Industrial Machine and Engineering Company (IMEC) was recently awarded a Supplier Excellence Award from Essex Industries. IMEC, a custom metal fabricator that specializes in sheet metal parts and assemblies, was selected among hundreds of Essex’ suppliers to be recognized with this award. Joe Laktas, Supplier Quality manager with Essex, credited IMEC’s quality, on-time delivery, and pricing as some of the key metrics for winning the award.

“To be recognized by one of our customers is truly an honor,” said Eric Merriman, plant manager of IMEC “It really shows what a great team we have here. Everyone here has a hand in making these parts for Essex, from the front office to the production floor to shipping and every point in between. This is an award we all share.”

Some of the parts IMEC makes for Essex include stainless steel and aluminum panels, housings, and brackets. These parts often require forming, welding, powder coating, and silk screening. Many of these are used in Essex’s liquid oxygen systems, which are used in a variety of military and commercial applications.

IMEC, located in Monett, is an ISO 9001 certified company that specializes in full-service precision metal fabrication: sheet metal and machining capabilities; MIG, TIG, robotic and spot welding; offer in-house powdercoating and silkscreening. This is their 40^th year in business.

Essex Industries, headquarters in St Louis, manufacturers, among other things, chemical and respiratory systems created for applications in fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, emergency breathing equipment, liquid oxygen equipment, and gas regulators.

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A lot of parts will go through our shop daily. Each one is different from the other. Some are large while others are small. Some are aluminum, others might be steel or stainless. Then there are simple parts such as a heat shield, but then there are also very complex weldments and assemblies. A prime example would be a tube weldment frame that we make here.

They are used in the transportation industry to protect a hydraulic oil tank and other components (which we also make). We make these frames out of a variety of material, with the outer sides out of 1.5″ x 1.5″ steel tubes.

The way we are producing them now is getting the tubes a laser cut bend relief, bending the tube, then welding the gaps together along with additional parts for the frame. Finally, we finish with powder coating them for that nice glossy finish.

While this is the way we make them now. It wasn’t always like this. When we first started making these we would buy steel tubes and cast elbows. Then they would be all welded together, which was a lengthy process and required extensive fixturing.

Even if there wasn’t anything wrong, we knew that it wasn’t efficient. Each frame required a lot of handling and a lot of welding.

There were a few places we could start. It took a long time to weld. The cast elbows kept going up in price and being cast metal they didn’t weld as cleanly, nor powder-coated as nicely. So we sat down and brainstormed ideas on how to meet our customers’ expectations while making a better part more efficient. The main cost/time driver was welding all the elbows to the straight tube. It would be more cost-effective to be able to buy one tube and bend it in-house. The problem is that with the inner and outer radius requirements and the tube size/thickness, bending a tube just wasn’t going to work.

Our best option was to laser cut a bend relief. This allowed us to bend the rubes without crushing them. It also means the welders spend less time welding everything together. Instead of 9 individual pieces, we would now be able to make it out of one piece.

We worked closely with a tube-laser company to develop a good bend relief in the tube that would allow us to form each side of the frame out of one piece while keeping a nice, tight gap to make life easier for the welders. This frame also has some tight dimensional requirements, so we also had to make sure it would still meet print after forming and welding.

As we continued, we noticed something else we could improve. It was tricky while forming to make sure the bend was at the right angle. So to help our benders we added a self-centering/locating notch. The notch would serve as a guide for the benders. This made the process both faster and accurate.

It’s these small details that separate us from our competitors. After years of operation, we have stayed true to both our customers and ourselves. We will continue to do what we specialize in, precision

Our quality policy states “IMEC is committed to producing quality products with continuous improvement to fulfill our customer’s needs and expectations.” There are two important words in our policy that relate to this particular project: Continuous Improvement. We are always looking at our processes to determine if there might be a better way and not being hesitant to try new things so long as the form/fit/function of the part isn’t jeopardized.

In a year that was filled with many dark and discouraging moments, it’s nice to have some things to look forward to, some bright spots on the horizon. The vaccine is certainly one of those. Christmas and the holiday season is another.

