While initially, PMF manufactured specialty stainless steel products using a unique flow-turning process, under the leadership of Birger H. Engzell, the company expanded into components for jet engines, the food industry, and pulp and paper manufacturing, prompting a relocation to Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 1955, a move that helped launch Williamsport’s Industrial Park and set the foundation for PMF Industries.

In 1961, Engzell founded Precision Metal Forming (PMF) in Williamsport, leasing a 5,000-square-foot facility and setting the company up to grow quickly. The facility was expanded a number of times in the 1960s and 1970s to accommodate increased production and new equipment, and the company soon becoming known for precision stainless steel hollow-cone, cylinder, and ogive shapes serving the aircraft, food, filtration, and pulp and paper industries.

Leadership transitioned to Donald E. Alsted in 1982, and in 2001, PMF was acquired by principals John Perrotto and Ken Healy, with the remaining stock allocated to a PMF Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). This alignment of employee success with company growth fosters a motivated workforce.

Since the buyout, PMF has grown to 85 employees and over 175,000 square feet of manufacturing space, confirming its position as a leader with a bright future in advanced metal manufacturing.

“We’re committed to reinvesting in the company to best serve our growing list of customers,” says John Perrotto, President and General Manager. “We continue to bring on supporting processes to our niche—which is flowforming—and to do a lot of research and development. We’re always looking at new technologies. It’s all to do with the best way to manufacture a customer’s component.”

PMF’s 65-year milestone reflects its longstanding dedication to precision manufacturing, innovation, and strong customer partnerships, Perrotto adds. Since 1961, the company has become a trusted leader in flowforming and specialized metal forming for the aerospace, defense, energy, and industrial markets, with success driven by a skilled in-house engineering team, fully integrated manufacturing processes, and a hands-on, problem-solving culture.

“By keeping design, tooling, forming, machining, heat treat, and inspection all under one roof, PMF maintains exceptional quality control, protects customer confidentiality, and accelerates response times,” says Ken Healy, Executive Vice President and Director of Engineering. Additionally, with decades of technical expertise and a commitment to continuous improvement, PMF remains a go-to partner for complex, mission-critical components, perpetuating a legacy of craftsmanship, engineering excellence, and customer trust.

That trust is certainly enhanced by PMF’s in-house engineering team, a key strategic advantage that enables seamless collaboration between design, process development, and manufacturing. Working alongside machinists and operators, the engineers can accelerate problem-solving, improve communication, and optimize forming solutions. For customers, this means faster development cycles, higher reliability, and greater confidence in prototypes and final products. Sensitive designs and proprietary processes remain secure on-site, while PMF’s integrated approach ensures precision, consistency, and innovation, making the company a responsive and trusted partner.

It’s also important that PMF continues to emphasize investment and the development of supporting processes. “I don’t know of any other flowformer who is able to complement the flowforming process with the supporting process as we do,” says Perrotto. “These are processes that really give us the ability to produce the unique shapes and other products that customers are looking for.”

For example, incorporating heavy flanges within the flowforming process—a unique capability of PMF—is a result of PMF’s highly developed available technology as well as its extensive knowledge of manufacturing processes. “We also collaborate with our partners to come up with the best scenario; we just really work very well with our customers,” Perrotto says.

PMF actually works with its customers toward clear-cut, improved ways to make a part, adds Healy. “What are the areas they’re having problems with? Were they looking at trying to move from another vendor to PMF? What are some of the trouble areas we could re-engineer to make a better quality part for them?”

Once those questions are addressed, PMF handles everything from the initial quote to final inspection, keeping the customer fully involved. “We want them to be satisfied with what they have as a product,” Perrotto says. “That’s why our customers have kept coming back for more than 40 years.”

PMF also distinguishes itself from other contract manufacturers through its depth of expertise in advanced metal forming technologies, utilizing integrated manufacturing processes and rigorous quality control standards that serve critical industries worldwide.

“At the core of PMF’s capability is our proprietary flowforming process that achieves exceptional dimensional accuracy, uniform wall thickness, and superior mechanical properties, often eliminating the need for secondary machining or welding,” says Healy. Complementing these qualities are PMF’s deep drawing, hot spinning, press forming, and vacuum annealing capabilities, which can form complex geometries with a wide range of materials including stainless steels, nickel alloys, aluminum, and other specialty metals.

PMF’s fully integrated production facility provides complete in-house control over every stage of manufacturing, from raw material processing and forming to heat treatment, CNC machining, electropolishing, passivation, and finishing, an integration that ensures consistent quality, short lead times, and traceable production records that meet or exceed the most demanding customer and regulatory requirements.

Additionally, PMF’s engineering and tooling design teams collaborate closely with customers from concept through production, optimizing part design for manufacturability, cost efficiency, and long-term performance.

The company’s Nadcap-accredited quality systems and AS9100 certification reinforce its commitment to process control and continuous improvement. By combining decades of specialized metal forming experience, multi-process capability, and precision-driven manufacturing culture, PMF Industries sets the benchmark for technical excellence and reliability. The team’s continuous innovation and improvement in technological ability have paid off, and PMF Industries has grown significantly in recent years, driven by its advanced metal forming expertise and reputation for manufacturing precision-critical components.

“Leveraging our broad capabilities in flowforming, deep drawing, and precision machining, PMF is now being engaged by several of the industry’s top prime contractors to support next-generation defense and aerospace programs,” says Perrotto. “This includes the manufacture of rocket motor cases for military applications and high-pressure cylinders for commercial satellite and launch vehicle systems.”

This continued investment in technology, process development, and quality assurance has positioned PMF as a strategic supplier for complex, high-performance components and assemblies where reliability, strength, and dimensional accuracy are paramount.

Focused on expanding its market share through strategic investment in advanced manufacturing technologies and process innovation, PMF Industries’ technical roadmap includes increasing its in-house capabilities in heat treating, precision metal forming, and materials processing to enhance product performance and reduce lead times. In parallel, PMF is pursuing strategic partnerships with industry leaders to integrate complementary technologies—specifically carbon fiber overwrapping and additive manufacturing (3D printing)—with its core metal forming expertise.

These combined technologies will enable the production of next-generation hybrid structures that deliver superior strength-to-weight ratios, reduce lead time, and enhance design flexibility for aerospace, defense, and commercial space applications. With its collaborative engineering approach, PMF aims to deliver even greater value to customers and strengthen its position as a leading innovator in precision metal forming.

The company has also committed more than $7 million to expand its manufacturing capabilities in response to growing demand for commercial space components. This investment includes large-diameter spinning equipment designed to handle larger flow-formed cylinders, enabling the production of closed-end cylindrical vessels with precise material thickness.

Complementing this capability is one of the largest vertical heat treat spray-quenching furnaces for aluminum tempering in the industry, providing superior mechanical performance. Together, these state-of-the-art assets position PMF as a leading supplier of larger-diameter COPV (composite overwrapped pressure vessel) liners, supporting commercial space programs—strategic investments that underscore PMF’s commitment to advanced manufacturing, technological leadership, and the ability to meet the evolving demands of the aerospace and defense sectors.

Healy tells us that skilled labor shortages and delays in critical materials, necessitating careful planning and flexibility, remain a challenge in the industry; PMF, however, continues to deliver precision components 98 percent on time.

“The company has leveraged its in-house engineering and fully integrated manufacturing capabilities to overcome supply chain and staffing pressures, successfully supporting complex R&D programs and mission-critical production,” says Perrotto. “These achievements highlight PMF’s resilience, technical expertise, and commitment to customer success.”

In the coming years, PMF aims to expand its technical capabilities and manufacturing footprint with key milestones that will include advanced aluminum heat treating processes, large spinning operations, and hybrid manufacturing techniques.

“These will enhance the company’s ability to produce complex, high-performance components with efficiency, precision, and innovation, reinforcing PMF’s position as a trusted partner in the most challenging aerospace, defense, and industrial programs,” stresses Perrotto. “For the future, we’re always looking at coming up with the latest technical advances so we can enhance those processes.”

And, of course, he says, PMF will continue to place customer service at the forefront. “That’s one of the things that sets us apart: our ability to partner with our customers, helping them develop the best manufacturability of the products they’re looking to manufacture, and helping them research and develop that.”

