Fabtech - Manufacturing Today

Transcription

158.
152
160.
manufacturing-today.com SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014
166.
154. Alliance Manufacturing
156. Nippon Sharyo U.S.A.
158. Guspro
160. OMCO Inc.
162. SAS Automation
164. Radyne
166. BTD
Fabtech
ONGOING
RESURGENCE
fabtech heads to atlanta in november, ready to show the continued
strength of the north american manufacturing market with one of
the industry’s largest events.
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This past spring, FABTECH Canada saw record attendance with
increased exhibitors and floor space, resulting in a high volume of
sales. In November, the organizers expect to see more of the same - and
more proof that the manufacturing industry is powering back - when
FABTECH opens its doors in Atlanta.
North America’s largest metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing event is expected to attract more than
27,000 attendees, as well as 1,400 exhibiting companies to
the Georgia World Congress Center on November 11-13.
This year, FABTECH exhibits will include live equipment
demonstrations, offering visitors the opportunity to see,
touch and compare products side-by-side, as well as find
cost-saving solutions.
Special events at FABTECH 2014 will include: a keynote
presentation on “Creating U.S. Jobs and Bringing Manufacturing Back Home” by Walmart Vice President for U.S.
Manufacturing Cindi Marsiglio; a special panel discussion
on “Bridging the Manufacturing Skills Gap with Veterans”
to be held on Veterans Day (Nov. 11); a keynote speech by
former Pittsburgh Steeler great Rocky Bleier; and a special
FABTECH Industry Night at the new College Football Hall
of Fame in Atlanta.
This year’s FABTECH comes during the continued resurgence of manufacturing in the United States. Recent data
shows that manufacturers contributed $2.08 trillion to the
economy in 2013, up from $2.03 trillion in 2012. Offering
a one-stop shop to source the best products and services
from the United States and all over the world, FABTECH
is a resource to the continued growth of the sector.
“With 14 million pounds of equipment over 500,000 net
square feet of floor space, FABTECH 2014 will be more than
25 percent larger than it was in 2010, the last time the show
was held in Atlanta,” says John Catalano, show co-manager
at SME. “We’ve had record numbers of attendees at each of
our last two shows in Chicago and Las Vegas because there is
simply no better way to see new products and technologies
than at FABTECH.”
FABTECH also will host an educational program designed to enhance attendees’ careers and businesses.
“Beyond the world-class exhibits at this year’s show, attendees can add to their FABTECH experience by registering for more than 100 educational sessions and expert-led
presentations,” says Mark Hoper, show co-manager at
Fabricators & Manufacturers Association International.
“These sessions have become extremely popular, so we
encourage attendees to sign up early if they are interested in learning more about the latest industry trends and
technology in the metal forming, fabricating, welding and
finishing industries.” mt
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014 manufacturing-today.com
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Alliance Manufacturing
www.alliancemfginc.com / Employees: 30 / Specialty: Industrial parts-cleaning equipment / Jeff Brouchoud,
president: “Our employees take great pride in our products and have helped us keep our customers coming back.”
Big
Splash
alliance comes full circle
to where it made its debut.
by jennifer hopfinger
It was 20 years ago that industrial parts-cleaning equipment
maker Alliance Manufacturing first
attended the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS)
in Chicago. Alliance Manufacturing was a brand-new startup then,
freshly spun off from Damrow Company Inc. only a few months before.
Now, two decades later, Alliance
Manufacturing is attending IMTS
again this September, but this time,
as a strong, mature leader in its industry. “We had our 20th anniversary in May, and now, attending this
year’s IMTS, it feels like we’re circling back to the beginning,” President Jeff Brouchoud says.
At its first show in 1994, the company made its debut, displaying the
first generation of the Aquamaster
line, a conveyorized parts-cleaning
system. The design was a hit, and
Alliance Manufacturing secured orders for several machines by yearend as a result.
“IMTS is the largest machine tool
show in the United States, and over
the years we’ve continued to generate many leads [there],” Brouchoud
says. “The exposure we get there has
always been great because it’s an opportunity to meet with customers
and talk about applications.”
