All-electric tube bending machine manufacturer Unison has appointed ITEC as its new sales and service partner in North America.
(l-r) Members of ITEC's client-facing team: Cody Wenzel, Matt de Steffen, Fabio Migliorati and Brian Julien
Alan Pickering, CEO of Unison
A provider of all-electric tube bending machines, Unison Ltd of Scarborough, UK, has appointed Innovative Tube Equipment Corp. (ITEC) as its new sales and service partner in the U.S. "After more than a decade of operations in North America, Unison views ITEC - with its focus on tube fabrication and its long experience in providing solutions for tubular parts manufacturing - as the ideal partner to support its existing customer base and help take its business forward," said a company spokesperson. ITEC has support offices in Chicago, Austin and Montreal.
"ITEC was founded to serve the tube bending market, to represent a European manufacturer of hydraulic machines," said Brian Julien of ITEC. "We have expanded the business to offer a comprehensive range of tube fabrication machinery, and now the addition of the Unison product range gives us the best in all-electric servomotor-actuated tube bending technology. With the current resurgence of U.S.-based manufacturing, we believe ITEC now offers the most appropriate and efficient solutions for any manufacturing requirement."
According to the company, Unison produced the world's first all-electric benders in the early 1990s, following a long history of developing control and operator interfaces for other tube bending equipment manufacturers. The company has developed all-electric bending technology for larger tube and pipe sizes, and it now offers a broad machine range which caters for tube and pipe manipulation for diameters from less than an inch up to 9 inches in diameter. Its most recent product, an all-electric machine capable of bending outside diameters up to 9 inches, was developed at the request of a U.S. shipyard client. The company has been active in the U.S. market since 1999.
"From the very start of our involvement in making machines, Unison has always had a unique philosophy. We do not try to build standard machines aimed at the highest volume markets. Instead, we choose to produce optimized manufacturing solutions for individual clients," said Alan Pickering, CEO of Unison. "This ethos is shared by ITEC, which has built a substantial customer base around an analytical business model that delivers tube manufacturing solutions. In ITEC we have found the support partner that will enhance our U.S. service and support and help to take our business to the next level."
"We do not try to fit a standard machine into any sales opportunity," said Julien. "Virtually every tube bending machine we have ever sold has been customized in some way, to optimize it for the client's needs. We help users to get the best out of any new machine investment, via our in-depth knowledge of the application and our ability to modify aspects by means such as special tooling, more axes of control, optimizing working heights for a particular process or to avoid collision, etc."
"ITEC sees a great deal of opportunity in the current North American market for Unison all-electric tube benders," said the spokesperson. "A large portion of North American manufacturers are predicting strong growth. A lot of reshoring is taking place. However, one of the major challenges for U.S. manufacturers in metalworking sectors is the shortage of skilled labor. Automating processes and reducing labor content are critical to the future success of many North American factories. Unison's all-electric machines offer support in this area. The need for skilled labor is reduced considerably as machines are set up for different batches by recalling the part-specific program and settings from the operating software." According to the company, Unison also has a broad suites of software tools, which further means that a host of traditional skilled and time-intensive tasks from design and manufacture through to final inspection can now be performed automatically.
"The shortage of skilled tube bending machine operators is probably the most common challenge we encounter," said Julien. "All-electric tube bending machines are the answer to this situation. We believe that with customization potential and application support, Unison and ITEC can offer North American users fast, high payback on any machine investment."
For more information contact:
ITEC/Unison
Innovative Tube Equipment Corporation
1807 W. Sunnyside Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640
866-574-TUBE (8823)
info@tube-equipment.com
www.tube-equipment.com
www.unisonltd.com
ITEC/Unison
Innovative Tube Equipment Corporation
16201 Dodd Street
Austin, TX 78641
866-574-TUBE (8823)
info@tube-equipment.com
www.tube-equipment.com
www.unisonltd.com