Moundridge, KS – The Bradbury Co., Inc., serving as the world headquarters for the global group of companies known as The Bradbury Group, hosted a Manufacturing Day Open House on Thursday, October 4. According to the Manufacturing Day® website, www.mfgday.com, “Manufacturing Day® is a celebration of modern manufacturing meant to inspire the next generation of manufacturers and occurs on the first Friday in October.”

Custom Rollforming Corp, a member of The Bradbury Group, continues to look forward - planning a path to best serve our expanding customer base. We are happy to announce a transition in leadership at CRC. Working together, this team will position us for the future. 

Bryan Smith, a graduate of Kansas State University with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering, will step into his new role as General Manager of CRC beginning July 1. He will set the vision and direction for future growth. Bryan has been with CRC for the past six months as the National Sales Director, focusing on sales growth and familiarizing himself with our operations. Prior to joining CRC, Bryan worked for 15 years at Titan Trailer Mfg. in Waterville, KS. Beginning his career as a design engineer, he spent the last 13 years as production manager where he was involved with customer service and all aspects of daily manufacturing management.

Jim Sugars, Industry Sales Leader - Flat Products for The Bradbury Group of Companies, will be presenting at the South East Asia Iron and Steel Institute Conference. The conference will be held June 25 – 28 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

A common issue manufacturers face is providing flat material to their customers. What appears to be flat, is not. The problem is residual stress in the steel.  Jim’s presentation, “When Flat isn’t Flat – Equalizing Internal Stresses Through Roller Leveling,” will cover newly developed methods of equalizing the internal stress allowing the strip to stay flat after secondary operations. By implementing the latest technologies, an operator can understand the strip condition more than ever before, providing end-users with the flat product they require.

The Bradbury Group is pleased to announce the promotion of Matthew J. Moody to Managing Director for Bradbury International UK Ltd. Matthew has played a fundamental role in the international success of The Bradbury Group of companies. With his focus on new equipment sales and commitment to customer service, he has led our market growth in the United Kingdom and the broader, European market.  

He began his journey in the roll forming industry in 1997 working for Bronx Engineering; completing a Modern Apprenticeship during his tenure. He joined Bradbury in 2004 in Applications / Sales developing many positive customer relationships. Based on his commitment to the growth of The Bradbury Group in Europe, his work ethic and experience, Matthew was promoted to General Manager in 2015. In his new role as Managing Director, Matthew will be responsible for leading the Bradbury International UK business including all customer facing activities representing The Bradbury Group product lines as well as engineering and service supplied by our U.K. office to our customers and our Group companies. Matthew represents the values of our Group and drives our vision to be the most trusted and preferred supplier in the global markets we serve. 

Steven Baker, Sales Area Manager for Athader S.L., will present "Advanced Features of Modern Coil Processing Lines" at the FMA (Fabricators & Manufacturers Association) Coil Processing Conference. The conference, to be held May 15-16, 2018, in Florence, IN, allows experts in the industry to share their knowledge and answer questions regarding leveling, slitting processes, controls, and more. Nine various instructional sessions will be offered at three different times throughout the two day conference.

Steven's presentation will highlight various advancements in modern coil processing lines including:  Slitting Line Equipment Advancements,Slitting Line Automation, Tooling Changeover Automation, Robotic Slitter Tooling Setups, Separator Changeover Automation, Offline Strapping of Slit Mults, Roller Leveler Advancements, Automatic Leveler Setup and Adjustment, Cut to Length Equipment Advancements, and Online Service and Support.

Steven Baker, a member of The Bradbury Group's Coil Processing and Leveling team, has over 20 years of experience in the industry including cut-to-length lines, slitting lines, galvanizing and paint lines, as well as push/pull pickle lines. 

Beck Automation is a leading control system provider for the metal forming industry. Their products make production machines more efficient and profitable; designing controls and related products specifically for roll forming, cut-to-length, tube mills, portable roll formers, and folding machines. Beck Automation's Connex is a multi-user, web-based production management software that links your office to your plant floor. Connex offers job scheduling, coil tracking, customizable reports, the ability to import/export to your existing ERP software, and more. 

To assist customers with protecting their capital equipment investment, Beck Automation, a member of The Bradbury Group, developed a new module for Connex which helps regulate the equipment's preventative maintenance schedule. Benefits include keeping downtime to a minimum, increasing production, and in turn, increasing profits while providing on-time deliveries for customers. Once a machine’s maintenance schedule is set up in Connex, it will notify maintenance staff of upcoming tasks, provide detailed instructions on how to perform each task, and notify supervisors when tasks are past due or complete. 