Water-Based Cleaning
Alliance Manufacturing specializes
in the engineering and manufacturing of aqueous-based parts-clean154
alliance manufacturing’s
equipment cleans components
such as machined castings and
returnable dunnage.
ing equipment for industrial
parts-cleaning applications. Its
equipment is used to clean a multitude of components, from machined
castings to returnable dunnage, and
is an environmentally safe alternative to solvent-based systems.
“There’s been a huge debate
over solvents because they’re detrimental to the environment, and
there’s been a trend of people
moving away from them,” Vice
President Ken Manninen says.
“Solvents are also more expensive
because of regulation, so environmentally friendly options, such
as water-based cleaning systems,
have become very appealing.”
Part cleanliness is an important
consideration in most product manufacturing and plays a crucial role
in rust prevention, paint adhesion,
assembly, packaging and end use. By
removing chips, oils and foreign debris, the quality of the end-product
can be greatly increased.
Alliance Manufacturing
“Everything that is manufactured has to be cleaned,
sometimes multiples times before being assembled and
before going to the customer,” Brouchoud says.
After that first IMTS show, Alliance Manufacturing
took off. In 1995, it completed construction of a new facility – its current location – in Fond du Lac, Wis.
Brouchoud and Manninen had worked at Damrow
together and led the effort to spin off Damrow’s new
industrial cleaning equipment product line into its
own company.
Alliance Manufacturing has developed a full line
of conveyorized parts-cleaning equipment, including
belt washers, rotary drum washers, monorail and indexing-type systems. The company has designed several return-to-operator systems, compact cell washers for lean manufacturing and custom-engineered
parts-cleaning equipment for specific applications.
“We have standard products, but they are application-driven,” Brouchoud says. “If you have a need, we’ll
try to assess if we have something that fits and we will
customize to accommodate.”
About 50 machines are produced a year, and they typically take 12 to 26 weeks to make. There are 10 product
lines from which machines can be custom-built.
The company has expanded its original facility to accommodate growth in the business, and another expansion is in the works. Alliance Manufacturing is continually investing in new and updated equipment.
Alliance Manufacturing washers are used to clean
components for automotive, agriculture, aircraft, appliance, battery, construction, defense, electronic, screw
machine, furniture, heavy equipment, houseware, marine equipment, small engine, pharmaceutical, medical
and other industries.
Fabtech
core business,” Manninen says. “So we’re differentiating
that with a different booth.”
CleanParts.com parts-cleaning equipment is economically priced cabinet washers that are available for purchase, lease or rent. Most models are easily modified to
add accessories and available for quick delivery. CleanParts.com manufactures standard design aqueous
parts-cleaning systems.
After two decades in business, Brouchoud says he is
most proud of starting from nothing and growing the
company into what it is today – and of the close relationships the company has developed with our customers,
employees and suppliers along the way. “Our customers
have allowed us to achieve steady growth over the years
and we appreciate the business. Our employees take
great pride in our products and have helped us keep our
customers coming back. In regard to our vendors, we’ve
been with some of them since day one,” he says. “We
work with a core group of about 100 – there are a lot of
nuts and bolts that go into what we do.” mt
New Features
IMTS dates back to 1927 and is the largest manufacturing technology tradeshow in North America. The sixday event is held in even-number years at Chicago’s McCormick Place and draws more than 100,000 attendees
from 120 countries. It is an important exhibition for
suppliers of machinery and related technologies.
Alliance Manufacturing hasn’t missed IMTS since its
first one. The company will have two booths, as it has
for the last six shows. One of the booths will showcase
CleanParts.com, a division of Alliance Manufacturing
that offers off-the-shelf parts-cleaning equipment.
“CleanParts.com caters to a different market than our
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Nippon Sharyo U.S.A.
www.nipponsharyousa.com / Headquarters: Arlington Heights, Ill., / Employees: 500 / Specialty:
Passenger rail car manufacturing / Kevin Koyasu, president: “We didn’t think we would grow this rapidly.”
Home-Made
nippon sharyo expands
its operations to meet
the growing demands of
customers. by jamie morgan
An aware business can predict
where the market is going. A smart
business gets there before the market does. Two years ago, Nippon
Sharyo U.S.A. rightly saw that the
“Buy American” trend in the United
States was a growing force. Nippon
Sharyo U.S.A., which is the North
American division of the Japan-based
company, has been supplying passenger rail cars (locomotive hauled and
self-propelled) to commuter rail operations since 1982. Until two years
ago, however, the U.S. headquarters
in Arlington Heights, Ill., primarily
served as a project manager. Carbody
shells were manufactured by its parent company in Japan and assembled
via third-party North American contractors. In 2012, that all changed.
