Automated fabrication comes with its own Texas accent - With Finn-Power as its trusty sidekick, company easily corrals finished parts

摘要

Everything seems to be bigger in Texas. And when Special Products & Mfg. Inc. (SPM), located in Rockwall, TX, recently decided to enter the world of fully automated sheet metal fabrication, it did so in a big way. Not that automation is anything new to the company. From its founding in 1963, SPM has taken pride in its commitment to procuring the latest technology and equipment. Second-generation owners Rob Grand-Lienard, president, and Ed Grand-Lienard, executive vice president, and their partner, James Morris, vice president-technology, point to their equipment list of five turret punch presses with load/unload capability, three punch/shear combination machines with sorting and stacking, robotic press brakes, and laser FMS systems as proof of the company's commitment to new technology. "We had our first CNC machine in 1969," explains Rob Grand-Lienard. "If you look at all our load/unload capability with all of our robots, we have about 15 different robotics in place...a pretty high number." Today, the company has 225 employees housed in two plants with a total capacity of 130,000 square feet. However, by the end of the first quarter 2006, SPM's new home will be a modern 139,500-square-foot facility in the Rockwall Technology Park - a workplace custom-built to accommodate the latest material management and fabrication production systems.