Weld Fixture Tooling Executives Travel 1,166 Miles in Six Days to Meet Long-distance Customers.


The President and Founder of Rentapen Inc., a small machine design and build services company and manufacturer of weld fixture tooling components, drove from Alabama to Michigan gathering feedback from Customers.

On April 26, 2013 Founder, George Straley and President, Susan Straley arrived in Waukesha, Wisconsin after traveling 1,166 miles in 6 days.  The husband and wife duo traveled from Florida to Wisconsin making five stops along the way.  They met with machine tooling design and build customers, a robot and automation systems company, a furniture manufacturer, and a manufacturer of forklifts.

Sue and George Straley - Owners of Rentapen Inc.

“Everyone was very friendly and gave us tours of their factories.  Most all of them reported being very busy, which is great for us,” Susan Straley said.  “I loved hearing how they are so glad they found us and like working with our team.”

One customer announced they were sending Rentapen 35 more fixtures to quote.

George Straley started Rentapen Inc. in 1976 and has been designing machines since.  In the 1980’s the Straley’s moved their business to Waukesha, Wisconsin, and became a provider of 2D Computer Aided Drafting (CAD).  They soon started designing in Pro/E 3D solid modeling and quickly became the experts.  They have helped several customers set up Pro/Engineer for Machine Design, automating the bills of materials.  Soon after that the introduced a major cost saving product in weld fixture design with their own line of RAPid Tooling Components™.  In the beginning of producing their product, George and Susan packed RAPid Shims™ from their dining room table.

“Each time we train someone to sand, oil, count, and pack our precision metal shims.  I tell them about the hours that our family spent counting and packing shims at our kitchen table in 2002,” said Susan Straley.

Rentapen Inc. provides 3D design and build of weld and assembly fixtures.  Though Rentapen provides 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.

Rentapen’s RAPid Blocks™, RAPid Plates™, Clamp Risers and Shims precisely hold a company’s product in their Weld Fixture while it is being manually or robotically assembled or welded.  Rentapen Inc 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.

“We were able to see the fixtures we designed and built being used in the Robotic Weld Cells,” said George Straley.  “We listen in these meetings for areas we can improve or problems that we can solve.”

Rapid Tooling Components™ reduce the design cost of the fixture by eliminating the need to design, detail and check similar parts over and over again. Three dimensional computer models are provided by Rentapen Inc. that customers can use to incorporate into their designs.  These modular components are the new standard in weld jig and assembly fixture design.

Rentapen Inc., is the weld fixture specialist, and is home of RAPid Tooling Components. Rentapen Inc. has been providing machine tool design services to manufactures since 1976.  A Certified Woman Owned Business and owns RAPid Tooling Components™. For more information about Rentapen Inc., please call 262-542-8891.

 Power, Automation and Robots — Manufacturing from Alabama to Michigan

Sales Goals Exceeded By 22% In First Quarter For Weld Fixture Tooling Components Company.


Local Wisconsin Weld Fixture Specialist Company Sees Big Numbers In The First Quarter.

April 9, 2013, an article in the Milwaukee Area Business Journal entitled “Manufacturing growth to outpace GDP in 2013, 2014”  by Jeff Engel stated that the expert projections are that manufacturing will outpace overall economic growth in 2013 and 2014, with a 2.2 percent manufacturing increase in 2013 compared with overall gross domestic product growth of less than 2 percent.
Rentapen Inc., an engineering and manufacturing company located in Waukesha, WI has exemplified growth in the first quarter of 2013 by exceeding its sales goals by 22% in the first quarter.

Rentapen is a multifaceted manufacturing company with their ability to design and build many different types of weld fixtures.  Their engineers create 3D CAD drawings of weld and assembly tooling they design.  Rentapen’s customers sometimes just want the drawings and they build the fixtures in house.  Some customers prefer to get the fixture designed, built and tested by Rentapen.

3D ModelsAnother side to Rentapen Inc., is their line of RAPid Tooling Components™.  This line is made up of RAPid Blocks™, RAPid Plates™, RAPid Risers™ and RAPid Shims™.  These components are used by manufacturers that build weld jigs and assembly fixtures and other types of work-holding tools.