The majority of Nippon Sharyo
U.S.A.’s contracts are with government agencies, such as transit
authorities and departments of
transportation. Many of its clients’
contracts require their passenger
rail cars use a certain percentage of
American materials and are assembled in America.
“There has been discussion in
the government to increase the
percentages of Buy America,” says
President Kevin Koyasu. “Because
we have large contracts with organizations such as Chicago Metra, we
thought it was a good opportunity
for us to open our own production
facility so that we can be more competitive and comply with any contractual requirements.”
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president of nippon sharyo
u.s.a. kevin koyasu says that
the company has opened
three shops in two years.
Two years ago, Nippon Sharyo
opened a 436,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, divided into shop
one and shop two, to conduct its carbody assembly, final assembly and
quality testing in-house. The facility
came in time to deliver on a major
contract with Chicago Metra, which
contracted Nippon Sharyo U.S.A. in
2010 to manufacture 160 cars. The
first 80 carbodies where manufactured in Japan and assembled in Rochelle, Ill. The next 80 cars, howev-
er, will be manufactured at Nippon
Sharyo’s recently expanded facility.
More Space Required
“In June 2014 we opened shop three,
which is another facility next to our
existing Rochelle building,” Koyasu
says. “In this new facility we have
the capability to produce various
parts and components from scratch.
We buy raw materials from U.S.
mills and we cut, bend, fabricate
and weld the components here. So
Nippon Sharyo U.S.A.
we now have the ability to build everything from scratch to meet 100 percent Buy America.”
The company never planned on following up with a third facility so soon,
but in analyzing market demand, it
decided a second expansion was a prudent decision.
“Around the same time of winning
the Chicago contract we won another
contract for 130 bi-level cars for California and Illinois,” Koyasu says.
The Right Resources
Over the past two years, Nippon Sharyo
U.S.A. expanded its workforce to include sales, engineering, tests, inspecting and manufacturing and went from
30 employees to 500. The third shop
has opened up another 90 positions for
professionals skilled in welding, press
brake operating, laser cutting and spot
welding. Lots of spot welding.
“The cars we are building for Chicago Metra are assembled by spot welding,” Koyasu says. “One car will have
over 50,000 spot welds.”
Koyasu says that investing in its
workforce and technology is crucial
to meeting the sophisticated requirements of today’s transportation industry, especially when it comes to safety.
“The regulatory requirements
around safety are getting bigger and
bigger,” Koyasu says. “Our recent
model of B&E units for California and
Canada have a crash energy management feature that acts as a shock-absorbing mechanism in a worst-case
event, such as a crash. We have also
Fabtech
designed new features to comply with
the American Disabilities Act.”
The North American market has responded to Nippon Sharyo U.S.A.’s
deepening commitment to the region
with contract after contract. “When
we built our new facility in 2012, we
didn’t think we would grow this rapidly,” Koyasu says. “But back then we
didn’t have as many contracts as we
have right now.” mt
The Morse Group Since 1944, The Morse Group has
provided customers with incomparable value through
services performed at the highest standards of quality
to uphold the trust of their clients. Together with its
subsidiaries, The Morse Group brings contracting services
to provide entire turnkey project solutions or individual
electrical contracting needs. The Morse Group is proud
to support Nippon Sharyo’s initiatives “to create product
lines that meet the needs of the ecological new century,
and continue to work hard to preserve the trust of existing
clients as well as to gain wider acceptance in society.” For
more information visit www.themorsegroup.com.
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Guspro
www.guspro.com / Headquarters: Chatham, Ontario / Employees: 45
Brian Sunnen, vice president: “Specialty customers have been a growth market for us.”
this heat-cleaning oven has
an inside dimension that is
more than 34 feet long.
Burn Off
guspro produces a hot line of ovens that strip
coatings off industrial equipment. by russ gager
Cleaning industrial equipment
such as the hooks, racks and fixtures
used on painting lines can be environmentally challenging if solvents
or blasting pellets are used to clean
them. But another option is to burn
off the hydrocarbon-based coatings
using a process called controlled pyrolysis. The resulting emissions are
mainly carbon dioxide and water,
and the waste product is an ash that
requires no special disposal.
