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Hampel Corp New Manufacturing Cell

Germantown Wisconsin — May 12, 2010 — Hampel Corp. completes 60,000 square foot addition to manufacturing facility, installation of a new plastics thermoformer, and robotic trimming cell to meet increased demand.

Hampel has embarked on a strategic partnership, product innovation and expansion in plant, equipment and people in order to position itself for growth during these challenging times. “Hampel is a strong company. We see today’s economic conditions as an opportunity for us to grow and become even stronger”, states Hampel Corp’s president Paul Lorge. These strategic initiatives have resulted in record sales and production demand. Because of the increased production volume, a condensed timeline was required for the installation and start-up of the new manufacturing cell. “Basically, the moment our general contractor said the concrete was set and could support the weight of the machine, we started putting it together” recalls Tom Aidich, the project engineer. “We installed the thermoforming machine and the new robotic trimming cell, and got them both running production in four weeks. This was quite a feat. Under normal conditions, it could have taken up to eight weeks to complete.”

At the heart of the cell is a Brown Machine three-station, rotary, single sheet thermoformer capable of forming a heavy gauge part nine foot long, six foot wide, and three foot deep. The newest machine adds to a fleet of nine other heavy-gauge, cut-sheet thermoforming machines at Hampel Corporation. “As nice as the thermoformer is”, comments Aidich, “the most exciting part of the cell is the new robotic trim cell.” Hampel Corp. partnered with Robotic Solutions, Inc. of Waukesha, Wisconsin to design and build the trimming cell to compliment the thermoforming machine. Chosen for the cell was a Kuka KR60-L30HA robotic arm. Aidich points out, “We have other robotic arms for trimming at Hampel. The best thing about the robots versus the traditional 5-axis CNC routers is reliability. The robots run and just don’t breakdown.” Tom Bentley, President and Owner of Robotic Solutions responds: “The Kuka arms are perfectly matched to Hampel Corp’s needs. We have customers that program off-line with commercial CAM software like PowerMill and SurfCam on a daily basis. As for accuracy, the Kuka arms and the motion control software are the best on the market. The cell delivered to Hampel is a true CNC replacement.” To complement the Kuka arm the trimming cell is also equipped with an automatic tool change spindle, ten spot tool rack, and a tool length pre-setter. This feature allows for greater accuracy, as the robot can automatically self adjust to new tool lengths. Essentially the robot removes human error from the process.

Lance Hampel founded Hampel Corp. in 1976 as a custom manufacturer of OEM parts. Over the past three decades, Hampel has honed its manufacturing, engineering, and marketing expertise, and has grown to be an ISO 9001:2008 Certified diversified, global plastics company serving customers worldwide through its two distinct strategic business units.

  • Hampel Animal Care – proprietary lines of products and services serving the domestic and international dairy markets. Hampel Animal Care’s line of calf housing, Calf-Tel, is distributed worldwide and is the world’s leading provider of calf housing solutions.
  • Hampel Molded Solutions – provider of OEM parts for leading manufacturers, such as Harley-Davidson, John Deere, and Johnson Controls.
 
2024 HAMPEL