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The injection molding process involves the use of various materials that can produce parts of reliable quality. These materials can include metal, glass, thermoplastics, and more, while the molds themselves are usually made of steel or aluminum. Injection molding is currently the most common method of part manufacturing and can be used to create a wide variety of machine parts—everything from beverage containers and caps to children’s toys to automotive parts. It is an age-old process still in wide use today, but it is hardly the same as it was hundreds of years ago.

New advancements in industrial technology are allowing the process to be reconsidered. For example, 3D printing is proving to be a way to revolutionize injection molding. Printed molds are typically produced in two configurations: mold inserts in aluminum frames, which are the most common configuration and produce more accurate parts; and standalone molds, in which the mold is fully printed. A piece for The Welding Institute says that 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is ideal for fast prototyping, with turnaround times of one to two per week, and allows for frequent design changes. “This process is also able to produce relatively small plastic parts and components, while also being ideal for complex or intricate designs.”

Mold elements like steel and aluminum are resistant to wear and tear during the molding process but can require a large initial investment. Because of this, molding projects with a lower planned run often need to shift focus away from wear resistance, making certain 3D printing technologies an attractive solution. When high-accuracy part printing processes such as material jetting and stereolithography are paired with temperature-resistant printing materials, printed molds become a good option for manufacturing low-run injection molding dies.

According to The Welding Institute, while 3D printing is currently seeing more widespread adoption, injection molding remains the preferred process for manufacturing plastic parts due to the cost efficiency and quality associated with mass production. However, 3D printing can be preferable for prototyping projects because injection molding tooling design is often expensive and time consuming.

This distinction can be seen in areas such as the medical field, where 3D printing is used for the production of custom items like prosthetics. “Rather than seeing 3D printing as a potential replacement for injection molding, the two technologies should be seen as complementary processes that can be used together depending upon requirements,” according to The Welding Institute, which says that 3D printing is currently best suited for low-production runs of 100 parts or fewer due to the time and cost involved in larger runs.

Moving beyond additive manufacturing—and like many other sectors undergoing similar changes in processes and materials—injection molding is also addressing a shift toward greater sustainability. Companies such as sustainable plastics manufacturer BIO-FED are now openly using compounds made from biodegradable biopolymers and renewable raw materials. Renewable materials can replace traditional injection molding materials like metal, glass, and ceramics with alternatives such as coconut shells and rice hulls. Research into these practices is ongoing, and new materials are being discovered and tested on a regular basis.

In a piece on sustainable plastics manufacturing for Fictiv, David Willson says that the plastics manufacturing industry is shifting toward more sustainable practices, driven by a global desire for environmentally friendly solutions. “Sustainable plastics, designed to minimize ecological harm through renewable sourcing, recyclability, or biodegradability, are driving this change,” Willson writes. Materials such as biodegradable and recycled plastics, including polylactic acid, polyhydroxyalkanoates, post-consumer resins, and thermoplastics, are increasingly being adopted. Bio-based polymers sourced from plants like corn or sugarcane are also appealing, as they offer a lower carbon footprint. “Unlike virgin plastics, which emit 2 to 3 kg of CO₂ per kg during production, recycled plastics can reduce emissions by up to 60 percent, often to 0.8 to 1.2 kg of CO₂ per kg.”

These sustainable practices require additional care, as materials must be carefully sorted to remove contaminants that could affect color or strength. Bio-based plastics often require industrial composting facilities to break them down effectively, making widespread adoption more challenging. In some cases, production can place strain on agricultural resources, such as polylactic acid requiring up to one hectare of land per ton, meaning the transition is not as simple as switching materials without further consideration.

Beyond additive manufacturing and sustainability, other emerging technologies are also influencing injection molding. The industry has become more intelligent and data-driven, combining sensors, algorithms, and electric drives to achieve consistent quality. Artificial intelligence is being used more frequently in injection molding, with direct integration into machines and controllers to help predict and correct process inefficiencies, further automating mechanical operations.

Electric injection molding machines are also gaining traction, offering greater precision and energy efficiency than traditional machines. They provide improved motion control, faster response times, and more repeatable injection processes. However, the initial investment for electric machines remains high, and maintenance has become more specialized. Like 3D printing, electric alternatives are promising but come with their own challenges.

Further technological advancements will continue to drive innovation in the injection molding sector as smart manufacturing technologies increase efficiency through real-time monitoring and improve quality through Internet of Things sensors. Predictive maintenance can help reduce costs by limiting equipment failures and labour expenses, while data analytics can enhance flexibility and supply chain planning.

Injection molding, and plastics manufacturing as a whole, are entering an especially dynamic period of innovation and sustainable development. The topic remains prominent at major industry gatherings such as the annual Medical Design and Manufacturing (MD&M) trade show, which regularly features injection molding among its key subjects. As global demand for machine parts continues to rise year over year, innovation in processes like injection molding is increasingly important, particularly as customers expect more responsible and efficient production from industries that have existed for centuries.

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Lighter weights are usually attained by swapping heavy parts for lighter ones, using fewer components, and optimizing designs. The first method comes with a serious caveat: materials for airplanes and cars need to be rugged, tough, and resistant to corrosion. A tinfoil plane or car would certainly be lightweight but hardly practical or safe.

Given this, automotive and aerospace manufacturers often use composites for lightweighting. Composites are created by blending materials to produce a strengthened hybrid material. Concrete—a mix of cement, water, gravel, and sand—and plywood—created by affixing multiple layers of thinly cut wood together—are examples of composites used in daily life.

In automotive and aerospace circles, fiberglass—polymer resin mixed with glass fiber—and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) are commonly used composites. The latter is particularly prized for its strength and is several times stronger than most metals while being significantly lighter. Metal and plastic decorative vehicle parts can be substituted with components made from polyurethane foam. Aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys, and steel alloys are also popular in automotive and aerospace.

Composites are typically used in tail and wing sections, fuselages, and interior components in airplanes, says “Materials Matter: The Science of Lightweighting in Aerospace,” a September 12, 2024 article in Quality magazine.

During World War II, the de Havilland Mosquito, a British plane made partly with laminated wood, was one of the first aircraft to feature the widespread use of composites. After the war, aerospace mogul Howard Hughes spearheaded development of the H-4 Hercules flying boat, aka “the Spruce Goose.” An enormous, eight-propeller transport plane, the Spruce Goose featured thin, laminated layers of birch. While the Spruce Goose was not lightweight and never entered commercial production, it pointed the way forward in terms of innovative use of composites.

Skip ahead to 2009, and the Boeing Corporation of Chicago introduced the pioneering 787 Dreamliner, a passenger jet with a structure comprised of 50 percent composite material. “The 787 Dreamliner was the first commercial passenger aircraft designed with advanced composite materials in the wing, fuselage, and empennage primary structure,” states the Hexcel Corporation from Connecticut, which provided advanced composite materials for the aircraft.

By utilizing CFRP among other composite materials, Boeing reduced the weight of the 787 Dreamliner by one-fifth compared to a typical plane. Hexcel provided advanced composites for other Boeing passenger jets such as the 737 MAX and 777X.

In 2013, Airbus of France introduced a composite-containing plane of its own, the A350 XWB passenger jet. Once again, almost half, by weight, of the A350 XWB consisted of composite material. Airbus aims to produce zero-emission commercial planes in the near future, a challenging goal that will almost certainly require greater use of composite materials.

Composites have also been featured in spacecraft, which makes sense given that anything sent into outer space needs to be both ultra-low weight and extremely fuel-efficient. Unlike airplanes, spacecraft cannot make emergency landings if they run low on fuel due to unforeseen circumstances.

“Composites have been used in space applications for decades and their use continues to grow. Composite applications can be found in human spaceflight vehicles, satellites, and payloads, and the launch vehicles that are used to get these to space,” according to the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE), adding that, “Solid rocket motors and pressure vessels for fuel and gas storage are typically reinforced with composites.”

Composites are “the standard for ablative and other high-temperature components in rocket motor nozzles and re-entry heat shields dating back to the Apollo era,” the society continues. High-modulus, carbon-fiber-reinforced laminates are commonly used on spacecraft while carbon fiber laminates are commonly used on payload support structures and satellites.

