October 29, 2008
Great Lakes Completes $12 Million Facility Upgrade
Edinboro, PA – –Great Lakes Case & Cabinet Co. Inc. is a leading manufacturer of quality racks and enclosures for the data, telecommunications and electronic equipment industries. The company’s manufacturing division, Great Lakes Manufacturing Inc., headquartered in Corry, Pennsylvania, recently completed an upgrade of its manufacturing equipment and capabilities valued at more than $12 million. The upgrade included the installation of two 4kW linear drive lasers, two robotic press brakes, a multifunction turret punch press, with 90 degree shear capabilities, and the installation of an automated material delivery system. “This is a significant investment designed to help us maintain our position in the market as a company customers can rely on for quality and consistency both in standard and custom product offerings,” according to Rob Lowther, Executive Vice President of Great Lakes Case & Cabinet Co., Inc. and General Manager of Great Lakes Manufacturing Inc. “Over the past 23 years, we have gained a reputation for delivering the highest quality products possible, with world-class customer service. Part of the responsibility that comes with maintaining that reputation is a sustained investment in continuous improvement,” he said.
Lowther explained that as the company has grown, so have the demands customers have placed on product engineering and manufacturing. “We have consciously designed our company to be fast, flexible and responsive to the needs of our customers. As a result, we now have a very strong position in the delivery of standard products, available in-stock and ready to be shipped within 48 hours. We also have developed a very strong position in the design, engineering and production of highly customized and highly sophisticated products, metal fabrication and rapid prototyping, both for Great Lakes Case & Cabinet Co., Inc. customers and a number of industry segments outside of our traditional core markets,’ he said.
“To meet that growing demand, our manufacturing team studied a number of equipment providers, looking for the best overall manufacturing solution. We decided on the Finn-Power family of equipment which provided us with the best overall strategy to meet both our short and long-term growth needs. Today, we operate one of the most sophisticated metal fabrication facilities in the United States and we’re able to do things in a fraction of the time we used to with incredible accuracy, consistency and product quality,” he said.
Great Lakes Manufacturing has also expanded its capabilities beyond the fabrication and production of parts for sale by Great Lakes Case & Cabinet Co., Inc. “We have our own design and engineering teams at Great Lakes Manufacturing and we’ve added a number of capabilities to support our customers outside of the rack and enclosure business,” Lowther said. We have added manufacturing capacity and a new paint line specifically designed to handle component parts which are often much larger than any of the enclosures we currently manufacture. As a result of this investment, we’re now able to satisfy needs our customers previously relied on three or four different companies, all designed, engineered, and produced in a single location,” he said.
The addition of linear drive laser, computer guided and robotic equipment has also helped Great Lakes to be able to offer two new services; Rapid Prototyping and “Fast-Track” design and production.
“Many times customers need to have a prototype produced for evaluation, which is often an extremely time consuming and expensive process. This significant manufacturing investment has allowed us to develop and maintain incredibly tight standards, even for very short product runs. Our Rapid Prototyping service utilizes our capabilities to provide product prototypes in a fraction of the time previously possible, with production-level quality,” Lowther said. Our engineering expertise and the software involved in our cutting, bending and fabrication equipment allows us to produce a single prototype or 10,000 products within the tightest of tolerances,” he said.
Great Lakes Case & Cabinet Co., Inc. utilizes these Rapid Prototyping Services to offer its customers complete design, engineering, and manufacturing of product in just ten working days, “art-to-part” from the signatory approval of drawings. “We are now able to utilize our investment and vertical integration to have complete control of every step of the manufacturing process to better serve our customers in a manner which does not affect any production orders in-house,” Lowther said. “We have a dedicated staff which utilizes overtime to work outside of our production schedule for rapid prototyping in support of the “Fast Track” program. For us, “Fast Track” is simply Rapid Prototyping, but in a larger quantities. We use the same due diligence procedures for a single prototype as we do for a “Fast Track” order of 1,000 cabinets,” he said.
“What was once impossible, we are now doing every day. We are now able to handle those emergency situations and urgent needs of our customers without sacrificing any orders or delivery commitments. It is a great team effort, from engineering to procurement, to production. Our entire team has embraced the concept. Once a rapid prototyping or a “Fast Track” job is received, a very detailed set of protocols are implemented in order to identify the necessary resources and scheduling to get the job done right and on-time,” Lowther said. Without the investment in technology and our upgrade in equipment, these services would not be possible,” he said.
Lowther went on to say that as Great Lakes makes improvements to its North American facility, the company is also making improvements to its manufacturing facility in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, to support the company’s growing European operations.
Great Lakes Case & Cabinet Co., Inc. is a woman-owned, ISO registered business, headquartered in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. Since 1985, Great Lakes has met evolving market demands for high-quality cabinet enclosures, racks and open-frame workstations. For more information, call 1-866-TRY-GLCC or visit www.werackyourworld.com.