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Manufacturer Connects to New Technology and Strategic Customers
With the help of: Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech
About
The Challenge
In 2020, the current owners purchased the company with the intent to modernize, streamline, and make the company more profitable, while also maintaining jobs for the existing workforce. Hans Pfunder, COO, met John Zegers, Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech’s Northwest Georgia region manager, and explained their plans. Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech is part of the MEP National Network™.
GaMEP was able to help us become a better manufacturer and then to offer our capabilities to others. We are proud to manufacture in the USA and be able to help other innovative companies to produce their products locally.
MEP's Role
Zegers connected the Trenton Pressing team with Sean Madhavaraman, a GaMEP technology project manager, who immediately saw the opportunity to help the company connect its legacy machinery to a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) using sensors and other Industry 4.0 technologies. The company had various types of stamping presses, robotic welding cells, and other types of machinery that needed to be monitored in real-time to understand output, efficiency, and downtime. Pfunder worked with Madhavaraman to create a roadmap to connect the machinery and train employees on how to use the new data.
The engineering and maintenance teams worked together to install the new monitoring equipment and utilize software to allow real-time data tracking, helping predict equipment failure before it happened. It was also used to optimize production planning and improve employee experience.
The improvements allowed the company to ship substantially more units, but also freed up additional capacity for the company to take on new customers. During a check-in visit, Marco Linner, director of business development, told Zegers about an idea to diversify their business by taking on more complex, lower-volume projects that could develop into long-term partnerships.
Within a week, Zegers learned of an agricultural equipment company in Sandersville, Georgia, looking for a contract manufacturer. The company had been working on product design with Bob Wray, a GaMEP technology project manager, and asked for help sourcing a manufacturing partner who had the right capabilities and could jump in quicky to start production. It sounded like a perfect fit for Trenton Pressing, so Zegers connected the two companies.
Linner met with the company and found that the product was indeed the type of business opportunity they were seeking. The product is now in production at Trenton Pressing. The first units were delivered just three months after their initial introduction, which was ahead of schedule. The partnership is going well and both companies hope to produce more products together in the future.