THE INTERVIEW
MMI has worked on revising the ANSI standards for workstation cranes.
at Bosch, down to lower-volume production of hydraulic tool holders at Schunk. I've primarily worked for German companies where things were typically designed and produced in Germany first, before being manufactured in the US. Once it was decided that the product would
be produced in the US, my job was to determine what processes and equipment we would duplicate and what we would do differently. I learned all about the details of manufacturing the product and the technology necessary to transfer it to the US. Finally, we would install equipment, conduct training and get production up and running. That is what I did for Robert Bosch on a very large scale, then on a smaller scale at Schunk.
I eventually was a partner in a business doing
custom automation and designing and building custom equipment. Many of these items were made for Schmalz. Eleven years later, I decided to join Schmalz.
I was already familiar with their products and had been designing and building a lot of their custom equipment. It was at that point when Dr. Schmalz wanted to transfer the crane technology from Germany, which started ten years earlier, to the US. He knew my background and my experience with transferring technology and starting manufacturing. That is how I got into the crane industry. A year later we were producing aluminium cranes in the US. I am very proud of that accomplishment.
28 Winter 2024 |
ochmagazine.com
OCH: Tell us about your success stories LB: The details of a lot of our projects are protected by non-disclosure agreements, but we do custom projects for a variety of companies in diverse market sectors. We work with Amazon, Walmart and Chewy, providing lifters to help them move and package product in their distribution centres. We provide workstation cranes and lifting equipment for Tesla in their automotive assembly facilities in California and in Texas. We have also produced a lifter for Vestas that is over 200ft long to remove components of wind turbine blades out of a mould. Like I said before, I consider one of my biggest success stories to be the successful start-up of crane manufacturing in the US to produce the Schmalz aluminium cranes. In addition to my work at Schmalz, I am also
proud of what we have accomplished so far during my tenure as president of MMA.
Five tips for success
1. Do something you enjoy. 2. Try to be the best that you can be at what you do.
3. Do everything with integrity. 4. Always put yourself in your customers’ shoes and try to make sure that they would be happy with what you do.
5. Never give up – keep plugging away as there's always a solution.
MMA is an association of friendly competitors. Our members comprise approximately 70-80% of the current market share of US workstation cranes. We all have similar products, but each company has their own unique features which separates them. We have worked on revising the ANSI
standards for workstation cranes. These standards come up for review every few years. This time we decided to do a complete revision and update the standards – one for enclosed track and one for patented track. We are now at the point where the standards have been revised and sent out to a canvassing committee for review so we can submit them to ANSI for publication. It's been a long journey and again, MMA is a volunteer organisation. We all have full-time jobs, but we meet monthly online and twice a year in person, in the spring and fall. The final version is expected to be published by ANSI by the end of next year.
OCH: Tell us about your failures and how you overcame any challenges LB: I try to learn from my failures and not let them discourage me. I would have to say my biggest failure was not being able to sustain my business partnership. I was building custom equipment for 11 years and there are a lot of challenges that come with that. Not only are you designing and building, but you're also trying to be the salesman and keep your pipeline filled with projects. Eventually, as it grows it can be a bit
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