Selling original equipment manufacturing (OEM) products, the company grew, bringing on additional staff to fill key roles in sales, service, engineering, and programming. Bringing on others and creating a solid leadership team saw LPS build a solid client base. Looking for a new name that sounded rugged and would fit in manufacturing, the pair came up with ‘Viking’. And Viking it was, after clearing the new name with the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, appliance maker Viking, and Viking Trailers. In just a few years, the company changed its name to Viking Packaging Technologies, Inc.

In 2006, the brothers partnered with internationally known packaging equipment giant Masek based in Vlasim, Czech Republic, and their company is today known as Viking Masek Packaging Technologies.

Vision and dedication
Today, the company that began as a two-man operation has expanded to encompass hundreds of staff spread across Viking Masek’s worldwide locations including its North American headquarters in Oostburg, Wisconsin, Viking Masek Robotics and Automation headquarters in New Berlin, Wisconsin, and the European sites, including Viking Masek’s Czech facility.

Along the way, the business built and expanded its Oostburg facility, premiered innovations on the Discovery Channel, was named Sheboygan County Manufacturer of the Year in 2017, 2019, and 2020, and was awarded Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Top Workplace in 2020, 2021, 2022.

For the company and the Leonhard family, 2021 was full of highs and lows. That year saw Viking Masek make a 33,000-square-foot facility expansion and welcome the formation of Viking Masek Robotics and Automation. Sadly, it also saw the passing of Robb’s older brother Rick in July after a brief, bravely fought battle with cancer.

Serving as Executive Vice President until that time, Robb was the logical choice to take over as company President, continuing to fulfill Rick’s vision for the future, passion for the industry, and commitment to Viking Masek’s staff and customers.

“Looking back to when we started this journey 19 years ago, we were in a much different position and facing different issues, but the spirit was the same,” said Leonhard when his presidency was announced on August 21, 2021. “We were a small, driven team on a mission to bring simple, automated tote-to-pallet packaging solutions to customers around the world. Today, automation has become so crucial, but our mission remains the same.”

For Leonhard and the entire team at Viking Masek, it was crucial to carry on Rick’s legacy, keep advancing the business, and strengthen the company’s involvement in the community.

“One of the things Rick and I were passionate about was giving back, being really involved and a crucial part of the community,” says Leonhard. This included re-inventing the company’s café-themed lunchroom as a European pub, naming it in Rick’s honor, and using it as a venue for a free Thanksgiving meal for the less fortunate. “Rick was very passionate about that, and it’s something we continue to do.”

Diverse clients
Offering packaging solutions for virtually any industry, Viking Masek works with customers every step of the way to ensure success. If products are dusty, wet, heavy, or even sticky, the experienced team at Viking Masek is there to offer machines, service, and solutions custom-made to the needs of every client in food and beverage, health and medical, and non-food product sectors.

Just some of the products packaged with the company’s cutting-edge equipment include coffee, cheese, candy, individual quick frozen (IQF) items, cereals, nuts and snacks, pasta, beans and rice, pet food and treats, cannabis, pills and capsules, medical testing kits, and more. The California-based Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) is one valued customer, and as Leonhard describes, “That’s a market we’ve focused on since day one. We provide a lot of automated machinery lines to regional coffee roasters, from very small to very large, for packaging ground coffee, whole bean coffee, flavored coffee, and more. We love the coffee industry.”

Able to pivot quickly to meet market demands, “During COVID, our machines were used very heavily to package COVID test kits, along with other test kits,” he explains. “We sold a lot of machines for packing COVID test kits.”

Highly knowledgeable about the packaging industry, Viking Masek advises its customers on the best equipment for their needs. Coffee and tea, for example, can be packaged through Vertical Form Fill Seal (VFFS) machines, Flat Bottom, Quad Seal, Premade Bags, Stick Pack Equipment, or Bag-in-Bag VFFS Machines.