Besides increasing sales, Rentapen Inc. has increased their customer base for RAPid Tooling Components™, Pro/E CAD and Solidworks Designs and weld fixture build projects.  They acquired twelve new customers in the first quarter.

The Business Journal article stated, “In Milwaukee, the manufacturing sector has expanded the past four months, according to the Institute for Supply Management – Milwaukee report compiled by Marquette University. “

Maybe this will help improve the job outlook for the area.  Rentapen’s factory has been busy enough in the past couple months to justify hiring help to pack their precision steel shims and shim packs — RAPid Shims™.

Rentapen’s shop team assembles, packages, and ships their RAPid Tooling Components™, including their custom and standard metal shims and shim packs.  Also, Rentapen has been seeking a Machine Tool Designer and Weld Fixture Design Project Lead Engineer.

“Not only are we a manufacturer, but we serve manufacturers.  So when manufacturing is busy, we get busy,” said Susan Straley, Rentapen’s President.

Sue and George Straley - Owners of Rentapen Inc.President and Co-Founder of Rentapen Inc., Susan and George Straley, have been dedicated to their machine designing company and satisfying their customers’ needs to reduce costs since 1976. They have continued to stay positive during these hard economic times and it has been paying off.

Rentapen’s increase in shim and tooling component sales are a result of an overall trend in Manufacturing in the Midwest. Manufacturers in the Midwest are growing in sales and investing in machine tooling.

Rentapen Inc., is the weld fixture specialist, and is home of RAPid Tooling Components™. Rentapen Inc. has been providing machine tool design services to manufactures since 1976.  A Certified Woman Owned Business and owns RAPid Tooling Components™. For more information about Rentapen Inc., please call 262-542-8891.

 

Weld Tooling Design Company Introduces New Cost Saving Clamp Risers


Lean Manufacturers Discover Time and Cost Savings in Their Product-Holding Fixtures With Clamp Risers by Rentapen

In the beginning of April, 2013 Rentapen Inc. launched new website pages for their line of clamp risers and spacers.  The clamp risers are made specifically for different brands of clamps including: Wolverine, Carr Lane, REID, De-Sta-Co, TE-CO, All American, and Jergens.   Each riser or spacer is tapped and drilled for mounting the designated clamp and uses counter bored holes for mounting the riser or spacer to the fixture or jig.

Rentapen’s design team has been designing and building weld fixtures for over 35 years. They realized they were designing the same clamp risers over and over again.  So Rentapen developed what is now called RAPid Risers™,  a line of tooling components that hold all of the finest brands of part holding clamps.  These standardized yet versatile risers save manufacturers time and money when it comes to the design and build process.

Wolverine Clamps3D CAD Models of the risers can be downloaded from Rentapen’s website along with informational PDFs that detail the design of the RAPid Riser™.

 “By focusing our processes and skilled talent on what we do well, we free-up our customers time, energy, and talent to be more powerful and productive with what they do well,” said Susan Straley,  President of Rentapen.  “That gives them peace of mind and contributes to their success.”

If a designer created a clamp riser from scratch, like Rentapen and all other machine tooling design companies used to do, they would have to go through a timely and expensive process that includes: designing the part; detailing; checking; ordering material; writing the CNC code; creating the part and finally inspecting the part.

This entire process takes about 77 minutes. Manufacturers are now able to download the 3D model from Rentapen’s website, save the model to their library, put the riser into their design, and order the block.   Once the model is in the company’s CAD library, the process approximately takes 4 minutes.  Rentapen’s RAPid Riser™ is saving the manufacturers as much as 73 minutes in design and build time.