In the automotive sector, General Motors was one of the first domestic manufacturers to use composites in a major way. The 1950s-era Chevrolet Corvette was built with fiberglass body panels, a pioneering move at a time when such parts were usually made from steel. During the 1970s, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries imposed tighter controls of oil exports, causing gas prices to skyrocket and spurring further interest in lightweighting.

“Replacing heavy steel components with materials such as high-strength steel, aluminum, or glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites can decrease component weight by 10 to 60 percent,” notes a U.S. Department of Energy report. “A 10 percent reduction in vehicle weight can result in a six to eight percent fuel economy improvement.”

In 2015, the Ford Motor Company became a lightweighting leader when it used aluminum instead of steel in the body of its F-150 pickup truck. Switching to aluminum reduced the truck’s overall weight by roughly 700 pounds. The F-150 proved enormously popular and Ford used aluminum on subsequent models such as the F-150 Lightning, a fully electric pickup truck.

Two years after the groundbreaking F-150 model was introduced, Fiat Chrysler used magnesium to lightweight its Pacifica minivan. GM’s Sierra pickup truck for 2019, meanwhile, boasted a CarbonPro truck bed made from advanced carbon fiber/thermoplastic composites.

In addition to being more fuel-efficient, such vehicles “can carry additional advanced emission control systems, safety devices, and integrated electronic systems without increasing the overall weight of the vehicle,” notes the Department of Energy report. Lightweighting is particularly beneficial for offsetting the weight of heavy batteries and motors in hybrid and electric vehicles, adds the Department of Energy.

Optimizing design is another way to lightweight planes and cars. The general concept is to use advanced technologies such as computer-assisted design (CAD) software to enhance existing designs or create new designs that emphasize lower weight. Custom molding can also be part of the process. “Rather than machining a sheet stock or block into the component’s shape, a custom tool is designed to mold the part from a lightweight material,” reads “How Light Can You Go?” a technical paper from General Plastics Manufacturing Company of Tacoma, Washington.

Thermoforming is another factory-floor method applicable to lightweighting. “This drape or mold forming process is easy to use and ideal for shaping shallow slopes and angles where machining would be more wasteful or time consuming,” states the paper.

A final method is to simply use fewer components. “As production processes and materials evolve, components can often be removed from assemblies entirely, while still meeting structural, flammability, and thermal requirements,” notes a May 9, 2022, blog post titled “What is Lightweighting and Why is it Important?” from the Boyd Corp, a firm that specializes in thermal solutions and sustainable engineered material.

Additive manufacturing will likely prove to be a wildcard within lightweighting circles. For aerospace production, the benefits of using 3D printing and advanced manufacturing techniques include design freedom where “engineers can create parts with complex geometries without sacrificing precision or increasing waste,” says Axiom Materials, Inc. of California. Other benefits include weight reduction and rapid prototyping. “Because prototypes can be manufactured more quickly, the entire design and testing process moves along at a faster pace,” says Axiom. Many of these points can apply to automotive manufacturing as well.

Still, 3D printing is slow compared to traditional production processes and is typically reserved for making spare parts or speciality items rather than mass-producing parts at this time.

While much of the focus on lightweighting concerns airplanes and automobiles, other manufacturers are also embracing the trend. “In the consumer electronics and medical industries, lowering the weight of a wearable or handheld device can enhance user comfort, extend the amount of time between recharging, and reduce shipping costs,” notes the Boyd Corp report.

For all that, automotive and airplane makers have a vested interest in creating lighter but durable versions of their vehicles and planes, and to this end, researchers continue to explore the use of new composites and other lightweight materials.

Growing environmental awareness among the public will likely hasten the move toward lightweighting. Manufacturers are eager to position themselves as green, and reducing fuel consumption by reducing weight is a good way to go about this. Government fuel mileage mandates are another spur, while advances in technology are making it easier to develop lightweight-friendly designs.

“Advanced software tools, incorporating techniques like topology optimization, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML), enable engineers to design lighter and stronger components by removing excess material while maintaining structural integrity,” notes Materials Matter: The Science of Lightweighting in Aerospace. “AI and ML can analyze vast amounts of data to identify optimal design parameters, predict performance outcomes, and continuously improve design efficiency.”

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Now under the RagnarTech, Inc. banner, Ragnarsson and his core team of professionals are forging yet another path forward, breaking new ground with that familiar commitment to continuous improvement and innovation that originated with Ragnarsson and now shapes this company’s DNA.

RagnarTech engineers and manufactures practical equipment that improves safety, optimizes performance, and reduces operating costs, making the work easier on site, on the environment, and on the bottom line. RagnarTech also serves as the exclusive North American distributor for JAK-Metalli Oy tree shears and UFKES Greentec chippers.

The RagnarTech 9700 is an extremely productive grinder that supports land clearing, stumps, yard waste, wood debris, and regrind of a variety of materials, while the RagnarTech 9400 serves as an HZ shredder, grinder, and chipper that can support medium contaminated material, high volumes of wood, and other debris.

Designed for application, the equipment comes in a variety of configurations to precisely meet the user’s needs with the promise of elevated performance, quality, and unmatched factory-direct service, a value proposition that has confirmed RagnarTech as the kind of market pace-setter that continually pushes the bar higher for itself, the competition, and the industry.

Rooted in innovation
Born and raised on a farm in Sweden, Anders Ragnarsson’s upbringing helped shape his genius for innovation, using his own insight and expertise to design equipment that intimately addresses the user’s needs in unique ways. After arriving in the U.S. in the 1980s, Ragnarsson established a tree service company and was quickly confronted with the limitations of existing wood waste processing equipment, which laid the groundwork for the next 40 years.

Credited as “a great mind,” it was Ragnarsson’s innovative approach, the unmatched performance of his machines, and the integrity with which he conducted business that won the respect of the industry. “He thought he could make a better version,” says Vice President Nate Eskeland, and so he did, time and again throughout his career with different companies and different iterations of his innovation.

In 1995, Ragnarsson moved away from tree service and established CBI with the launch of a mobile wood grinder that addressed a performance gap in the market. It also happened to steal the attention of the many operators who desired that level of quality and throughput.

In 2016, the decision was made to sell the company that he had built from the ground up. “After 25 years of starting and growing CBI and having the reputation of building the best grinder on the market, they eventually sold it to a large public company called Terex back in 2016 and Ragnarsson had a non-compete there for many years,” explains Eskeland, who knew that Ragnarsson’s plan was always to get back into the market when the non-compete expired.

After years of corporate ownership, Eskeland noticed the market was ready for his return. “Over the years, all of our legacy customers that we sold these really high-quality machines to have been knocking on our door, saying, ‘When are you guys going to get back into the grinder market? We want something better than what they’re making now.’”

Naturally, Ragnarsson had been working on something, but rather than launching this equipment for himself, it was purchased by Tiger Cat, a world-class Canadian manufacturer of large forestry equipment. “So, he designed the CBI grinder and now Tiger Cat’s,” says Eskeland, which meant that Ragnarsson’s designs had a corner on the market. Of course, he didn’t stop there.

In 2019, the time had come for Ragnarsson to relaunch his own venture, which is how RagnarTech, Inc. came to be. Built upon that same quality, service, and innovation that the market came to expect, and supported by the industry’s best, he was going to pull it off on a smaller scale both in terms of the equipment and the operation.

Outperforming in every way
From its 25,000-square-foot facility in New Hampshire, RagnarTech supports operators around the globe who prioritize quality engineering and high-performance equipment that is built to last, minimizing downtime and optimizing throughput.

Just as Ragnarsson’s return to the market created a buzz among former customers, the same reaction took place among former employees of his, like Eskeland, who joined him at CBI in 2003 right out of high school, as well as the engineering manager and production manager who rejoined him at RagnarTech and re-formed the core of a quality team.

“We’ve all worked together for so many years, and we just know how to do things. You can make an argument that we have here the most experienced personnel in the grinding world, and it shows in our innovation,” says Eskeland, who assures us that when you call RagnarTech, you will speak to someone who knows what they are talking about when it comes to the company’s manufacturer-direct support.

Together, they “went back to building quality grinders again,” reengineering the designs using only the highest quality inputs like high-pressure plate from Scandinavia and the John Deere JD18, which Eskeland refers to as a “game changer.” For the better part of the previous two decades, Caterpillar’s diesel engine had been the standard, and while it is still available, RagnarTech and its customers have demonstrated the reason for the departure.