For cheese packaging, the company’s breadth of machines includes the Viking-8SD-235, the VFFS Solitaire, the VFFS Velocity, and more. Packing cheese through intermittent and continuous motion, Viking Masek’s line of VFFS Machines can package everything from small, consumer-sized, three-side seal bags with zippers to large pillow bags intended for restaurants and food service customers.

For the first-timer
As packaging industry experts, the Viking Masek team works with both longstanding customers and new ones looking to buy their first automated lines. Realizing that purchasing automated packaging machines is a big decision and a big investment, the company maintains an informative “First-Time Buyer” FAQ section on its website. To help customers with the process, Viking Masek has a downloadable PDF of consultation questions at https://vikingmasek.com/application/files/3616/5289/4274/Viking-Masek-consultation-questions-v1.1.pdf.

In the past decade, the company has partnered with clients embarking on their automation journey much earlier in the process than was the case previously, often in the pre-construction stages. Years ago, companies would call up asking for a vertical bagger; today, Viking Masek is doing much more full-line automation and becoming involved in the early stages of everything from plant design to room layout.

Becoming a one-stop shop was both intentional and driven by market demand. Building on years of combined experience, Viking Masek has the talent, technology, and skills needed to latch onto the process at the start and make valuable contributions through to the very end.

This approach includes not only engineering, design, programming, and automation, but also service, parts, and preventative maintenance packages. All pre-owned equipment sold through Viking Masek undergoes a minimum 25-point maintenance and safety check. Thoroughly inspected by the company’s certified technicians, all used equipment “is certified to perform to Viking Masek’s exacting standards.” And just like new pieces, pre-owned equipment can be modified to suit specific customer needs.

Automation for all
In the future, Viking Masek will continue its quality work with clients of all sizes—from those who need multiple lines running to those who need just one. And of course, the company will continue to develop new innovations. Its fast Twin Velocity VFFS machine is a unique offering, rated at over 500 bags per minute. First unveiled at the Pack Expo show last year, this September saw the company bring the popular machine back for this year’s show in Las Vegas.

“The businesses we deal with all require automation, automation, automation,” Leonhard emphasizes. “That’s been good for us because we’ve been ahead of the curve. We can do the whole thing—supplying that tote-to-pallet, fully automated line instead of just little pieces—so we’re a one-stop shop for customers who need automation,” he says. “Right now in the industry, automation is king. Everyone needs to automate because employees are getting harder and harder to find.”

At present, the company’s Robotics and Automation Division is exploring other areas, such as food preparation machines. And even though the company keeps growing, it continues to uphold its foundational values.

“We have been very fortunate and blessed. We started as a family organization, and we’re still a family organization. We view our employees and teammates as family, and we invest in them. Some people just say that, but It’s important to us and we do it. Our machinery is only going to be as good as the people who design it, maintain it, train on it. Our machinery has come a long way since the beginning, and that’s a testament to the talent, determination, and drive for excellence of our people.”

The post Proof That Top-Class Automated Packaging Takes Top-Class People<p class="company">Viking Masek</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Offering high-performance GEN MILL CNC vertical machining centers (VMC) and 5-axis milling centers, highly renowned Ganesh Toolroom CNC Swiss machine lathes, and manual and CNC knee mill milling machines, Expand Machinery’s ISO 9001 facilities—located in Taiwan and Japan—continue to manufacture the company’s precision machinery and essential equipment.

Expand Machinery is more than the sum of its many parts. In the past few years, the company has grown in “leaps and bounds,” with the business now pivoting toward meeting the needs of today’s customers.

“We’ve been doing this in our multiaxis machines—which is a big part of our business, the turn mill centers—but moving forward, we are moving heavily into 5-axis milling and optimization, with robotic optimization in partnership with Mitsubishi,” says General Manager Ravjeet Singh. “Why Mitsubishi? It’s because the company is our major partner in the CNC controls on CNC control machines.”

In fact, 95 percent of Expand’s machines and machine tools are packaged with Mitsubishi. “We do it is because it’s a very high-end control system, neck and neck with the major competition, but it has so many more control features, and the after-sales service support from Mitsubishi USA team is fantastic.”

