeffrey Walsh, the acquisition of Dunkes has afforded Macrodyne several new technologies that will give it access to new industries and sectors within which it can position itself as a leader.

As Walsh says, “We’re sharing technologies and we’re treating it as one global company while maintaining Dunkes’ brand name and all the goodwill they have. They brought some pretty unique technology to the forefront that we didn’t have.”

Macrodyne is also working on building strategic relationships in North America to strengthen its foothold in the market. The company has carefully curated joint ventures in the United States and Mexico, giving it the opportunity to have boots on the ground for its customers in the U.S. while expanding its influence south of the Mexican border.

“That allows us to manufacture in both the U.S. and Mexico, enabling us to better serve those markets because we can build more efficiently. They also do our support and installations,” explains Walsh of a model of growth that is serving Macrodyne well.

Tech-enabled growth
While Macrodyne expands its international presence, growth is also taking place closer to home. To supplement the engineering and manufacturing capabilities at its headquarters in Concord, Ontario, it added an automation operation in Kingston, Ontario.

Walsh explains that the Kingston office is, “solely focused on automation: custom machine design, robotics, material handling, all the peripherals that are required to support a press both upstream and downstream.”

The ability to supply customers with a turnkey solution will empower Macrodyne to undertake even larger projects than it does at present, possibly even doubling project size, which is impressive considering its presses can range up to 30,000 tons. This is extremely valuable as Macrodyne manufactures hydraulic presses for countless advanced manufacturing applications and its presses can be integrated with virtually any ancillary equipment, including press loading/unloading devices, transfer systems, robots, and fully automated die storage and retrieval systems.

One of its newest and most impressive capabilities is Gas Oscillation Enhanced Superplastic Forming (GO-SPF), a disruptive technology that is referred to as the next generation of superplastic forming, transforming what used to take hours into mere minutes. GO-SPF changes the game by adding gas oscillations to traditional SPF, integrating a Gas Oscillation System (GOS) and a Supersonic Fluidic Oscillator (SFO), along with pressure controllers and sensors, resulting in improved formability that exceeds both SPF and Quick Plastic Forming (QPF). Impressively, GO-SPF enables greater formability of alloy sheets, which supports the formation of more geometrically complex parts of higher quality, and does so more efficiently and cost-effectively than traditional superplastic forming. The result is a groundbreaking technology that can boost manufacturing speed.

Walsh offers some insight into the innovation, which is already being leveraged by world-class aerospace companies: “We’re changing the way that the gas flows into the forming process and instead of a process taking, say, 15 minutes, we can do it in one to two minutes, substantially reducing the time it takes to produce parts. Another process might take an hour or two for titanium components and we’re now doing that in 20 minutes.” As opposed to blowing the gas, it is oscillated at the same time, essentially massaging and stress-relieving the material as it is being formed. This allows the material to be formed at a much higher rate.

For 10 years, GO-SPF underwent extensive research, trial and error, and rigorous testing, and during this period, it has proven itself to be a formidable powerhouse in the industry. It enhances material properties, allowing for better elongation and thickness uniformity, resulting in faster production with lower energy consumption—a true win-win. “GO-SPF not only speeds up production but also improves the quality of the parts we produce. It’s a breakthrough that addresses long-standing industry challenges,” says Walsh.

GO-SPF technology has the ability to redefine manufacturing, enabling companies to be more efficient, save money, and create parts that are currently unattainable with existing processes.

Another innovative application is servo-hydraulic presses, which is not a new technology, but one that has been tucked away in the Dunkes vaults waiting to be discovered and marketed to the world, which is exactly what Macrodyne has done. The force of these presses is controlled by servo valves, which are directed by proprietary software and state-of-the-art control systems that promote greater accuracy, repeatability, and speed, which is the kind of value advanced manufacturing needs.

New markets, new horizons
As the market evolves and the needs of industry change, so too does Macrodyne. While the engineering strength of the company remains the same, the applications where it can apply only continue to grow.

In the U.S. there is a major push to strengthen domestic manufacturing and reinforce supply chains to ensure they are no longer vulnerable to global disruptions. This includes significant federal funding for battery production for electric vehicles (EV) as well as semiconductors, which are necessary for automotive production—markets where Macrodyne has found a way to play with specialized manufacturing processes.

“We’re employing a lot of new technologies to develop different styles of batteries for EV and grid storage applications, so we’re developing new processes and new manufacturing techniques to allow the manufacturing of them; as companies develop and invent new batteries, they need new ways to assemble them or manufacture them,” Walsh shares.

He goes on to explain that Macrodyne recently implemented the first of four presses that are used to manufacture semiconductor targets. “They’ll take a 400-pound billet of lithium or one of these really funky alloys, and then our press will knead that material like a bakery would knead bread until they’ve arranged all the grain structures into uniformed orientation. Those billets are then cut and turned into semiconductor targets that they spray atomized materials onto.”

Macrodyne has built a completely autonomous manufacturing cell with a 10,000-ton press and automated mobile robots (AMR) that deliver raw material and remove the finished product. “The system can run lights-out so all the ovens, the robots, the quality control, the quenching, the laser inspection, the automatic cool changing—everything to manufacture these products,” explains Walsh.

While some of the applications and technologies are certainly interesting, others are considered necessary to national security. The ongoing wars that are taking place around the world have led to an uptick of work in military and defense applications as well.

“The U.S. is depleting a lot of their stockpile of munitions and equipment, tanks, military personnel carriers, so all the supply chains are being taxed right now to manufacture more and more of these materials because they are being used,” Walsh says of Macrodyne’s efforts to support the replenishment of parts for submarines and the like.

Unlocking potential in the age of data
Beyond geopolitical challenges, Industry 4.0 has also introduced new variables that manufacturers must consider, particularly those with legacy equipment who are confronted by the need to upgrade, retrofit, and integrate modern technology. The company has developed a predictive maintenance system that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to effectively monitor manufacturing processes: the speed and temperature of motors, vibrations, force, heat of lubricants, electronic and mechanical devices—anything that can generate actionable data that can be used to inform the decision-making process in the interest of optimization.

“We capture all of the data and then, with AI, we can actually start to predict when a motor is going to fail, instead of waiting for a motor to fail: this motor has been vibrating, this motor is getting hotter, this motor is taking more electricity, it’s drawing more power.” These are all indications of eventual motor failure, so instead of waiting for an unplanned shutdown to repair or replace the motor, Macrodyne can have inventory on hand and can perform a planned shutdown before a failure occurs. This proactive approach limits costly downtime and provides peace of mind and profitability.

“With the software package that we’re developing for predictive maintenance, we’re doing it for our own internal purposes of our equipment, but we can even monitor hardware and systems that customers have in their building. Their legacy equipment can now be monitored, and they can start to see the benefits of this predictive maintenance and AI to actually look over machines that are decades old,” explains Walsh.

Service and support after the sale have always been another important part of the value proposition Macrodyne offers, but investments like these will be key for its customers to integrate modern and legacy systems to meet increasing demand amidst a historic skilled labor shortage. For this reason, and so many more, Macrodyne ceases to be a hydraulic press manufacturer and instead assumes the role of manufacturing partner, one that has an astute understanding of the needs of industry and how best to unlock the potential of the manufacturing sector.

The post Unlocking the Potential of Manufacturing<p class="company">Macrodyne Technologies</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Don Wickstrum was. Driven by his interest in technology, he founded Quest Industrial in his garage, taking on the challenge of integrating robotics into packaging and food handling applications, specifically Wisconsin’s world-famous cheese and dairy industry.

