The world is constantly going through change, allowing us to evolve into the next era. What does that mean for the manufacturing world, and for you as the consumer? 

Hennig and our sister company, Advanced Machine and Engineering (AME) have come together to create an effective protection piece that not only makes your life easier, but also smooths out the production line at your company—an industrial apron. The apron’s design is one that protects your products, such as AutoCrib’s industrial vending machines which provide point-of-use inventory management for industrial supplies. These vending machines are just that—vending machines—but are easily used with an identification badge rather than a form of currency.

These aprons are available in various materials but what makes this specific apron different is that it is designed to be automatic. Instead of taking time out of your production day to manually stronghold it into place, it is now just as easy as pushing a button. The gear fits perfectly into the knocks, allowing a seamless streamline of mobility.  

The Story

The story behind the transition from wanting a manual apron to needing an automatic apron was quite simple: see a need, fill a need. Autocrib was having difficulty finding this functionality overseas at the lead times and prices they needed. Hennig then began to draft out what their solution to the issue looked like.

Noah Goellner, Hennig’s Chief Operating Officer, tells the story of how this project came together: “There was nothing we could do to make the machine go faster. We had to be able to get labor target down to under an hour.” By optimizing processes, Hennig was able to get the entire process down from 15 minutes to under 2 minutes. Goellner continued, “This gave us that opportunity to hit that price point so that allows them to not have to go overseas and pay fees.” 

Hennig consulted with AME on this project, who has experience with automatic existing processing, providing the skill sets necessary to transition the process from manual to automatic. Steve Rasmussen, Design and Build Business Unit Manager at AME, also commented on the collaboration,  “What we tried to do is to find a machine that you put a curtain in and it would crimp as it feeds through. A continuous-feed crimping machine.” 

The biggest achievement was creating the apron while maintaining its natural state. Prior to the process change, the rubber joints that connect the aluminum sheets would contract and stretch as you pulled it through; once crimped it would have the capability of expanding more. The Hennig Apron will now be able to move freely while keeping shape and extension.

The Facts

1.  AutoCrib, the pioneer leaders in industrial vending, requested a quote for a protective apron to be made for their machines. This created a dialogue between AME and Hennig on how they could better accommodate their client’s needs for success and to get them the best possible pricing.

2. AME worked with Hennig to collaborate on a protection piece that will continue to protect their crib out in the field and through transportation. This was accomplished while improving efficiency and lowering the cost to their clients as compared to other options.

AME and Hennig both have extensive roots in the manufacturing world. Together the companies have over 50 years of experience in the manufacturing industry creating products that are used worldwide. Now the dynamic duo has made the world of protecting your products just one step easier, saving you money, making the time of production that much more efficient, and providing support to your company to be that much more successful. We are all in this together, moving towards a new era of manufacturing.

To get more information on the collaboration between Hennig and AME, watch this video: