Jim Becker
02-13-2004, 8:52 PM
When Fred and I journeyed (read: ROAD TRIP!) to Syracuse NY last Friday to pick up my new cyclone, we were treated to a great tour of their facilities. Needless to say, the place was "hopping" due to brisk business after a very favorable review in the December 2003 issue of WOOD Magazine.
The Oneida facility is in a building once used by Rockwell and later, Porter Cable to make machinery. That alone gives the place some interesting character as only "vintage" industrial buildings can. The offices and main manufacturing operations as well as their test/development lab and photo studio are located on the second floor with final assembly and shipping on the first. Everyone we saw was very, very busy for the whole time of our visit.
Rich Benedetto and Steve Menke went above and beyond to show us around, talk about how things are made and generally show us a great time. And since it was Friday...there was Pizza. Lot's of Pizza. Mucho Pizza. Which was quite welcome after a 5 hour drive in freezing rain!
The photos below will give you a little idea about our tour...here are descriptions of each shot:
1) The testing and development lab was great...and it had quite a few tools that could actually be used to make sawdust. They also use part of this space for photo work and to study competitor's products. We saw a number of interesting ideas in this room, including a small "floor sweep" used on a benchtop (right side of pic) for easy cleanup and some nice quick-disconnect ideas...which I'll put in a separate post below.
2) The manufacturing floor is big. Really big. Plasma cutters are used to cut the parts out of sheet steel and then a number of folks take care of the welding...additional facilities for both functions are about to be brought on line to keep up with the load, too. All of the work is done in house with the exception of the powder coating.
3) This fellow is welding the collar of a blower housing. He moved through a number of units as we stood nearby chatting for only a few minutes.
4) The assembly and shipping department on the first floor was recently expanded and was also a very busy place. To support duct work orders quickly, they had a great stock of various custom components on hand as you can see in the picture. Rich Benedetto is crimping the end of a 6" to 5" reducer as Fred looks on.
5) Custom duct designs are done using a CAD product which also builds a bill of materials automatically. Here, Rich is showing the design for Fred's shop to us prior to our tour. The software was fast, easy to use and efficient as it automatically transfers the BOM information to a spreadsheet application for quoting and billing.
The Oneida facility is in a building once used by Rockwell and later, Porter Cable to make machinery. That alone gives the place some interesting character as only "vintage" industrial buildings can. The offices and main manufacturing operations as well as their test/development lab and photo studio are located on the second floor with final assembly and shipping on the first. Everyone we saw was very, very busy for the whole time of our visit.
Rich Benedetto and Steve Menke went above and beyond to show us around, talk about how things are made and generally show us a great time. And since it was Friday...there was Pizza. Lot's of Pizza. Mucho Pizza. Which was quite welcome after a 5 hour drive in freezing rain!
The photos below will give you a little idea about our tour...here are descriptions of each shot:
1) The testing and development lab was great...and it had quite a few tools that could actually be used to make sawdust. They also use part of this space for photo work and to study competitor's products. We saw a number of interesting ideas in this room, including a small "floor sweep" used on a benchtop (right side of pic) for easy cleanup and some nice quick-disconnect ideas...which I'll put in a separate post below.
2) The manufacturing floor is big. Really big. Plasma cutters are used to cut the parts out of sheet steel and then a number of folks take care of the welding...additional facilities for both functions are about to be brought on line to keep up with the load, too. All of the work is done in house with the exception of the powder coating.
3) This fellow is welding the collar of a blower housing. He moved through a number of units as we stood nearby chatting for only a few minutes.
4) The assembly and shipping department on the first floor was recently expanded and was also a very busy place. To support duct work orders quickly, they had a great stock of various custom components on hand as you can see in the picture. Rich Benedetto is crimping the end of a 6" to 5" reducer as Fred looks on.
5) Custom duct designs are done using a CAD product which also builds a bill of materials automatically. Here, Rich is showing the design for Fred's shop to us prior to our tour. The software was fast, easy to use and efficient as it automatically transfers the BOM information to a spreadsheet application for quoting and billing.