As the company expanded its team and invested in the machinery to meet client demand, it grew to the point where Don and Mary Wickstrum had to buy a new building.

And then, in 2019, the successful, full-service robotic integrator was acquired by ProMach. With over 45 go-to-market product brands and more than 150,000 machines in the field, ProMach is one of the world’s best-in-class production line and packaging companies, providing turnkey solutions to small manufacturers and Fortune 500 companies alike in food and beverage, personal care, pharmaceutical, household goods, and other sectors.

“We’ve grown really rapidly from somebody’s garage into three different buildings that we build our machines out of,” says Justin Linxwiler, Director of Sales.

Buoyed by the strength and robotics expertise of multi-billion-dollar ProMach, Quest works with ProMach’s family of dozens of best-in-class product brands to provide a host of solutions, including direct food handling, case packing, palletizing, automated guided vehicles, after-sales service, and more.

From its base in Monroe, Wisconsin, Quest provides customers with industrial automation equipment. Focused on robotics and vision guidance, Quest is an award-winning FANUC (Fuju Automatic Numerical Control—one of the world’s largest robotics companies) Authorized System Integrator and Certified Vision Specialist. With accumulated decades of combined experience in its team, Quest provides industrial automation equipment for clients in sectors including cheese and dairy, produce, consumer packaged goods, frozen foods, beverages, snack food, and pet food.

Designing, engineering, and manufacturing robotics and vision-guidance systems, Quest is a one-stop shop for robotic products, including pick and place, case packing, and palletizing systems renowned for accuracy, consistency, and optimizing production line efficiency.

Pick, place, pack, palletize
For manufacturers and food processors, one of the biggest challenges with conveyors is finding and grabbing food products like raw chicken and other proteins, cheese, corn, and cucumbers, which are often scattered all over the place and need to be located. To do this, and depending on application, Quest’s equipment uses 2D, 3D, and AI vision.

Additionally, to ensure soft products like raw chicken breasts and bread are handled safely yet securely, Quest’s QP100 robotic picking system is ideal. Incorporating FANUC robotics’ DR-3iB/6 stainless food-grade delta robot along with a soft gripper end-of-arm tool, “this solution is capable of direct food contact with U.S. Department of Agriculture and USDA Dairy compliant and washdown designs,” according to Quest. “AI vision allows Quest to program the robot and end of arm tooling to handle products on an infeed that are both random and/or piled.”

If soft protein products are squeezed too hard, they will be ruined, which is why the company uses vision and soft grippers. Palletizing, on the other hand, requires only sensors to pick and place boxes.

Customer needs
Drawing on the strength of ProMach, Quest provides clients with specialized and proprietary packaging solutions for everything from flexible bags and pouches to compartment trays, display cases, cartons, vacuum packs, and more. Made from durable materials designed for longevity and convenient sanitization, Quest’s family of primary packaging solutions includes the Quik Pick QP100 Robotic Primary Food Handling, Quik Fill QF100 Primary Tray Loading, and its series of proprietary recipe creation systems.

Quest is hands-on, working with customers from packaging system design to completion and installation, service, and more. Factory-trained service technicians perform preventative maintenance, and alternative service plans are available to match every client’s requirements. “It’s about doing whatever customers need, and we’re willing to be there,” says Linxwiler.

Clients contact Quest both to modernize existing systems and to acquire brand-new machinery. And for customers who need technical support, training, or spare parts, speedy and professional service is available via Quest’s after-hours emergency hotline.

Saving space
Known for its cost-effective, highly reliable machinery, Quest also has a reputation for ongoing technological innovation. Along with creating long-lasting and user-friendly products, Quest realizes that every inch of floor space counts. Customers often have vertical space available in their facilities, but not valuable horizontal space. In this case, the company has the ability to build its palletizing solutions up, rather than out.

Space-saving skid-based palletizers have an inclined conveyance, which means utilizing space upward, rather than down below. Products come in from a normal conveyor, go up an incline conveyor, and the palletizing system is also built upward.

Similarly to case packing, systems are manufactured to be as compact as possible. “It’s one of those things where an automated system is going to take up a decent amount of space, but it will take up less space than 15 people standing there manually loading cases,” comments Linxwiler. “You just have a little system with two robots doing what 10 people used to do, and you’re going to save a lot of space that way too.”

With four product lines, Quest is seeing plenty of interest with its Quik Pack robotic case packing solutions. Although there’s a lot of competition in other robotic applications, there’s much less in case packing, and few others can do it as well as Quest, with its leading-edge vision systems and other innovations.

The vertical difference
“What really sets us apart is flexibility,” says Linxwiler. “If you picture bags in a case vertically and horizontally, we can do that all on one system. You don’t have to buy one system to do the vertical and another to do the horizontal; we can do it all in one.”

Just as robotic systems continue to evolve, manufacturing is also changing, with large display cases gaining popularity with major stores like Costco and Sam’s Club. Quest’s machines can handle virtually any size, weight, or type of case, including box store display cases. “That sets us apart,” Linxwiler says, “and there’s a huge priority to push that solution, to make sure manufacturers in a variety of industries know it’s available.”

At Quest, customers can choose from a mix of custom and standard pre-engineered systems for their case-packing and palletizing solutions. Sometimes, customers see a cost-effective standard-engineered system that is perfect for their needs; sometimes they take a standard configuration and change it a little, or a lot. While this is slightly more expensive, it is still more cost-effective than starting from scratch.

The third option is an application for which there is no standard configuration—completely new and different and created from the ground up by Quest’s engineers. “We’ve had great success with all three tiers of that process,” shares Linxwiler.

As a part of ProMach, Quest can provide turnkey solutions and take advantage of the strength of almost 50 brands. To customers, this means an array of case erectors, case sealers, stretch wrappers, labelers, and more. Machines for wrapping, filling, liquid filling, sealing, and labeling can all be integrated within ProMach.

“This really extends our capabilities, not just within the end of line, but also with primary handling as well,” explains Linxwiler, citing the example of small cucumbers. Before they arrive at grocery stores, small cucumbers must be picked off a belt and gently placed on small foam trays, which are then over-wrapped, packed into cases, and palletized. Instead of multiple, inefficient processes, Quest and ProMach can do it all, saving clients time and money.

The way to grow
In the future, Linxwiler sees ProMach growing both organically and through acquisition. This year alone, ProMach acquired Italy-based MBF—a global leader in filling solutions for the wine and spirits industries—and Mexico’s Etiflex, a leading producer of RFID labels, tickets, and pressure-sensitive labels. Today, the company has brands all over Europe, Asia, and North and South America, and continues to grow across the globe.

Quest and ProMach continue to attract new clients through their information-packed website and videos, and by targeting customers dealing with issues like labor challenges and keeping up with demand. With a presence at Pack Expo International in Chicago this November, Quest will showcase its many robotics, packaging, and food handling solutions to many new potential clients.

Exciting times ahead!

The post The Industry Experts in Fast and Faultless Food Handling<p class="company">Quest Industrial</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

After speaking in 2023, Manufacturing in Focus sat back down with Marketing Manager Matthew Pereira to gain more insights into how Mainway Handling Systems optimizes its customers’ operations, highlighting the company’s commitment to excellence and adaptability in a rapidly changing market.

One of Mainway Handling Systems’ key strengths is its extensive industry knowledge and experience, particularly within the Canadian market. As Pereira explains, “We have years of experience—decades of experience in the Canadian market specifically. This is crucial because there’s a lot of nuance within the Canadian market, even between provinces, such as building codes and the weights and measures regulations, to name a couple.” Understanding these nuances is essential, especially in today’s world, where e-commerce and online orders are more prevalent than ever.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this shift toward e-commerce, fundamentally changing consumer shopping habits. “The pandemic really exploded the market,” Pereira notes. “Consumers have developed a habit of online ordering for everything from groceries to pharmaceuticals.” This surge in online activity has added significant complexity to shipping and distribution processes.