Using Connex for Equipment Preventative Maintenance offers these Advantages: 

• Protect the longevity of your machine
• Increase production due to less unscheduled downtime
• Schedule maintenance based on a specific manufacturer's recommendations
• Tasks can be based on time, press cycles, or lineal footage
• Includes tasks from greasing components, sharpening/replacing tools, to replacing roll tooling
• Notify maintenance staff or superiors when maintenance is due/past due
• Provide instructions for performing maintenance
• Basic instructions, pictures, or video
• Track all maintenance records
• What tasks that have been performed
• When tasks were performed
• Who performed the tasks
• The time required for tasks that were performed to assist with scheduling future maintenance

While the world was watching the 2018 Winter Olympics, The Bradbury Co., Inc. had reason to celebrate its own victory in South Korea: A Bradbury e-Drive® cassette leveler sold to Samwoo located in South Korea. The leveler will be ready for commissioning in mid-2018.

Samwoo Co., Ltd., a primary supplier to the automotive industry, purchased the 17 roll cassette e-Drive® leveler (Patent #8893537) with the Flat Trak® CL Series automatic monitoring system (Patent # 7185519) to improve the quality of material they provide to their automotive customers. Their goal is to consistently produce flat products.  Bradbury ran tests with various materials on e-Drive® levelers for Samwoo; the results provided the consistency they were looking for.  

Pictured Above: Mr. Dong-Kil Lee, Managing Director / Plant Manager for Samwoo (left), and Mr. Jim Sugars, Industry Sales Leader - Coil Processing Lines for The Bradbury Co., Inc. (Right)

In 2017, Metform International Ltd., a member of The Bradbury Group of companies, produced numerous advanced sets of roll form tooling for the automotive industry; some of which were for the all new, redesigned GM truck.  As stated in the article from Motor Authority, GM is incorporating a high percentage of Ultra High Strength Steels in their new truck to shed a large amount of weight. Metform has played a key role in the production of these frame components. 

The stronger yet lighter truck bed is an important feature for the redesigned GM flagship truck.  Metform designed and manufactured the roll tooling necessary to form the new truck bed. This is the second generation of load floor roll tooling Metform has provided for GM truck beds. Metform is the only roll forming equipment manufacturer to produce sets of tooling for a high strength steel truck bed. 

Custom Rollforming Corp., located in Moundridge, KS, is a custom roll form company which houses ten Bradbury roll forming lines in 51,000 square feet of manufacturing space and serves a variety of industries including agriculture, transportation, solar, and construction. Equipped to handle a wide variety of roll forming operations efficiently and economically, CRC can produce your simple or complex roll form shapes.

Production of consistently accurate roll formed parts begins with expert engineering and design assistance. As a member of The Bradbury Group, the synergy between CRC and the other Bradbury Group companies has benefited clients for over 50 years. Tooling is designed in-house by knowledgeable engineers using the latest CAD technology and is manufactured to exact specifications. CRC will store and maintain your tooling free of charge. If your tooling ever requires repair or replacement, CRC will take care of it. 

The CRC team will evaluate your requirements and develop an optimized production schedule that saves you time and money. CRC reviews production practices to comply with the latest industrial quality control standards and programs; adhering to project specific criteria requested by the clients.

View the new website at http://customrollformingcorp.com and the video below to see what Custom Rollforming Corp. has to offer. 

The Bradbury Group will exhibit at the International Roofing Expo, @RoofingExpo   February 6 - 8, at the Ernest N Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, LA. We encourage you to stop by our booth, #1853, and visit with us about our extensive line of roll forming and coil processing equipment for the metal building and metal roofing industry.  

We will also be exhibiting February 14 - 16, 2018, at the Frame Building Expo in Columbus, OH, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Drop by and learn more about our product lines for the frame building industry. 

We manufacture a variety of roll formers including panel, purlin, and trim, Bradbury Long Folders, Panther Cub II™ Slitter/Shears, uncoilers, recoilers, hemmers, slitters, portable roll forming equipment, metal tile equipment, gutter machines, continuous and discontinuous insulated panel equipment, embossing and calendaring equipment, and Intelli-Fold®, SII™, and Cobalt™ controls.