Vincennes steel girder manufacturer investing in Industry 4.0 tech
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Vincennes-based Wabash Steel is investing $2.5 million to install new high-tech equipment that it says will dramatically improve productivity at its Knox County facility.
The company, which fabricates steel plate girders primarily for highway and railroad bridges, says the investment was made possible with the help of a $200,000 Manufacturing Readiness Grant from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and Conexus Indiana.
Executive Vice President of Operations Jason Turk says the investment in smart, IoT-driven technology introduces the more than 100-year-old facility to Industry 4.0.
Turk told Inside INdiana Business that the company is taking advantage of the modernization of the steel fabrication business.
“Structural steel and bridge fabrication in particular is somewhat behind the times when it comes to Industry 4.0, when it comes to robotics, when it comes to smart manufacturing, when it comes to data collection, and then useful action as a result of what that data is telling you,” he said. “Now, Industry 4.0 is beginning to show up, and especially in a piece of equipment like this, there’s a lot that you can do with that data.”
The new equipment is a high-tech blaster for complex steel cleaning and preparation. The company said the steel structures it produces in Vincennes have specific paint requirements due to bridge structures being exposed to a broad spectrum of weather conditions, and the blaster will match and exceed those requirements.
“Our new blaster communicates directly with the internet, collects and reports key data, monitors its own maintenance, and operates sophisticated sensors in its gearboxes,” said Turk. “It’s a true Industry 4.0 innovation.”
Dan Goff, maintenance manager at Wabash Steel, said in a news release that the facility’s current equipment moves steel at a rate of 3-5 inches per minute. The new machine will move steel at five feet per minute, and the process that would previously take three hours will be reduced to 45 minutes.
When the new equipment comes online in 2025, the company aims to add 10-20 jobs, which Turk said will help the company keep pace.
“It is disruptive technology that elevates our entire operation and helps us attract needed talent to our plant,” said Turk. “This machine…allows the flow of the work to continue throughout our operation and helps us to provide more throughput in the plant, so we’re building more girders, kicking them out faster.”
Wabash Steel said it received assistance from Vincennes University, Knox County Indiana Economic Development and other partners to secure the Manufacturing Readiness Grant. Chief Financial Officer Duane Geiger said the grant played a key role in completing the financing needed for the investment.
“This whole project—the working together of Conexus, Vincennes, and Wabash is resulting in a virtuous cycle where continuous improvement occurs organically,” Geiger said in written remarks.
Turk said in addition to working with the equipment’s manufacturer, the company is partnering with Vincennes University to help train and reskill its employees on the new technology.
“They’re literally less than a block from our plant, and they have a lot of really cool programs set up that teach people how to run sophisticated CNC equipment and really plug them into the maintenance required, the computer skills required that really makes someone effective in that job,” he said.
Turk noted that about $6 million has been invested in the facility since the facility was acquired in 2015 by Indianapolis-based Lenex Steel, and he anticipates another $4 million could be invested in the next 3-4 years.
“We’re committed to Knox County. We’re committed to Vincennes. We’re committed to the bridge fabrication business, and all of that commitment and that investment is really being validated and really well supported by our business contacts at Conexus and Vincennes and the IEDC. So we’re very grateful for all of that.”