The increase in online orders has made automation more complex. “It is becoming a much more varied context for automation now,” Pereira says. “Previously, automation was mostly about warehouses, conveyors, and moving your product. But now, there are so many variables to consider, such as temperature control, overnight delivery, and handling different types and sizes of items.” The demand for customized solutions has never been higher, as warehouse operators strive to meet growing expectations while maintaining efficiency.

Pereira emphasizes the importance of flawless operations in maintaining customer satisfaction. “All of this leads to tighter margins,” he explains. “A single error in warehouse and systems design or automation can cause a domino effect, resulting in unhappy customers and increased returns.” Mainway Handling Systems addresses these challenges by positioning itself as a one-stop shop, providing customers with a seamless experience from start to finish.

One of Mainway Handling Systems’ primary goals is to minimize physical handling of products. “We aim to take the handling out of material handling,” Pereira states. “The less physical contact with the product, the safer and more secure it is, reducing the risk of damage. This increases accuracy and ensures customers receive their packages promptly.”

Automation also enhances safety and efficiency, reducing the likelihood of human error and minimizing labor costs. By leveraging state-of-the-art technology, Mainway Handling Systems ensures that its solutions align with the highest industry standards, making the company a preferred partner for companies looking to streamline their operations.

A critical component of Mainway Handling Systems’ offerings is the controls of the system or the warehouse management system, which acts as the “brain” of the operation. This system coordinates the internal functions of the system, manages internal inventory, labels the package, and provides many more functions, in many instances ensuring everything runs smoothly. “Our warehouse management system is crucial for customers utilizing a systems integrator like Mainway Handling,” Pereira explains.

The company’s expertise in creating customized solutions sets it apart. “No two warehouses are alike, even within the same company,” Pereira notes. “Our approach starts with collaboration, treating our clients as partners rather than just customers.” This collaborative approach ensures that Mainway Handling Systems understands each client’s unique requirements and designs tailored solutions to meet those needs.

Mainway Handling Systems excels at delivering customized solutions that enhance efficiency and accuracy while supporting business growth. “We design systems that can be adapted as our clients’ throughput grows, without disrupting their current operations,” Pereira explains. This ability to scale and adapt is a significant advantage, ensuring that clients can continue to evolve without facing major operational hurdles.

The company’s one-stop shop approach extends to designing and manufacturing its conveyor systems. Its 24-volt motor-driven roller conveyor features run-on-demand zones, plug-and-play options, and ergonomic designs. Most of the components are sourced and manufactured in Ontario, allowing Mainway Handling Systems to proudly display the Ontario Made seal. This local manufacturing ensures superior quality and gives the company control over lead times and supply chain reliability.

Mainway Handling Systems’ success is also attributed to its strategic partnerships with industry leaders. These collaborations enhance the company’s ability to provide comprehensive solutions for various spaces, including warehouses up to a million square feet. Notable partners include Modula, Packsize, Intralox, FMH, Ryson, and URBX. These relationships enable Mainway Handling to offer diverse solutions, ensuring the best possible outcomes for each client’s unique needs.

Mainway Handling Systems’ commitment to flexibility and openness is a cornerstone of its approach. By considering various options and maintaining an open mind, the company consistently delivers targeted solutions that meet individual customer requirements. This approach has garnered trust from a wide range of prestigious clients, including FedEx, DHL, Longo’s, Shoppers Drug Mart, Decathlon, BookDepot, Canpar/Loomis Express, Carquest, Walmart, Yusen Logistic, and IKEA.

The company’s dedication to customer satisfaction extends beyond installation, providing value-added follow-up services including preventative maintenance, parts supply, service, retrofits, mechanical and electrical work, installations, relocation, and emergency repairs. This comprehensive support ensures that clients can rely on Mainway Handling Systems for all their automation needs throughout the duration of the project and well after installation.

Looking ahead, Pereira is optimistic about the company’s future. “I would say the future is still very bright,” he shares. “We are focusing on the parcel, e-commerce, final mile, and 3PL logistics sectors, which are experiencing exponential growth in North America.”

Mainway Handling Systems is well-positioned to become an industry leader in larger, more sophisticated sortation systems. “The systems we are seeing are more sophisticated from control, operations, software, and technology standpoints,” Pereira explains. This expertise sets the company apart, allowing it to address the complex demands of modern logistics and e-commerce.

After building a strong foundation in these areas, Mainway Handling Systems is poised to become “a leader of warehouse automation in Canada when it comes to sortation and e-commerce.” As the company continues to innovate and expand, it remains a key player to watch in the evolving world of logistics and automation.

With its unwavering commitment to innovation, customer satisfaction, and industry leadership, Mainway Handling Systems is set to redefine warehouse automation and logistics solutions. As e-commerce and online sales continue to surge, the company’s expertise and adaptability position it for continued success and growth in the years to come.

The post Optimizing Operations<p class="company">Mainway Handling Systems</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Selkirk Signs has grown immensely over these 40 years, from a reputed but limited signage manufacturer to the one-stop shop for signage solutions it is today. The company offers a variety of services including sign design, manufacturing, installation, maintenance, and repair, along with effective planning, execution, and logistics.

When it comes to national brand rollouts in particular, Selkirk’s years of experience and attention to customer care come in extremely handy.

“When we engage a national or regional brand and there’s a mutual interest to partner, we try to do kickoff meetings whenever possible. It’s a must,” says Russell Byrd, Business Development Manager. “We always try first to meet with the key stakeholders and quickly get everyone’s expectations out and laid on the table. What we’ve learned over years of experience is that just because something’s an ambitious desire or rollout, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good plan.”

Selkirk Signs aims to gauge timeline expectations and any caveats, uncertainties, or special circumstances, and bring in its project management and design team members to see if everything lines up: will the colours work; is a new brand rollout feasible and cost-effective; does it look good? “There are a lot of details to go over, and then naturally with the brand rollout planning after that, we engage with any hard-hitting questions from both sides,” says Byrd. This includes checking for any red flags that have come up with previous partners that Selkirk should know of.

“We also share things we’ve encountered with partnerships that we want to outline. So, it starts with some open, healthy dialogue. From there, we typically find both parties have a good sense of whether or not we want to move forward.”

Communication, says Byrd, is a big part of Selkirk’s success. “It’s essential. Drawings and specs and manufacturing—yes, those are the bare bones of our industry, the how and the what. But the why of the questions and the communication is what allows us to be so effective at what we do,” Byrd says. “Ultimately, if we do really well with our manufacturing but fail to deliver on expectations, that point is missed. It doesn’t matter how good your product looks if it’s delivered improperly.”

This theory also applies to the company’s customer onboarding process, which has evolved over time. While in 1984 Selkirk was a “father and sons” sign shop with hand-drawn sketches, today it’s vastly different.

“We have more protocols in place because we’re a larger company,” says Byrd. “Now we have to scale things. We’ve found that especially over the last 10 to 15 years as some of our brands have grown across Canada. No more assumptions. No more reading between the lines. Now we start the rollout when everyone’s on the same page.”

Being on the same page means establishing clear direction and communication from the start while helping customers decide exactly what they need. “We had a brand come to us recently saying they wanted value engineering, value-added, and what did that mean to Selkirk? We came back as a team and thought, ‘wow, that’s actually a fantastic question.’”