Expand Machinery is one of the top manufacturers out of Taiwan, with all its machines assembled there, he adds, with the major components being Japanese. “That’s why they perform at the high end, 24/7,” Singh says. “And when they opted to go with robotics, we joined hands with them, and we’ve got our team trained.”

Moving forward, automation will play a major role in products, as right now the biggest challenge in the United States and North American market is labor, he adds. “We don’t have an ample number of CNC programmers or operators, and any machine shops or any big manufacturing house says that they only want one-and-done types of solutions.”

In order to deliver those products to the customer, Expand needs not only the machines, but also packages with automation. “That’s the main area we are focused on now along with following the direction of our company toward robotic automation for our general product line,” he says.

The company’s other key area is in the aerospace industry, which is experiencing “big growth” following years of COVID-driven downturns. “It’s picking up, and we’re seeing constant growth in the aerospace industry,” Singh says. Additionally, with Mitsubishi’s support, Expand can perform upgrades to existing machines, even in the field. “Our customer… can buy a 3+2 or a 4+1 and we can enhance and advance their machine into full 5-axis capability in their machine shop. So that’s been the biggest achievement for all of us, providing that service to the end user.”

While that capability of providing quality customer service and a wide range of product availability helps set the company apart from competitors, Expand isn’t the only business working on 5-axis machines, Singh adds—there are a lot of companies doing it. The key advantage with Expand, however, is the company’s ability to allow the customer to upgrade down the road.

Along with the aerospace sector, more and more clients in general are demanding the 5-axis machinery. For multiaxis turning, the efficient solution is a bar feeder and bar loaders, which Expand already provides for them. “It’s a very cost-effective method of automation,” Singh says.

Robotics are definitely changing the landscape of the industry’s environment, and Singh doesn’t see the labor shortage resolving any time in the near future. “I don’t see anything changing, at least in the next decade or so,” he shares. “We’re really aware of it in our field.”

Industries across the board are working to encourage youth to consider skilled trades on an ongoing basis, either through awareness and education at the high school level or by offering paid training and internships to help potential workers. Singh agrees this is critically important.

“You have to understand that the next decade will not be easy, because a lot of Baby Boomers are already in the retiring stage and people are actually bringing them back to do part-time work in places,” he says. “If we can bring the pool of those youngsters into the industry, it will still take some time for them to get going and learning and understanding. So we feel that another decade will be very challenging on the labor side and for the machine tool industry.”

Training centers are vital, and schools putting in more effort to reach students at an earlier age is definitely a smart and productive way to go, he adds. But another battle the industry is fighting is losing manufacturing to Asia. While critical manufacturing will never leave the United States, Singh says, more and more commodity manufacturing will remain overseas.

“That’s where we are hurting against Asia, because you will never be able to compete, and not just with labor; they are getting into automation already, which [North America] should have done sooner. The places we really see automation right now are in Europe, especially Germany and England; those places are further ahead than North America at the moment in automation in the machine tool industry. We really have to do a lot of work to catch up,” Singh emphasizes.

To that end, Expand Machinery achieved some advancements of its own a year ago, investing more than a million dollars in-house to bring in three Kardex Remstar VLM machines in its parts department to provide parts in a more efficient and timely manner, while also adding approximately 4,000 square feet at its facility for the warehousing.

The company’s ongoing dedication to customer service—including its impressive financing options—is also leading the way in maintaining customer loyalty. Expand has a sister company in financing, Valley Financial, which allows it to keep growing while maintaining its main objective of keeping its customer base under one roof. “Our customers are really happy with Expand’s growth, and we are definitely getting that 80 to 90 percent retention on our existing customer base, which also continues to grow,” says Singh.

“We can sell the product, give them the solution, provide after-sales service, and if they need in-house financing, we can also provide that,” he explains. “So customers can get all those services from our companies.”

Looking ahead, Expand aims to maintain its key goal and focus of moving more and more into providing solutions with automation to the end user, while never losing sight of the fact that the company is a big player in multiaxis turn mill centers. “We’ve really grown in the last couple of years,” Singh says, “and what we are looking for in the future is to keep growing.”