 “The RAPid Risers™ are just another way for the fixture builder to save time and money on the design and build of weld fixtures or any other type of fixture,” said, Steve Pautz, Product manager at E.L. Simeth Co. a distributor of the clamp risers.  “The Clamp Risers is just one part of this unique design system that really works. E.L. Simeth Company, as the distributor for this line, has customers that use the complete line so we know that it works very well,”

RapidRisersRapid Tooling Components™ reduce the design cost of the fixture by eliminating the need to design, detail and check similar parts over and over again. Three dimensional computer models are provided by Rentapen Inc. that customers can use to incorporate into their designs.  These modular components are the new standard in weld jig and assembly fixture design.

Rentapen Inc., is the weld fixture specialist, and is home of RAPid Tooling Components. Rentapen Inc. has been providing machine tool design services to manufactures since 1976.  A Certified Woman Owned Business and owns RAPid Tooling Components™. For more information about Rentapen Inc., please call 262-542-8891.

Growing Weld Fixture Design and Build Company Takes Part In Efforts To Close Skills Gap In Wisconsin.


Growing Weld Fixture Design and Build Company Takes Part In Efforts To Close Skills Gap In Wisconsin.

Rentapen Inc., of Waukesha, WI, a 3D Design Service Company and Tooling Components Manufacturer participating in the efforts to lessen the manufacturing and engineering skills gap.

On March 13, 2013 Governor Scott Walker signed the bill known as “Wisconsin Fast Forward”. This bill is designed to address the skills shortage in the state’s workforce and will better link employers and job seekers.

Rentapen Inc., a Machine Tool Design Company and Manufacturer of precision metal shims is just one of several manufactures helping with the effort to get the word out that jobs in manufacturing provide job security and require extensive skills. According to manufacturers, there is a large disconnect in Wisconsin between the workforce and the number of skilled workers ready to fill positions.

According to the panel of speakers at the New Faces of Manufacturing Summit hosted by Waukesha County Business Alliance, 68% of manufacturers reported a lack of talent or skills in the manufacturing industry.  High school students and college freshman, who have not determined a major, do not think about manufacturing.  When they do think of manufacturing, they think of it is dirty and made up of people who are low income and lower skilled.

Rentapen Inc. has been a member of the Waukesha County Business Alliance for almost two years and has been affected first hand by the skills gap.  Recently, Rentapen Inc. has joined the “Dream It Do It” Marketing Action Team.  This action team is made up of individuals around South-Eastern Wisconsin, and is dedicated to lessening the skills gap.

Rentapen Inc. has found that some of the most skilled workers are graduating from technical colleges.  Rentapen has hired over 5 individuals from Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) alone; these students have started as interns and have excelled and been retained.

PG3_9364“It’s exciting to be in manufacturing right now.  We are in a busy and growing industry.  Finding, training, and maintaining good talent is key to being competitive in the global marketplace,” said Susan Straley,  President of Rentapen.  “We are pleased to have the support of the College, and the State in helping manufacturers succeed in Wisconsin.”

The second part of the bill that Governor Walker signed creates a workforce training grant program at the Department of Workforce Development. This grant program will be used to leverage additional private dollars to help both new and current employees acquire additional job trainings skills.  The bill, coined “Wisconsin Fast Forward,” creates a website that uses real-time job data to match employers and potential workers, provides $15 million in state funds for worker training grants and creates an Office of Skills Development within the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development to help provide specific training for employers who need workers with specific skills.

Rentapen Inc. and many other manufacturing companies are struggling to find skilled workers to fill a variety of positions because the education that people are getting does not fit the skills needed in the actual working environment. Individuals are taking courses to receive a 4-year diploma but are not attaining the correct skills needed to excel in the work place.

234a658 “The problem is parents and adults are pushing students to get degrees in subjects that do not necessarily prepare them for jobs that actually exist in the market,” said Thies.  “There is a large amount of history majors, political scientists and lawyers than is needed in the workforce.  At the same time, the average high schools do not have a manufacturing class or a program designed to teach about a CNC operator. There is also need for machinists and welders; these courses are not offered or encouraged in a lot of high schools throughout the state and the nation.”