The response was a second version of the company’s branding, an alternative build of a sign they hadn’t thought of, employing Selkirk’s creative teams of designers and marketers. “It looked cool, and they were very pleased with that,” Byrd says. “They didn’t know what they meant by value engineering, but this was exactly what they wanted. So we’re being hyper-attentive to their needs.”

Indeed, pivoting to meet customers’ needs is a big part of the sign industry, he adds. “The first thing I learned is flexibility. You get a small business owner or a huge brand across Canada, and sometimes they have things undefined. They have to rent from the landlord, and these are the restrictions they face with municipality bylaws or landlord requirements. But [they’re saying], ‘here’s my picture on a PDF. How do I get this from here to there?’ That’s where flexibility is required in the signage industry.”

The company also prioritizes quality assurance of all its products. Selkirk is CSA certified, ensuring any electrical components for exterior signs are up to code, and adheres to safety parameters that speak to the company’s standards of excellence.

Not every shop is created equal, Byrd says, but Selkirk strives for excellence. The company has continually raised the bar to show it is committed to the highest-quality materials and safety practices and the best equipment.

“For us, materials are everything,” Byrd says. “But not all materials are created equal. I could build something with a thinner aluminum or a lower grade of steel, and my cost would be cheaper. But that’s where we have to weigh it with our customers’ needs. They may ask for ACM (aluminum composite material) for an exterior sign that’s seven feet tall. And I say, ‘no, ACM isn’t meant for that type of application. It will get jagged and won’t age well.’” That ability to pivot goes hand-in-hand with the team’s dedication to quality and guiding the customer in the right direction with the right material.

Pivoting also came into play during the height of COVID, when both national corporations and local businesses were shuttered, leading to some tough decisions including minimizing staff.

“It was a very stressful time for us, and we had to look at the financial impact on our business and how we could make it work,” Byrd tells us. “But it was also a blessing. Work from home became more normalized, and the hybrid model for many front office staff was beneficial for them. The cross-training model was hugely impactful and has helped us in leaps and bounds today.”

Cross-training has led to many employees being able to work efficiently on different tools at three or four different stations. “It was a hard time, and many good people were laid off. But the pros were efficiency and the scrappiness we have today.”

“Scrappiness” could be the company’s motto as it celebrates its 40^th anniversary and the ability of employees to maintain a positive culture throughout various challenges over the years. “During COVID, morale was up and down, but obviously, we found that the better we communicated, and the more proactive we were in our communication and our decisions, the more morale stayed steady,” says Byrd. “Today our communication protocols have never been more clear. We’re honest with our staff on the good and the bad. We don’t dance around when an issue or a mistake is made; we address it. Then we address how we’re going to fix it.”

When Selkirk makes promises to its staff, it shows them the plan to fulfill the promise, not just “pointing to a mountaintop and saying, ‘this is where we’re going,’” says Byrd. “I want our team fully invested and hope to resonate with everybody. But we’re probably the healthiest we’ve been in a decade in culture, optimism, communication, and conflict resolution.”

The year 2024—the company’s 40^th anniversary—has been a “scrappy year” involving a bit of a restructuring internally with the leadership team experiencing a healthy reshuffle and a reorientation of some of the company’s goals.

“We’ve even drilled down into our niches a bit more purposefully,” says Byrd. “You’re never done with learning, but this 40^th anniversary is kind of like that old saying of working so hard with your head down, you forget to celebrate the wins.” Selkirk decided as a team earlier in the year to be very purposeful in highlighting the good, he adds. While it’s often easier to deflect and defer to the critical or what’s going wrong and what can be better, it’s vital to take time to celebrate the successes.

“We’ve been around for 40 years—four decades. That’s a big deal,” he says. “We wanted to acknowledge the partnerships that have helped get us here today and are still here. That’s amazing.”

Not taking success for granted is also vital. Selkirk started as a small shop in Cranbrook, British Columbia before finding national clients and buying a sign company in Calgary and eventually, Fort Saskatchewan. There has been amazing growth over 40 years.

“This celebration has been expressly to say, ‘look at the wins we’ve achieved, and it’s only getting better,’” Byrd says. “This is a year of joy. This is a year of wins. I’m proud to be a member of Selkirk Signs and we’re going to hit our big corporate barbecue and celebration in September.”

Part of that celebration includes highlighting the company culture, which “can’t be understated,” adds Byrd. “No matter what you make, if you have an unhealthy culture, that business is going to fail, or it’s not going to do as well,” he says. “We preach ownership thinking at Selkirk Signs. This doesn’t mean, ‘well, I’m not an owner, I don’t own the company.’ It means, what can you control? What destiny can you control? Are you proud of your work? We’ve had some dips in our years of culture where the people couldn’t see it, they couldn’t believe it. And that kills your company,” he shares.

“That could sound manipulative, but it’s more that we want to inspire people to be their best. When our culture and our company are healthy, we’re delivering better quality assurance. Our biggest challenges are just having clear vision and direction as a company and then protecting our culture.”

On the horizon, Selkirk has its sights set on market share and growth—particularly in the West—but rather than buy too much, the team is only aiming at the targets that are best achievable. “We’re going to nail it out of the park in our region and do it really well, so owning the West is one of our milestones.”

In the meantime, the company plans to celebrate 40 successful years while continuing to look after its customers and maintain a positive company culture.

“Our mantra is, ‘get it right, stay on track, and go the distance,’” Byrd says. “That’s our secret sauce right there. That’s what separates us from any brand or local business. If you want to bank on a sign company to do those three things for you, that’s what Selkirk is going to commit to.”

The post Sign Language: Get it Right, Stay on Track, Go the Distance<p class="company">Selkirk Signs</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

“Makloc aims to be a trusted advisor to our clients, and we are looking to take as much work off their plates as possible,” says 11-year company veteran Matthew Blumer, Vice President of Corporate Development and Sales.

Makloc serves a range of clients, especially in the energy sector, including midstream and upstream oil and gas companies, engineering firms, smaller fabricators, and other businesses. Based in Nisku, Alberta, the company is ideally located to serve customers in Western Canada, since it can deploy resources quickly and economically to erect buildings.

Makloc’s experienced team takes on as much scope as possible by working closely with end users. Using this collaborative approach, Makloc creates buildings of all sizes to suit each customer’s unique requirements. This work includes the building itself, structural steel skid, and electrical/mechanical integration services contracted through partnering businesses.

For customers, other benefits of working with Makloc are the company’s business structure and its relationships with other entities. Alberta-owned Makloc is allied with American Buildings and VP Buildings, giving them an even broader range of available products and solutions to offer their customers. Makloc’s services today encompass building design, fabrication, construction, expansions, general contracting, tenant improvement, and project management.

Depending on client needs, Makloc supplies buildings both small and large, ranging from small modular sheds up to large pre-engineered stick-built buildings. Smaller structures are often used as storage sheds, while larger buildings can be used to house major process equipment.

“It’s a massive range,” says Blumer, adding that the company also sells building components for repairs and maintenance. Since Makloc is located on Alberta’s High Load Corridor, the company can ship large buildings across the province and beyond. If customers want to go the modular route, buildings can also be split and shipped in numerous pieces.

Makloc takes its tagline “Helping Companies Grow, Expand, And Meet Customers’ Demands” seriously. Providing everything from small storage sheds up to very large stick-built rigid frame structures, Makloc purpose-builds its structures. For field-erected construction, structures can also be designed to enable expansion in the future, if required.

