Companies like Rentapen Inc., a small machine design services company and manufacturer of weld fixture tooling components, thrives along with America’s manufacturing companies.
According to the Business Insider, “Manufacturing is the fourth largest employer and manufacturing is one of the top 3 employers in 25 states, which in includes Wisconsin.”
Rentapen, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin, specializes in weld fixtures for manufacturers. When a company is tooling up their factory to produce their new product and the product contains items that need to be welded together, that company will call Rentapen to design and build a machine tool that they can use to improve efficiency on the production floor. So when manufacturers are developing and bringing new products into production, Rentapen gets busy and starts hiring and training more staff.
Rentapen provides 3D design and build of weld and assembly fixtures. Though Rentapen provided machine design engineering services to manufacturers, Rentapen also is a manufacturer. Producing their line of RAPid Tooling Components that are used on weld and assembly fixtures located on production floors throughout the United States. The line consists of Blocks, Plates, Clamp Risers and Shims.
“We developed the RAPid Tooling Components in response to our need to save time in the design of a weld jig or assembly fixture,” said Susan Straley, President and Owner of Rentapen. “We are seeing a significant growth in the sale of die-sharpening shims, which is a good indicator that manufacturers are producing.”
Die-sharpening shims are thin sheets of metal made with precision shim stock. When a cutting or shaping die is sharpened, a bit of material is a lot on the cutting side of the die. So a shim is placed on the back of the die so that the cutting edge of the die stays in the same location on the stamping machine.
Rentapen serves Wisconsin’s manufacturers and when manufacturers expand, Rentapen’s workforce expands.
Since April 2011, Rentapen has hired five full-time staff which is a significant number when the total employed at Rentapen is 14 people.
According to National Association of Manufacturers figures that place direct manufacturing employment at 11.8 million and indirect employment at 6.8 million. That means a typical manufacturing facility that employs 100 people actually supports 158 jobs, 100 directly and 58 through employment at suppliers. (http://www.wmep.org/sites/default/files/Rockwell_0312_Final.pdf)
Rentapen’s mission is to provide jobs, training, and opportunities for people who work together to help manufacturers reduce the costs of tooling to make their products.