 

Manufacturing is one of the fastest growing industries like nursing, retail and food service. The manufacturing sector is aging. Within the next five years a new generation of workers will need to have the skills and experience to take over for the generation that is leaving. Companies are trying to deal with the hundreds of years of experience that will be walking out the door in the next five to ten years. There may not be thousands of new jobs, but there will be thousands of openings, and Wisconsin does not have the skill sets to fill in.

Rentapen Inc., is the weld fixture specialist, and is home of RAPid Tooling Components. Rentapen Inc. has been providing machine tool design services to manufactures since 1976.  A Certified Woman Owned Business and owns RAPid Tooling Components™. For more information about Rentapen Inc., please call 262-542-8891.

Please visit Rentapen’s Youtube channel to watch a variety of educational and entertaining videos!

 

 

3D Models of Tooling Components Assists in Growth of Weld Fixture Design Company As New Part-Holding Tooling Pieces are Added.


Rentapen Inc., of Waukesha, WI, Continues to Expand the Number of Components and Product Parts Available for 3D-Model Download.

In January and March 2013, Rentapen Inc., a 3D CAD Design Company added several new components to its 3D-Model download web page, www.WeldFixtureComponents.com.

Rentapen Inc., offers a large custom line of RAPid Tooling Components™ that can be downloaded for free to help manufactures save time and money while designing and building their weld and assembly jigs and fixtures.  RAPid Tooling Components™ are a new American standard for the machine design Industry.

An alternative to NAAMS, Rentapen’s components along with the 3D models have changed how Machine Design Engineers and CAD Drafters design their weld fixtures.

 “In 2001 we discovered we, as weld fixture and assembly fixture designers, were designing the same parts over and over again.  So we realized if we standardized on those parts we could save our customers lots of time and costs.  So we created RAPid Tooling Components™,” said George Straley, Founder of Rentapen.

Rentapen Inc., has a total of 9 different types of RAPid Blocks™ that can be ordered to fit different tooling fixture needs.  In the beginning, customers would buy the RAPid Block™ and then if the block needed to be altered, they would place the part in their CNC or take it to another vendor. RAPid Blocks are often altered to add a hole in it to hold a locating pin or a rest pad or to chamfer a corner.   In 2011, Rentapen Inc., began to offer customized alterations to their RAPid Blocks™.

Rentapen Inc., manufactures each block as it is ordered.  This allows them to keep inventory low and provide a valuable service to their customers.  Rentapen Inc., will customize the RAPid Block™ per the customer’s specifications. “Need a chamfer? No Problem.  Need a hole for a locating pin?  No problem,” said Susan Straley, President of Rentapen.

Productuon Part Holding MachineryAll of Rentapen’s RAPid Tooling Components™ are made in the U.S.A. This is in line with Rentapen’s vision as the U.S. Leader in machine design and tooling components.  Rentapen is dedicated to reducing costs for manufacturers. And their free 3D service is greatly help manufacturers on their lean journey.

Rentapen Inc., is the weld fixture specialist, and is home of RAPid Tooling Component™s. Rentapen Inc. has been providing machine tool design services to manufactures since 1976.  A Certified Woman Owned Business and owns RAPid Tooling Components™. For more information Rentapen Inc., please call 262-542-8891 or visit http://www.rentapen.com.

 

Weld Fixture Tooling Company Filled A CAD Drafter Internship


Rentapen Inc., Located In Waukesha, WI Is Dedicated To Hiring CAD Drafters, Weld Fixture Machinist and Employees of All Ages.

On January 29, 2013 Rentapen Inc. filled a CAD Drafter Internship position with a young and experienced  student from Waukesha County Technical College. He is joining a CAD Drafting team made up of men and women of all ages.  Christopher Doll, has been a part of Rentapen Inc.’s, team since 2005 and is the Engineering Lead Designer and has a Masters of Science in Engineering from University-Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Design Fixtures and Jigs using Pro/E and Solidworks

According to The Social Liberian “There are eight different age generation categories.”  Rentapen Inc. the Weld Fixture Specialist, is currently employing four different age generations.

This local Waukesha, WI, company is employing generations as young as Generation Y (Born: 1977-1994) and as experienced as the Baby Boomer I Generation (Born: 1946-1954).