On the modular side, Makloc’s buildings are used to house electrical equipment, process pipe, pumps, and other industrial process equipment where there is a benefit to assembling the modular building away from the end destination site, which is often in remote locations. “We offer our mod yard to completely integrate a building, test it, and get it to the point where all that needs to be done in the field is essentially plug-and-play,” explains Blumer.

Modular buildings are ready to go once they arrive on site, which minimizes costs and any safety-related concerns that come from doing work in remote locations.

For field construction, Makloc builds everything from storage structures to buildings housing process equipment, pumps, or compressors that are too large to be modularized.

In one substantial project, the company was involved with a major Western Canada pipeline expansion running from Edmonton to Vancouver. Working closely with clients, the company provided over 40 buildings including modular electrical service structures, fire suppression stations, and stick-built pump buildings over a 1,000 km (621 mile) area. “Successfully managing manpower and logistical challenges throughout the project was a testament to our team’s experience and commitment to our customers,” says the company on its website.

On the renewables side, the company is also involved with a Net Zero Hydrogen Energy Complex in Sherwood Park, Alberta. Already well-established in oil and gas, Makloc is pleased to be in the next wave of renewable energy projects as well. “Wherever a significant industrial complex needs to be developed, there’s a need for structural steel buildings,” says Blumer. “So we’re excited to be involved in hydrogen and the future of the energy industry.”

Certified CSA-A660 and CSA-A277 on request, Makloc’s Self Frame Buildings are ideal for everything from storage to field offices and telecommunication buildings to generator enclosures. An innovative interlocking ribbed panel system acts as the primary structural support, maximizing interior floor space. Compliant with the National Building Code of Canada, these Self Frame Buildings come complete with engineer-stamped drawings. Available in a wide variety of colours including Stone Grey, Mist Green, Sapphire Blue, and Gold, the company’s state-of-the-art custom roll-former forms interlocking ribbed panels in just seconds from 18- to 22-gauge sheet metal. “It’s easily switched between wall and roof panels, and 3” and 4.5” rib depths,” says the company. “This allows for quick set-up time and ensures consistent quality on every project.”

Makloc’s interlocking, self frame building system has been a popular offering from the company for decades and is widely used in Western Canada’s oil and gas sector. A tried and true cost-effective building solution, these structures are perfect for customers seeking robust structural steel construction. Much longer-lasting than wood—and with ULC fire-rated wall systems—their structural integrity particularly suits industrial applications.

“The great thing about the interlocking wall system is you eliminate the need for a skeletal, structural rigid frame,” says Blumer. “Then you’re going to have columns and secondary steel creating more congestion inside the building. So, when someone is working with a self frame building system, you get a clean, flat interior wall system, optimizing space in the building.” The only limitation is size, and how large the building can be before it requires a rigid frame.

Both main product lines, self frame and rigid frame buildings, can be customized. “Between the two of them, there’s a tremendous amount of customization that can go on,” says Blumer. To ensure quick supply, the company stocks ample amounts of steel coil.

For the sake of efficiency and respect for timelines, all customers are assigned a dedicated project manager for their project. Serving as the primary point of contact, project managers coordinate with internal and external stakeholders, adhere to customers’ unique processes and quality requirements, and provide schedule updates. Depending on client knowledge, PMs walk them through the process with approval drawings and designs and outline each stage of the project from design to final turnover.

To maximize efficiency and help with budgets, traceability, and project scheduling, the company has invested in STRUMIS, an innovative steel fabrication management information software. “We’re constantly investing in technology and expanding our facilities,” says Blumer, noting that the company recently expanded its capacity by 30 to 40 percent. By investing in staff and technology, Makloc remains cost-competitive while maintaining the highest level of quality.

With about 100 employees and scaling up at present, Blumer expects staffing levels to soon increase by another 15 to 20 percent, based on workload. “We’ve been in business for over 50 years, so we have a lot of really great industry partners and clientele who have been with us for decades,” Blumer shares. “For us to grow and ensure we continue to grow, we need to continue to diversify our client base, while consistently supporting our loyal customers.”

He says that “the main focus is organic growth, and part of that comes from improving efficiencies so we can increase throughput. That is supported by deploying new technology—whether that’s leveraging new tools to optimize business processes, investing in robotic CNC equipment for streamlining production, or expanding our production facilities.”

The post Buildings That Work Where Most Buildings Won’t<p class="company">Makloc</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

“We want to do as much value-add to a product as possible. We go after high-level assemblies, high-level weldments, things like that,” says General Manager Lee Gulbrandson. Being a one-stop shop that offers multiple services “is definitely a core strength,” he adds.

The company maintains a 275,000-square-foot facility and a 55,000-square-foot facility in Albert Lea, plus a 75,000-square-foot plant in its original hometown of Hayward, Minnesota.

Healthcare, which accounts for 25 of Lou-Rich’s business, is one of the main markets served, with agriculture making up 20 percent of business, highway safety 10 percent, and food processing equipment 15 percent. Industrial equipment and other markets make up the rest of the company’s work. Customers range from small local businesses to major manufacturers such as GE HealthCare, John Deere, and ice machine maker Scotsman.

Lou-Rich’s fabrication and welding department utilizes CAD software, tube lasers, fiber-optic lasers, brake presses, and robotic and manual welding systems on everything from light-gauge sheet metal to heavy-plate stainless steel. Parts are machined a variety of ways on one of the 50 CNC machines. Those machines include horizontal and vertical mills, lathes, and Swiss turning centers, while three application booths are used for painting and finishing. Assembly is performed by work cells custom-arrayed for each project, while the engineering department boasts over 20 engineers and support staff.

Given that the company founders were tool and die makers, “One of our core competencies today is tooling design and build. We do all our own tool design—all of our CNC workholding, welding fixtures, robotic welding fixtures, and assembly fixtures. All of that is designed and built in-house. We have a team of designers here, then we have a fully staffed and outfitted tool department that takes those designs and completes them to the specific drawings,” Gulbrandson explains. “From a customer standpoint, we like to be involved on the front-end as much as possible. We can help with design for manufacturing.”

Reinvestment is a top priority, and each year the company purchases millions of dollars’ worth of capital equipment. Recent purchases include robotic welding systems and automation solutions.

This cutting-edge technology and equipment are complemented by innovative manufacturing processes and an intense focus on quality. Lou-Rich has embraced lean manufacturing and continuous improvement strategies to improve efficiency, productivity, and the bottom line. The firm has ISO 9001:2015 certification and adheres to the Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) for its customers, a rigorous quality assurance system for auto part suppliers. Lou-Rich also follows guidelines set by REACH, a European program for the registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of chemicals, and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), an initiative to regulate hazardous substances in electronic and electrical equipment.

The company performs routine gage calibrations and internal inspections, monitors critical to quality (CTQs) dimensions—CTQs can include physical characteristics such as width, weight, length, performance metrics, or other factors—and is third-party audited on a regular basis.

Certainly, Lou-Rich has come a very long way from its exceedingly humble origins. Louis Larson and Richard Ackland, the firm’s founders, were working as tool and die makers in Iowa in the early 1970s, when they had a sudden revelation. “They saw the owners of these tool and die shops driving around in Cadillacs, and they said, ‘Hey, we want to do that too,’” recalls Gulbrandson.

In 1972, Louis Larson and Richard Ackland moved with their families to Hayward, Minnesota and set up a small firm which they named after themselves. While the initial focus was on tool and die work, the pair took on just about any job that came their way to earn their keep, from repairing farm equipment to welding and other tasks. Over the years, their repertoire grew to include tooling and fixture work, followed by production, stamping, and machining. The customer base and workforce likewise expanded, and the company continued exploring new markets and taking on higher-level parts. As a result, painting and finishing services were added.

