The COVID-19 pandemic triggered raw material shortages for industries all over the world. It’s a problem many manufacturers are still dealing with, and for their customers, it meant lengthy delivery delays. Berminghammer Foundation Equipment, a Canadian innovation leader in the North American piling industry, is on a mission to change that.
“One of the things we’ve noticed in the post-COVID world is that delivery times have grown and they haven’t seemed to drop back down,” said Dean Loebach, business development leader for Berminghammer.
“It’s been a challenge. Materials are harder to come by [and] you can see this across manufacturing. It’s forced us to be more strategic in solving some problems we haven’t dealt with in the past to make sure we keep our delivery times to customers in hand.”
For Berminghammer, the answer has been significant investments in new technologies and systems that enabled the company to improve and streamline product manufacturing and handling processes at its operation in Hamilton, Ont.
The company’s key developments include:
- New plasma cutting machines
- New blast and paint facilities
- New loading facility
- Staff cross-training program
- Improved project management system
Loebach says that in addition to enhancing Berminghammer’s ability to deliver high-quality products, the changes have benefitted customers by reducing delivery delays. Four years ago, on-time deliveries were approximately 40 per cent, but that has now increased to 85 to 90 per cent.
“We put in a lot of effort to make sure that we can deliver quickly and be reliable in terms of when customers want their equipment. All our new capabilities help us in that regard [and] it makes our customers’ lives a lot easier,” said Loebach. “With our business, building custom equipment at a quick delivery time is just so key. We think that’s one of the secrets to our success.”
New plasma cutting machines
Berminghammer spent US$450,000 on a new Messer MetalMaster computer numerical control (CNC) plasma metal cutting machine to upgrade its fabrication shop two years ago, and is spending another US$1.2 million to purchase three CNC machining centres.
The additional CNC machining centres will increase output and help eliminate bottlenecks, which slow down production and, in some instances, create requirements to outsource work.
Plasma cutting machines are used to cut steel raw material into pieces, which are welded together to form the custom-built foundation equipment sold by Berminghammer. Unlike handheld cutting tools, cuts are programmed and controlled by a computer. This results in more precise cuts that often don’t require subsequent machining. Berminghammer’s new machine has the added advantage of bevelling and angling steel plates as they’re cut, eliminating much of the grinding and welding work.
For the past couple of years, Berminghammer has placed a strong emphasis on cross-training workers so they can take on different roles in the plant if needed.
“This allows us to be more efficient in terms of how we process that material, and it gives our engineers a little bit more opportunity to design weldments and fixtures that can be built more efficiently and more quickly, as well,” said Loebach.
New blast and paint facilities
Berminghammer’s investments include spending $1.2 million on redesigning and upgrading its facilities for sand blasting and painting metal parts at the Hamilton plant. This includes new state-of-the-art blasting equipment that makes the process more environmentally friendly and efficient.
“All the byproduct of blasting used to go straight into the garbage,” said George Micevski, operations manager for Berminghammer. “Now, it is all reclaimed and reused.”
Berminghammer’s investment in blasting equipment has also created more capacity, enabling the company to bring in third-party work and create another income stream. The paint facility at Berminghammer has also been expanded to accommodate pieces up to 52 feet long. Previously, the maximum length was 30 feet.
“Typically, our longest lead column sections are about 39 feet long, so now we can paint all those segments inside in a controlled and high-quality manner,” said Loebach.
New loading facility
Thanks to a new loading facility in the Berminghammer work yard, the company no longer needs to rely on mobile crawler cranes, which weren’t always available, to ship out orders. A new drive-through structure with two overhead gantry cranes, one five-tonne and another 25-tonne, was set up this year, saving time and enabling shipping crews to work more effectively.
“With our business, building custom equipment at a quick delivery time is just so key. We think that’s one of the secrets to our success.”
Dean Loebach, Berminghammer
– Foundation Equipment
“We can drive a flatbed truck through or have a shipping container dropped off if we need to ship by Sea-Can,” said Loebach. “We’re busy and we’re seeing a lot more traffic coming our way. This new facility allows us to minimize disruptions to our factory and be more efficient with what we can deliver.”
Staff cross-training
For the past couple of years, Berminghammer has placed a strong emphasis on cross-training workers so they can take on different roles in the plant if needed.
“We’ve been able to cross-train quite a few people,” said Micevski. “We’ve had welders and millwrights go into blast, if they’re needed there. We also have people from the burn table going to the stock room for support. It provides a lot more flexibility if we have a bottleneck anywhere.”
Loebach says the cross-training program helps minimize delays and enhances the overall efficiency of the operation. “It allows us to keep the same number of people busy in different facets of the business, as the products or orders move through the plant,” he said.
Improved project management system
Berminghammer upgraded its project management system to effectively track orders as they progress through the plant. Micevski says improvements mean customers can be updated weekly, or even daily, on the status of their orders.
“That’s helped us with customers when they want to know where their equipment is and that it’s going to be on site on time, as we promised,” he said.
Loebach says the improved tracking system at Berminghammer helps operational staff deal with the fluctuations that are part of the construction business.
“One thing we [focus on] to help manage the ebbs and flows [of construction] is to track where each item is throughout a product’s life cycle,” he said. “When you look at a typical order that we put together, it might have 50 top-level part numbers on it. The tracking system helps us keep a good eye on where each of those parts is and to understand how all of the materials are flowing together to produce those orders.
“We want to make sure we can service everybody in a timely fashion. We do not want to be any part of a slowdown at construction sites, [and] we make great efforts to deliver on time.
“If we can deliver when we say we will, that builds a lot of trust. That’s what it’s all about. Our business is based on relationships and trust and making sure that we can deliver when we say we [will]. As long as we do this on time and our quality remains high, then customers are happy to come back.”