After a two-year pause due to pandemic restrictions, Mestek Machinery and Formtek International’s HVAC shop tour returned during the AHR Atlanta 2023 show and was a great success! With more than 25 participants representing 10 countries, the group took the opportunity to visit two of the most influential duct shops in the Atlanta region.
Affording the opportunity to international attendees from South Korea, Brazil, Kuwait, and Latin American countries to see an operational duct shop in America can be a real educational rarity. Many of theses attendees from other nations share similar challenges including operating their shops effectively in a safe environment and improving their use of labor – all the while learning how to make higher quality ductwork.
During this visit, the attendees were able to witness firsthand the operation of Mestek Machinery’s latest HVAC duct and fittings manufacturing equipment, including the Lockformer Vulcan® Fiber Laser Cutting System. This machine produces parts for HVAC fittings with extremely clean cuts and is twice as fast as regular plasma cutting systems. Attendees directly observed the downstream benefits of the Fiber Laser Cutting System such as clean-cut material edges which were not hardened and don’t have any burrs. Because of this, the roll formers such as the Lockfomer TDC and Lockformer Pittsburgh Lock see less wear and tear on roll surfaces. Another key advantage attendees noticed was the ease of assembling laser cut fittings when burrs weren’t present.
The attendees were also able to see the benefits of an effective shop layout at both operations and how they perform the material handling from station to station. An effective shop layout is an important issue, as many of these customers come from regions of the world where floor shop space is at a premium.
We want to thank RF Knox and BHW Sheet Metal for hosting us during the tours. These Georgia duct shops are the leaders in their industry, and Mestek Machinery and Formtek International are proud to showcase them to our global visitors.