Guspro’s Bayco division manufactures a line of heat-cleaning ovens
that are produced for automotive
rebuilders, who bake off grease and
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other hydrocarbons from engine
blocks and cylinders; electric motor
rebuilders, who strip the insulation
off used motors before winding new
copper wire on them; and in cleaning scrap and recycled metals such
as aluminum.
“There’s a lot of different applications,” Vice President Brian Sunnen reports. “We hear about more
and more. Specialty customers have
been a growth market for us.”
The heat-cleaning ovens have two
chambers. The object to be cleaned
is placed in the first chamber and
heated to 600 to 800 F, depending
on the application. In the absence
of oxygen, the hydrocarbons on
the surface decompose, and the
resulting fumes are then directed
into a second chamber. This oxidizer chamber is oxygen-rich and
heated to between 1,400 and 1,600
F, where combustion converts the
hydrocarbons into harmless carbon
dioxide and water.
Oven sizes start at 2-foot cubes
but can grow to almost any custom size. The company is currently
building one with an inside dimension that is more than 34 feet long.
“We have 18 standard models, but
50 percent of what we do are custom sizes or have other special requirements,” Sunnen estimates.
“Even the standard models often
have options associated with them
that don’t dictate an assembly-line
Guspro
type of production model. Every order tends to be
slightly different. That’s where our enterprise software
really helps with the scheduling and procurement.”
Besides cleaning ovens, Guspro’s Blademaster division also manufactures equipment and supplies to
sharpen ice skating blades, and its Ice King division –
which Guspro recently acquired – manufactures equipment to prepare rink ice for the Olympic sport of curling.
Manufacturing this variety of products is complex.
“Between our four divisions, we have our database of
over 40,000 parts,” Operations Manager Paul Pecoraro
calculates. “Twenty thousand of those are active parts.”
He explains that Guspro works on up to 1,500 different
work orders at any given time and schedules up to 2,000
operations every three months. That schedule is modified on a daily basis.
A Great Move
Manufacturing efficiency received a sizable boost two
years ago when the company relocated to an existing factory building with a 15-ton crane in an 80-foot by 200foot crane bay with a 40-foot ceiling. Guspro had been in
its previous factory for nearly 50 years.
“It was a five-story building with a 100-year-old elevator,” Pecoraro recalls. “It was an extreme nightmare to
try to schedule and get production completed. You had
restrictions from the size of the elevator.”
“The move gave us a lot of flexibility, and since the
move, we’ve pushed about 40 percent more manufactured product through what ultimately is a smaller
space,” Sunnen points out. “The old facility was about
80,000 square feet. We’re only using 75,000 square feet
of the 100,000 square feet right now.”
Fabtech
state or province in which the oven will be located for the
customer while the oven is being manufactured. In most
cases, such permitting can require several months.
Guspro has a service department that can repair and
refurbish its heat-cleaning ovens, some of which have
been running with proper care and maintenance for 40
years, Sunnen maintains.
Founded in 1932, Guspro is in its fourth generation of
family management and third generation of family ownership. During the 2009 recession, like many companies,
Guspro had to make some significant cuts to its workforce to remain in business.
“We had to figure out ways to work smarter and more
efficiently on a day-to-day basis to be more profitable,”
Pecoraro remembers.
“We had to adapt a lot and change to survive,” Sunnen
adds. “You can’t do any of that without your employees.
We’re very fortunate to have had a lot of skilled people
over those 82 years and have a fantastic crew here at Guspro today.” mt
Manufacturing Processes
Very little is outsourced in Guspro’s manufacturing processes. For its ovens, raw material is cut in-house, then
welded into sections, painted in a new 52-foot booth and
sent to final assembly, where the refractory material is
poured on the floor like concrete and takes one to two
days to harden and cure. Then the electrical control
panels, wiring and other components to drive the system are installed.
Cleaning ovens are not kept in stock except for use at
conventions or for demonstration. Depending on their
size, the ovens can take from six to 18 weeks to deliver
from the time they are ordered. Once an oven is ordered,
Guspro assists with any regulatory clearances from the
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OMCO Inc.
www.omcoform.com / HQ: Wickliffe, Ohio / Employees: 500 / Specialty: Roll forming
/ Gary Schuster, CEO: “We are pretty optimistic about the Southeast.”
