Happy Halloween from Midland Metal Products - Land of Lincoln

Retirement - Mike Zyer

Mike Zyer, head of process engineering, retired this week after 35 years with Midland.

Mike has been an integral part of Midland; the excellence of his work is built into every project that crossed his desk, and that was most of them.  His expertise and indefatigable commitment to high standards benefited not just our customers but all of us who had the privilege to work with him.

He was generous with not only his time and effort, but his vast knowledge.  When you worked with Mike you couldn't help but become better at your own job; I don't know if he was aware of how much many of us learned from him just in the course of getting things done.

Mike's contributions to Midland run deep both in the processes and the people.  He will be greatly missed and we wish him all the best as he begins his well earned retirement.

Brian Chrzanowski, process engineer, will be taking over for Mike and can be reached at bchrzanowski@midlandmetalproducts.com.

Midland Schedule week of June 29 - July 3rd 2015

Midland Metal Products will be closed for from June 29 through July 3rd for the 4th of July holiday, semi-annual physical inventory, and general plant maintenance.

We will also be completing a significant upgrade to our in-house powdercoating spray booths.

The powdercoat booths will transition from a quick change hand spray to waste system to a fully automated spray system with material reclaim capability. This investment continues a long tradition of technology integration at Midland allowing us to increase speed, decrease cost, and continuously improve quality for our customers.

We will resume normal hours of operation as of Monday, July 6th.

If you have any questions during that time that require immediate attention please contact your sales person directly.

Have a safe and happy holiday.

ISO 9001:2008 Re-certified

Midland Metal Products first attained ISO 9001:2008 certification June 11, 2012.   In our continuing commitment to providing our customers with quality products we've since added powder coating to our scope and have recently achieved  our 3 year re-certification as of May 29, 2015.

We look forward to many more years of serving our customers with the highest quality standards.

A Change in the Shipping Department

Shipping supervisor, Mary Redmond, has retired from Midland Metal Products after 37 wonderful years.  We will miss her and wish her the very best; she's earned it.

Our logistics manager, Marcus Collins, is now heading the shipping department.  Marcus is another long term and tremendously capable Midland employee.  Please contact him for all of your shipping needs at mcollins@midlandmetalproducts.com.

Featured in The Fabricator - Midland's approach to proactive maintenance and asset management

B.J. McDonald was interviewed for an article about Midland's maintenance and asset control process.  The article, "Proactive maintenance, predictable performance in metal fabrication:  Chicago point-of-purchase fabricator dives into progressive asset management" is available now in the January 2015 issue of The Fabricator.

To read online follow this link to The Fabricator.

Reliable Plant

Midland uses Bigfoot CMMS software for managing our maintenance department.

Bigfoot has done a profile on us, and how we use the software in conjunction with our ISO procedures and compliance, currently at Reliable Plant and will be published in several other plant engineering magazines over the next several months.

The above link will take you to the article and interview with B.J. McDonald, co-owner and Director of Facilities.

Solar Panel Project - Live as of 12/11/2012

Today Midland went live with our solar panel project.  We've installed a 86.4 KwH system which will generate between 10% - 15% of our factory's energy needs.  This is one of the largest private installations of solar panels in the state of Illinois.

Midland's Solar Panel Project

As part of our on-going commitment to sustainability Midland is now employing solar panels to provide a percentage of our energy needs.

Solar energy is a continuously renewable resource and produces power free of greenhouse gases, reducing our carbon footprint.

Pictures of the Solar Panel Project:

Launch of Powdercoating Line

NEWS RELEASE

MIDLAND METAL PRODUCTS BEGINS OPERATION OF A STATE OF THE ART POWDERCOATING LINE

OCTOBER 19, 2012, CHICAGO, IL  . . . Midland Metal Products, a leading metal fabricator for the retail advertising industry, is proud to announce the startup of a new, state of the art powder coating system at its production facility in Chicago.  This significant investment continues Midland’s deep commitment to customer satisfaction by accelerating delivery lead times, improving quality, and reducing production costs. 

The line is sized to accommodate a wide range of components – the maximum size is 36” deep, 72” long, and 120” wide. An automated 800 foot conveyor system carries components through a 3 stage pre-treatment system, a dry-off oven, dual powder booths, and a final cure oven.  The most unique feature of the system is the quick change capability that supports a switch from one powder coat color to the next in less than 30 seconds. To satisfy the changing demands of our customers, a wide variety of colors will be available.  The system was also designed with a long loading & unloading area positioned adjacent to Midland’s existing assembly & packaging area.  This will allow personnel to complete final operations on the line and positions the parts close to final pack out for reduced handling and maximize efficiency. 

Tours of the new system are available upon request for existing and potential customers.

Midland Metal Products is ISO 9001-2008 Certified

Update:  As of March 16, 2014 our powder coating process has been registered and added to our scope along with previously registered design, engineering, manufacturing, assembly, packaging, and distribution of custom metal products.  See new certificate below.

 As of June 11, 2012 Midland Metal Products is registered with ISO for Design, Engineering, Manufacturing, Assembly, Packaging, and Distribution of Custom Metal Products.  We at Midland Metal Products are extremely honored to join such elite company within the ISO community.  Our long journey to certification may have taken a huge leap but our insistence on improvement and innovation will not wane.