We try our best around here to get in the holiday spirit and to help others feel the same. Seems like this year in particular is one that could use as much Christmas cheer as possible. One way we do this is by cutting some special holiday ornaments and decorations to give out to friends and family.

This tradition goes back to nearly the beginning. In the early days (30+ years ago), we didn’t yet have lasers, so the designs were much simpler. Had to be a shape our old pega could punch out: stars, crosses, hearts, etc.

But thanks to lasers and improved drafting software (we use Solidworks for 3d design and Radan for programming), the designs have become much more intricate. We have done full nativity scenes, 3d reindeer puzzles, and ornaments with fine details and etching. Sometimes we powdercoat them, but do like the classic polished/brushed stainless look.

Some of our older customers say they have whole trees full of these ornaments and look forward each year to adding a new one. It’s neat knowing we’re part of someone else’s holiday tradition.

From our family to yours, may your Christmas and Holiday season be full of joy, laughter and health.

We’re pretty good about continuing to invest in newer, modern machinery. In the last few years, we have added a new robotic welder, an Amada press brake with automatic tool changing capabilities and an Amada Ensis 3015 fiber laser, just to name a few. But there has been another recent major investment that’s not near as flashy as a new laser, but is just as important: We upgraded to the latest version of Epicor, the ERP, or enterprise resource planning, software we use.

Going from Epicor 9 to Epicor 10 wasn’t a huge jump (nothing like the switch from Vista 4 to Epicor 9 a few years back), but it still took quite a bit of planning and preparation. The change involved different database structures and jumping from on on-premises housing of the server to a cloud-based implementation.

Epicor truly is the glue that keeps everything connected. Nearly every facet of our business passes through this software. All of the front (and back) end processes and financials are captured and entered into Epicor. On the shop floor, our team clocks in and out of every operation through Epicor. So at any minute, we can see where a job’s at, who’s clocked into it and get an idea of when that operation and the whole job will complete. We can also pull up any customer or supplier and track down a specific invoice or track payment.

As much as our modern machinery contributes to our success, so does having a robust and current ERP system. Many of our jobs are assemblies using in some cases dozens or hundreds of different purchased components. Having a system that can automatically track all those parts and help us know what to buy, when to buy and how many to buy is essential. Major software upgrades aren’t that fun, especially when data conversion is necessary, and many try to put them off as long as possible. But just like we know having late-model machinery in our shop helps us to stay competitive and, ultimately, help our customers, we know the same is true with software.

PEMS is the brand name for a kind of self-clinching hardware/fastener. It can go by many names: nutsert, PEM, self-clinching nut. This also includes standoffs, studs, and pins. They can be a cost-efficient and effective way to add functionality to a part. Installing these fasteners is a quick and easy process, which makes these a good alternative to weld nuts and weld studs.

As expected, there are many different variations in many different materials and finishes. 

We have an inventory that contains tens of thousands of different kinds of self-clinching fasteners. Of these, we stock hundreds of different styles. 

Some of our more complicated pieces have hundreds of self-clinching fasteners installed, in a dozen or so different sizes, installed on both sides of the finished part. 

Since we do quite a bit of assembly work, where we provide our customers with parts and assemblies that are a higher level of completion, often hardware of some sort is included. In addition to the self-clinching fasteners, other hardware we regularly install: 

•  Rivets
•  Couplers
•  Locks
•  Hinges

Most jobs will require hardware installation. Some jobs may require truly custom hardware. With our machining capability, we can sometimes make our own or modify an off the shelf style. We also work with the top distributors to bring in whatever may be needed.

After the hardware is installed, it needs to be protected throughout the rest of the fabrication process, especially when powder coating. With our in-house powder coating, we utilize a variety of standard and custom plugs and masks to keep paint off the threads. 

Everyone at IMEC would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas. We’re grateful for everything that’s happened this year and grateful to provide an excellent service to you and many others.

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Here at IMEC, we do several traditions during the Christmas season. One tradition that we’d like to feature is our Christmas tree ornaments. Every year, we design and make a new ornament. This year’s ornament is a reindeer.

Over the course of this year, we’ve had many bright moments. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all we’ve had the pleasure of working with this year!