Expansion of Product Offerings
Posted on 03/13/2019 | by The Orbitform Blog Team
Orbitform began in 1984, manufacturing Orbital and Radial Forming Equipment. During our first ten years, we expanded on our existing processes by adding a multi-forming option with our multi-point heads. We also created our Solutions Lab to help our customers with product design and to determine the best process for their application.
Having worked mostly with the automotive industry in these formative years, Orbitform began to look for strategic business acquisitions. The goal was to both grow our process offerings for automotive manufacturers and begin to provide solutions to other industries.
Heavy-Duty Impact Riveters
In 1995, Orbitform made its first acquisition. With the purchase of Adtech Riveters, Orbitform added heavy-duty impact riveting to our offerings. These electro-mechanical pedestal riveters gave us the capability to form solid mild steel rivets up to 3/8” in diameter with the quick-hit impact riveting style of fastening.
Conveyors and Automation
The next purchase occurred in 2002 when Orbitform acquired Arbor Automation. As manufacturers of robust conveyors and assembly systems, this further advanced Orbitform’s capabilities. As we learned more about conveyors and automation, we made process improvements. This evolved into our current offerings for automation and conveyors, including palletized and part-on-chain conveyors. We sold our first conveyor system that same year and have sold many more since. Our experience with assembly systems and automation has grown as well, providing fully integrated systems to manufacturers every year.
The Milford Story
An already familiar story, Orbitform purchased Milford Riveters in 2004, adding light and medium-duty impact riveting to our product line. With this growth, we started to distinguish ourselves as a solutions provider. We expanded the equipment available in our Solutions Lab, increasing our ability to test our customers’ parts across multiple fastening and forming processes to find the right solution.
Hot Upset Origin
In 2005, Orbitform acquired Marathon Weld, a manufacturer of single station weld machines and automated welding stations. While this process has been removed from our offerings, the skills we learned as a company led to the creation of our Hot Upset Forming process. One manufacturer came to Orbitform to rivet their door striker assembly. With a very hard metal striker wire, the only orbital riveting machine available to form the material would need to be hydraulic. Instead, our mechanical and controls engineers worked together to configure one of our powerhead presses with weld tooling. This allowed us to form the striker with both heat and pressure – hot upset forming.
The Unbiased Approach
Through these strategic acquisitions, Orbitform has expanded its product offerings and is a leader in fastening, forming, automation, and conveyors. While we still are heavily involved in the automotive industry, we have grown to support many additional industries, including aerospace, medical, industrial, and more. Having provided tens of thousands of assembly solutions since 1984, we are the assembly experts. We are focused on providing the right solution, whether that’s orbital, radial, impact, hot upset, roller forming, conveyors, fully automated systems, or powerhead components. To discuss your application with our technical sales force, email us at sales2@orbitform.com.