Rentapen Inc., has been in business since August 20, 1976 and has been able to stay in business through many different generations, but there is one key piece that holds this company together; they are excepting of all ages and are willing to teach their employees.  Have you ever heard the saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” in the case with Rentapen Inc. you can.  Every day the younger and older generations work side by side to reach a common goal; to build, design, and create the best weld fixture components in the manufacturing industry.

“I am in the Baby-Boom Generation and I am learning new things from the other team members all the time,” said Susan Straley, President of Rentapen.  “Just last week our staff was teaching me about our website and social media.”

 

Teach and Guide CAD Drafters and Interns

There are many conflicts in the manufacturing industry when it comes to generation differences.  Like any business today, conflicts can come from recruiting, building teams, the many different changes in a company, and different styles of management.  However, Rentapen Inc., is embracing the generations and changes; in their industry change is a good thing because it allows for growth, efficiencies, and cost savings.

The weld fixture specialist is excited for the growth of their line of RAPid Tooling Components™. With the different generations working together there has been an increase in the orders for RAPid Shims™ and the CAD Drafters in the office are busier than ever.

Rentapen Inc., is a Waukesha, Wisconsin based company that provides Weld Fixtures and 3D CAD models to manufacturers.  Since 1976, Rentapen Inc has consistently saved customers time and money.  Rentapen Inc., is a Certified Woman Owned Business and owns RAPid Tooling Components™.  For more information Rentapen Inc., please call 262-542-8891 or visit www.rentapen.com.

 

 

Weld Fixture Design 101 Posts A New Blog To Educate Manufactures and Engineers


Rentapen Inc.’s President, Susan Straley, Educates The
Engineering Industry With Her Weld Fixture Design Blogs.

On February 25, 2013, Susan Straley posted her latest blog educating the engineering industry about an easy and practical way to determine fastener length. Susan Straley, known as the Queen of Lean Machine Design and President of Rentapen Inc., has been educating the manufacturing and engineering industry about weld fixture designs since October 2011. Her blog is called Weld Fixture Design 101. The lessons are being published as often as every two weeks.

The Weld Fixture Design Blog informs the audience on how to design a simple weld fixture, the use of their RAPid Tooling Components™, and trends in the many different outlets in the manufacturing industry.  The Blog is also designed to help Rentapen Inc., gain knowledge from their readers about what is important to them.  This helps Straley connect to her audience and potential customers.

 “I enjoy posting the blogs in machine design groups on Linkedin because there are both experienced designers and new students of engineering who participate in discussions and add their experiences and viewpoints to the mix,” said Straley.  “Then I also get ideas for future lessons.”

Rentapen Inc., has been active in the hiring and training of interns from many different colleges in the Greater Milwaukee, WI area.  Along with the Weld Fixture Design 101 Blog Rentapen Inc., has created a series of videos and instructions that have incorporated what Straley has written about in her blogs.

Design Fixtures and Jigs using Pro/E and Solidworks

 “I remember when I was just starting out as a CAD Drafter.  There was so much of the practical stuff that wasn’t taught in the classroom at school,” said Straley.  “And when I learned that 40% of the Engineers in the U.S. are going to retire within 7 years, I knew I had to start sharing some of the knowledge that comes from years of doing the work.”

The Weld Fixture Design 101 Blog demonstrates how to use Rentapen’s standardized yet versatile RAPid Tooling Components™. Rentapen’s precision weld fixture components are made up of RAPid Blocks™, RAPid Shims™, Clamp Risers, RAPid Plates™, and standard shims that precisely hold your product in your weld fixture while it is being manually or robotically assembled or welded.

Subscribers to the Weld Fixture Design 101 Blog are sent notices directly to their email when a new lesson is posted.  However, the blog can also be found on the various social media sites that Straley participates.  There has been 47 different Blogs published and they cover a variety of topics from creating a tapped hole to steps to design a product-holding jig or fixture.  You can connect to Straley and Rentapen Inc., via Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin,YouTube, and many other social media platforms.