“We were building machines from 700 to 1200 horsepower, and there were basically three engine models that covered that horsepower range, and it was only ever Cat. However, with our new machines, the 9700 and 9400, John Deere came out with a new 18-liter 908-horsepower engine that has no DEF, EGR, or DPF while still meeting Tier 4 standards,” says Eskeland.

The ability of John Deere’s inline six, an 18-liter, 908-horsepower engine, to compete with Caterpillar’s C27, a 1050-horsepower V12, is a surprise to many, but what is most significant is the price tag, which is significantly less costly.

Eye-opening quality
A client who took delivery of a RagnarTech grinder early this summer quickly identified the performance advantages and cost savings associated with its operation compared to the legacy equipment they were running.

“They’ve got about 1000 hours on it, but in the first one or two months of running it, they got numbers that blew us away,” Eskeland shares. Not only was the new John Deere engine outperforming their other grinders with 1050 horsepower; the client was achieving eight-to-ten-minute trailer loads, saving two minutes on average.

Beyond performance, the equipment burns less fuel, using only 28 gallons of fuel compared to the previous 52-gallon amounts, for impressive cost savings and tangible environmental benefits. Additionally, not needing DEF, DPF, and EGRs results in lower overall maintenance costs.

“The numbers have blown them away… I won’t get into the design much, but it’s not just the engine—with our improved feeding system, it feeds more aggressively, which we attribute to better production than higher horsepower machines,” Eskeland says.

According to customer-reported data, even the components of the equipment are holding up better than the competition. The tips, which are used to grind down the material, performed for 350 hours before needing replacement, compared to 80 hours from competitors’ tip sets in comparable material.

One of the biggest industry challenges that Eskeland has experienced over his time in the sector is persistent quality issues due to premature part wear. Certainly, price is important, but when cost savings of this magnitude are being achieved, the upfront costs of quality are negligible. “It’s a little bit more expensive, but you know what? When you’re in the woods on a pipeline where you’re grinding for a billion or multi-billion dollar energy company that needs right-away work, when that machine goes down, saving a few bucks because you wanted to buy something where the steel wasn’t quite as good, that cost difference doesn’t matter at that point.”

The philosophy at RagnarTech is to “engineer in the quality,” and not apologize for being a little bit more expensive because the value of the equipment’s performance speaks for itself.

Only the beginning
With experience, expertise, and a culture of innovation that starts at the top and permeates the ranks, RagnarTech has only just begun making its impact on the market.

As it grows slowly and steadily, in both size and capacity, through the addition of strategically located parts and service hubs and a vetted distribution network, the company will continue to take on as much work as it can, though demand is likely to outpace supply for a while, especially as word has it that Ragnarsson once again has a springboard for his creativity and innovation.

“Not only does he know the equipment, but he is intimately involved in the industry and what people are doing and how they’re doing it and why they’re doing it—and that’s what really drives the innovation,” says Eskeland. “He’s made quite an impact on not only the wood processing industry but the recycling world. There aren’t a lot of people who’ve been owners or know anything about wood grinding that don’t know the name Anders Ragnarsson.”

The post Quality, Innovation, and a Runaway Reputation<p class="company">RagnarTech</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Appropriately located in Quarryville, Pennsylvania, four decades in the industry has cemented SSI’s belief in doing things right the first time, establishing itself as a trusted voice in the field. Vice President Scott Gartzke is confident in the company’s new product, performance, and the game-changing capabilities it provides customers with. “We have an established track record and reputation for providing high-quality and customized solutions in the aggregate industry,” he says of the new product, a machine the company sees as important to the industry to improve product quality and significantly reduce maintenance.

SSI’s application of this machine is not only beneficial to reduce environmental impact, but also for companies’ operational and mining efficiencies. Higher water consumption increases the need for bigger and more settling ponds for slurry and post-operational water treatment processes to enable recirculation within the parameters of the Clean Water Act (CWA), administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). These ponds also take up an enormous amount of space that could be used for mining. In addition, settling ponds are notorious for demanding continuous maintenance and call for high capital investment in heavy equipment, human resources, time, and effort.

The new system is, therefore, about to disrupt an industry ripe for modernization. Gartzke designed the Mule Screen system himself, noting that it is unique in the market. “We consider this to be the first vibratory machine that’s designed with rinsing aggregates as its primary focus while doubling as a fine material wash screen,” he explains. What sets the machine apart is a revolutionary overhead drive mechanism that runs three 900 RPM vibratory motors. As this eliminates the need for v-belts (flexible power transmission belts) that come with motor bases needing regular upkeep, maintenance is comparatively minimal, with zero oil changes.

Its operation is surprisingly straightforward. While two overhead motors spin toward one another, creating a linear motion, a third produces circular motion. The intersection of these two motions results in a thin elliptical motion that controls travel rate and bed depth for improved washing and rinsing action while minimizing the need for maintenance. With multiple sizes and deck configurations having the capacity to process 300 to 350 tons of stone per hour, the Mule Screen is an adequate size for industrial aggregate processing operations.

With the company maintaining a healthy stock of motors, these are easily replaceable, and older machines can be rebuilt—fine selling points and music to large operators’ ears. “Since you only need a crane and a wrench to unbolt them, anybody can unbolt and fit a new motor as opposed to traditional vibratory screens that mostly use eccentric shafts in an oil bath through bearings, which you have to be able to change,” Gartzke adds. This, of course, means less downtime as the usual lengthy bane of remachining housings is also brought to a timely end with this system.

The machine was also designed to integrate seamlessly into the SSI layout framework for design and setting up aggregate plants. As its system typically favors dry-sizing material first before rinsing, as opposed to doing it the other way around, it saves breathtaking volumes of water from being wasted. And, because rinsing consumes one and a half to three gallons of water per minute and washing takes five gallons per minute, the savings are notable. “We feel that we get more accurate gradation control utilizing dry sizing and then reduce water consumption by utilizing rinsing on sized aggregates,” Gartzke explains.

Stone is not the company’s only forte, however. The company has also built large sand-processing plants that require modular screen towers that it engineered and fabricated. Then there is of course the creative aspect of the business—one that Gartzke enjoys immensely and contributes to prolifically. To this end, technology-wise, the company invests in the best software to support its research and development, engineering, and the design work which underpins its fabrication. This level of attention to detail is part of its heritage.

In operation since 1987, the company was started by Scott Gartzke’s father, Craig Gartzke, and his partner, Rick Welch. Today, their sons run the company. Together, Scott Gartzke and his partner Joel Welch are proud to follow in their fathers’ footsteps. Gartzke remembers his father spending hours at his drawing board in their basement, designing new systems and finding ways of bringing them to life as he and Rick continued expanding the business, envisioning what it would one day become.

With the two founders now retired, the second generation of leaders has been at the helm of the company for the past seven years, to great success. As the grandson of a salesman in the industry following WWII, Gartzke is proud of the 75-plus years of combined expertise the families bring to the company. Performing like a small family itself, the team is comfortable and happy to work shoulder to shoulder. As a low-overhead business, the company’s frugality has translated into job security for the people who are its backbone. Genuinely caring about them means the company is also passionate about keeping its people safe in potentially hazardous jobs. “We want everybody to be safe in the process of doing a good job. It’s a dangerous industry and a dangerous job,” Gartzke says.

Following nearly 40 years of building the company into a stalwart in the aggregate industry, the team of 45 is as engaged as one could ever wish a team to be, committed to the company’s longevity and growing its customer base alongside its reputation. “Everybody is on board with providing a unique and quality product because what we do is exciting. Our people are all skilled,” Gartzke says of the talented engineers and fabricators who take pride in developing premium systems for customers.

For large static aggregate plants looking to purchase the new machine, the typical lead time is 20 weeks, or slightly less in pressing situations. Gartzke is confident in the company’s ability to meet high demand worldwide. “We have no problem working on a national scale and potentially even on a global scale if we have customers in other areas,” he says. Moving ahead, the firm is considering an expansion of its fabrication facility to accommodate its growing clientele. As nearly all its business comes through repeat customers and recommendations, consistency is key. With these customers spending impressive sums for the best crushing plants around, living up to its reputation for excellence is central to the company’s continued success.

