At Craftco, we’re no strangers to customized solutions to projects. We love to be put to the test. And there have been a few times where we’ve used the collective brainpower of our staff to create some interesting items.

Two examples of this capability stand out for us. They show not only the range of what we can do but also how we can pull together as a team. It’s one of the traits of a business that might be hard to measure as far as success goes. However, employing forward-thinking solutions to address problems definitely feels like success to us.

A quick turnaround to honor some greats

The first example is particularly close to our hearts because it’s from our hometown of Sheridan, Wyo. It started when Sheridan High School decided to rename its football stadium press box in honor of two people: a community supporter who passed away and the longtime head football coach who retired.

When we received the call, it was clear our work was cut out for us: the manufactured signs for the newly-named press box needed to be done within a week. This is when we first strategized and devised solutions.

The first steps included drafting, finding the right materials for the sign, working with a powder coater and planning the installation to meet the deadline. We drew the design in a single day after receiving plans from a Sheridan construction company.

The next day, we cut and welded all the materials. That was followed on the next day by delivery to the coaters. After that was completed by our partners, the sign was delivered in time for the dedication ceremony.

How was this accomplished? We believe it was partially due to prioritizing the work and making sure we had the dedicated staff to the project. The early work in planning the precise moves to complete the project also contributed greatly to our aggressive turnaround time.

Solving a big challenge

The second project was a solution designed to address a complex technical issue. Our customer had a dysfunctional grinder that was damaged during work when externally threaded filler inserts were the wrong size. This meant that the insert couldn’t be switched out for a cutting tooth.

Since we had crafted the original internal threads for the grinder, a preliminary step was to see if those threads were part of the issue. We took all of the grinder heads back and then measured more than 600 holes to see if things were manufactured correctly. This included using certified gauges to examine inserts, the grinder head and the holes themselves.

With all that testing and research, we figured out the issue: another vendor’s externally-threaded inserts weren’t cut to the proper depth. In addition, some of the inserts diameters were also out of tolerance, making the threads unable to mesh.

We then created 300 new threaded inserts as part of the solution to this concern from our customer. We also worked on drafting and printing with the new inserts to make 100% sure they would work correctly. We also checked each insert with certified gauges again to make sure they would be working at peak. What we learned here was to not only create the best parts we can, but to rigorously test as well as continuously improve our own processes.

We have many more success stories from a wide range of industries including construction, mining, manufacturing and beyond. Craftco’s range of work is also wide from smaller jobs to large turnkey projects. Learn more about what we do on our website.