MetalForming Machines Live - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Stephen Gosk, Martin König, David Prokop and  Chad Rowe of MetalForming. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the recording.

Intro: Hello everyone. My name is Heidi Ellsworth and this is Metal Talk from Metal Coffee Shop and this is a very, very special edition because we are live at MetalForming in Peachtree City, Georgia, right outside of Atlanta. From what I hear, this is the home of architectural metal. This is where it's all about. And so we're going to hear about that today. A few little bit of housekeeping. This is being recorded and it will be available on demand within the next 48 hours, so be sure to share this. This is going to be information and you're going to see machines that you just don't get to see like this, unless maybe you're at METALCON, but we're right here in headquarters, so be sure to share that. Also, the chat is open. We have Karen Edwards on the chat. She's going to be chatting back and forth, and Megan Ellsworth, our producer, is behind the camera bringing this all to you. So ask your questions, share your comments and we'll get those out there.

So gentlemen, hello.

Stephen Gosk: Hello.

Martin König: Hello.

David Prokop: Hello everyone.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: We are so happy to be here. So let's start with some introductions. We'll start right down here. Martin, can you introduce yourself? Tell us what you do with MetalForming?

Martin König: Martin König, and as you might hear, I'm not from here. I'm not from Alabama either. I'm from Germany. I'm with MetalForming for roughly seven years now. I'm the EVP of Operations and it's been an interesting ride. Yes.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Steve?

Stephen Gosk: Good afternoon, Heidi. Welcome to MetalForming.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Thank you.

Stephen Gosk: My name is Steve Gosk. I'm the President of MetalForming. I've been with the organization for about two years now.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And I was here right when you started.

Stephen Gosk: [inaudible 00:01:43].

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I remember it very well. And David?

David Prokop: David, yes. David Prokop. I'm the EVP handling precision sales here at MetalForming. I've been on board for just under 11 years.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Awesome. And Chad?

Chad Rowe: Last but not least, coming to you live from Beachtree City, Chad Rowe, Business Development Manager. Been with the company for a little more than 25 years now, and you'll get to hear a few stories of how it all started, the way it was back in the old days and we're going to bring you back all the way up into the current future of MetalForming.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: MetalForming. I love it. So I love that intro and I have to say welcome back, welcome back, welcome for the first time and for the first time. Right? You haven't been on a thing before, and that's sure because bringing in all this great precision equipment, I can't wait to talk about. It's so exciting. So let's start a little bit just to let everyone know out there, who is MetalForming LLC? So Steve, can you start us off with a little bit of history about the company?

Stephen Gosk: Sure. So back 25 plus years ago, Geoff Stone, the founder of the organization, really set out to introduce technology and innovation to solve the issues in the architectural fabrication space. And he did that by bringing in metal folding technology between two primary lines at that time, Jorns and Schechtl, which are premier lines within the industry. And really, at that point, metal folding wasn't a very well-known technology here in the United States market.

So with those two lines, brought those technologies to the market, introduced customers on how it could solve their problems, help them do their business better and over time added additional lines that were synergistic in the space, both in coil processing as well as roll forming, to make up essentially what MetalForming is today, which customers now can come to us as one partner that can solve their issues and needs and act as that provider for them, as well as their support.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: To me, it's amazing because this is really a situation of seeing a need and understanding the market and going after it. And Chad, you were almost here exactly when that happened, weren't you?

Chad Rowe: Yeah, unfortunately he looked a little bit different than he does today. Yeah, I started my journey with MetalForming as a Service Technician, specifically on the high precision folders and that time that was a company called Fasti. Fasti is now part of the Schroeder Group, but that's how it all started. And I spent a number of years in the Service Department, really working with Schechtl and with Jorns. One of my first early trips was to go with a Schechtl Service Technician. We traveled out to the West Coast. I spent a whole week with this German Schechtl technician, and about the total of his English was, "Yes," and, "No." So it was a great trip. That was my opening to the whole Schechtl product lines, but it really has been quite a journey through the industry and how the industry has really changed over the last 25 years.

There was the early adaptation of graphic programming from the Schechtl folding machines, sketch and draw from the Jorns machines. If I go way back into the archives, as the stories go, the company was given basically on loan to Jorns machines and said, "Hey, if you like them, try them for three months. If you like them, then pay me later, and then I want you to order some more." Fortunately for MetalForming's case, that all worked out well. The Jorns product being from Switzerland has been a mainstay in the long folding business, as well as a key partner to MetalForming.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And we're going to walk. We're going to walk around and we're going to see all these machines, but it's to me, so amazing having been here a number of years ago and working with MetalForming for many years to see the growth. But David, it's been really fun to really start learning about your side of the world.

David Prokop: [inaudible 00:06:30].

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And can you talk a little bit about that and MetalForming about precision?

David Prokop: So I started here with MetalForming 11 years ago this November and came on board primarily to bring the precision sector to the MetalForming world. It had totally focused in on the architectural side as Chad was talking about, but as folders became more and more commonplace, their reach into the industry became deeper and deeper and deeper. So because MetalForming was such an expert in folding technology, it simply made sense to take that to the next level and be able to bring over a product. Intruder was the product that we started out with to introduce the entire North American continent to this high level of precision folding technology.

And frankly, what was interesting, which happened over the years, Chad talked about how the ramp up and growth into the technology and everything with the products that was brought into MetalForming, the adoption of precision folding in the architectural industry has been phenomenal over the last five, six, seven years.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, total growth.