By driving its own efficiency, SSI’s commitment to improving and optimizing its customers’ efficiency is a natural response to maintaining its position within the industry. As a result, the company’s quality continues to lead the way, alongside its innovation. “Everything else comes secondary to quality,” Gartzke says. “We’re always loyal to our word.”

The post Crushing Success<p class="company">Steel Systems Installation</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Terradyne Armored Vehicles was originally launched in 2011 as a segment of Canadian auto parts giant Magna International. The company, which focused on armored vehicle production from the beginning, was spun off as a standalone entity in 2014, and last year marked its eleventh anniversary as an independent business.

Terradyne offers four main models under its Gurkha line, named after the famously tough soldiers from Nepal who have fought for Great Britain since the 19^th century. These models consist of a light armored patrol vehicle (Gurkha LAPV) which weighs 16,000 pounds (7,258 kilograms) and measures 6,116.9 mm x 2,454.2 mm x 2,645.6 mm; a rapid patrol vehicle (Gurkha RPV) weighing 15,500 pounds (7,031 kilograms) and measuring 6,207.5 mm x 2,454.2 mm x 2,499.2 mm; and a multi-purpose vehicle (Terradyne MPV) weighing 16,500 pounds (7,484 kilograms) and measuring 6,356.8 mm x 2,454.2 mm x 2,633.9 mm.

The company’s fourth model is a civilian limited-edition vehicle (Gurkha CIV) that weighs up to 13,500 pounds (6,123 kilograms) and is 6,207.5 mm long x 2,454.2 mm wide x 2,499.2 mm high.

The biggest change at the company since we last spoke in August 2024 has been the release of “a new variant of an existing model,” shares Sales Manager Lucus Witzke. The new variant represents “a first for Terradyne—an armored vehicle for law enforcement specific to EOD, which stands for Explosive Ordnance Disposal,” he explains.

The MPV FORT (Forward Ordnance Response Team) EOD recently made for the City of Tampa, Florida was a variation of the MPV for law enforcement, and will be used by a police bomb squad, Witzke says. The purchase was part of a two-vehicle deal, with the other being a standard law enforcement model. “We have delivered it and are now marketing it to other law enforcement agencies,” he says.

In addition to the FORT EOD, Terradyne has also tweaked another model to create a tactical emergency medical services (TEMS) vehicle which is “basically an armored ambulance,” Witzke says. The TEMS vehicle is also being marketed to law enforcement clients.

These models are built on Ford F-550 Super Duty truck frames and are fitted with a 10-speed automatic transmission, 4×4 shift on the fly, and V8 turbo diesel engines. “We use the Ford F-550 chassis for all Gurkha models, so we are limited to what direction Ford goes in. From what I’ve heard… for the Super Duty lineup, there are no electric or hybrid engines in the forecast,” Witzke says. Fuel capacity for all four models is 40 gallons (151 litres), and each model is equipped with a four-wheel vented disc anti-lock braking system.

All models save the CIV feature armor plating (with the armoring available as an option on the civilian model as well). The CIV is the only Terradyne vehicle that is available to the public at present. This is a brawny, dark machine that would definitely make an impression on city streets.

Witzke cites the materials that go into the company’s vehicles and its customer support as Terradyne’s points of difference in the market. Technical specifications state that armor plating on the LAPV, MPV, and RPV warrants a B7/STANAG 2 rating, a military standard set by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). And Gurkha vehicles are subjected to intensive third-party testing involving live ammunition and explosive blasts.

Terradyne does not claim its vehicles are completely bullet- and bomb-proof, but simply well-protected against such threats. Plating on the LAPV, MPV, and RPV is fairly light as far as armor goes, and in addition to being well-fortified, Gurkha vehicles are relatively quick, which is an important factor when conducting police raids or rescuing wounded soldiers under fire. The wheels on Gurkha vehicles feature special inserts that keep the tires in workable condition even after they have been punctured by bullets or shrapnel, while the windshield glass is also tough and resilient in the face of gunfire.

In addition to producing top-of-the-line machines, Terradyne works hard to serve its clients. The company maintains a steady supply of spare parts and tires and can manufacture replacement components upon request. It is receptive to customer feedback and can customize its basic product line, as evidenced by the FORT EOD vehicle. “Something we’ve learned over the years is our customer service apparently is next-level compared to our competitors, so that has given us an advantage,” notes Witzke.

Design and manufacturing duties are handled in-house, with Terradyne employing roughly 50 people and producing around 100 vehicles each year. Each armored car takes between 20 and 24 weeks to complete—which seems a long time until you consider the standards each vehicle needs to meet. Not every truck on the road is designed to withstand a barrage of bullets or a grenade attack.

Gurkha vehicles are sold either through dealers or direct to customers, and the company’s most popular vehicle varies from year to year. For 2025, the MPV proved to be the most in-demand model, says Witzke.

Certainly, Terradyne takes pride in all its high-quality vehicles and holds both ISO 9000 and 14000 certification. It is also registered with the Controlled Goods Program, an initiative run by the Canadian government. Thanks to this registration, Terradyne is authorized to export its military-style vehicles.

Back in Canada, Terradyne is among a handful of qualified potential suppliers for a Canadian Armed Forces light utility vehicle (LUV) replacement initiative. Ottawa intends to spend up to $1 billion on a new “protected, lightweight, multi-role, and highly-mobile ground wheeled vehicle,” states the website of the Canadian Defence Review, a military journal.

Between 2,000 and 2,200 replacement vehicles are needed in total, “with up to four variants: command and reconnaissance vehicle; utility vehicle; military police vehicle; and cable-laying vehicle,” says the journal. The program also involves “ancillary equipment, integrated logistics support (ILS), and an in-service support solution.”

To be sure, Terradyne has a good shot at winning work with the LUV program, due in part to the amount of Canadian content that goes into its Gurkha line, says Witzke.

The company is also excited to be participating in the World Defense Show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in early 2026. This will be the first time Terradyne has attended this event. “There are a lot of Terradyne vehicles operating in the Middle East as of today,” Witzke says. “Other opportunities might be there. Our end-goal is to expand our presence from what we already have there.”

When it comes to promotion, the company relies heavily on trade shows to highlight its products. “We’re very particular,” says Witzke. “We do some print advertising with law enforcement in the U.S. and Canada, but a lot of [our promotional efforts] are trade shows. We find it’s a lot more effective to physically get a vehicle in front of somebody, as opposed to sending pictures.”

As for challenges, he cites tariffs and “increased prices in the supply chains.” The most consistent challenge, however, is simply the nature of the armored car business. “The sales cycle is very long; it’s a big-ticket item. There are a lot of hurdles that need to be overcome in that process.”

Going forward, Terradyne wants to stay in Newmarket and produce more armored cars from its core lineup in addition to interesting variants, such as the FORT EOD and TEMS vehicles. Witzke anticipates “further expansion of our footprint in key areas: Canada, the United States, Europe, and the Middle East,” while the company continues to hone its expertise.

In the early days, “we were the new kids on the block that nobody had ever heard of,” he says, adding that the client base “is a very tight-knit group, especially in law enforcement. They talk with each other and share reviews of what equipment is good. It takes a very long time to develop a reputation.” Terradyne Armored Vehicles is well on its way.

The post Specialty Vehicles for Specialized Situations<p class="company">Terradyne Armored Vehicles</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

New developments
According to Chief Executive Officer Alex Lawton, after the company’s merger with iron casting business Renaissance Manufacturing Group in spring 2024, higher-volume green sand casting was brought into the mix. Green sand casting employs a mixture of water, clay, and sand to make molds, with ‘green’ referring to the moisture content of this economical and adaptable method that helps the mold keep its form as the molten metal is poured in.

Since we last spoke, various service components of the business were also fortified thanks to the brokerage of standalone machine shops. New capabilities have been made possible since the merger, and time is being spent on working to integrate and harmonize several companies into one. Marketing and Communications Coordinator Nate Vandergrift states that cross-site collaboration has grown in the past year, with products that can be made at several Lawton facilities.

Other developments include the KUKA RMC90 robot, currently in a development phase, which is an upgrade from the old pattern of foam tools, Lawton tells us. The robot is a way to skip the tooling process, which is better for speed and quality levels as well as for the environment. The company is also multiple years into a project around its enterprise resource planning software in its production facilities, and has added customer relationship management software called HubSpot. The team also continues to be open to artificial intelligence in the form of large language models, which has made running certain internal processes like human resources and data collection and reporting easier.

