Page 47 - MetalForming Magazine October 2022 - FABTECH

FABRICATION
More Business Opportunities from Expanded Inhouse
Laser Cutting
The decision to insource laser cutting and take advantage of technology improvements has spelled success for this Iowa producer of parts and products.
In 1979, Dale Brand and his wife Tana opened County Line Welding in a garage amidst the rolling Iowa farm fields. The Brands quickly gained business building livestock equipment, and performing repairs and welding for local farmers and businesses. Fast forward 43 years and we see the results and evolution of their early hard work. Today, the company, now called Co- Line Welding Inc., maintains 375,000- plus sq. ft. of manufacturing facilities in Lynnville, IA, with 215 employees providing a host of metal sheet, plate and tube fabrication and assembly services. Parts and products make their way to agricultural, construction, auto- motive and other industries in North America.
Through nearly a half century in business, developing its own product lines has provided a key boost in Co- Line’s growth. In 1988, the company introduced Sure-Latch, a proprietary gate closer for farm, commercial and residential use. Success with Sure-Latch launched the company into mass man- ufacturing and expanded operations for stamping, tool and die, and robotic welding. Two years later, Co-Line began producing Goalsetter Basketball Sys- tems, one of the first adjustable hoop on the market necessitating construc- tion of a new manufacturing building and the hiring of additional employees.
The 1990s saw expansion into the automotive-part manufacturing mar- kets, which further grew the company’s manufacturing space and employee count.
In 2003, Co-Line entered the laser cutting arena with installation of a Mazak Space Gear 3D laser cutting sys- tem, the first of its kind in Iowa, accord- ing to Co-Line officials, and the begin- ning of a long-term laser-equipment relationship with Mazak Optonics. The buy arose from a desire to bring back some outsourced laser cutting, and to meet automotive-customer needs for multiaxis trimming.
44 MetalForming/October 2022
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