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Hebel Welding and Machine in Rensselaer Falls secures contract to manufacture products previously made in China

Posted 3/26/17

By MATT LINDSEY RENSSELAER FALLS -- Hebel Welding and Machine has secured a contract to manufacture 3,500 metal frames previously made in China to be used by Kraft Canada during cheese manufacturing. …

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Hebel Welding and Machine in Rensselaer Falls secures contract to manufacture products previously made in China

Posted

By MATT LINDSEY

RENSSELAER FALLS -- Hebel Welding and Machine has secured a contract to manufacture 3,500 metal frames previously made in China to be used by Kraft Canada during cheese manufacturing.

“The frames are pretty simple but what may make it interesting to people is that these frames had previously been manufactured in China and we were able to bring the work back to the U.S. and hire a couple new employees,” Mark Hebel, owner said.

Hebel said he was able to bid cost-effectively enough to win the contract once shipping was factored in. The business may hire a third temporary worker for the duration of the project, which he expects to have completed by May.

Hebel is still figuring out exactly how long it would take to complete the 24-by-30-inch frames.

He says Kraft Canada only purchases from an approved vendor list, which he is not on, but St. Lawrence County Manufacturing is. Hebel’s company will create the metal frame, sell them to St. Lawrence County Manufacturing, who will then sell them to Kraft.

“We’ve done work for St. Lawrence County Manufacturing for years and that’s how we found out about this,” he said.

Hebel said Kraft manufactures natural cheese into 640-pound blocks of cheese one a time, which is the industry standard. The industry manufactures hundreds of millions of pounds per year which all require cold temperature curing. Therefore, there are millions of steel framed boxes required.

The frames used are made of plywood with metal on the outside serving as reinforcement.

“The frames can get damaged throughout the year from handling and transportation and are either repaired or replaced,” he said. “Often they are not worth fixing.”

If everything goes well, Hebel hopes this job could lead to more with Kraft or other cheese vendors.

“There is the potential they could come back to us,” he said.

The contract with Kraft also allowed Hebel Welding and Machine to purchase a computer-numeric controlled (CNC) plasma-cutting table. The machine will be used to create the metal frames.

“This will open up opportunities for us to do more work – which would allow us to work much quicker, competitively and with more precision,” he said.

The welding shop landed a contract last winter to make over 50 stainless steel doors for subway tunnels in New York City and more of their work could be headed to NYC again.

“We may also be doing a small job that is destined for the Tappan Zee Bridge north of New York City,” Hebel said.

The Tappan Zee Bridge is the longest bridge in New York State, measuring just over three miles long.

The business would build conduit boxes that would be used to route fiber-optic cable on the bridge, Hebel said.

The bridge is part of the New York State Thruway mainline and carries the highway road network of Interstates 87 and 287.

Hebel was not sure when he would find out if his company would be doing the work, but believes it “should be soon.”

“They asked us if we can do work on a short lead-time – and we can,” Hebel said.