The post Exciting Expansion for Well-Engineered Machinery<p class="company">Expand Machinery</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

With the launch of his company, Claborn built an experienced executive team, steadily expanded product lines and services, and learned to recognize and seize every opportunity to benefit customers and company. So successfully has Claborn done this that Cornerstone is now the leading provider of detention products in the world. And with its recent acquisition of RW Modular, the company has shown the way for corrections construction.

In just 25 years, Cornerstone has grown through strategic acquisitions of respected businesses specializing in corrections-related products and services, including mattress manufacturers, security specialists, and windows and electronics specialists. Bringing on these types of companies and others has made Cornerstone a single source for anyone requiring corrections products, construction, and other services.

A natural fit for modular
Around the world, detention facilities are aging out. Some are so old that they are beyond repair, and need to be replaced for the benefit of inmates and staff alike. As times change and construction methods evolve, a different type of building is required.

Recognizing an urgent need for better, smarter, and faster methods of building led to Cornerstone’s acquisition in 2022 of RW Modular, LLC. A well-known provider of monolithically-poured concrete modular products for domestic and international markets, RW’s pre-finished, precast cells have been used for correctional, residential, hospitality, and military applications.

Claborn feels that bringing on board RW’s owner and President Steve Weirich together with his entire team has strengthened Cornerstone’s position as a one-stop solutions provider for the corrections industry.

“We welcome Steve and the employees of RW Modular to Cornerstone and are excited for the additional array of knowledge and services they bring to our team,” he says. “Steve’s experience and leadership will allow us to continue to serve the correctional industry and bring quality to all of our projects.”

Before the acquisition of RW, Cornerstone did not have a modular division. When RW came on board, an entirely new business unit was created. As a company with other entities, some items used by the new modular unit in the manufacturing process, outfitting, and finishing come from other businesses under the Cornerstone umbrella.

With the companies having worked together on many projects over the years, the merger of these two brands takes Cornerstone to another level, adding extra value for customers. For Steve Weirich, becoming an integral part of Cornerstone is a perfect fit. Creating RW Modular in 1994, Steve and his team are well-versed in the many advantages of modular construction over traditional building methods, starting with how products are made.

Monolithically-poured concrete modules are strong, long-lasting, fire-resistant, non-combustible, and well-suited for areas prone to challenging weather and even seismic activity. The modules are sustainable since they reduce the consumption of raw materials compared to conventional construction. And with the world’s construction industry facing a shortage of tradespeople, these modular units can be manufactured and set in place quickly.

On-site advantage
Indeed, a key aspect of RW Modular’s business model that appealed to Cornerstone was its ability to set up temporary manufacturing facilities at or near project sites. There is no standard “factory,” or standard product, despite some similarities from one project to the next.

Detention facilities, for example, do not have standard cells. Cranes and molds are created on-site instead of in a fixed factory. The upside, from a costing standpoint, is lower shipping costs. “The savings to set up on or near the project site—especially when there is reasonable size or scale to the project—can be significant,” says Weirich, Executive Vice President of Cornerstone Modular Solutions. “It can be a seven-figure saving in cost.”

For clients and communities alike, there are many benefits to modular. Producing cells on-site instead of in a factory two or three states away means hiring more local people and using area companies. “That’s a major selling point, especially when you’ve got these projects using tax dollars.”

Modern and secure
“There is a real desire to provide more modern, secure, and safer facilities,” says Weirich. “It’s like renovating your house after so many years; there are facilities anywhere from 50 to 100 years old that don’t have the safest, most secure, or most humane conditions. So there’s a fair amount of correctional work going on now to bring things up to more modern standards. And this is being done for the safety and security of the inmates and people working in the facility—not just the correctional officers, but also medical staff and social services workers.”

Another factor in the growth of modular construction includes changes in the approach of correctional facilities themselves. According to recent figures, an estimated 1.9 million men and women are incarcerated in American state prisons, local jails, federal prisons and jails, territorial prisons, immigration detention centers, and other facilities.