In the 1990s, Lou-Rich introduced an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), a program that enables workers to acquire shares in the company. At present, it is 100 percent employee-owned.

Gulbrandson believes this ownership status is good for everyone involved. “We like to think that our customer experience feels different than most businesses or manufacturers because everybody here, from the people making the parts or designing the fixtures or working with the engineering teams, all have ownership with the company and want to do a good job for the customers.”

The ESOP is administered by a holding company called Innovance. Corporate acquisitions made by Lou-Rich have also been placed under Innovance auspices. “Our growth initiatives have been to grow our companies organically and internally, but also acquire other businesses that we can bring in to fit our employee ownership model and grow the overall portfolio that way,” explains Gulbrandson.

There are currently five firms within the Innovance fold: Lou-Rich, ALMCO (which specializes in industrial deburring, tumbling, and polishing equipment and industrial parts washers for the aerospace, automotive, fabricated metal products, weapons, job shops, and industrial equipment markets), Mass Finishing Inc. (MFI), maker of deburring and polishing machines, and Panels Plus, which designs and manufactures panelizing equipment for making wall panels and floor cassettes.

Earlier this year, Jorgensen Conveyor and Filtration Solutions, which manufacturers conveyors, coolant filtration systems, material handling equipment, and chip processing equipment to serve the machine tool, metal working, and other industries, was acquired and became part of the Innovance family. Innovance companies have been transformed into employee-owned entities.

Lou-Rich currently has 312 employees, down slightly from a year and a half ago when staff numbers were around 330. “We kind of exploded through COVID. We had some tremendous growth. Then, we got to a more realistic level,” Gulbrandson shares.

The company’s medical and food-related business soared during the pandemic, and demand for new ice-making machines resulted in a corresponding demand for components. The company was happy to supply the latter, and the extra revenue enabled it to temporarily expand its personnel.

In 2022, Lou-Rich won the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal Manufacturer of the Year Award, in the large company category. This honor reflects the strong growth the firm experienced at the peak of the COVID crisis, says Gulbrandson. But, while business was good, Lou-Rich was also careful to protect its workers from the impacts of COVID. Support staff were allowed to work at home, employees were separated in offices, and the company generally did “anything to promote a healthy work environment,” he recalls.

Now that COVID has hopefully peaked and personnel levels are leveling out, the company can reflect on its workforce. In general, leadership seeks new hires “with a good work ethic and a desire to learn… from there, we can train them,” says Gulbrandson. “Our vision statement is to be the best employee-owned contract manufacturer in North America. We are very employee-focused, very family-focused. We want to create a healthy work-life balance for our employee-owners.”

As part of its efforts to create a healthy balance, Lou-Rich maintains a fund to assist employees who fall on hard times. For example, if “their house was taken out by a tornado, we can help them through that period of hardship,” says Gulbrandson, citing an ever-present weather hazard in the Midwest.

The company prefers to promote from within and maintains close ties with local high schools and technical colleges. It offers apprenticeship programs that allow students to continue their studies while working, and the company encourages its workers to learn from each other and moves people up the ranks if they show an aptitude and interest in technical jobs such as CNC programming.

Going forward, Lou-Rich wants to grow its automated welding and machining services as part of an overall emphasis on automation solutions. “We will be looking at expanding our automation and machining platforms in the form of pallet transfer and part handling. We are looking to how we can complement our skilled employee-owners out there with some simple forms of automation to help them with their workloads,” explains Gulbrandson.

Lou-Rich wants to diversify its business and continue expanding. “We are currently onboarding new customers with new projects,” he says. And the company also has big ambitions for the future; while today Lou-Rich is “a $75 million company,” he says, “five years from now, we hope to be over $100 million.”

The post This Minnesota Contract Manufacturer Charts a Unique Course<p class="company">Lou-Rich</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Headquartered in Brighton, Michigan, with offices in Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Greenville, South Carolina, the company has also recently made a geographical expansion in order to serve even more customers.

“Prior to COVID hitting, several of our suppliers approached us and asked us if we would be interested in expanding further south,” says Spencer Sargeant, President. “Originally, it was just southern Ohio and southern Indiana and potentially Kentucky, and we jumped at the opportunity to do that.”

The onset of the pandemic, however, threw a wrench into those plans. “In our business there are a lot of face-to-face meetings and there’s a lot of onsite work,” says Sargeant. “But we hired some people who managed through that, and we also made some significant investments in inventory. Coming out of COVID, we were positioned to take some market share from some competitors who went the opposite way in basically decreasing their stocking levels and getting rid of as much product as they could as they figured this lull on business was going to stick around for a while.”

The company continues to invest in more people in those southern markets, he adds, as H.H. Barnum feels it’s a good market where the company can bring value to customers via stock, value-added product, and value-added services.

“We did buy a lot of inventory, and after COVID ended, it took us over a year to get our inventory down to where it normally would be,” says Ed Koza, Owner and CEO. “But it was worth the move.”

This ongoing commitment to quality service and growth has resulted in admirable recognition for the company, winning SMC distributor of the year in 2024 and previously in 2017—the only two years it was awarded. The company has also been named among the Top Workplaces USA for three years running. “We’re very proud of that. We have a great, great staff,” Koza says. “They’re the heart and soul of the business. We take recruiting extremely seriously and we have a reputation for taking very good care of our employees. That helps with our recruiting.”

Approximately 95 percent of H. H. Barnum’s recruiting is through word-of-mouth, he adds. When the company announces it’s expanding and is looking for certain job functions, it’s almost always somebody within the company who finds a qualified candidate, an impressive feat.

“We realized the employees are the lifeblood of our business, and we don’t just say it, we take it extremely seriously,” Koza says. “We do everything we can to provide value to our employees. We have a matching 401(k) and a very nice working environment. We pay above scale because we know we’ve got the best in the business, and we don’t want to lose them to somebody offering them more money.”

Respect is a vital component at H.H. Barnum Company, especially when it comes to the company’s 280 employees who may have family or health issues to deal with. “We throw the vacation policy out the window when somebody’s in trouble,” says Koza. “When people have to take six months off, we keep paying them, because we want them to go take care of their family and then come back to work when they’re ready.”

This compassionate mindset has predictably resulted in “almost no turnover,” Koza adds.

The company is also pet-friendly, complete with a dog park so employees can bring their dogs to work. “It started when I got a dog, because I’d never had a dog before,” he shares. “I thought, ‘why don’t we have this?’ I started bringing my dog to work and thought everybody should be able to bring their dog to work. So we probably have a half a dozen dogs in the building every day.”

“We have a wall of pets, too, on our back wall,” adds Sargeant. “There are probably 60 or 70 dog and cat portraits up there.”

Creating that kind of atmosphere and showing employees you care about them in all facets of their lives goes a long way to fostering loyalty within the company. “We also have a lot of smart people,” says Koza. “We have good systems and we’ve always been very conservative,” which has meant, for example, having the cash on hand to expand without the need to borrow. “We’ve been doing this for a long time, and we’ve always been smart with money. The owners don’t try to suck the money out of the company—we keep investing in it.”

H.H. Barnum also houses more inventory than its competitors and turns quotes around quickly, he adds.

“Our response time is the key,” Sargeant agrees. “Especially with the internet these days, and with younger generations who are looking for answers or looking to purchase something. They want to take care of it right away.”

As a company, this means being “very responsive” to customers and giving good answers that provide value. “There are a lot of people in our business who sell everything under the sun,” says Sargeant. “If you try to do everything, you end up not being good at anything. We try to limit our line card, and we try to focus on those products and pay attention to the suppliers who support us.”