A top focus has been the assimilation of the group of Lawton companies as they better understand how to work together. This went from a company with disparate businesses in the same market to a more centralized, integrated offering, and the goal is to deliver the capabilities of these parts in a more consistent way to the customer. “We want to do more business across more locations with the culture we know and like,” Lawton says.

Mastalir adds that it is important for Lawton’s people to understand the full capabilities of the company, especially because salespeople have been accustomed to only promoting the products and services under their own roof. In expanding, these people need to be able to know all the things that can be added to the portfolio of customer service and become experts in the entire business.

The vision of the company’s business strategy is to become supermarket-like, offering a matrix within the business and each plant to serve customers on every possible thing they may want when it comes to iron, steel casing, and more, says Lawton. Lawton Standard can handle any manner of volume, offers a service group, and provides numerous value additions like machining. These make it an ideal one-stop shop for iron and steel.

Smart and sustainable
Since summer 2024, all the company’s sites are ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certified. Lawton notes that less energy consumption leads to a better work environment because of efficiency, and since 2022, the company has diverted nearly 10,000 tons of spent foundry sand from landfills to be put to use in manufactured soil, layering for construction projects, and concrete and brick-making. Mastalir adds that both customer interest and corporate mandates are trending more toward involvement in sustainability efforts, an area in which Lawton Standard has outpaced a lot of its competition.

Around 15 years ago, the mindset around sustainability tended to involve understanding and keeping track of agencies with which companies needed to be in compliance, as well as determining which ones were truly concerned with making an impact, Lawton shares. Over time, the business underwent the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council’s Green Masters Program to enhance its knowledge, implemented an environmental management system that works in tandem with its quality management, and joined the Wisconsin-based Green Tier initiative. Green Tier allows organizations in the state to align business practices with sustainability-based targets through committing to environmentally friendly practices.

Lawton Standard has since become one of the first foundries and overall companies to qualify for Green Tier 2, which is reflective of its general drive toward improvement in all areas and its desire to be a better community member, a value important to the company and its customers.

Navigating the waters
It has been a challenging few years following the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, says Lawton. 2021 to 2022 saw an explosion in demand and lead times, with the goods economy going wild. Although this has since rebalanced, the industry is still weak. While not quite at crisis levels, recessionary effects are being felt thanks to fluctuations following the 2024 election.

Lawton Standard has found pockets of strength in niche areas like artificial intelligence because of components it can provide to service data centers and waterworks systems with an infrastructure focus (to replace aging pumps and valves). The company has tried to hunker down through tough times while developing aspects like sustainability, software, and robotics, Lawton tells us.

He believes that businesses are very adaptable, especially in the United States, and his company will indeed adapt as long as it knows the playing field. The team spends a lot of time building relationships with its customer base, aiming to show prospective and long-time clients alike that Lawton and its companies will always be close by. “You’re never more than 10 feet away from a casting,” says Vandergrift, which illustrates the company’s focus and commitment to the customer experience.

Alex Lawton is optimistic about 2026 being a return to strength and growth. “We will create our own luck by going after the right things,” he says. Lawton Standard is always thinking about the markets it serves, with the goal of being highly diversified company-wide. The business continues to grow in markets like defense, with the desire to expand into areas like agriculture, and this growth will likely persist in the years to come. Vandergrift adds that while employees do age out and retire, there are many industry programs seeking to drum up more students to become interested in the foundry industry.

Lawton Standard does not need to focus on acquisitions per se but will remain open to opportunities while also giving time to initiatives like mechanization and process improvement. The next period of strength for the company will likely see it in a better position than in its last one, and according to Mastalir, the team will make sure it is ready to rise above the competition and give the customer the best experience possible. At Lawton Standard, the work will always be aimed at ensuring that the company is growing with its customers as they come back time and time again.

The post Coming Together and Stronger Than Ever<p class="company">Lawton Standard Co.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

The company, which works with about 75 suppliers around the world, previously operated primarily as a sourcing partner to their global OEM customers, and now with their vertically integrated manufacturing capabilities, operates as a true manufacturing partner, often providing customers with value adding engineering services as well.

A growing global footprint
Founded in 1985, Brukar has become a well-known contract manufacturer of metal components including precision castings, prototypes, machined parts, weldments, forgings, assemblies, and stamped/formed sheet metal components. Along with comprehensive contract manufacturing and supply chain services for North American OEM customers, Brukar offers procurement consolidation, design and engineering, quality assurance, and inventory solutions. These services are used by clients spanning a wide variety of industries to purchase custom metal components manufactured at low costs overseas without the headaches associated with managing overseas suppliers and supply chains. The company’s Oakville, Ontario warehouse provides a local inventory solution to customers, allowing them to keep product off their balance sheets until needed, freeing up valuable cash flow to allocate to their own strategic operations.

“Through communication with some of our larger multinational customers, it has become clear that there is a need for a service offering like Brukar’s in the European market,” says Gagnon. Because of this, the company is excited to be in the planning stages of opening a European office and warehouse from whence they will support new and existing European customers in the same way they have their North American customers for the past 40 years.

Like many other Canadian-based companies, Brukar is also faced with what Gagnon calls “Policy by Tweet.” In 2025 alone, the company navigated through 55 changes to tariff policies affecting their components. With the recent news of trade deals being reached between India and the European Union as well as India and the United States, the company is well positioned to continue increasing their market share for overseas contract manufacturing of metal components.

Family-owned and female-founded
Last March, Brukar Inc. proudly celebrated its 40^th anniversary. The timing saw Gagnon take over from his mother, company founder Carolyn Cross. An experienced global businesswoman, Cross had been conducting business between Asia and Canada for years when she realized that there was a void between world class manufacturers of metal components and the North American OEMs looking for lower cost components.

For the first 25 years, Brukar didn’t warehouse any product and was strictly a sourcing agent, with Cross connecting customers to suppliers capable of making the components. Eventually, the company started offering warehousing and managing the complete supply chain of goods. This allowed customers to significantly reduce the minimum order quantities typically associated with buying overseas, and take components as needed from their Canadian warehouse where they can deliver goods by truck anywhere in Canada or the contiguous United States in five to seven days.

As a child, Charles Gagnon spent a lot of time in the office. Over time, he started assembling valves and learning more about the business, and a dozen years ago, he began his career at Brukar working in the warehouse doing order fulfilment.

“It was great, and really taught me to be familiar with the products and part numbers, and familiarize myself with that end of the business,” he says. This soon led to travel opportunities, meeting suppliers in China, Taiwan, and India and getting to know them. Touring foundries and looking at parts and how they were made helped deepen his knowledge. He dedicated much of the last decade to account management and sales before Carolyn retired, taking over as President last March.

Unlike many other companies providing products for OEM clients, Brukar handles the entire supply chain, from freight to importing details and on-time delivery. Being family-owned makes Brukar agile and highly accountable. “When we see an opportunity to do something, we run our analysis and do it; we have no corporate red tape to work through,” says Gagnon. “This includes opening a European office in 2026. With it just being my mother and I—the two owners of the business—we can quickly say, ‘This is something we want to do, and this is what the cost will be; let’s do it.’” Larger companies need layers of approval from boards and shareholders before making a big move, which takes time and money.

In today’s fast-paced world, Brukar’s clients are looking to make their businesses easier, not more complex. Simplifying supply chains is one way the company takes stress away from its customers. “We bill ourselves as your one-stop shop for metal components,” says Gagnon of Brukar’s 40-plus years of industry experience.

Adding value
“There are various ways of making metal components,” says Gagnon. “You can machine them from a bar or stock. You can cast them by pouring molten metal into a mold. You can bend or stamp sheet metal. There are many manufacturing methods and materials to choose from.” Typically, a company will specialize in one manufacturing method, and often only one material; they may make aluminum die castings but won’t also do stainless steel investment castings. Then there are those who do stainless, but not iron, or castings, but not sheet metal fabrications. “We do it all. That’s why we have 75 suppliers, and each of them has its own specialties. And because we are that one-stop shop, we have in our warehouse dozens of materials made through a wide variety of manufacturing methods. So our customers can come to us for any metal components.”