Years ago, typical cells were small. Measuring about 80 square feet, they held two inmates. While this type of construction still exists, Weirich is seeing more humane building, with larger cells and health care rooms. The new facilities are still secure, but more are designed with designated areas for proper physical and mental health treatment.

“We’re seeing a lot more diversity in the types of products we make to accommodate what has truly become a recognizable need,” says Weirich. “As a society, this gives us a much better chance at rehabilitation. So that’s been a fundamental improvement in the market.”

Building on trust
He explains that there are three categories of clients for the company. The first includes general contractors who write the contracts, with Cornerstone serving as a primary specialty contractor under a large GC.

Then there are designers—particularly architectural firms—who have a lot of influence on the type of building systems and methodology of construction being utilized. These designers engage with the company in advance to evaluate which products and systems fit their needs.

Third, there is the end user. In corrections, this may mean the Department of Corrections for various states, the federal government, immigration, customs enforcement, or private companies.

“All those entities fit the client base,” says Weirich. “Our client base has a lot of respect and trust that’s been established by Cornerstone over the last 25 years. And when you have clients who have confidence and trust in you, you can say to them, ‘We can provide you A and B on a project, but we can also take care of C, and you can come to us for A, B, and C, and count on us taking the project from initial design all the way through to commissioning and owner occupancy.’ And that is something the market has been very receptive to.”

The addition of a modular unit has also diversified Cornerstone geographically, including select locations outside the United States. Although the company’s focus has been primarily on the corrections industry in America, Weirich says Cornerstone is looking at broadening the market in other countries, with monolithically-cast concrete structures for multifamily and single-family residential housing.

Some things to celebrate
Recently, Cornerstone won a contract for a new detention center in Jackson County, Missouri. With an estimated cost of $300 million, the Jackson County Detention Center will comprise 450,000 square feet, with 1,000 beds. This project will benefit the local community through jobs.

“There was a significant requirement in the bid proposal package to run employee outreach and local business community outreach, and we overwhelmingly satisfied and exceeded the requirements of both of those areas for the project,” says Weirich. “That’s a real advantage for the system that we utilize.”

With Cornerstone’s 25^th anniversary coming up this year, Mitch Claborn remains at the helm of the company and a respected figure in the corrections sector.

“Part of the reason for me to sell my company was the opportunity to partner with Mitch,” says Weirich. “He’s a great leader and businessman, and really has a vision for the company, including vertical integration, which has led to significant investment on the manufacturing side.”

The post Looking To Cornerstone for What’s Best in Corrections<p class="company">Cornerstone</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Founded in 1971, Minnesota-based Amcon is an award-winning, full-service design-build, construction management, and general contracting firm. With its own staff architects, Amcon works with clients on every stage, from pre-design to design, pre-construction to construction, and post-construction. For clients, having all services in-house streamlines coordination and completion, ensuring projects are seamless, efficient, and as cost-effective as can be. As the company describes, Amcon truly handles it all—“the entire road map to get from need to solution.”

Under the leadership of Director of Architecture, Erik Peterson; Chief Financial Officer, Greg Fricke; and Partners, Matt Knutson, Wayde Johnson, and Scott Quiring, Amcon has grown to a staff of about 48. Designing and constructing buildings in 24 states, most of the company’s work today is centered on Minnesota and western Wisconsin, primarily the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis-St. Paul, surrounding suburbs, and recently, Des Moines, Iowa.

With its team of in-house architects, project managers, engineers, interior designers, and on-site superintendents, Amcon’s skills cover all aspects of a development including site evaluation, acquisition, design, construction, and financing. And just as important to clients is the firm’s ability to remain flexible for all project types.

Integrated approach
“A distinguishing aspect about us is that we have architects, project captains, and drafters all under our roof,” says Johnson, “and they only design for Amcon. About 90 percent of what we build is designed in-house.” When necessary, the company will contract other design services, such as structural and civil work.

By having all services in one location, lines of communication about projects are constantly kept open, making Amcon a true design-build business. Staff members exchange information all day, every day, instead of just during team or site meetings, says Johnson. This benefits not only the company but also its customers and contractors, who are kept up-to-date with status reports and have a single point of contact.