Click the link to view the latest YouTube video: Easy and Practical Guide to Length of Fasteners in Machine Tool Design

Weld Fixture Design Company Engineering Manager Seeks to Grow With the Company.


Rentapen Inc.’s, Design Engineering Manager, Blake Peterson, Continues His Education To Improve Productivity.

On January 7, 2013 Blake Peterson started another fast paced group of classes toward his Bachelor of Science Degree majoring in Business Management. Peterson joined Rentapen, the Weld Fixture Specialists, in November, 2011 as Engineering Manager. Rentapen designs machine tools for companies that manufacture a product. Rentapen specializes in Weld Jigs and Shims.

The company also manufactures a line to weld tooling components called RAPid Tooling Components™. These RAPid Tooling Components™ consists of RAPid Blocks™, RAPid Plates™, Clamp Risers and Shims.

Lindsey Frick, Associated Editor for MachineDesign.com, found information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which projects a need for 17,830 additional engineers each year for the next 10 years. Lindsey also wrote in her article that Community colleges are an untapped resource for potential engineering students.

Currently, Peterson is conducting interviews for an Engineering Project Manager that will quickly grow as Peterson grows. The Machine Designer position will involve the conception and design of weld fixtures and guiding and teaching CAD Drafters and interns as they learn.

Peterson, Engineering Manager, is expected to graduate in 2014 from Cardinal Stritch, located in the greater Milwaukee, WI area. Peterson is taking the necessary actions to get ahead in his engineering and management career. He is taking advantage of accelerated on-line classes to improve his ability to lead and expand his knowledge base. Some of the classes Peterson is looking forward to taking are Management of Leadership, Business Ethics, and Strategic Organizational Leadership.

At Rentapen Inc., Peterson is already seeking responsibilities outside the Engineering Manager title that he currently holds. He works closely with the shop to solve issues and evaluate scheduling needs. He works with the Leadership Team to expand Rentapen’s capacity to build small to medium weld jigs.

Peterson already has an extensive background of engineering management experience; however, Peterson decided to further his education in business management to understand more of the financial side of the business. The role that Peterson plays in the company, he hopes will transition from Engineering Management to more of the total Operations Management. Since joining Rentapen he has had to learn Pro/E CAD software. He has also learned each of the customers’ engineering standards to help him as he guides and checks the work of the machine designers.

Teach and Guide CAD Drafters and Interns

For the past three months Peterson has been guiding the Design Engineering Team as it focuses on reducing costs for manufacturers through lean weld fixture design. He has also been working with the Leadership Team to enhance Rentapen’s RAPid Tooling Components™. RAPid Tooling Components™ are an extension to Rentapen’s mission to save manufacturers time.

The role that Peterson is aiming for is to oversee the operational side of the business. He wants to move into leading the managers and participating in the planning. His new education will help him to know what to do to increase profits, increase cash, and reduce costs.

Rentapen’s Culture includes an emphasis of constant learning and self- improvement. The machine tool company’s culture statement says, “Rentapen is only as good as its team members. We aim to hire and retain the best … We are flexible. We are constantly improving ourselves and our processes. We delight in learning new skills, improving ways of doing things….”

Growing Weld Fixture Design Company Enhances Their Web Presence.


Rentapen Inc., the Weld Fixture Specialists, has been using a variety of social media sites to increase sales and educate the manufacturing industry.

Since April, 2011 when Susan Straley took over as President of Rentapen Inc., the use of social media has taken off in a positive direction. A new version of Rentapen’s website was also created in 2011 to help the company introduce CAD Drafters and Engineers about Rentapen’s time-saving RAPid Tooling Component™ line; increase brand recognition as the Weld Fixture Specialist; and educate beginning machine tool designers in the manufacturing industry through Susan Straley’s Blog – Weld Fixture Design 101.

 “I knew we needed to grow in sales and customers in order to become a stronger company. I asked for help from the SBDC. They sent a consultant to help us with our marketing strategy that includes social media marketing” said Susan Straley, Owner and President of Rentapen.