David Prokop: Those two industries are coming together at such an interesting crossover point at a time where labor is hard to find. Right? I always say the labor pool is very quickly evaporating, and it is, if it's not a dry lake bed in your area. So that combination between those two industries, Schroeder just fit that bill perfectly-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And brought it all together.

David Prokop: On so many different levels. Absolutely.

Chad Rowe: There's also another key component to that, that in the industry, there's becoming a much larger shift where people want to go to a single source for all of their goods. So as that general contractor, more and more people were being asked, "Okay, so you're going to put the walls up in metal or you're going to just do the cap flashing, you're going to do the gutters. Well, can you do this and can you do this?" So as that need for a true total envelope contractor, you can still come to MetalForming and we can still meet all of your needs with those different capacities. That's really where that Schroeder product comes into play into that architectural market and where that overlap is really starting to take off.

And of course, everybody still has their own little sector. Some people choose that they don't want to get into that world. That's fine as well, but that's really where Schroeder precision folding comes into play and MetalForming is here for all of you.

David Prokop: Well, and that's one of the unique advantages that MetalForming has as an import company is we're able to go around Europe, which is primarily where these high-tech fabricating machine tools come from and bring in the best products out there. We're not beholden to a Schroeder or a Schechtl or a Jorns or to a Stellar check. We can hunt out whatever the industry is looking for and find that technology that isn't here yet and bring it in and make it part of everything else that we're doing here, our service, our support, preventative maintenance, service level agreements. Right? And we can bring that one trusted partner relationship back out to the field and directly work with those customers to find those solutions that they need today.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right. I want to, just because for our audience out there and for everyone listening, when we're talking about precision, we're talking about everything. You probably could reach out and touch something right now. It might be your refrigerator door, it might be something on your tractor, on your lawnmower, it could be anything in metal that is being made.

David Prokop: We're surrounded by it.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It's surrounded all the time. So it's exciting to see what is happening in metal beyond the building, beyond construction. But Martin, just real quick, I wanted to also, service maintenance and really that [inaudible 00:10:14] care has just blown up and that's really your specialty, refurbished. Talk a little bit about the history of bringing that in and the demand?

Martin König: So the automation as it is right now keeps us on the toes and then training, and then sending our technicians to Europe and getting them trained up. The refurbishment, I don't know if Chad, how that came to life a few years ago. What really was a game-changer for us was the new control that came in by Schechtl, was introduced hopefully next year. Chad, if you want to touch on how that came into the market and what-

Chad Rowe: Yeah, sure. So the refurbishing business has always been a great value add to MetalForming. And again, it's another way to meet a customer's demands. If I am starting in a new company and I have X amount of dollars to spend, I need to cover a lot of things into that little small pile of money that I have. So getting into that market space with a refurbished folder, but using the same control system that's being put onto our newest models of machines gives you a great advantage and a wonderful starting point. We'll take a look at the Schechtl machines and that control a little bit later.

David Prokop: Well, and that's such a big point though on the refurbishment side is in order to take a 20 or a 25-year-old machine and refurbish it, it has to have a base structure initially that's able to be refurbished. And that's one of the key selling points behind the Schechtls is the structure of the machine itself is so rock-solid that it's never the machine that requires it to be refurbished. It's electronics that aren't able to get replacements for. Sometimes it's a newer control system a customer wants.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

David Prokop: The base structure of that machine is absolutely rock-solid.

Martin König: And Schechtl offers a lifetime warranty on that frame as well. Right. So it's a big thing-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It makes sense.

Martin König: Yeah, we are sanding that thing down all the way to the bones. We put some anti-corrosion solution on it too before we repaint it and prime it and all that.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Well, and I have to tell you, on the Coffee Shop classifieds, we see machinery coming through all the time. And so it's something that is in high demand and that they want. I do want to talk a little bit about the overall MetalForming market, where it all started. I know MetalForming LLC was at the very beginnings of it, but Chad, let's just start with you just real quick on just the history of when MetalForming really started gaining traction in the US? It's been in Europe forever, but when did it really come into the US?

Chad Rowe: So you said some keywords there, Heidi and people that know me, you said, "Real quick." People that know me and have been around me a little bit, I don't have any answer that's real quick. So the metal folding technology really came to the US in the early 80s and that was through a company called Roper Whitney. The parent product came from a company called Gutanets. So that technology, this poor lowly sales guy who was beating on doors and trying to convince people that folding technology was the greatest thing and it's going to change the whole world and that press brakes were bad, well, press brakes have been in the marketplace how long, David? In the industry for a lot longer than the folding technology. So it was an uphill battle, but there are always forward-thinking people and to find these people and to make sure that it's the right fit. So that's really how the CNC folding technology came to the United States.

And then from that, it's just really grown, where there's been a need for different products such as a long folder versus a short folder. There's been a need for shearing applications. There's been a need for coil processing. So just as the need and the demand, once that technology was proven then everybody said, "Okay, it's okay. I can buy this European solution."

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And it really changed the industry.

Chad Rowe: It really did.

David Prokop: It changed the industry.

Chad Rowe: It really did change the industry. I will say some people do have concerns about that German-made machine that, "Oh, it's a Mercedes. Oh, it's a BMW. It's going to be really expensive. Ah, it's going to have a long service time." Martin, Steve, how do we counter, what do we tell our customers, MetalForming, we're prepared to help you?

Stephen Gosk: My mind, two things come right off the top. First and foremost, the machines themselves are built like the proverbial brick house and they last for 20 plus years. And so as these purchasers look at this major acquisition on their behalf, and we certainly respect that because of the money involved, they also have to consider the lifetime this machine is going to run and all the benefit they'll receive over that lifetime for that particular machine. Also knowing that from the support side, we're here to support that machine throughout its lifetime, whatever version that machine might be and how over old to new.