For Brukar, the company’s soon-to-be-expanded warehouse is its biggest value-added service. Although the company doesn’t currently offer design services, Brukar’s engineering services group helps customers design parts to add value—to be more cost-effective, easier to manufacture, or lighter weight. Sometimes client engineers may not be familiar with new ways of designing metal casting, while Brukar’s engineers are experts in all fields.

“Everything is manufactured custom to our customers’ drawings,” Gagnon explains. “We don’t sell anything off the shelf. Our customers bring their designs, and we manufacture the components exactly to their specifications. Our customers own all designs and, in most cases, the tooling we produce to make their components.”

Brukar continues to enjoy growing demand from all sectors, and the company’s new Vice President of Sales hails from an agricultural-centred company, which will see Brukar diversify further still. Combined with its larger Canadian warehouse, expansion into India, and a new European office, Brukar is well-positioned to serve existing and new customers long into the future.

The post Your Trusted Manufacturing Partner<p class="company">Brukar Inc.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Since making the decision to set down roots, this chip management giant has further cemented its reputation for premium engineering, reliability, and precision, while also gaining new customers at an impressive pace. As part of its logistics and processing portfolio, the company also offers advanced automation solutions. These include automated assembly lines, as well as transport robots (AGVs) designed to move products efficiently throughout the production environment.

Here to stay
Now, after riding out a few seasons of economic fluctuations, the company is here to stay. To mark the decision, it welcomed existing and prospective customers to the opening of its smart new 30,000-square-foot headquarters at 5131 Apple Creek Parkway in Dallas, North Carolina, toward the end of last year.

Offering 26,000 square feet of manufacturing space, this state-of-the-art facility houses all the functionality the company needs to significantly expand its presence across the continent over the next decade or so. The new facility is complete with a fully equipped pump testing and repair division, KNOLL has become the go-to for high-performance chip management operations in need of equipment that works the first time and works for the long term.

“We have a new test system where we can make sure everything is functioning to the highest standard before we ship it to the customer,” says Justin Viner, Director of Sales.

A game changer
The team has been busy innovating. Its recently introduced solution is a high-pressure booster trolley, custom-developed for a U.S.-based, German OEM. The machine promises to be a game changer, especially for tooling operations. This technology enables smoother tooling operations by improving chip evacuation, cycle times, and output, helping end users significantly increase revenue.

Another solution is based on a range of filtration options, what the company refers to as a bypass solution. The concept is deceptively simple in its brilliance. Traditional filters typically allow a certain percentage of fine particles to pass through filters, forming sludge that potentially reenters machining centers, causing issues like tool guide damage and tool blockages due to contaminated oil or coolant. To prevent this, end users are typically forced to manually drain such systems annually—sometimes even more often.

To remove this common pain point, one of the solutions cleans coolant through a centrifuge before returning it to the system—all without losing functional uptime. “As a result, there is no production downtime, no manual stop, no manual cleaning, and we increase the quality of the oil or coolant in the clean tanks, which improves machining quality,” explains Lothar Burger, Chief Executive Officer.

Next-generation offerings
Another exciting arrival is the Click.it, a new device set to revolutionize time management in fabrication and storage facilities with fantastic potential for other industries as well.

Click.it provides a digital-human interface designed with a set of buttons, each of which is programmed to communicate an individual instruction or request to a specific source via phone call, text, or email, for the ordering of everything from parts at workstations to the office supplies. As a scalable system that can have as many units as needed for an organization, the next-generation Click.it saves time, improves workflows, eases communication, and ultimately boosts productivity and bottom lines.

The system can also be integrated into enterprise resource planning to generate routine instructions, making waste removal, bulk material ordering, and a host of other functions a cinch. “Every time you click the button, it saves valuable time that would have been verbal communication and a possible walk. Over a year, that’s a lot of time,” says Viner.

The company’s purchasing options are equally convenient. With certain equipment, it has lease and rent-to-buy options making the cost of ownership easy to manage, KNOLL America has all bases covered for prospective buyers. “Most people who rent just buy it once they see the positive performance,” Burger shares. As KNOLL prides itself on always doing better, it is already developing the product further, adding predictive AI messaging.

KNOLL America is committed to advancing production, service, and customer support through innovative digital solutions. “We are actively investing in technologies that make our equipment smarter, more connected, and more autonomous. As part of this initiative, we are exploring the development of a dedicated KNOLL AI Assistant designed to support both employees and customers. This assistant will enhance interactions with our products, simplify troubleshooting, and provide real-time guidance across our equipment portfolio.”

Together, these efforts mark a significant step toward a smarter, more efficient, and user‑centric future for KNOLL America.

“AI has its pros and cons, but we’re working on the pros, which can make life easier and give us easy access to information,” Burger explains. He also notes that by harnessing this new technology, the company will greatly enhance its communication strategy internally and externally.

Going for growth
Looking at its development as a business, KNOLL America’s continued customer-focused approach through its marketing and sales teams is reaping the desired rewards. And with efforts invested in getting its name—and its offerings—out into the world, growth has been inevitable. “We have a stronger online presence,” says Andrea Guzman, International Relations and Marketing, noting that KNOLL’s regular participation at the International Manufacturing Trade Show has also brought new opportunities.

Since its inception, the company’s culture has evolved significantly. “With the new team and the changes we’ve implemented, we have a completely different culture within the company now—one that is far more customer-focused,” Burger says.

As part of this overhaul, KNOLL America now maintains a significantly larger parts inventory now that it has expanded storage capacity. “When the customer keeps their experts on the machine side and uses our expertise on the chip management side, they get the best of both worlds,” Burger continues.

Apprenticing for the future
KNOLL America’s apprenticeship program focuses on personalized training while preserving intergenerational knowledge.

KNOLL’s most recent candidate graduated in 2025 following an IT apprenticeship. In this case, the three-year training program has resulted in her appointment as the company’s IT support technician. The company’s next apprentice will be enrolled this year. Collaborating with Gaston College means that other employees can also improve their skills part-time, while the company uses the college as an extension of its educational facilities for training in crane safety, OSHA, basic electronics, and other standard courses.

While the two-and-a-half to three-year apprenticeship program may seem foreign in an American context, generations of German skilled workers have successfully trained this way, demonstrating its effectiveness. Students complete 1,600 hours of part-time community college coursework in trade theory, combined with hands-on practical training during the rest of the workweek. “You become book smart while you learn with your hands. Early on, you become an expert in the products the company makes,” Burger says.

Upon completing 8,000 hours of combined classroom and hands-on training, apprentices graduate as entry-level professionals. The program covers tuition, and apprentices earn a salary with full benefits, including 401(k) and health coverage, while they learn.

The company’s expectation of the apprentice is to be committed and exceptional at what they do. “Our goal is to ensure apprentices reach their full potential,” Burger explains. “We provide the best training to cultivate the best professionals.”

Building stability
This approach allows young professionals to immerse themselves in the company’s culture while gaining a solid understanding of its systems and operational standards. Over time, they develop expertise in specialized areas and learn to navigate the unique demands of each customer, helping the company remain agile and responsive in a dynamic market.

By supporting employee growth and higher education, KNOLL has maintained an exceptionally stable workforce at its European branches for over four decades, with many employees’ children choosing to follow in their parents’ footsteps.

“In America, the culture often revolves around ‘hire and fire,’” Burger explains. “That’s not our approach—we invest in the people we develop rather than making decisions solely for shareholder value.” As a family-owned company, this philosophy has helped KNOLL remain stable during economic challenges, supported by a loyal, long-term workforce that maintains continuity and operational steadiness.

Developing a resilient and skilled workforce is critical as KNOLL expands its capacity to serve the growing North American market. Burger is encouraged that the industry’s gradual adoption of this apprenticeship model could lead to broader improvements in operational standards.

Caring for its people
KNOLL’s commitment to its staff extends beyond job security and competitive compensation. The company allows a day for community volunteering, and its diverse team—drawn from multiple states and countries—fosters an open, collaborative culture that emphasizes healthy workplace relationships. “We often discuss how easy it is to speak to management. You can be yourself—your authentic self. It makes communication much easier,” says Guzman.

“What we are building now is for the future. We are looking at the next 40 years,” Burger emphasizes. By ensuring that the company understands what the market wants, it can focus on investing in further education and training to ensure that everyone stays at the top of their game as volumes and demand increase.

