Metal-Era was founded as a small manufacturing plant in Waukesha, Wisconsin, in 1980. By the late 1980s, we had already grown enough to move into a 44,000-square-foot facility.
Metal-Era’s business has continued to grow rapidly by introducing new brands like our contractor-friendly Edge Systems One while expanding into new areas like ventilation with our innovative Airflow Solutions products. To accommodate such growth, we’ve continued to expand our manufacturing, warehouse, and administrative space, and Metal-Era now occupies more than 100,000 square feet.
The use of robotics, via partnerships with ABB and IAS, has enabled us to standardize our products and dramatically improve efficiencies. For our customers, this means high performance products that are quick to ship.
Since 2008, we have deployed five robotic cells into our manufacturing process to increase productivity and consistency and improve our lead times. Our first robot, used for spring clip automation, was such a success that we added several more robots. We now have additional robots focused on notching, acute forming, and clip finishing.