One of the things as MetalForming has grown over the years and we've got more and more machines out in the market, I'd say to any customer, even if you don't buy another machine from us new, you need to know and have a relationship with us because we need to be there to support the machine that's there today.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Stephen Gosk: And it is simply the adage that goes around quite a bit, but sales may get the first order, the service support's going to get the next order and that's why we put the focus that we do with Martin's team, the investment into the team, both in people but also skill sets and technology along with agreements and things like that to help the customer make that good choice on how they want that machine supported.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: When we really look at the history of where MetalForming has been and where we're at today, I do want to talk because next step, we're going to go check out all the machines, but I want to talk just real quick about the technology. And David, earlier I was so lucky to be able to watch some of the machines as you were bending and Kurt. Can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing with... What's the next step? What's coming with metal fabrication, and especially around technology?

David Prokop: So the biggest things right now that's really being driven by the market is more automation. The requirement to create an enormous amount of product with as little labor input as you can possibly put into it. I've said this, I'll say it again. There's a labor issue out there and you're not suddenly going to get a generation of kids that wake up and say, "Gal, darn it, I want to go bend metal." It's not going to happen. So customers are making the decisions that for them to be able to continue to grow and to advance what their business levels and desires are, they have to bring in higher levels of automation. They have to bring in a machine that can do the work of two people twice as fast, but in also doing that, they also have to bring in a machine that's incredibly safe because operators are being put on it that don't have 10, 15, five years of training.

Sometimes this operator has been trained for two hours and he's put in front of a machine. They have to be able to safely operate that product and kick product out at a very, very high rate and at a high level of precision and efficiency. So the technology that is taking the experience into the machine itself to automate the bending sequence, to automate the manipulation, to minimize the strokes and opens while parts are being made, all while giving an interface to the operator, telling them what they need to do next, what pedal do they need to press, how the part needs to be held, where it needs to be and protecting them from getting in harm's way, that's where technology's going.

And the more advanced technology from full automation all the way down to someone standing in front of a machine that minimizes that operator interface with the process, that's where it's at.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That's right.

David Prokop: You don't have a choice. If you don't do that, what are you going to do?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

David Prokop: Where do you go?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And what we're seeing, what we see at the shows, we'll see here, what we've been seeing here today is just the safety, the production, the technology coming into it. When you look at the monitors, everything that's going on there, it's pretty intense and the safety guards of not letting people into the right places too [inaudible 00:19:16]. Martin, I would love you to talk a little bit. When we talk about all this technology and we talked about everything that's going on, this is a high level of service. You need experienced technicians, you need people who really know it. You have really worked out there.

Martin König: We have a whole lot of bench strength, especially our service team. A lot of people that started back then with Chad, 20, 25 years ago.

Chad Rowe: My hands are clean now.

David Prokop: You're ground zero.

Martin König: For example, our Control Engineer, John Parker has been with us for 20 years.

David Prokop: Murph.

Martin König: Started back then in... Murph, over 20 years.

Chad Rowe: Murph's been in the industry close to 30. He's got be close to 30.

Martin König: He was working at RAS before I think many, many years ago. So there's a lot of experience, a lot of bench strength, a lot of just the training that they get and the ongoing training and the synergies of the different vendors and the different people working together. It's a huge bench strength that we developed in our service game.

David Prokop: And one of the big reasons why that is so critically important is a lot of these companies are getting these more automated products-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

David Prokop: And they don't necessarily have the preventative maintenance department, they don't have the crews trained up, they don't have any of that. So a lot of these companies hand us the responsibility, which we're happy to do for them, to take care of this machine to make sure it produces. If you've got a machine that's running three, four, five hours a day and it goes down, you lose three, four, five hours a day. You have a machine that's producing 18 hours a day and its output is multiple machine tool output levels, right? Operators, that can't go down.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

David Prokop: That can't afford to go down.

Chad Rowe: Let me ask you a question. Why do you take your car to the mechanic to get the oil changed at a certain interval?

David Prokop: Yep.

Chad Rowe: Why is a machine tool any different? It's not.

David Prokop: Yep.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Well, I was just going to say-

Chad Rowe: You've got to protect your investment.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: This audience out there understands service and maintenance-

David Prokop: You don't want to be standing on the highway.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That's for sure.

Martin König: Everybody at MetalForming understands the machine down and the urgency. So that's something that we have dashboards and our Dynamics 365 that we constantly watch and we try to move mountains if we have to, if a machine is down.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Well, gentlemen, it is that time. So we are going to be taking you all on a tour of all the machinery and what they do. So this is something I think is critical for new hires as you're looking at your end of year purchases, as you're looking at things to really understand the types of machinery, the type of technology that's out there. So we're going to take a little bit of a tour, shall we?

Chad Rowe: Let's go.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Let's go. So we are going to start over here-

Chad Rowe: Microphone.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: With Chad. The microphone?

Chad Rowe: The table mic.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: There we go.

Chad Rowe: Bear with us.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Bear with us.

Chad Rowe: We have a lot of moving parts and people.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: We are live here at MetalForming and this is so exciting. So we are now heading over here to the machines. And remember, right now, the chat is open. So as you see these machines, as you see the technology that we're going to be talking about, do not hesitate to ask questions. Karen is on there and she's doing the chat. Megan's seeing the chat and she'll yell out some questions as you have them. So Chad, start us away.

