Facility
History
Details
100,000 sq. ft. production floor in 3 open bays surrounded by 18 acres of fenced storage.

Facility:

check Building: 100,000 sq. ft. production floor in 3 open bays surrounded by 18 acres of fenced storage.

check Lift: 45-ton and 30-ton overhead cranes with 32 ft. clear space under hook

check Access: By Road: At I-380 and US 30, 20 minutes north of I-80 and 45 minutes south of US 20 in east central Iowa

ASSOCIATES:

check 150 total Associates including 7 Process Engineering, 3 Quality, and 10 Administrative

check 3 Shift operation

Design / Engineering:

check Inventor™, AutoCAD® and Mechanical Desktop® operating on 9 workstations

check Concept development, prototypes and design for manufacture from Solids Modeling

check Reverse Engineering using Faro Arm CMM --- from model to CAD

check Input accepted from dxf, dwg or IGES files or prints; ProE™ compatible

check EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) and Bar Coding

check ERP Vantage™ by Epicor Software for facility-wide, real time scheduling and resource planning; data collection on the floor

Blanking:

3D FabriGear 300 Structural Shape Laser:

check Automatically loads up to 26’ Random lengths of

    • Round Tube to 11.8” dia. x 5/8” wall
    • Square or Rectangular Tube to 8” x 5/8” wall
    • Beam to 8” x 5/8” wall
    • Channel to 8” x 5/8” wall
    • Angle to 8” x 5/8” wall

check4000-watt, 26-axis laser

check 5-spindle tapping head to cut, drill, bevel, countersink & tap as concurrent operations without fixturing

check Automatically unloads finished part    

Lasers: capacity to 3500 watts and 72” x 144” table size with automatic loading
Saws: capacities to 18" wide x 24" vertical with automatic feed and powered conveyors for straight and angular cuts
Ironworker:  Geka 100S 120-ton capacity, 12" throat, for flat, round and angle punching and shearing

Machining:

Lathe: 16" swing, 60" between centers, 9" over carriage; threading from 4 - 100 + threads/inch; taper attachment for shafts
Mill: Vertical CNC; 27” travel, 12” cross-feed, 17” height, 45 deg. tilt head.
Bridge Mill, CNC: 4’ x 8’ table

Fabrication:

Brake press, Precision: 4 CNC Amadas from 50-ton to 138-ton w/ 14’ bed and 8-axis controls;
Brake press, Heavy: 1,250-ton Cincinnati w/ 20’ bed, 26” throat, 16’ between housings and CNC backgauge
Rolls: 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" x 3/16" angle, 1/4" x 6 ft. plate
Hardware Insertion: Haeger 6-ton Press for rivets, panel fasteners, eyelets, spacers, studs, nuts, and standoffs
Tube Bending: Eaton Leonard 300, Premier Controller networked to Vector Measuring Machine for self-correction forms up to 3” pipe

Welding:

Welding: 35 MIG welders, 3 TIG welders for mild and stainless steels and aluminum
AWS Certified Welding Inspectors (CWI) Cross-Functional Team: Engineer, Welder and Inspector oversee process improvement, training and inspection; all welders are AWS D1.1-certified, minimum
Spot Welding: 150 KVA certified spotwelder

Quality Assurance:

Coordinate Measuring Machines:

check Faro portable articulated arm with 72” reach; sensing probe accurate to +/- 0.002” with input directly into AutoCAD for reverse engineering, modeling.

check Vector 4xl laser VMM: designed for measurement of formed tube; two-way communication to Eaton Leonard bender for instant spring-back adjustments and consistent parts.

AWS Certified Weld Inspectors Team (See Welding)

Magnetic Particle Inspection is available on request

Quality System was registered to ISO 9001; accreditation was surrendered in 2003 due to lack of customer interest

Finishing:

Sand/Shot Blasting: facility on site
Polishing: stainless steel polishing, pharmaceutical / sanitary to a # 4 finish
Paint: both powder and wet spray systems for large and small parts