At Estes, we are focused on continuous improvement and lean initiatives. Lean initiatives opt to improve production, quality, and lead-time of operations in hopes of improving overall manufacturing. The end goal is to provide the highest quality product while continuing to meet demand and reducing waste in the process. Several lean tools are available to…
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The 4Q 2013 Middle Market Indicator, a recent study performed by The National Center for the Middle Market in collaboration with Ohio State University, found good news at the end of 2013 for many industries across America, especially manufacturing. The research shows that manufacturing and construction sectors within the middle market ended 2013 on a…
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Estes Design & Manufacturing will be hosting an event for the Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME) titled The Cellular Approach: The Latest Excellence in Manufacturing on February 24th. At Estes continuous improvement is a top priority. The company is in the process of changing over its facility from a traditional job shop to a cellular…
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Estes Design and Manufacturing is going through an exciting leadership transition. We are pleased to announce that Tim Estes has taken over as President of our company, while Larry Estes who founded the business in 1976, remains involved day-to-day as an owner and mentor to support the company through this transition. This leadership change became…
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At Estes Design and Manufacturing, we use Salvagnini Panel Benders (see image) to provide lean and flexible production capabilities. When our customers allow us to utilize value engineering practices and tools it results in cost savings and value for the customer. Below are some of the benefits our customers receive based on our use of…
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Check out the Salvagnini L5 Fiber Optic Laser cutting .048” Carbon Steel at 1,251 inches per minute.
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At Estes, we strive to proactively and constantly monitor our equipment and standards to better serve our customers, which is why we’re excited to announce we’ve just made some major machinery investments. Although our existing equipment is up-to-date and running smoothly, we recently acquired some new machinery. The most influential machine we’re bringing to our…
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It’s somewhat difficult to get a straight answer on the state of manufacturing—one Google search brings up thousands of conflicting news articles about triumphs and losses in the industry. We’re happy to report that from our perspective, manufacturing is growing and changing in a positive way, and numerous reports have been released this summer confirming…
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In February, we blogged about our Kaizen event, which is a highly focused workshop to take immediate action and improve existing processes within the company. While we’ve been focusing on “lean initiatives” for years, we recently contracted a company, Ro12 Enterprises, to guide us through the Kaizen event, assist with several projects, and provide on-going…
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At Estes, we offer a variety of services including traditional metal fabrication services, 3D laser welding, and rapid prototyping. Although we manufacture products for a variety of industries, we want to highlight our work in medical device manufacturing. One of our recent projects involved us helping a client streamline the production of a steel pan.…
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At Estes, we are very proud of our innovative rapid prototyping shop. As we developed and worked on this service offering, we’ve found that most of our clients have been pleased with all the benefits of Estes Express Rapid Prototyping. Recently, one of the world’s largest packing equipment suppliers came to us with a challenging…
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This month’s edition of The FABRICATOR features an interview by Tim Heston with Elizabeth Kautzmann, chairman of FMA’s Industrial Laser Council and laser program manager with FANUC FA America. In this “Conducting the Laser” article , Kautzmann emphasizes, “A system is only as strong as its weakest link – and in many cases, the laser…
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