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Engineering, Stories

Randbright Celebrates 50 Years of Innovation & Partnership

For a company to celebrate 50 years, its products must be built on a strong foundation that can evolve to meet the demands of today and tomorrow. When Randbright started in 1972, it was founded on the principle of simple design, better output. In the world of manufacturing metal plates and cylindrical tubes, this meant building a machine to automate finishing and polishing in a way that was easy to use while increasing the safety and efficiency at the same time.

The Randall brothers, Greg and Steve, alongside their father, John, spent countless hours at their shop in New Berlin, Wisconsin perfecting their machine until they were able to find the winning combination of ease of use, design and function that would polish metal plates and tubes faster. Knowing they had something unique to offer the manufacturing community, they went to every trade show they could find. With a few success stories in hand, they started to win sales from word of mouth and eventually a distribution partnership with 3M.

As the company grew, innovation, flexibility and customization became even more important. By the late 1980s, they had built a demo lab which allowed the lead product engineers to fabricate and polish a wide variety of sizes, and metal formats. This type of  testing enabled them to work hand in hand with potential customers to customize their automated machines to fit seamlessly into a customer’s manufacturing footprint.

It also challenged them to come up with new engineering solutions as customers’ needs expanded. With increased demand to automate the polishing of thin wall tubing, Randbright created machines with wet cooling functions to handle the intense heat and sparks that these tubes produced. These components could easily be added to its centerless grinding machines, and a new, popular category of equipment was born.

Tim Martin, serving as a Lead Product Engineer for over 40 years, recalls, “One of the key things that made Randbright so successful was its simplicity. All of our machines were so easy to operate that we could train someone in 15 minutes. This meant minimal downtime at the manufacturing facility and reinforced its ability to keep the process safe and efficient.” With advances in technology, the company continues to stay true to its roots and looks to technology to find ways to keep the machines simple, intuitive and ultimately improve the user experience and product output. Touchscreen controls and sleek, modern designs to the latest Randbright series are just a few of the ways that Randbright has integrated technology and design to enhance the user experience.

As Randbright looks ahead, it understands that the demands of tomorrow’s manufacturing require increased integration, flexibility, safety, and automation. With 50 years of experience dedicated to automating metal finishing and polishing, Randbright is more than ready to meet these needs. Our depth of knowledge across industries allows us to configure a machine that seamlessly fits into your operations. We are always looking for ways to increase the level of automation and reduce material handling. Our latest robotic elements are helping our customers reduce workplace injuries and product waste. While we pause to celebrate our 50 years of innovation and partnership, in some ways it feels like we are just getting started with new ideas, new customers, and new markets to come.

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