Roll Forming
omco has acquired a new manufacturing site in the southeast so its facilities
are now strategically located across the united states. by jeff borgardt
with its new acquisition,
omco is adding broad metal
fabrication capabilities to
its roll forming expertise.
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OMCO Inc. is expanding its operations and adding new capacity in
the southeastern United States. The
largest manufacturer of custom roll
formed parts in the United States,
OMCO announced on Aug. 20 the
purchase of Weaver & Sons Inc., located in Talladega, Ala.
The acquisition adds a broad
scope of metal fabrication capabilities to OMCO’s already significant
roll forming expertise while also
providing OMCO with a manufacturing presence in a critical region.
“We just closed on the acquisition,” President and CEO Gary
Schuster says. “We think there is a
lot of synergy, especially in our sales
organizations. We are pretty optimistic about the Southeast.”
Weaver & Sons’ management remains in place.
“We are very fortunate to have
new ownership which brings a
bright future and shares some of
the same goals of continued growth
and stability for the company,” says
Dyron Overton, owner and general
manager of Weaver & Sons. “It was
extremely important for the future
of the company to be secured for our
employees and customers. We are
excited about the growth opportunities and the enhanced range of steel
fabrications that will be offered to a
broader base of customers.”
Weaver & Sons was founded in
1945 by George Lynn Weaver, a decorated World War II veteran and
prisoner of war who returned home
and established the company with
OMCO Inc.
his brother Martin D. Weaver Jr. and their father, Martin
D. Weaver Sr. In 1989, George Lynn Weaver’s daughter
Lily and her husband Dyron Overton moved to Talladega
to join Weaver & Sons.
Southwest Solar
OMCO made a big splash with its most recent expansion
into the Southwest and had been researching a move
into the Southeast for more than a year, Schuster says.
OMCO had already been doing a brisk business in the region. It expects to increase this still further with lower
freight costs and a local labor force.
When it moved into the Southwest in 2009, it joined
the booming solar power market. “We’ve been very successful in the Southwest solar market,” Schuster says.
Schuster sees the market expanding nationally with
more, albeit smaller projects.
“California is ahead of all states in the market,”
Schuster says. OMCO has succeeded in the solar marketplace for several reasons. One is good timing: It
entered the solar market at its infancy and grew along
with the booming sector. Another is its “ability to deploy significant manufacturing resources in a short period of time,” he says.
“We think it is going to continue strongly for the foreseeable future,” Schuster says. “There are government
incentives to support it. There are massive projects in the
Southwest. What we see going forward are smaller projects, but more of them. They might not be as big but will be
more geographically dispersed throughout the nation.”
OMCO has four manufacturing facilities in the United
States that total more than 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space, with more than 50 active roll forming mills
and more than 50 presses, as well as dozens of other metalworking operations.
Fabtech
One challenge is educating domestic manufacturers
about roll forming, which remains lesser known than
other specialties. As OMCO does so, however, sales opportunities only increase. In fact, the company is expanding internationally for the first time with major projects
underway in Chile, Puerto Rico and Australia. mt
omco has four manufacturing
facilities with more than 50
active roll forming mills.
Diversified for Success
A decade ago, OMCO was primarily serving the semi-trailer and truck manufacturing industry. It then launched a
diversification strategy and expanded into hot new markets, such as solar.
Schuster notes the roll forming market is most developed in the advanced engineering economies of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and to a lesser extent in
North America. Yet, it offers “extremely cost-effective
solutions for complex shapes,” he says. In addition, there
is little domestic or offshore competition. Roll forming
also requires fewer personnel and more automation.
161
SAS Automation
www.sas-automation.com / HQ: Xenia, Ohio / Employees: 30 / Specialty: Robotic end-of-arm tooling
/ Rob Dalton, general manager: “Business is very good.”
Robotic Automation Prowess
sas sets the standard for unique robotic end-of-arm tooling. by jeff borgardt
sas automation’s top market
is plastic injection molding.
its equipment also removes
excess plastic from parts.
During its 18 years in business,
SAS Automation has seen an increase in demand for its end-of-arm
tooling offerings.
The Ohio company designs, builds
and services end-of-arm tooling
for all makes and models of robots
across North America, Europe,
South America and Asia.