Chad Rowe: All right, so here in this corner of our demo floor and our demo floor is commonly reconfigured. I have been saying for years and years. We're going to put this machine in here and it's not leaving, but unfortunately, customers have demands and we're going to do what we can and do our best to meet those customer demands. So our demo floor layout patterns, things are always changing, but right now in this corner we're going to spend a little time talking about the Schlebach product line.

Schlebach offers a wide variety of roll forming, notching and commonly shearing slitting profiles. And then of course, they have a lot of different accessories such as curving machines. We're going to see one here in just a moment. Seaming machines. Schlebach offers, to my knowledge, the only seaming machine in the industry that's capable of doing both straight and curved roofs. That's called the Spider, if you can imagine that Spider climbing up your roof. If you haven't seen one, the previous generation was called the Piccolo, built like a tank, but a lot of them took dyes off of roofs. They really did.

So with this Schlebach technology, here, I'm standing in front of the Schlebach Quadro. This Quadro has been a revolutionary product to the industry. Did a couple of things in the marketplace and into the industry. There was a stigma around portable roll forming that it could not produce a factory quality panel. And if you did have that portable roll former, it was really difficult to change those profiles. So one of those key things that Schlebach really did was went and MetalForming did a lot of testing to validate the fact that you could get a factory quality panel from a portable roll forming system.

And by the way, then we solved the time constraints in the difficulty of changing a profile. So with the Schlebach Quadro unique rotating cassette design, all we simply do is unlock our cassette. And on this, I have two different profiles, one on each side and now all I do is I drop my central drive gear, I look at my arrows and I can rotate that cassette, bring my drive gear back up, lock the cassette back in. I do the same thing on the other side. So truly changing a profile can take about two minutes.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And this is all portable.

Chad Rowe: This is all portable.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Portable. So you're talking-

Chad Rowe: So portable, on a trailer-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Roofing.

Chad Rowe: Powered by a generator, pick the whole trailer up and run your panels directly up onto your roof.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I love it. I love it.

Chad Rowe: So profiles. What's the hot topic right now? Board and batten. Everybody's talking about board and batten. Yes, we do offer board and batten. We also offer a soffit and flush wall, and then we offer your standard standing seam roofing profiles. This is the Schlebach Quadro. We offer this in three different main configurations. The highest level is called the FLX, and that machine is designed specifically for all of your custom roll forming needs. So if we don't have a standard product, feel free to still call us, let us give us a shot at it. We do have customized roll farmers available.

So sliding over, here's our inch and inch and a half curving machine. There have been several over the years that have been introduced into the market space and this is the last man standing simply because it works. It works. It's curving panels. If you've ever curved a panel or if you've ever tried to, I spent my first probably six, seven years here doing everything I could to get away from this machine. Give me the million dollar highest precision, most technic-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Technology.

Chad Rowe: Thank you.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: There you go.

Chad Rowe: I don't know. A sophisticated machine, and I would run away from this, but it too has evolved over the years and a couple of real basic changes, things that seemed real natural have occurred. So this is the inch and inch and a half curving machine. These are only for standing seam or mechanical lock. We also offer this in a two-inch version as well.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And only standing seam.

Chad Rowe: Only mechanical lock standing seam.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Okay. Grateful.

Chad Rowe: Yeah, only mechanical lock standing seam. Let's talk a little bit about the Schlebach Slasher. This is the tool or the piece I alluded to earlier that we talked a little bit about the Jorns long folding machines. And with that long folding machine, you really needed an affordable solution to process from coil. So this Schlebach Slasher, try saying that three times fast, was introduced into the marketplace in approximately 1999 and it was offered for under $30,000. So really changed who could process coil. It really gave people an opportunity if they wanted to start their own business or if they wanted to start their own manufacturing and get away from purchasing all of those needed components. So the Slasher has been that mainstay. It's still with us today because people still need a starting point. So for your basic coil processing needs, we have the Schlebach Slasher.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: So basic coil processing needs.

Chad Rowe: Basic coil processing needs.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: What kind of products are going to come out of this?

Chad Rowe: So with this machine, we're able to start with a very large, commonly up to 10,000 pound coil and we're going to take that coil and we're going to feed it through this machine and we're either going to make blanks or flat sheets for people to use and cut to the proper length.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Chad Rowe: That could be resold, that could be taken over to their shear and cut to the proper width. Or we can actually set the slitting knives to slit to the right width and cut to the right length. So I can take that finished trim piece right to my long folder.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Excellent.

Chad Rowe: Ready to process. So that's a brief overview of the Schlebach product line. Staying in that same coil processing needs, we're going to move up to that next level of need. We've talked about technology and who can use this and who should use it. So here we have the Crosser Optima hiding and this system is the semi-automatic solution for coal processing. I'm going to go ahead and open this hood just a little bit here.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Chad Rowe: I'm throwing Meg in the curve. We didn't do this, so hopefully it looks okay. If not, I'll close the lid back down. But inside this is that technology coming from automating an automotive factory. That's where this product originated from and the mindset, the builders of this solution. Again, as that technology need came about, there was a big need for automated knife positioning systems, downloading complete daily job lists into a control system and just let this machine run. So this is the semi-automated version. We also offer his big brother, the Centurio, that can be mirrored or mated to a fully automated coil warehouse system. So fully automated coil warehouse system, plus automated coil processing, slitting to width, cutting to length. We're able to, again, provide you with solutions that start from the very intermediate levels and then to complete full automation.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Which is where we are going next.

Chad Rowe: All right.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: This is so cool. So we are actually going to go over and-

Chad Rowe: Turn the other way.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: To these machines. We're come over-

Chad Rowe: There we go. We're going this way.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And see David.