The road to certification was an excellent opportunity to not only display our pride in our operation but also to analyze areas of improvement.  We are happy to be recognized for our high standards of work throughout the company including such areas as Quality Management, Management Responsibility, Resource Management, Product Realization, Measurement, Analysis, and Improvement.  With our new certification, we look forward to continuing the outstanding quality of our work.

An aspect of ISO 9001 which makes us especially proud of our certification is the requirement for persistent quality and control.  In order to retain certification, all ISO 9001 certified companies must maintain the high level of service they displayed during their certification process.  The ISO process continues to be a diligent endeavor even after certification with controls such as internal and external audits, continued control of documents, and dependable corrective and preventative action.  Midland Metal Products is looking forward to continuing the high level of work we have exhibited for over 80 years with our new ISO 9001 certification.

Please contact your sales exec for details on the scope of our certification and requests for documents.

ISO 9001

Midland has been working toward ISO 9001 certification and we’re now in the final stretch.  We have our Stage One audit scheduled for April 30^th and our Stage Two audit May 30^th – June 1^st 2012.  Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we expect to receive certification shortly.

It’s been a very interesting process for us and we’ve learned quite a bit. For instance, we’ve learned that the idea that ISO is a cumbersome bureaucratic nightmare is a myth.  It really boiled down to fourteen pages of standards, a great training consultant, a lot of work in documenting all the things we were already doing well, and implementing the opportunities for improvement that we found along the way.  It’s a dichotomy how the preparation can seem, at times, as if it’s adding complexity but the end result is a streamlined system with increased efficiency across the board. 

We’ve also learned that nothing facilitates company wide transparency like internal audits!  The auditing process is a window into every part of the process from Sales and Design to Shipping and every step in between – we’ve all learned a lot about how everyone here at Midland plays a vital role in meeting our shared goal:  satisfying our customers.

     

The subject of customer satisfaction is a perfect segue to share our Quality Policy:

“Midland Metal Products is committed to satisfying our customers.  We accomplish this by deeply understanding our customer needs and by maintaining a rigorous system utilizing advances in engineering and process technology. This enables us to deliver high quality products, at the right time, at the lowest possible cost.  We pursue excellence through continuous improvement.”

This sentiment has been embodied in every project Midland has manufactured since 1929…our Quality Manual for ISO 9001 just gave us a place to put it in writing.

*Our Quality Manual and procedures available to customers upon request. 

CNC Mesh Welder

In the POP industry, there is a plethora of standard wire grid work.  We utilize in-house fixturing designed in SolidWorks and fabricated in plastic composite to ensure that our wire products meet the exacting standards of our customer.  Our automated equipment welds the cut to length wires into the finished wire grid work.  This video demonstrates one of our machines in action.

Automated Wire Forming

Our family of automated CNC wire formers satisfies the majority of the wire forming needs of the factory. Our machines draw material from our extensive inventory of wire, straighten the wire in-line, form the wire to shape, and then cut the wire to finish. Typical gauges fabricated on this machines range from 12 gauge to 5/16" wire.  This short video demonstrates one of our machines in action. 

Silk-Screening

In addition to satisfying the metal fabrication needs of our customers, our customers depend on us to assemble and pack our metal components with a vast array of other supplied components, such as vacuum form, graphics, plastics, and wood.

A large portion of our facility is devoted to this critical activity. This saves our customers a significant amount of freight cost and time by allowing them to ship finished goods directly to their end users.  Our customers are constantly asking us to broaden the services we provide in this area.

A consistent request over the years has been silk-screening. At the end of 2011, we introduced this capability.  The results speak for themselves. In the first 4 months of 2012, we have already silkscreened over 75,000 parts. The short video demonstrates the semi-automated process in action.  The photo is an example of a great looking finished item.

Cabela's

Roger Threatt spotted one of his masterpieces in a Cabela’s store in Hammond, Indiana.

Dollar General

Midland's Brian Chrzanowski spotted one of our masterpieces in a Dollar General in Macomb, IL.

Winter 2012

Midland Metal Products is proud to call Chicago home. Recently, we have been contacted by some well-known Chicago institutions for assistance. The first request came from The Field Museum (http://www.fieldmuseum.org), widely regarded as one of the premier natural history museums in the world. The museum was under an intense time crunch to meet a deadline for the opening of their newest permanent exhibit called Restoring Earth, located in the Abbott Hall of Conservation. Their challenge was to fabricate hundreds of shapes and letters of differing sizes out of a specific decorative material. The challenge became a manageable exercise with the help of our CAD engineers and CNC laser equipment. You can see the results for yourself in these images and in person during your next trip to The Field Museum. http://fieldmuseum.org/about/abbott-hall-conservation-restoring-earth. The second request came from a location high above downtown Chicago - The John Hancock Observatory (http://www.jhochicago.com). The Observatory wanted to transform existing wasted structure into usable retail space. Midland was glad to offer our assistance. We surveyed the space, converted the space to a virtual model, designed retailed components, and fabricated the components for installation. The results are shown here for you. This project shattered the previous Midland record for highest retail installation in the world.

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Mig Welding - Robotics

Midland Metal Products continues to utilize automation to drive higher quality, greater throughput, and lower cycle times. In the mig welding area of the shop, robotics is changing the way we approach welding challenges. We are using virtual models such as those created in Solidworks as a reference to create both our welding fixtures and machine programs. See the results yourself.