Hennig Helps

A company ran into an issue common to manufacturers these days--they were sourcing a product from a business overseas and wanted to support a domestic company instead. Although it was an inexpensive option, without a domestic supplier they had recurring problems. They needed aluminum aprons supplied at the right time and at the right price.

They reached out to Hennig to see if this was a product they could get locally. In order to efficiently produce these and meet the client’s price point, they required labor targets of less than one hour total. Manufacturing these aprons required crimping aluminum and rubber joints. Crimping is a process that joins two materials together by bending or deforming them, and in this case, it slowed down the manufacturing process.

Hennig’s crimping process was efficient, but not fast enough to meet this customer’s expectations. Since it was primarily manual and crimped one row at a time, they were seeking a way to automate the process. They required a machine that could perform the task much faster.

To meet this demand, Hennig asked for support from their sister company, Advanced Machine & Engineering (AME), whose Design and Build team immediately got to work.

The experts at AME are experienced with automating processes, and already had a symbiotic relationship with their sister company. In addition, they are able to support turnkey solutions for any industry completely in-house. They worked directly with the Hennig team to develop and test a new machine.

Their final system is a machine that automatically crimps row-by-row as a curtain is continuously pushed through. The biggest challenge, avoiding expanding or contracting the rubber pieces, is fixed with the automatic feed. The material is pushed through in its natural state, deformed only where the machine crimps the ends. 

This took the crimping time needed for each apron from 15 minutes to less than two.

The customer was able to get a recurring supply of their aluminum aprons domestically and at a better price than their original partner. With a great quality product and quick turnover, they are thrilled to support a local business. For AME and Hennig, it’s just another example of their ongoing partnership and goal to make one another successful.