Burger emphasizes that in a rapidly evolving market, staying agile must remain central to the company’s strategy. “Complacency is not an option,” he says. “We strive to remain at the forefront and constantly monitor performance to ensure we meet our clients’ needs.”

With its clear focus on local markets and industry-leading solutions, KNOLL America is here to stay.

The post American Strength, International Power<p class="company">Knoll America Inc.</p> appeared first on Manufacturing In Focus.

Founded in 1996, Columbia/Okura emerged from a deliberate partnership between two fourth-generation, family-owned companies: Columbia Machine of Vancouver, Washington, and Okura Yusoki of Kakogawa, Japan. At the time, robotic palletizing was just beginning to gain traction in North America. Columbia Machine had decades of experience with conventional palletizers, while Okura Yusoki had developed an articulated robotic arm designed specifically for palletizing. The joint venture was created to unite those strengths and bring purpose-built robotic palletizing to a market that was just beginning to understand its potential.

“The joint venture was formed in 1996,” says Michael Stuyvesant, Director of Sales and Marketing at Columbia/Okura. “It was a combining of two now-fourth-generation family-owned companies, and the values and the relationship made for a strong foundation.” That foundation was technical, but also cultural. Okura’s four-axis robotic arm was designed solely for palletizing, a distinction that set it apart from general-purpose industrial robots adapted for end-of-line use.

For Columbia, the partnership provided a path into robotic automation without losing sight of its deep understanding of palletizing applications. For Okura Yusoki, it created an entry point into the North American market through a trusted, established partner.

From the outset, Columbia/Okura was not trying to be everything to everyone. The company’s focus was clear: end-of-line automation, with palletizing at the core. Over time, however, what that focus meant in practice expanded significantly. In its early years, Columbia/Okura systems were typically single-line, stack-on-floor robotic palletizing cells primarily in agriculture. Over the past three decades, those systems have evolved into fully integrated end-of-line solutions that extend well beyond palletizing and into a wider range of industries including industrial products, food and beverage, and pharmaceuticals.

Today, Columbia/Okura designs and delivers systems that integrate conveyors, sortation, product validation, stretch wrapping, bagging equipment, and increasingly, autonomous material movement. “We started with just simple stack-on-floor robotic palletizing systems,” Stuyvesant explains. “Those have evolved into complete, fully integrated systems where we’re tying in with other pieces of automation equipment and automating the process all the way through the end of production.”

That evolution reflects broader changes across manufacturing. As labor availability tightened, product variation increased, and expectations around uptime and safety grew more stringent, customers began looking for solutions that could do more than simply stack product. They needed systems that could adapt, communicate upstream and downstream, and operate reliably over decades rather than years.

Columbia/Okura responded by strengthening its role as a systems integrator while maintaining a disciplined scope; this evolution is most visible in the launch of the dynaPAL^® product line, the company’s industrial robotic solutions. Rather than branching into unrelated automation domains, the company focused on complementary technologies that directly support end-of-line performance. A key milestone in that expansion came in 2017, when Columbia/Okura formed a partnership with STATEC BINDER to supply bagging equipment in the United States. For a company whose early growth was rooted in bag palletizing, the ability to integrate bagging upstream created new value for customers seeking a single partner from fill to pallet.

At the same time, advances in robotics were opening new opportunities at the other end of the spectrum. In 2019, Columbia/Okura introduced its miniPAL^® system, which uses a collaborative robot rather than a traditional industrial arm. Designed for lighter products, lower production rates, and smaller footprints, miniPAL^® allowed the company to bring robotic palletizing into environments that previously could not justify the space, guarding, or cost of conventional systems.

“What collaborative means is it’s a robot that’s designed to work in collaboration with humans,” Stuyvesant explains. “You don’t necessarily have the big physical guards, and operators can interact with the process without stopping everything.”

This approach reflects a broader shift in manufacturing automation, where flexibility and human-machine collaboration are becoming just as important as throughput. Columbia/Okura’s systems now regularly integrate collaborative robots, industrial robots, autonomous mobile robots, and automated guided vehicles into unified end-of-line architectures. In many installations, mobile robots have replaced fixed conveyors, allowing pallet movement between palletizing cells and warehouses to adapt dynamically as production needs change.

As systems have grown more complex, safety has remained a constant priority—not only a regulatory requirement for Columbia/Okura, but one of the company’s core values, alongside flexibility, integrity, reliability, and accountability. That emphasis is reflected in both system design and internal culture.

All Columbia/Okura systems are built to meet or exceed applicable A3, OSHA, and ISO standards, with Category 3 compliance as a baseline. Each system undergoes a formal risk assessment, and customers are encouraged to conduct site-specific assessments to ensure proper integration within their facilities. Physical guarding, Electro-Sensitive Protective Equipment (ESPE), and trap-key systems are designed to prevent access to energized equipment, while newer technologies such as radar-assisted safety monitoring enhance protection in collaborative environments.

On systems like miniPAL^®, safety scanners detect intrusion into defined zones while radar technology assesses the surrounding area before allowing the system to return to full operational speed. These layered safeguards are designed not only to meet standards, but to support real-world use cases where operators and automation must coexist efficiently.

Beyond technology, safety is reinforced through organizational structure and accountability. With just over 80 employees in the joint venture, Columbia/Okura operates as a tightly connected organization spanning marketing, sales, applications engineering, mechanical and controls engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and service. The company’s service team supports a large installed base with 24/7 availability, ensuring that customers are not left to manage issues alone once systems are commissioned.

That long-term commitment is one reason many Columbia/Okura customers return time and time again. Some relationships date back to the company’s earliest installations, including a robotic palletizer sold and installed in 1996 that remained in operation until 2019. When the original system was finally replaced, the customer returned to Columbia/Okura for its next generation of automation.

“Our systems are in place for decades,” Stuyvesant notes. “That doesn’t happen if we’re not partnered with the customer throughout their journey.”

Partnership, in this context, goes beyond equipment delivery. Columbia/Okura offers structured ramp-up programs for new customers, ongoing training, and responsive service to support facilities as their production needs evolve. While repeat customers still account for a significant portion of business, the venture has also expanded into new industries and applications as its technology portfolio has grown.

Internally, Columbia/Okura prioritizes long-term investment in its people, a commitment reflected in an average employee tenure of 10 years and a tuition reimbursement program that facilitates career growth from shop floor roles to engineering and applications positions. This emphasis on stability and professional development is reinforced by a culture of transparency and open communication. By pairing an open-door management approach with these growth opportunities, the company maintains a workplace environment built on mutual trust, accountability, and a clear strategic direction.

Nicholas Shiraishi, Marketing Coordinator at Columbia/Okura, highlights the company’s commitment to workforce development beyond its own walls. “We support FIRST^® robotics programs,” he says. “It’s an organization that introduces kids to robotics early, and we sponsor several local teams.”

Through its involvement with FIRST^® and participation in industry programs such as The PMMI U Skills Fund, Columbia/Okura contributes to the development of future manufacturing and automation talent. Charitable donations made through these programs are often matched, extending the company’s impact within the broader community.

As manufacturing continues to evolve, Columbia/Okura faces many of the same challenges as its customers. Packaging materials are changing, product variability is increasing, and sustainability expectations are becoming more complex. While the company does not position itself as a sustainability solutions provider, it takes steps to minimize waste in its own operations, returning test product where possible, supporting donations, and avoiding unnecessary landfill disposal.

Ultimately, Columbia/Okura’s value proposition rests on clarity of purpose. Rather than chasing every emerging trend, the company continues to refine what it does best: designing and delivering safe, reliable, future-ready end-of-line automation systems. “We’re more than just an automation provider,” Stuyvesant says. “We’re a trusted partner dedicated to transforming businesses through safe, reliable, and innovative end-of-line solutions.”

As the company approaches its 30^th anniversary, that message carries weight. Three decades of operation in industrial automation is not simply a measure of longevity, but of relevance. Columbia/Okura’s history reflects an ability to adapt without losing focus, to integrate new technologies without abandoning core principles, and to build systems and relationships designed to last.

With a growing portfolio of integrated solutions, a strong culture of safety and accountability, and a proven record of customer trust, Columbia/Okura enters its fourth decade positioned not as a legacy brand, but as an active participant in the next phase of manufacturing automation.

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