Page 25 - MetalForming March 2023 - PMA Chairman Jeff Aznavorian

PRESS-CONTROL RETROFIT STREAMLINES
PMI’s relentless drive to innovate has led to numerous stamping- equipment upgrades, including the replacement of aging press controls with newer units with built-in ability to manage robot retrofits.
BY TODD WENZEL
Based in Bloomer, WI, PMI’s name says it all: Processed Met- als Innovators. From its incep- tion, PMI has burst beyond the tradi- tional boundaries of the metal forming industry with an innovative idea—rein- venting the supply chain. Rather than operate in the traditional silos of a steel-service center, a metal stamper or a fabricator, PMI set a new course by combining all of these stops in the supply chain into one company.
PMI began as a small company of six employees and today has grown to count more than 150 team members with 135,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing
Todd Wenzel is president of TCR Inte- grated Stamping Systems, Wisconsin Rapids, WI; www.tcr-inc.com.
PMI’s press controls can handle numerous PLS and die-protection channels, and pro- vide high-end functions such as part tracking and gag outputs.
22 MetalForming/March 2023
www.metalformingmagazine.com
space, and that growth shows no sign of stopping. In 2022 the firm processed more than 76 million lb. of steel and aluminum.
Master Coils Yield Cost Savings
Operations start at PMI by taking in huge master coils, slit inhouse and blanked to order. This eliminates