Chad Rowe: We're going this way.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: There we go. So okay, we've just jumped up-

David Prokop: This is next.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: A little bit bigger. So what do we have going here?

David Prokop: Now that Chad has gone over the blank production or the roll forming, if that's what you're going to make it, if you've got a blank, you got to do something with it.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

David Prokop: You got to bend it. Right? That's usually what happens. This for me is one of the most exciting products architecturally that we deal with. It is an incredibly sophisticated machine. This is a small little 13 and a half foot folder we keep on our demo floor. It's easier to move around as we need to when we're bringing other machines in, but it is a bidirectional long folder. We'll make this all the way out to 60 feet in length. We simply continue to add C frames along the length. This is a 16 gauge machine.
What's unique about it though is Jorns follows the premise of we need to help lead that industry in terms of what their requirements are and meet the industry needs. Right?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes.

David Prokop: Not trail behind it two or three years. So a lot of people will buy these long folders to make trim, but panel manufacturing, vertical wall panels, horizontal panels, tapered panels, telescoping panels. Right? All these different profiles that these high-end architectural design people are coming up with that no one can figure out how to make-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: This is it right here.

David Prokop: This is how you make it. Right? A very interesting and unique spread of fingers. Each one completely independently control, vacuum cups, grippers, stops. There's not much you can't put through here.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I love it. We saw it earlier-

David Prokop: Yes.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And things going through. It's pretty phenomenal and when you look at the size. Now, one thing is this is not a normal size machine.

David Prokop: This is not. This is a little tiny one.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Okay, so what's normal for this?

David Prokop: Normal's 21 or 26 foot. Probably what? 90% or 21 foot?

Chad Rowe: 21 to 26 foot. Sorry everybody, I'm-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Come on in, Chad.

Chad Rowe: The camera's grabbing me. So I think what we consider normal, the industry really started out with, again, long folding servicing a certain market space. That market space traditionally was in that steel building market space. And then over time, again, as more and more contractors were being asked to do more so that they are a single point source, the long folding business really has evolved as well.

David Prokop: It's gone mainstream.

Chad Rowe: It really has. So this is that 13 foot version, but it's quite common where people are still only making 10-foot parts on this type of a machine, but maybe they're interested in a 32-foot-long machine so they can make three pieces at one time. Again, that's that efficiency. "Well, how do I load three pieces? How do I minimize my manpower?" And right over here, David's pointing to the solution of an automated side in feed.

David Prokop: This gains you an enormous amount of flexibility when while the operator is unloading finished parts, this immediately can start loading in up to three or four different blank lengths to fill that machine's length. So while those finished parts are being taken care of, this is already in play and starting to bend the next grouping of products that you need to kick out.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: The thing I love about this is that this is really where architectural, construction and precision manufacturing, everything is meeting, is in this machine.

David Prokop: [inaudible 00:34:48].

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And so it really all comes together and it's exciting when you think about this handles so many different challenges.

David Prokop: Well, and the other interesting factor from a growth stance, right? Adding the side in feed, which you can put on at any time. You don't have to buy it with the machine. You can let this grow as your needs do is we also have the ability to run this in a fully automated mode with the Jorns profile manipulator where it sits over the top and it completely handles the part, including reinserting them for closing hems if the hem has to be closed with the part on the exterior of the machine. It's not just a flipping device, it is a manipulating device.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Wow.

David Prokop: So we can go from a standalone machine with some features and capabilities that aid the operator in quickly loading and unloading, to automating the in feed to a completely automated solution that we can add really and grow into with the customer at any time their needs demand it.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It's about growth.

David Prokop: It's about growth.

Chad Rowe: Get what you need today-

David Prokop: Yep.

Chad Rowe: But one of those key things that... Jorns is on a second generation, more than a 50-year-old company and the son is now running the company and different than here in the US. He actually grew up in an apartment attached to the factory.

David Prokop: He did.

Chad Rowe: So he has literally lived-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Grown up.

Chad Rowe: This whole machine world. So it is his life. Whether he likes it or not, it is his life. No, he really enjoys it. And we appreciate all the tools that he's giving us to offer to you out in the market space. It's really grown with that.

David Prokop: And the last thing to note real quick, this is a fairly short machine in length. It's also a thin machine in capacity because we also make these in a two millimeter or a 14 gauge machine and up to an 11 gauge machine-

Chad Rowe: Wow.

David Prokop: That we have a number of making perlins in fully automated installations. So this is more than just a thin gauge roofing style machine.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right. You're truly forming all types of metal.

David Prokop: You are forming all types of metal in a number of different industries.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Everything. Okay.

Chad Rowe: Heidi, we can stand here and talk [inaudible 00:36:53].

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I know. That's right. You look at me. I'm like, let's go to the next one.

Chad Rowe: All right. I'm going to let you go that way and-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: We're bringing our camera with us. You're getting to see the shop overall. And remember, any questions on these machines or on the questions, please put them into the chat. We want to hear and we'll do our best. What do we have here, Chad?

Chad Rowe: So as we're working our way around the demo floor, and hopefully you can see what we're portraying here is MetalForming truly is your one-stop shop, your partner for whatever your needs are today and for tomorrow. It's not a first in the industry. Coil processing has been around, recoiling has been around, but at a certain level, it becomes not affordable to get certain capacities and features. The Stellarchic company has really put together a beautiful product. Here, we're able to recoil up to 150 feet a minute with certain nice-to-have features, quick change felt pads for your braking system. This is a first in the industry at this price point level. We have digital displays. We have rotary cutoff shears, so I don't have to fully rethread the system. If you're not familiar with this, you'll notice as we're walking down how long of the system can be. And if I have to start from the very beginning to get to the end every single time, I'm using a lot of time.

