American Roll Form was very pleased to be featured alongside stamping partner Bennett Machine & Stamping of Geneva, OH in the October, 2011 issue of the Stamping Journal. The article highlighted the successes that ARF and Bennett have experienced in the solar racking arena through their strategic partnership.

Here are some highlights of the article:

"Bennett Machine & Stamping Co., Geneva, Ohio, has built quite a name for itself as a family-owned die builder and stamper. Besides running a full-line die shop, Bennett uses upward of 25 presses, mechanical and hydraulic from 40 to 400 tons, to stamp components and assemblies for a variety of industries.

Its foray into the solar energy market actually began with another manufacturer in Painesville, Ohio. When American Roll Form President Rob Touzalin considered an opportunity to carve a niche in the solar energy market by supplying solar panel framing, he evaluated his company’s manufacturing capabilities (read the article about ARF in the March/April 2011 issue of Green Manufacturer).

Strictly a roll former originally, American Roll Form had brought in turret punching, robotic welding, press brake bending, and stamping to position itself as a one-stop shop. It maintains a stamping operation for small parts at low volumes. For larger, higher-volume parts like those used in solar mounting systems, the company needed much greater stamping capability. The choices for Touzalin: make a huge investment in capital equipment, or find a good partner to take on the work.

That’s when Touzalin decided to partner with Bennett to stamp the larger components. Bennett’s ability to construct dies of various complexities, and run them in a variety of presses, positioned it as a flexible and valuable partner. He concluded that the stamper’s expertise in die build could bring efficiencies that would help him attain—and keep—solar customers.

Bennett’s ability to provide tooling, parts, and engineering expertise promises to keep its partnership with American Roll Form strong and its customer base satisfied.

“Bennett Machine & Stamping has been a very effective stamping partner for us and has enabled us to carve a niche for ourselves in the solar market,” said Touzalin. “It gives us a whole set of unique stamping and tooling capabilities.” The solar division of American Roll Form represents 15 percent of sales and is the company’s largest market segment."

Click here to read the whole article on Stamping Journal's Website.