Canadian Finishing & Coatings Manufacturing - Sept/Oct '23 - 18

INDUSTRIAL FINISHING: MATERIAL HANDLING
Robo Shop
How a Canadian company
reshored its production by
leveraging automation and
robotic technology
BY NOELLE STAPINSKY
ontreal, Que.-based Proslat Inc. specialises in residential
and commercial organisational products-more specifically
garage products such as tool cabinets, racking, slatwalls and
accessories. Until recently, the company developed, designed
and patented its products in Canada and had the manufacturing done in Asia.
Five years ago, Proslat considered reshoring its production but couldn't justify
the cost. And then the pandemic hit, the supply chain came to a grinding halt
and costs started rising. Eric Letham, president of Proslat decided it was time
to bring the manufacture of his biggest product-steel cabinets/toolboxes-
in-house. When asked why, Letham simply said, " Quality. "
Not having a house to reshore this portion of his business, Letham had to
start from scratch, purchasing land and building the 80,000-sq.-ft. facility
designed specifically for his production flow.
M
" It was a $20-million investment, which was a big gamble because our
company isn't a $200-million company, " said Letham. " When you reshore
something like this it's kind of like sitting down and someone serving you
breakfast, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner and dessert and you have to
shove it all in your mouth at once. That's the amount of technology we had to
absorb in a short period of time. "
The first piece of machinery Proslat bought, which is the starting point of
production, was a Prima Power PSBB (Punch, Shear, Buffer, Bend), a flexible
line that will process sheets of metal into ready-bent components.
" We went with the PSBB because it was the only one that had a 90-degree
shear and some other neat technology with it, " says Letham. " It literally takes
18
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Canadian Finishing & Coatings Manufacturing - Sept/Oct '23

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