So this system is designed to save you those minutes and put it back into coil processing and adding value to what you're trying to create. So here's our coil cart. This is for removing our newly wound coils. We're just going to slide on down as we're looking at our safety steps so that we can safely operate. Here's our control panel. Something small, little things that you're going to find. Here's my cabinet that my gauges are hidden inside. So they're protected. They're protected. Right? What's that first thing that gets broken? Well, the most fragile piece. Right? So it's inside a little cabinet.

All of these things... Watch your step here.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Go ahead.

Chad Rowe: All of these little things bring value to what you're doing. This is a collapsible, pneumatic folding table. This table, when I'm threading and loading the system, extends all the way up into the braking system. Why is this here? Again, for efficiency and speed of threading that system. We're going to save you time of doing nothing so that you can add value to your coils.

The next key component, as we're walking down, here, we've got our stacking table, standard in 13 foot length, capable of what length do you want? And this is all electrically powered system, capable of handling up to 4,400 pounds. Yeah, everybody's... Did you guys catch that? Yes, I-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: We are watching you. Don't worry.

Chad Rowe: Stepped on the rail that I told Heidi to watch out for. 4,400 pounds automated system. Here, I'm going to try to spin around. This is a sensing system so that the table automatically lowers as my stack gets taller, adjustable stops for my sides. Something unique about this table is what I'm stepping on is this track and this table actually can be brought, moved into the system or brought out of the system, again, so that I have a safe operating or a loading and unloading area to take my finished goods away from the system.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And Chad, just real quick, this kind of machinery, with what you're talking about and the coil coming down here, this is going into a very large manufacturing sheet metal shop. Yes?

Chad Rowe: It can go into a very large shop, but what this system has done... So this particular coil processing system is really designed to meet your needs and it can be set up very modular as well. So here we're standing in front of the slit-to-width, cut-to-length piece of this system. It's got some unique features. It's got a three-roll rotating film application shaft diameters of eight inches with massive slitting knives, ejector rings so that I can do small strips down to three inches.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Wow.

Chad Rowe: So I don't have to have all of these pieces.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right.

Chad Rowe: But this system really is primarily intended for people who want to process coil to make blanks or flats, and they're going to run a whole pallet hole that sell those to somebody or they're going to start with a master coil and they're going to slip that coil down to standing seam size coils-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: [inaudible 00:42:25].

Chad Rowe: Or whatever your needs are. Six-inch strips, three-inch strips, all of this can be rewound with this system. So again, very modular. Get what you need today, add what you need too.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That's great.

Chad Rowe: Here's our power decoiler. Just real quickly, excuse me. MetalForming offers an array of non-powered and powered decoilers, starting at a small one ton portable manual decoiler, moving up to a three ton, a five ton. What we're looking at here is a five ton power decoiler unique feature on this. We actually have a coil diameter sensing so that the system knows being an all-electric driven power decoiler, the system is actually using different ramps based on the size of the coil. All of these things go into that smooth continuous operation. Again, this is five ton. We offer these up to 12 ton capacity.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Wow.

Chad Rowe: Single head, dual head, with a coil cart, without the cart. A lot of options for whatever use.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: So you can really across the board, all types of companies?

Chad Rowe: Yes.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Exactly. Okay, so now we have our flats, we have our cutters. We've done all that.

Chad Rowe: Yes.

Speaker 6: Some questions.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Okay. Yes.

Speaker 6: Is that okay?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes, please.

Chad Rowe: Yes.

Speaker 6: Okay, first question, "What is the cost of the 21-foot Jorns bender?

Chad Rowe: So that's a great question and that's really a difficult question to answer. If we're talking about the double folding up and down, we're going to start about 520,000. And then based on how you need that configured determines really where that landing point is for that system. And the old adage, right? Anything is possible, it just takes money. But a common configuration, I would say today's marketplace, people are landing somewhere between 580 and 680 is a common space for a 16 gauge, 21 foot. Jorns, specific, yes. And was that question for double-bending? I don't know if there's-

Speaker 6: Just the Jorns bender.

Chad Rowe: Okay. So we also offer that same 21-foot machine in an up-only version. Then those start about 200,000. So depends on what your needs are.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It's really about understanding people's goals and what they need for the business.

Chad Rowe: Absolutely.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Another question.

Speaker 6: The other one, "Is all metal considered class four for insurance companies, or is it the machines that run bend coil?"

Chad Rowe: Yeah. So that question-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Great question.

Chad Rowe: Really belongs to the coil supplier or manufacturer. At MetalForming, we're not selling coil or metal, so we shouldn't answer that question. I would direct you to your coil supplier then to handle that question.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That's a great question though. That's something we will put into our records to see if we can get some further education on that. So that's a great question. We'll follow up on that.

Chad Rowe: No, I'm not going to.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: We're going to move on because we don't want to be too late.

Chad Rowe: We got to get to machines.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: What we were saying is we have flats. Now what are we going to do with them? David?

David Prokop: We're going to bend them some more.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes. Show us this cool machine. Please tell us about it.

David Prokop: So the PowerBend Multi is one of the newest entrees from Schroeder Group into that architectural/precision crossover area. It's unique because it is really taken a lot of the construction and engineering attributes that you typically see in the real big folder, such as a ball screw driven clamping beam that we can control to within four decimal points. But they've configured it to fit the architectural industry. Right? Such as the F shape or free shape geometry for doing any sort of slope roof drip edges, a rotating clamping beam that we can put various height tools on it, but the machine is so much more than that. We have a multi-stage rotating clamping beam that gives us the ability to swing this out of the way in hem with our folding beam.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Ah, nice.

David Prokop: Which means on a 14 gauge, 10-foot machine, we can close hem, 14 gauge mild steel.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And we saw that today.

David Prokop: You saw that today.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It was very impressive. Yes.

David Prokop: And when you're doing a drip edge or something like that, where typically you have to helicopter the part, reinsert it to close the hem, you don't have to do that on this. So it's taking an existing, very well known and understood feature, the rotating clamping beam, but advancing it to a level that only a company that has the control capabilities and the drive capabilities as Schroeder can do.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: In fact, this is one of the things that we saw earlier that... Sorry, just for my technology geeky heart, what we saw with this interface and how it helped with driving and bending and everything it was doing-

David Prokop: It tells you what to do.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Phenomenal. It was phenomenal.

David Prokop: It steps the operator through every single. Anyone here could step... We should have had you run apart.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: We should have. There we go.

David Prokop: Why didn't we do that?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: We'll do that later on.

David Prokop: We should do that later on. But anyone here, truly, if you can look at this and understand which one of the two pedals to hit and put the part where it shows you to put the part, you can run the part.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: You can do it.

David Prokop: It's that simple.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Wow. So this is the kind of things, and you will, we do have some footage on this, so be sure to watch on Metal Coffee Shop because you're going to see a lot of this coming your way within the next couple of months. Shall we move on?

Chad Rowe: Well, hopefully you're not tired of me yet. My talking time is almost up. We're going to go take a look at really one of the early pieces for MetalForming, and this is the Schechtl product line, the Schechtl 10-foot folder shears is really that industry standard in premier folding and shearing that has really, again, changed what that industry looks like going back to that 1998. So the history. Those of you who may be watching this that have an old Schechtl shear, looks a lot like this new Schechtl shear.

There's a reason for that. If it's not broke, don't fix it. So using that technology and the more than 100 years of experience that Schechtl has. So this is 10 foot, 16 gauge. Again, this can be up to 13 feet in length and up to 11 gauge in capacity. So again, multiple options to meet your needs. Multiple options of feature sets on a shear.

I'm going to move right over here to the folder, but I'm going to stay in the middle. One of the key components that I don't think that Schechtl gets enough recognition for is their ability to listen to what the market is asking for. And in some cases, what MetalForming is asking for. If you've been around Mr. Geoff Stone, sometimes he didn't ask real nicely, but there's a reason for that. So where am I going with this? Schechtl, all Schechtl-powered equipment, folders and shears, are complete with UL certified electrical components and cabinetry. All of the powered Schechtl products, UL listed componentry and cabinet. Why is that important to you? You're protected. Your investment is protected. So very quickly now, getting to that mainstay, that main product of MetalForming has been the Schechtl 10 foot folder, 10 foot, 16 gauge.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: You're doing that one right?

Chad Rowe: This model is the newest platform, which came out about two years ago. This model incorporates the F geometry, the common Schechtl clamping beam, 20-degree nose bar on the tooling. All of these things have not really changed over those years because Schechtl's knowledge in the industry of making architectural equipment. Here on display is the Schechtl control, and the screen that I've got it in, Heidi, is really showing off the technology and the power behind this system. So going back to the original days, we just had a profile shape that we could see. Well, now I can draw it on the screen. I can set any dimensions that I want, and then I can watch it being made and I have different views. I can even look at that finished part and spin it around to make sure this is exactly what I want.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: So cool

Chad Rowe: And going back some years, I had to have knowledge as to what is a drip-edge part?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Right. 

Chad Rowe: What does that thing look like? I can even see in 3D the actual machine, and this all moves live. So we'll be able to demonstrate that in some later videos as well.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes, that is so cool.

Chad Rowe: So really excited. One more quick piece, and I don't think that we've touched on it barely at all, any of these automated solutions, any of this fully graphic programming, you must talk about software-driven solutions. We haven't spent really any time because here at MetalForming, we do sell equipment, but we do offer Bendex software. And at some point in time, we have to maybe do another segment about Bendex.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I'm thinking we may do another one on Bendex.

Chad Rowe: I think we're going to have to.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And you will be able to find information on Bendex on our directories. We're going to move over this way just because we got to make sure we get everybody.

Chad Rowe: I see David.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: David?

Chad Rowe: I see David wants to talk again.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Bring it on, David.

David Prokop: I'm shaking my head to the Bendex thing. Today is one of the most important parts to driving these machines.

Chad Rowe: Shame on us, shame on us.

David Prokop: So any of these are directly interfaceable with Bendex. It's really a wonderful and incredible thing.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: This is a pretty amazing-looking machine here.

David Prokop: It's an amazing-looking machine. So this is the big brother to the little PowerBend Multi that you saw earlier. 11 gauge by 10 foot. This bends up and down, and this has become very popular with the exterior wall panel manufacturers.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Okay.

David Prokop: That want to get into that high customization of making wall panels. Right? As you saw earlier, making watertight wall panels.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes.

David Prokop: We do very, very easily, along with bump-forming column covers in a number of different things. So as these architects keep coming out with these fancier and fancier and fancier and harder and harder things to make, this is the type of technology that companies have to bring in to be able to make those types of profiles. And what was interesting was when Kurt was bump forming the column cover, there was 65 bends on it. He touched the part twice.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, we saw that and we will have video on that you'll be able to find because it was pretty amazing. We didn't run them today just because of the noise levels. And actually, this wasn't very noisy at all.

David Prokop: It wasn't.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: But we did have it on video.

David Prokop: Well, you're going to run the next one. The next one is on you.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And we do have it on video. So gentlemen, let's gather over here real quick.

Chad Rowe: On your way back over.

David Prokop: Now, this is the coolest one of [inaudible 00:54:19].

Chad Rowe: On your way back over.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Oh, okay. We need to stop right here.

Chad Rowe: We don't want to forget.

David Prokop: We don't want to forget.

Chad Rowe: We don't want to forget about the Schechtl UKV, and not just the Schechtl UKV. We do offer and also have in our house of cards, if you will, a lot of manually operated machines so that not everything can be solved. Not everybody has the right pocketbook, right? For all this automation that we like to talk about. We do still have manual machines. This is the great UKV box and can break, can be open and closed with your foot pedal, all segmented tooling. Come talk to us. We have solutions.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: This is really impressive. So Steve, there's some people out there who I'm thinking are going, "I need my own sheet metal shop, or maybe I need to expand my sheet metal shop." What's some of your advice for contractors and for manufacturers, sheet metal shops across the board who are looking to grow, to start a sheet metal shop?

Stephen Gosk: Yeah, first and foremost, I say come see us or at minimum, come talk to us. We are one partner for your needs. We offer, as you heard, a high level of expertise in the space. And I always enjoy those discussions when someone comes in tells, us about their business. And Chad is excellent at this, asking the question, "What are you doing today? What do you want to do five years from now?" And guess what? It's not always the most expensive solution to offer. If it's the right solution, he's going to present it to you and put it with the right product together that's going to meet your needs. Again, not for today, but from five years from now, depending on what those specific needs are.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: They need to do. Martin, your advice to folks out there who are looking [inaudible 00:56:09]?

Martin König: To echo that, one partner, trusted expert. Come to us, feed off our experience. Talk to people like Chad. Talk to our very experienced field technicians.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Build a relationship.

Martin König: Build a relationship. It all starts here.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I like goals, relationships. Okay, gentlemen, you have a mic, so I won't hold this over in front of you.

David Prokop: I think one of the biggest things that people oftentimes overlook is getting very, very engaged with us on the service and support. If you're starting a sheet metal shop, you've never maintained any of this, don't do it alone. We're there. Martin's built an incredible team. We are there to support you, to help you, to work with you, putting together the service level agreements, coming out and PMing your machines. It's the biggest investment you will make if you're getting into this type of an industry. Take care of it. Let us help you take care of it. Let us train you to take care of it.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That's great. Chad, bring us home.

Chad Rowe: All right, so there's a lot of equipment out there that can help your business. There's a lot of hardware, there's a lot of different software. How do you choose the right one? That can really be that difficult piece. Really, all I can say is find a partner that you can do business with. There's plenty of pieces of equipment in the market space, but find that partner that you're comfortable with and you can shake hands and walk away and know that, "I've got the best solution for my needs right now today." So that's one partner. We want to be your partner. You can buy machinery from lots of people. Heidi, thank you very much for giving us this opportunity. I told you earlier, you said real quick.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, no real quick.

Chad Rowe: I can't do real quick.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Before we go, the one thing I do have to say is I'm hoping we've whetted everybody's appetite out there, but we have something really special coming up at the end of October and that is METALCON and we will be there with a live soundstage. We're going to be broadcasting from there, but you all are going to have a very exciting booth with some exciting promotions. So Steve, why don't you just a little bit about METALCON?

Stephen Gosk: Yeah, we're really excited to have METALCON in Atlanta this year, close to home. Virtually everything you have seen today will be in our booth, represented by our team at all levels. And so come on by, come see us, start that dialogue, build that rapport. We are confident that we can show you what you need for your business.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That's really good. And there's a little bit of a contest. So you have what? Six weeks to work on this, David?

David Prokop: Yes.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: What should they be doing in these next six weeks?

David Prokop: So one of the most enjoyable parts we have during these shows is when customers come up, typically with a piece of paper and something sketched out on and say, "Can you make this?" Bring us those sketches. Right? We have yet to be stumped on the PowerBend Multi.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Okay.

David Prokop: And we have had, frankly, sometimes during the end of the shows, more of our competitors in our booth trying to figure out how we did stuff than customers during closing bells. So bring us your profiles. Let us have a shot at showing you how this PowerBend Multi can make those parts. If you stump us, you get a very cool little orange Yeti mug that you can take home with pride saying you've got a profile that no one can make. So then go back to the architecture that designed it and tell them to change the plans. But until then, give us a shot. I think you'll be amazed at what we can do and we'll have a little fun doing it.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I have to tell you, there's a lot of really amazing contractors out there who I'm sure are going to be at METALCON-

David Prokop: Perfect.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And are going to be ready for this challenge.

David Prokop: Beautiful. Perfect.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: So I want to thank you again. Thank you.

Martin König: Appreciate it.

Stephen Gosk: Thank you guys.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Thank you. Thank you so much.

David Prokop: Thank you very much.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Thank you.

Chad Rowe: Thank you, Heidi.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It was so great.

Chad Rowe: Thank you all for watching.

David Prokop: Thank you all.

Outro: Thank you. Thank you all for watching. This is Metal Talk Live. Hey, we're going to keep coming live from not only today in MetalForming in Peachtree City, Georgia, but we're going to also be live at Western Roofing Expo at the end of the month and then live at METALCON at the end of October.

Please check out the MetalForming directory. It has all this information and watch over the next couple of months because we're going to be bringing you all kinds of great videos and experiences from our live trip here. We'll be seeing you next month for Metal Talk.