SAS Automation also supplies
modular component-based end-ofarm tooling and gripper systems
for a variety of manufacturing and
distribution industries, including
automotive, plastics, palletizing,
food, and press tending.
162
The company began in Ohio and
has since established sales offices
in Germany and China. It also sells
through distributors in the Czech
Republic, Poland, England, Russia,
and other European countries.
Its top market is plastic injection
molding. “We design and build lightweight, component-based tooling
for the extraction of plastic parts
from molding machines,” says Rob
Dalton, general manager. The company also provides equipment for
the removal of excess plastic from
the edge of parts and other industry-related equipment.
Nearly half of the company’s sales
are composed of off-the-shelf endof-arm tool components for integrators and end-users to build their own
tools. These parts range from extruded aluminum tubing and brackets, to grippers, cutters and vacuum
cups and are sold individually and in
kit form, Dalton explains.
SAS Automation also provides
a full line of palletizing tools used
for handling bags, cartons, drums
or sheet metal. This includes a wide
variety of industries handling product such as bags of potatoes, mulch,
rock salt or nearly any product in
SAS Automation
Fabtech
Eco Friendly
SAS Automation launched a green initiative to do its part to help improve
the economy. It is manufacturing its
product to be even more environmentally friendly to reduce carbon
footprints and conserve energy.
It has installed a 222-panel, 51.2kw
solar array to its headquarters
building, as well. “It has worked out
very well,” Dalton says of the array.
“It has taken only three-and-a-half
years to recoup the investment and
has reduced our electricity usage by
one-third.”
Case Study
sas automation’s strategy for
growth involves expanding into
new markets and geographic areas.
a carton. The equipment provides
another valuable function. “It prevents a lot of injuries,” Dalton explains. “One robot can be used
rather than several guys picking up
heavy sheets of metal.”
SAS Automation’s equipment for
the commercial baking industry requires greater precision. Tooling
is used to lift baked goods out of
their conveyor-based pans, index
product configuration and then deposit product into moving shipping
containers. For example, SAS Automation designed and manufactured
this type of tool to de-pan 144 sizeable muffins every 12 seconds for a
large Canadian customer.
SAS Automation’s business strategy focuses on increasing diversification. This adds more business besides plastic injection molding for
automobile dashboards, steering
wheels and window trim. This focus
over the past five years has added
strength in other sectors, as well.
“Business is very good,” Dalton
says. “We have grown about $1 million per year since 2010 and we are
looking to continue that growth.”
SAS Automation’s strategy for
continued growth includes adding
more geographic and product markets to the mix, Dalton says. For
example, the company is currently
selling tooling well in South America. Its Shanghai office is another
key growth metric with the demand for robotics in China surging along with its overall economy.
“That is the biggest growth market
for us,” Dalton says. “If you look
at the market growth for robot installations, China is consistently
earmarked as the fastest-growing
market so we have set up a sales
office and are distributing there.”
The company’s biggest challenge is creating name recognition
abroad, so SAS partners with locals.
Once SAS Automation has the opportunity to demonstrate its capabilities, “the product speaks for itself,” Dalton says.
Ram Mechanical Services Inc. of
Carol Stream, Ill., is a SAS Automation client for robotic material handling cells that palletize cases and
handle trays.
“It was important to seek out a
partner who backs up their work,”
said Glen Langstaff, chief operating
officer and vice president for Ram
Mechanical. “[SAS] took the time to
understand the needs at the beginning of the process and were open
to collaborating.”
Previously, Ram Mechanical developed and fabricated end-of-arm
tooling in-house, but after more
than a decade, it needed to lower its
product cost to customers and improve reliability.
“The results have justified our
decision to team up with SAS,”
Langstaff explained in a statement.
“SAS has been doing this for a long
time, and that was part of what we
were buying.
“We don’t have the same collective experience SAS does. We
are able to control our risk while
simultaneously lowering our cost
and that is a very attractive business opportunity.” mt
163
Radyne
www.radyne.com / HQ: Milwaukee /Specialty: Induction power supplies / Justin Mortimer, president: “Our
customers have a level of confidence, security and peace of mind when they work with the best in the industry.”
respected for its process
knowledge, raydyne also is
committed to building solid
relationships with customers.
