Trenton Pressing Success Story

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Manufacturer Connects to New Technology and Strategic Customers

Company Profile: Trenton Pressing is a metal stamping, welding, and assembly company located in Trenton, Georgia. The 220-employee operation supplies a number of large automotive OEMs, as well as customers in other industries, such as the recreational vehicle industry.

Manufacturing worker inspects product at the end of a production line.

Situation

In 2020, the current owners purchased the company with the intent to modernize, streamline, and make the company more profitable, while also maintaining jobs for the existing workforce. Hans Pfunder, COO, met John Zegers, Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech’s Northwest Georgia region manager, and explained their plans to implement new technology to improve efficiency and communication.

Solution

Zegers connected the Trenton Pressing team with Sean Madhavaraman, GaMEP technology project manager, who immediately saw the opportunity to help the company connect its legacy machinery to a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) using sensors and other Industry 4.0 technologies.

An engineer integrating a new technology with existing equipment.

The company had various types of stamping presses, robotic welding cells, and other types of machinery that needed to be monitored in real-time to understand output, efficiency, and downtime. None of the machinery that was inherited from the previous owners had this capability. Pfunder worked with Madhavaraman to create a roadmap to connect the machinery and train employees on how to use the new data that was collected.

The engineering and maintenance teams worked together to install the new monitoring equipment and utilize software to allow real-time data tracking. The new information was used to help predict equipment failure before it happened, allowing the maintenance team to implement preventative maintenance and reduce downtime. It was also used to optimize production planning and improve employee experience.

“Our employees like knowing how they are doing and how their work contributes to the overall success of the company,” said Pfunder. “Using this technology has allowed us to improve employee work/life balance by eliminating unexpected schedule changes and weekend shifts.”

The improvements allowed the company to ship substantially more units, but also freed up additional capacity for the company to take on new customers. During a check-in visit,

Group of manufacturers stand behind one of their products.
Marco Linner, Michael Vandergriff (Program Manager at Trenton Pressing), John Zegers, and Blaine Burley (President of Plotmaster Systems) with the first plotmaster unit produced by Trenton Pressing.

Marco Linner, director of business development, told Zegers about an idea to diversify their business by taking on more complex, lower-volume projects that could develop into long-term partnerships over time.

Within a week, Zegers learned that Plotmaster Systems, an agricultural equipment company in Sandersville, Georgia, was looking for a contract manufacturer. The company had been working on product design with Bob Wray, GaMEP technology project manager, and asked for help sourcing a manufacturing partner who had the right capabilities and could jump in quicky to start production. It sounded like a perfect fit for Trenton Pressing, so Zegers connected the two companies.

Linner met with the company and found that the product was indeed the type of business opportunity they were seeking. The product is now in production at Trenton Pressing. The first units were delivered just three months after their initial introduction, which was ahead of schedule. The partnership is going well and both companies hope to produce more products together in the future.

Results

By working with GaMEP, Trenton Pressing has:

  • Implemented an MES and used the data collected to improve their OEE by nearly 40 percentage points in one year.
  • Increased units shipped from their largest production line by 50%, while decreasing shifts from two full shifts per day to one and a quarter.
  • Connected with a new strategic customer and began producing products together within three months.
  • Invested $12 Million in a new 100,000 sq. ft. facility to help support their future growth plans.

Testimonial

“We can calculate our return on investment much better now because of the transparency in our process that GaMEP helped us create. We now have a world-class OEE, that is allowing us to service our customers better and take on new projects.”

– Hans Pfunder, COO, Trenton Pressing

“GaMEP was able to help us become a better manufacturer and then to offer our capabilities to others. We are proud to manufacture in the USA and be able to help other innovative companies to produce their products locally.”

– Marco Linner, Director of Business Development, Trenton Pressing