For over 100 years Enprotech’s engineering services have kept customers moving
With five locations across the US and Mexico, Enprotech keeps its customers’ manufacturing in motion, optimizing throughput to maximize productivity. The company specializes in the lifecycle management of heavy machinery through repairs, remanufacturing, and modernization solutions, focusing on metal stamping and forming, as well as steelmaking, aluminum manufacturing and other metal production. Throughout its lifetime, the organization climbed to an industry-leading position under a number of names, brands and configurations. However, in 2022, it initiated a major brand refresh to reposition Enprotech in the maintenance, repair, and optimization sector.
“I became President of Enprotech in August 2022, which coincided perfectly with the timing of the rebrand,” says Bob Owen. “I worked closely with Chad Bittner, Director of Marketing and Communications, who was driving the change. My role was to take our two separate divisions and merge them into a single company once again. We were operating in a space where we were well-known among our customer base, but our branding was well overdue a refresh.
“There is an incredible buzz and energy around the organization now,” adds Chad. “There are many reasons why enterprises choose to rebrand, but honestly, the importance really lies with the shift in internal perspectives. Through Bob’s vision and leadership, we have reenergized our workforce and instilled a newfound sense of pride within our culture. We are excited to see how the move will be perceived in the market and industry, but it’s the inhouse mentality that really drives the business.”
Bob notes: “Separately, the division realignment strategy was received extremely well. Beforehand, we were a siloed company with two divisions that didn’t collaborate or interact enough. We reorganized as a singular entity and reduced a layer of management, then filled key leaderships roles with a mixture of existing leaders and external hires. The main drive continues to be, grow as one team, which is actually the initiative’s supporting mantra: One Team. There used to be a perception that we were two divisions that didn’t work together, and as a team member, you didn’t have a voice. We immediately addressed this by establishing a new cadence of round-table meetings with all team members, as well as sharing best practices within the business. Processes were streamlined and huge efficiencies were realized by the entire organization. One team, one Enprotech, total solutions for our clients.”
As one of the largest providers in North America, Enprotech has unique depth and breadth to its maintenance, repair, and modernization services. The business draws upon its extensive knowledge of diverse manufacturing machinery and production process optimization to deliver unsurpassed customer service. Enprotech’s in-house capabilities and complex field service operations serve many of the country’s largest automakers, tier-one suppliers, and steelmakers and aluminum producers.
Customer facing
Within its engineering team, the company also analyzes client’s machinery to predict where components are going to suffer from stress failures. A combination of finite element analysis and wear-and-tear modeling enables the early detection and prevention of component failures. These are then solved with engineered enhancement solutions that eliminate issues before they inevitably arise, and extend part and component lifecycles sometimes two or three times greater than average.
Every customer that approaches Enprotech will initially build a partnership with a member of the technical sales team, who will develop a deep understanding of their business and manufacturing processes. Next, the company assigns a project engineer to the case whose primary goal is to ensure that the expectations of the final product quality, timing, and delivery are fully understood. They will delve deeper into the project’s requirements and draw up schematics and timing schedules to create a more detailed plan for the manufacturing department. Finally, its highly skilled trades team will machine, weld, assemble, paint and finetune the part or component to the requisite tolerances.
“Each level of the business is customer facing, even mine. Our abilities extend far beyond just repairing broken equipment,” Bob continues. “For example, we recently had a customer approach us with a
specific application for their stamping press. They needed the press to operate between 70 and 10,000 PSI, which is a huge range for this kind of equipment. Typically these machines are single use over a much smaller range, but the customer wanted to broaden the press’ capabilities to meet their entire product range requirements. Our engineering and controls teams successfully analyzed, designed and delivered a unique solution to satisfy their needs. That’s what sets us apart, we can provide the optimization solutions that boost productivity in ways that your standard maintenance company can’t.
Investing in people
“The emergency repair services that we offer are another strong area of expertise for Enprotech. When equipment goes down unexpectedly it costs manufacturers thousands of dollars every hour in lost production. Our team is willing to move heaven and earth, around the clock, to ensure that our customers are up and running as quickly as possible. We can either visit the plant in person or have the equipment delivered to our facilities for repair. We aim to have the work completed within three-to-five days, as we see that kind of reliability to be key in a valued partnership.”
Amidst the national labor shortages, the business has embraced its core values and focused on developing people now more than ever, as Chad details: ”Manufacture a career with Enprotech, is a tag line we like to use to describe the personal investment that we make in people. When you think about it, manufacturing is the perfect metaphor for personal development. You start out with your raw materials, which undergo build processes and value-add steps, before you finish with the final product. We’re confident that the people who come to work with us grow to be more skilled versions of themselves through continuous career development.”
“Indeed, when we are looking to fill leadership positions, we have certain criteria,” Bob concludes. “Of course, you’ve got to be technically capable, but we also look for servant leader attributes and skills too, which we’re always successful in finding. We strive to ensure that our environment is based upon cooperation, where everybody has a voice. That is the secret sauce that separates Enprotech from its competitors. A CNC operator can take their skill anywhere, so our difference is aiming to be the company that people actively seek out as the employer of choice.”