Merriam-Webster, defines social media as forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and micro-blogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos). Rentapen Inc. is utilizing social media to find and connect with Machine Designers, Manufacturing Engineers and others. Through social media Rentapen can announce the launch of new products and educate CAD Drafters and Machine Tool Designers about how to save time with Rentapen’s products and services.

Rentapen Inc. created RAPid Tooling Components™, consisting of RAPid Blocks™, RAPid Plates™, RAPid Clamp Risers™ and RAPid Shims™, to help save time for manufacturers. Rentapen’s website makes it easier for CAD Drafters and Engineers to download the right Block, Plate, Riser, or Shim for their product part holding tool design. Rentapen’s website also makes it easy to connect with Rentapen and its President on various social media platforms. One of the largest social media sites that Rentapen Inc. uses is Linkedin. Via Linkedin, Susan Straley, has been able to interact with targeted customers, Engineering and Mechanical Design Instructors, and CAD Drafting students. She keeps in touch with key targets by posting updates to her profile with educational blogs and industry news.

Rentapen Inc., as the weld fixture specialist uses the blog and internships to educate students in CAD Drafting, Weld Tooling Design, and building Weld Fixtures. Another, large social media platform that Rentapen Inc., has been using since June, 2011 is Youtube. According to Youtube this site has been designed to allow billions of people to discover watch and share originally-created videos. Rentapen’s youtube channel attempts to educate and entertain machine designers and followers. The company created a video that has been seen by over 3,000 viewers.

“I am very grateful to the help we received from the SBDC. Before they met with me, I didn’t know what a blog or a tweet was. Now I am using this medium to attract customers and help mechanical design students learn some of the practical machine design tips they can’t learn in the class room,” said Straley

Social media sites that you can find and follow Rentapen Inc. on are Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube, and Google +. These are great ways to stay connected and to gather valuable information about Weld Jigs and Assembly Fixtures and an innovative company, Rentapen Inc.

Milwaukee Area Machine Design Company Gets Big Order From Southern Company.


Rentapen Inc., Weld Fixture Specialists, lands large tooling
component order from machine builder and manufacturer in Tennessee.

In the beginning of January 2013, a machine tooling company
contacted Rentapen with a request for quote on a large order for weld tooling
components to be to be completed within twenty 20 working days.  Rentapen won the order and its team quickly
started the production process in order to complete the order on time.

The customer, located in Tennessee, has placed multiple
large orders with Rentapen in the past and continues to be a repeat customer.
The customer is in the Wood Household Furniture Industry and continues to be
successful in the industry with the help from Rentapen.

The anonymous company put in an order for both custom and
standard RAPid Tooling Components ™.

Rentapen’s weld tooling components are
made up of:

Adjustment Bocks; Mounting Blocks Mounting Plates;

Guiding Plates; Clamp Spacers; Clamp Risers;

Precision Adjustment Shims; and Die-Sharpening Shims.

These components work together in a weld or assembly fixture to
precisely hold product parts in place while they is being manually or
robotically assembled or welded.

“We are very pleased that this customer, who came to us with
their first order in 2012, has returned to us in 2013,” said Susan Straley,
President and Owner of Rentapen.  “We commonly
win repeat orders.  Once a customer sees
the quality and time-savings of our precision machine tool products, they are
usually return for more.”

Straley added that what is special about the customer from
Tennessee is their order is exceptionally large.

RAPid Tooling Components™ are made in the USA.  They were invented in 2002 when Rentapen’s
design team realized they were designing the same clamp risers, blocks and
plates over and over again. To help their customers reduce costs in the machine
tool design and build process, Rentapen developed their
standardized yet versatile line of weld fixture tooling components.

Manufacturers can download the 3D models from Rentapen’s
website, save the model to their purchased parts CAD library, and then place
the RAPid Tooling Components into their weld or assembly fixture designs. This
approximately takes 4 minute to complete in full.

“Quality and on-time delivery is of utmost importance at
Rentapen,” said Straley, “When a customer such as the one in Tennessee is
satisfied with their order there is a greater chance they will reorder in the
future.”