Beginning his career with Amcon in 1992 as an intern while studying civil engineering in college, Johnson has seen the benefits of single-source communication for himself, and in action. Working for several years as a traditional contractor without an in-house designer in his own company, he reversed course and returned to Amcon as a partner about five years ago.

“I can speak from personal experience: it is far better this way,” he says. Some of the contractors he knew from the 1990s are still working with Amcon to this day. “In the past few years, some subcontractors have followed us from job to job. It’s more of a partnership now than it’s ever been.”

From design build to general contractor—and even serving as construction manager or owner’s representative—Amcon is there to help customers with all their projects, including new builds, remodeling work, tenant build-outs, and more. To stay on top of industry developments, Amcon also continuously invests in new technology, including Procore, Microsoft, and other accounting software that integrates with Procore. This ensures accurate scheduling and budgeting, with reminders being sent to track progress.

Diverse markets
Over the years, Johnson and the team at Amcon have taken on myriad types of work, including daycare centers, churches, offices, retail spaces, and manufacturing facilities. Along with having all services under one roof, another of the firm’s greatest strengths is its flexibility.

“If you talk to the partners here—Matt or Scott or me—and look through our backgrounds and history, we’ve all been here so long, our experience reflects flexibility,” says Johnson. “We’ve done warehouses, offices, apartment buildings, daycares, retail buildings—whatever our customers want. If you took different snapshots over time, we’d appear to be everything from industrial building contractors to suburban office contractors to retail contractors; and if you took a snapshot right now, you might say we’re apartment contractors who also do daycare centers—markets that have absorbed our staff and our efforts here for the last three or four years. I suspect, like everything in life, those things will cycle, and someday soon we’ll be doing something else.”

Responding to customer needs, Amcon has seen much growth in stand-alone daycare centers, many of them located in new subdivisions. Other sectors, such as apartment construction, have slowed for now, owing to rising interest rates. Johnson is confident there will be a moderation of prices as time goes by since the need for housing has not diminished.

Moving into medical
Taking on projects ranging in value from a million to a hundred million dollars, one of Amcon’s biggest works to date was the Hudson Medical Center. “It was a great project for us, and it’s been very successful for the developer,” says Johnson of the $70 million job. Located at 2651 Hillcrest Dr. in Hudson, Wisconsin, the center opened its doors in January, about a year after breaking ground.

At about 160,000 square feet, the three-story multi-tenant facility houses a range of medical offices and outpatient services in a non-hospital-based setting.

“The whole structure is precast concrete, so one subcontractor assembled that entire building from a structural standpoint after the foundations were put in,” says Johnson. “The physicians running the various practices in the building were the developers, and also provided tenants.”

In April, Hudson Medical Center won the Minnesota REjournal Real Estate Awards in the Medical Property category. Amcon was also nominated in the Education and Daycare-Suburban category for its New Creations Valley View Daycare project.

Sharing success
The team at Amcon likes to use its success not only for its own benefit, but also to help others. One of the organizations supported by the firm through annual sponsorship is Hunt 4 HOPE, benefiting HOPE 4 Youth, whose mission it is to provide pathways to end youth homelessness. HOPE 4 Youth is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in Anoka County that helps young people, ages 16 to 24, who are experiencing homelessness in the northern Twin Cities metro area. “We don’t do a lot of direct marketing,” says Johnson, “and instead try to put our dollars where we are doing some community good.”

In the future, Amcon expects to take on more medical buildings and standalone, built-to-suit daycare works. “There’s a huge need everywhere, especially in growing suburban areas,” says Johnson. “I definitely see daycare ongoing. We’ve established ourselves, and there is such a need that it looks like it’s going to carry on,” he shares.

“I also expect the apartment work will continue, but it may take a bit of a pause in the next six to 12 months while people adjust to interest rates being what they are. Everybody is adjusting to these changing times.”

The post A Team Approach to Every Project<p class="company">Amcon Construction</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.