Turn Up the Heat
radyne comes to fabtech with innovative induction
products and strong principles. by chris petersen
As the worldwide leader in the
design, manufacture and sale of advanced induction power supplies,
Radyne knows something about
turning up the heat, and the company is riding into FABTECH’s 2014
show in Atlanta with a hot hand.
President and CEO Justin Mortimer says the company continues to
lead the way in the industry with
the most innovative new products
on the market while simultaneously
holding true to the values and core
principles that have made it a success since the 1940s.
The company was founded short164
ly after World War II by a pair of
engineers who worked on developing the first radar systems during
the war. It was during that time
they discovered the effect high-frequency radio waves had on metals,
heating them without the need for
a heating element to come into contact with them. This made radio
waves an effective, efficient and
flexible means of heating metals,
conductive materials and many others such as plastics, sapphire, and
glass for manufacturing purposes,
and soon Radyne became a leading provider of induction heating
equipment. Three decades later, the
company opened its doors in the
United States for the first time.
Today, the Milwaukee-based Radyne specializes in equipment used
by manufacturers in a wide variety
of sectors, including mining, construction and aerospace. Mortimer
says the diversity of the company
provides it with one of its greatest
strengths, namely a level of stability
that protects Radyne against a downturn in any one sector. “We operate
in essentially every sector,” he says.
As Radyne gears up for FABTECH,
Mortimer says the company is excited to show off some of the latest
advancements it has made in its
technology. However, he adds that
no technology can take the place of
a strong leadership team and a commitment to customers.
Radyne
Strong Principles
In addition to the company’s engineering expertise and
global manufacturing base, Mortimer says some of the
company’s greatest strengths lie not on the drawing board
or on the production floor, but in the principles each employee embodies every day. First and foremost among
these is the company’s ownership structure, which Mortimer says provides Radyne with a strong foundation of
financial support to stand behind the services it offers
customers. “We’re privately held, and we have owners
who believe in being the best in the business,” he says.
That support allows Radyne to do what it does best,
Mortimer continues, which has earned it the respect of
the industry and its customers. “We’re trusted and respected for our process knowledge and our corporate
principles,” he says.
Among those principles is Radyne’s commitment to
building solid, long-term relationships with its customers. Mortimer says building and maintaining those
connections with customers is a primary focus for the
company. As part of the Inductotherm Group, Radyne’s
network of thousands of skilled employees worldwide
provide a strong base of knowledge to help customers
meet their induction needs. “Customers profit from our
team of professionals,” Mortimer says.
Radyne positions itself as the premium brand in induction heating equipment by providing its customers the
best total value through the quality of its products, services and the additional process engineering and automation support it offers. “Our customers have a level of
confidence, security and peace of mind when they choose
to work with the best in the industry,” Mortimer says.
Fabtech
response, expanded monitoring and integrated communications throughout their entire production line; not to
mention the cost savings due to lower cost of ownership
that Digital-iQ™ Control systems represent.
“Standardization allows us to purchase on a scale that
lets us bring more advanced features to a wider range of
products,” Mortimer says.
The Right Team
Looking ahead after the FABTECH show, Mortimer says
Radyne will be focused on recruiting and developing the
next generation of professionals to help it keep up with
the rapid growth it has experienced. He says the company expects its U.S. operations will export significantly
more globally in the near future, creating the need to put
the right people in place in production, service, sales and
engineering to support that business.
“We’ve built a great team and need to continue to grow
with a great team,” Mortimer says. “We are the elite force
in the industry.” mt
Continuous Improvement
Another of Radyne’s core principles is its dedication to
continuous improvement in its product line. Mortimer
says the company works to consistently incorporate advances in technology into its products, and its engineering knowledge base has made Radyne’s products some of
the best and most effective in the marketplace.
One of the most exciting new developments is its new
Digital-iQ™ Control systems for Induction Power Supplies. Mortimer says the new control software and electronics were designed to function in equipment of varying frequencies, something that had not been possible
before. Now one type of control design can be utilized
across multiple types of products, while providing customers with virtually unlimited programmability, faster
165
BTD
www.btdmfg.com/ HQ: Detroit Lakes, Minn. / Employees: About 950 / Specialty: Custom metalworking services
Chris Kambeitz, business development manager: “We’re always interested in getting into something new.”