H.H. Barnum’s suppliers appreciate that. “They know if they’re on our line card we’re going to pay attention to their product, and we’re going to try to grow it as best we can.”

Barnum’s exemplary company morale and excellent customer service are “cornerstones” of the business, says Koza. “I’m a really demanding shopper; from the beginning, I wanted to model Nordstrom’s. I just cannot stand subpar service, so we’ve always set the bar really high. Our customer service manager is an engineer. We sell technical products, and we want somebody who can help educate our customer service team.”

This is another nod to the company’s ongoing dedication to value-added service. Prior to Koza taking over the business from his father, H.H. Barnum was focused more on the process side, but has changed direction toward the automation space, which has been growing a great deal for many years.

“That’s primarily been our focus, the automation side of the business,” says Sargeant. “I think that’s been very helpful in terms of us finding new markets and in growing the company.”

Koza estimates that around 20 percent of sales is hands-on value-added work, going through the shop doing some kind of assembly or modification action to a standard product, which a lot of the company’s competitors don’t do. “We also have tech support staff of 30 people—a very high ratio for the total number of employees we have. We have a lot of customers that call and ask us to help them integrate our products and even our competitors’ products into their control platforms. So there’s a lot of value as far as a tech support side of the equation as well.”

“We can generally take care of most customer problems, and do it quicker—and a lot of times better—than they might see from the actual manufacturer,” Sargeant says.

The company has also increased its kitting over the past few years: taking a variety of different components, putting them together in a package, and giving it one part number so the customer can order and invoice one part number.

“It’s everything they need for maybe one specific machine they’re building,” he says. “It saves them a lot of time and money on the purchasing side as well as on the receiving side. They know when they get that box it’s going to go to a certain type of machine and it’s everything they need for that machine in one box.”

Although the end result is what has kept the company successful for so many years, H.H. Barnum’s employees and its people are what make the difference, agree both Koza and Sargeant. “We’re always trying to bring in somebody better than ourselves,” says Sargeant. “And it’s a real testament to the company itself that people don’t want to leave. They stay and they do the work, and they don’t want to leave.”

Being “great at the basics” is a point of pride for H.H. Barnum, adds Koza.

“We never want to lose anybody, so we try really hard,” he says. “If you were to ask us what’s the key to our success, I would say maybe 90 percent of it is the people. And when you have great people working together as a team, you can figure anything out.”

The post Keys to Success: Providing Value to People and Products<p class="company">H.H. Barnum Company</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Never one to back down from a challenge, the Tri-Tronics team can meet the needs of all customers in industries including packaging, material handling, automotive, semiconductor, airport and baggage handling, food and beverage, and elevator systems.

The company also creates special sensors for chemical detection used in fighting counterfeiting. Beyond these fields, it serves the healthcare industry, pharmaceutical manufacturing, the automotive industry, travel-related companies such as airports, and countless others across North America and the globe.

Founded in Illinois in 1954 by three former Motorola engineers, the company moved to Tampa, Florida in 1981, and is owned to this day by the second generation of one of the founding families. Still at home in Tampa, its large fiber optics sensor selection is supported by an impressive stable of through-beam sensors, diffuse sensors used for sensing objects, and retroreflective sensors that employ prismatic reflectors used mainly for detection on conveyors and similar.

Driven by light
Light, being omnipresent, is easily taken for granted, so it’s equally easy to forget that modern technology as we know it would be impossible without the light-driven sensors that enable the automation surrounding us on every level, every day. And it’s Tri-Tronics that is responsible for a good share of these applications available on the market today.

This includes fiber optic sensor applications like the DFS31, a low profile, high-stability, ultra-high-speed sensor for plastic fiber optics. This unit comes to market offering a two-micro-second response time and is typically featured in registration mark sensing and other high-speed applications.

Tri-Tronics also specializes in IO-Link-enabled sensors employed in autonomous fabrication facilities. These ultimately optimize machine uptime by predicting and diagnosing maintenance events and monitoring machine performance, among other functions.

Harnessing light to achieve the latest automation technology, Tri-Tronics prides itself on providing custom and standard solutions chock-full of innovation based on decades of shared and accumulated expertise. The outcome of its dedication to providing customers with practical, robust ways of solving a host of issues through sensors is a sterling reputation and well-grounded success. These successes are enhanced through a wholesome company culture of collaboration, creativity, and novel idea development by a well-coordinated team of industry experts.

The human element
Alongside technological excellence, the company’s leadership focuses on good organizational health. The positive results of caring for its staff are evident in how long people choose to stay with the team. Many team members have significant tenures working directly for the company or previously in the sensor industry.

“We bring a lot of expertise that provides useful perspective in the way we design our products, what a good product looks like, and how it interacts with the customer,” says Scott Seehawer, President, who joined the firm in 1995 shortly after completing his engineering studies.

Consequently, user-friendliness is at the forefront of everything the team does, consistently providing project owners and end users with a satisfying experience from inception to implementation and beyond. “We work hard to make sensing simple. It’s an art form to some degree. In a way, that makes customers’ jobs easy,” says Seehawer. It’s crucial to prioritize human needs, in his opinion.

While Tri-Tronics may be innovation-driven, it is relationship-powered. The result is longstanding partnerships with customers which, in turn, adds to the company’s value proposition. The more advanced its engineering, the more its end users benefit.

Leading with a deep level of automation knowledge, the company’s growth strategy pivots on providing customers with the technology they need to run more smoothly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. Itself an avid employer of technology, the company is discerning in its investments. “We’d love to move at the speed of ideas. There’s more technology out there than I think one can harness,” Seehawer says.

The company’s function is much more than developing sensors, however; the team also develops durable housing for its sensors that can handle tough, demanding environments, with packaging to match. It does a lot of work on elevator sensors, where meeting and adhering to strict industry codes is non-negotiable for any supplier.

3D technology
In a fast-paced industry, staying abreast of new developments is imperative. Tri-Tronics’ latest contribution to the world of sensors is 3D technology which will soon be released at the National Association of Elevator Contractors’ United Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in September this year. With so much invested in developing its new products, the team is excited about this upcoming show.

By adapting to Industry 4.0 while keeping the innovation coming, the company has positioned itself well to serve a range of clientele. That is part of the team’s excitement about the big event ahead—they will no doubt meet myriad new contacts with access to many new fields.

Tri-Tronics is also well-versed in developing large ranges of solutions as, in many cases, nuance is vital to solving sensor demands. “In our world, there are a lot of specific needs. And if you can precisely tailor the sensor to the application, you get great results,” Seehawer says.

Committed to ongoing evolution, three years ago the company expanded its original facility to include another footprint around 30 miles away. Today, fabrication is split 50-50 across its two Tampa addresses. Agile and quick to spot an opportunity, the company saw the perfect gap to implement lean fabrication strategies and improve its production flow within the context of its high-mix low-volume processes. This affords the team tremendous adaptability to meet customers’ volume needs, from a single custom unit to thousands.

Good ideas, good team
Due to the precision demanded by Tri-Tronics’ undertakings, expert staff members are another key component of its success. It comes as no surprise that Seehawer so sincerely appreciates the people who make this organization happen.

“Our team is everything. Good ideas are also great, but you can’t do anything without a good team,” he says of his colleagues, some of whom have been coming to work here every morning for four decades. Completing his executive MBA in 2006 with the full support of the firm, this president believes in fostering talent and employing people who enjoy continuous learning. Tri-Tronics goes to great lengths to provide a range of learning opportunities for members of its team over and above those that naturally occur while bringing technologically sophisticated solutions and customers’ infinite range of requirements together.

