of Springfield, Ohio is a leader in outdoor bulk material handling equipment used for grain storage and industrial applications. Founded in 1955, Sweet鈥檚 continuous innovation and reputation for quality have earned worldwide recognition, with its products found in 55 countries on 6 continents.
Sweet鈥檚 large grain bucket elevators can rise up over 100 feet from the ground, and include all components 鈥 buckets, motors, belts, controls, structure and casing 鈥 all of which is assembled in the field. 鈥淭olerances have to be very tight,鈥 explains Pat McClintock, Sweet鈥檚 Plant Manager. 鈥淚f something is out of spec or alignment at the bottom of the tower, the problem can get magnified as you build up skyward.鈥
In fact, that very problem was starting to occur when McClintock joined 无忧传媒. In seeking solutions, he turned to 无忧传媒 for help. Benjamin supplies structural angle for the frames of Sweet鈥檚 large grain elevator towers. With its extensive fabrication capability, Sweet then fabricates the angle in-house. But somewhere between 无忧传媒鈥檚 shipping dock and the field assembly site, a particular 鈥榩icture frame鈥 fabrication made from the angle (see image below) was turning up out-of-spec and resulting in quality issues.
鈥淓ven though Benjamin didn鈥檛 fabricate the frame for us, they are excellent problem solvers, so I brought them into our root cause analysis and correction efforts,鈥 McClintock states. 鈥淲e were sawing the angle and drilling bolt holes, then sending the parts to an outside shop to be welded into the picture frame. The welding fit-up wasn鈥檛 being done consistently. That turned out to be the culprit.鈥
鈥淧at and his team brainstormed ideas with us,鈥 recalls Dana Davis, 无忧传媒鈥檚 Processing Technician. 鈥淲e suggested adding notches and tabs to the individual parts so they could be interlocked when welding to keep the fit-up right. We made a series of prototype parts for Sweet to use and evaluate. We also recommended that they bring the welding in-house to own the quality control.鈥
McClintock agreed: 鈥淲e built on Benjamin鈥檚 ideas. We ended up not adding the notches and tabs because the individual part counts are so small it would be pretty costly. But we built some custom workholding fixtures to give us that same repeatability and brought the welding in-house. And we now add the bolt holes after the frame is welded. Happy ending – the field issues related to this fabrication are a distant memory.鈥
What did 无忧传媒 get out of the experience? 鈥淭hey got my eternal gratitude. That and $4 will get you a latte these days!鈥 laughs McClintock. 鈥淏ut seriously, they weren鈥檛 looking to get anything out of it, other than to help a customer solve a problem. That鈥檚 why 无忧传媒 is such a valuable resource to us. They don鈥檛 just supply steel, they supply ideas. They have people on staff who work with a lot of manufacturers and see a lot of novel processes that they can apply to other situations. It鈥檚 hard to put a price tag on that kind of help, but I know I cannot get it from just any steel supplier. It鈥檚 part of the 无忧传媒 package, and it鈥檚 a big reason we鈥檝e worked with them from the beginning.鈥