Broad
Reach
btd’s vast capabilities
help it cope with economic
swings. by alan dorich
When large OEMs such as a John
Deere, Honda, Polaris or The Toro
Co. need custom metalworking services, they turn to BTD, Business
Development Manager Chris Kambeitz says. “[We’re] a total solutions
company,” he declares.
BTD’s history goes back to 1979
when Erling Rasmussen and Paul
White Jr. established it in Bismarck,
N.D., as the Bismarck Tool and Die
Co. Initially, “It was a tool and die
shop that made tools for Bobcat,”
Kambeitz explains.
When the company needed more
space, it moved to Detroit Lakes,
Minn. In 1984, BTD experienced a
350 percent growth in sales, which
required it to move to its current
location. There, it installed its first
punch press. In 1991, the company entered its current incarnation
when it merged with MN-Kota
Stamping Inc.
Today under the leadership of
President Paul Gintner, BTD also
has locations in Otsego and Lakeville, Minn., and Washington, Ill. Additionally, “External tooling is less
than seven percent of our overall
sales,” Kambeitz says, noting that
the company’s array of services have
grown to include assembly, finishing, fabrication, stamping, tubing
and machining.
“We’re always interested in getting into something new,” he says.
“Whatever opportunity comes
along, we’re willing to take a good
166
btd’s services include assembly,
finishing, fabrication, stamping,
tubing, machining and external
tooling.
hard look at it to see how it fits our
business in the future and how it
may relate or grow our core fabrication plan.”
BTD stands as one of the leaders
of its industry, thanks to internal
growth, Kambeitz says. “[That] has
kept us right at the top, size wise and
capability wise,” he says, noting that
it plans to expand its facilities in
Minnesota with a large facility addition planned for 2015.
“Capability-wise, we’re going to
have a better flow through [the facilities],” he says. “Product flow will
be better through the shop, with less
handling of parts.”
Rave Reviews
BTD has won recognition for its
work, such as when Minnesota Business Magazine named it the large
manufacturer of the year in 2013.
“It was a well-deserved award to
win for our employees,” Kambeitz
says. “It’s a thank you not only to
BTD employees but to our customers and suppliers.”
This July, Hearth & Home Technologies also named the company as
BTD
Fabtech
btd wants to be its customers’ first choice
by adding capabilities and becoming a fully
integrated supplier.
a preferred supplier. Kawasaki also
recognized BTD during its supplier conference in July. The company
awarded BTD with its Service Award
for the second year in a row. “Kawasaki’s Service Award recognizes its
suppliers for delivery, production,
quality and customer service,” BTD
says, noting that it was the only
metal parts supplier to receive the
award from Kawasaki this year.
Going With the Flow
Kambeitz notes that BTD’s markets
range from agriculture to energy to
recreation. “That’s how we want to
keep it,” he says. “If there is an economic downturn, we remain stable
in order to support our customer
base. There’s always a wave of positive and negative flow.” He says the
mining industry is experiencing a
Ready to Learn
BTD is always ready to learn something new, and thanks to the Minnesota Department of Employment
and Economic Development, its workers will be getting the chance to add to their skills. This past May, the
department gave a $300,000 grant to Minnesota State College – Southeast Technical to train 290 of BTD’s
employees in robotic welding.
“The grant, awarded under the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Program, is designed to work strategically with businesses and educational institutions to train or retrain workers for high quality jobs in
Minnesota,” BTD says.
“The opportunity strengthens the manufacturing knowledge in our community, strengthens educational
opportunities, and will attract a new generation to manufacturing, particularly young women,” the company
added. “We are excited to be a part of this exciting opportunity.”
downturn. “Companies that are dependent on the mining industry are
extremely slow right now.”
Because of such economic conditions, BTD has to carefully consider
how much it wants to participate in
a market. “When markets dip like
the mining industry, we need other
industries that are doing well, like
the recreation market,” he says.
Looking ahead, Kambeitz notes
that BTD will be appearing at the
FABTECH expo this November in
Atlanta. Meanwhile, within BTD’s
market, he predicts that many
OEMS will turn to fully integrated
suppliers, which is a status that BTD
has nearly achieved.
“[We want to] be our customer’s
‘first choice’ by making ‘it’ right and
making ‘it’ fast,” he says. “I think
we’re a total solution supplier.” mt
167

Fabtech - Manufacturing Today

Transcription

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