Upon scanning the horizon, developments await. This year, the company launches its new website, complete with a breadth of new products. And while the growth of its capabilities is a given, further physical expansion is always an option as well. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for this impressive company’s capabilities—what Seehawer rightly refers to as a combination of art and science.

The post Seven Decades of Making Light Work<p class="company">TRI-TRONICS Company</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

With innovation at its core and manufacturing in its DNA, Center Street Technologies brings together leading tools and technologies to promote the design, manufacture, and analysis of large-scale polymer-based structures. It is the predictive nature of the company’s tiered approach that saves time and money while promoting repeatable accuracy on a large scale.

Behemoth builds
A large scale, indeed, as its AMC2304 is a behemoth in the additive manufacturing world. Its nomenclature comes from its build volume as the machine’s envelope is 24 feet by 12 feet by 8 feet, for a total available build volume of 2304 cubic feet.

“This machine allows us to go to a car-level structure, which is different from what the typical 3D printer offers at a polymer level, so there are different advantages. You don’t have to make smaller structures and try to assemble them; you can make a unified structure as big as our build space,” explains Brady Walther, Center Street Technologies’ Chief Technology Officer.

The company’s capabilities are structured to scale projects from their digital environment and test bench to Center Street Technologies’ newest machine, the AMC160, which includes a 4-foot by 8-foot by 5-foot envelope and serves as the core development platform to the AMC2304.

Both machines have extrusion systems capable of printing 150 pounds per hour, but inside the AMC2304 is a dual gantry system that supports both additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing with a five-axis machining head and spindle capable of operating at up to 24,000 rpm.

According to Center Street Technologies’ Senior Project Manager Alexander Fitzgerald, “The goal is basically to take this from a small-scale, more experimental environment, where you’re figuring out process parameters, and then scale it up to our medium machine where you’re going to create smaller parts, figure out geometries, and get into a production setup. Then on the big machine, you’re going to be running full production.”

A novel approach
Center Street Technologies places just as much emphasis on the digital manufacturing side as it does on physical manufacturing, which helps to verify concepts and grow confidence in a young tech-enabled sector with only a brief history.

As Fitzgerald explains, “We’re looking to utilize advanced technology and design capabilities and bring them into manufacturing, so we’re looking to use the long history and lineage of manufacturing but apply it using the advanced tools that we have now.”

To produce large-scale polymer-based structures through its additive manufacturing process, Center Street Technologies brings together advanced modeling and simulation, application design and engineering, materials science and engineering, and industrial controls and automation, to offer a truly comprehensive manufacturing solution.

“We’re looking at more of a tip-to-tail approach for manufacturing. So, we’re not looking to just make the part, or just do the analysis; we’re looking to be able to work with the customer, understand the requirements, build the part in a digital environment, validate it, and make sure the part is up to manufacturing spec,” Fitzgerald explains.

Center Street Technologies rounds out its capabilities with a valuable on-site materials lab where samples are produced and tested throughout the production process to ensure that outcomes are to specification and that confidence is well-founded.

“The combination of the advanced tools and capabilities we have on site, plus the workforce we’ve developed here, with years of experience in additive—when you blend all those, you get this cutting-edge technology and pioneering process because of all the pieces coming together,” Fitzgerald says.

Technologies together
Center Street Technologies’ capabilities are supported by collaborative technologies that have been integrated into its equipment and its processes, including Siemens NX software and Grale Technologies’ revolutionary scanning tools.

The Siemens NX software supports the entire lifecycle of a project, offering a unified environment in which the design, analysis, and manufacture can be managed seamlessly without the introduction of errors across platforms.

Walther discusses the role the digital twin plays in the process, saying, “The biggest advantage is being able to predict several different things before you actually run the manufacturing process, which again provides time and cost savings, where we can run a digital simulation utilizing the actual machine in the environment.”

The use of a digital simulation also enables more accurate lead times, scrap rates, production weights, and other data that facilitate more accurate predictions and outcomes.

While Siemens software plays a significant role in the accuracy of the work in the digital environment, Grale Technologies’ three-dimensional geometric scanner is a tool that can be integrated and programmed into Center Street Technologies’ five-axis machining head and is used to scan parts after they are produced to ensure the quality of production.

Measure, measure, measure…
As Chief Scientist for Grale Technologies, Fred Persi notes, “In this case, we’re talking about laser line sensors or laser profilometers, as they are called, which will allow us to see the surface of the part so we can measure geometry quantitatively and qualitatively.”

Fitzgerald notes, this is particularly valuable because “we can validate our parts in the same machine. This allows us to have high confidence that we’re achieving the tolerances required.”

The scanner processes information in real time and can collect millions of data points per second, which Center Street Technologies uses to analyze the project. This enables adjustments to be made proactively rather than reactively, which improves manufacturing efficiency as well as repeatability.

“They want to know when they are working on a part that it’s being held down by the vacuum. When they take it off the vacuum, they want to know how much it relaxes when that happens,” says Persi, noting that this is characteristic of plastic material properties.

“It can be difficult to control plastic. They need to know, ‘Did it go where we thought it went? How thick are these beads? Are they really what we think they are? Are the surfaces as thick as they should be, because we need to machine them?’ Those are the types of questions that they need very quick answers to, and that are very difficult and time-consuming to get in other ways,” he says.

Data-enabled quality
The tiered approach taken by Center Street Technologies and its collection of real-time data ensures that quality assurance is introduced into the process early on, a trend Persi identified as becoming more common in the manufacturing world.

“There’s a push that we see from people to move the quality control further upstream. So, instead of making a part, taking it out of the machine, and sending it to the metrology lab and measuring it there, they want to measure it closer to the machining process, or even during the machining process.”

While there is no intention to replace the metrology lab, by incorporating metrology directly into the machine, Center Street Technologies can “get to quality quicker,” as Persi says.

Walther highlights other advantages: “It allows for a lot of savings that most people don’t think about. It’s cheaper in terms of materials, lightweighting the part, and reducing the assemblies down to a few or single components—this allows for more efficient use of the tools, production, and assembly. So there’s a lot of time savings, cost savings, and the ability to have that validation beforehand, so it’s not a trial-and-error process.”

This offers a high rate of repeatability and shows enormous potential for the scalability of additive manufacturing, which means the applications and use cases where it is of value will only continue to grow.

Manufacturing’s future
Additive manufacturing is without question part of the future of manufacturing. From tooling and artifacts to aircraft fuselages, the opportunities are endless, particularly where large-scale polymer parts play, including automotive, mining, aerospace, construction, and oil and gas.

“Some of the best use cases most likely are the ones that have not been designed yet, where you utilize the full manufacturing breadth of the process,” says Walther. “Then you can utilize the full power and see the full power of it. If you design while you manufacture, those constraints are built into our platform so that we don’t design something outside of the capability of the machine.”

As technology and material capabilities continue to be developed and expanded, the greater functionality additive manufacturing offers will expand the niche it occupies in the market, that of the manufacturing of complex shapes and geometries with speed, efficiency, and cost savings, and will have a major impact on manufacturers’ bottom lines.

“As the world evolves and these technologies become more ubiquitous, with people making more complicated parts, we see this as a necessary technology to get there,” concludes Walther. Hence Center Street Technologies’ role in facilitating the greater adoption of large-scale additive manufacturing.

The goal is to continue to bridge digital and physical manufacturing environments by integrating advanced technologies and cutting-edge manufacturing processes to elevate what additive manufacturing is capable of.

The post Bridging Advanced Design to Manufacturing<p class="company">Center Street Technologies</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.