One small change can make a big difference

CBI has invested in a Hypertherm HPR400XD power supply with True Hole technology and beveling capability for their 10- by 50-ft. and 10-by 24-ft cutting tables. Images: CBI Manufacturing

CBI Mfg. has been a staple in Linden, Alta, for the past seven decades. The company started out as an agricultural equipment manufacturer producing grain boxes, elevator lifts, and truck hoists for local farmers.

In 1988, the company underwent a significant change when it was purchased by Murray Regehr, who truly made it a family company. Regehr, company president, brought his wife Lynn onboard to manage the business with him, and their sons and nephew eventually joined the management team as well.

Throughout the years, the shop expanded both in size and capabilities to meet the growing needs of its customers.

“We saw a huge growth spurt in the 1990s and early 2000s,” said Regehr. “At this time, we started to branch out and move into more commercial manufacturing projects for the oil field sectors. However, we have always remained committed to our agricultural equipment manufacturing roots.”

Operations

CBI’s location in a small town just northeast of Calgary has been an advantage. Early on, Regehr realized that because of this location, outsourcing its operations wasn’t a great option. As a result, he heavily invested in equipment to bring all the capabilities the shop would need in-house.

“We couldn’t outsource cutting, machining, forming, finishing, and all that,” he said. “Instead, we focused on being a one-stop shop for our customers. We have all the equipment we need, including an engineering department on-site to bring any project from concept to completion.”

The 65,000-sq.-ft. facility, which employs approximately 65 people, has a full machine shop with three vertical mills and one horizontal mill, three CNC lathes, and one manual lathe along with several saws.

It also offers fabricating services in its prep shop. This includes a laser table for cutting and etching; a waterjet table; two plasma tables, one with bevelling capabilities; two press brakes; and two overhead cranes. Beyond this, there is also a full welding shop with 40 weld stations, overhead cranes, laser engraving, and a full mechanical shop, powder coating, and wet painting capabilities.

In 2016, CBI purchased a manufacturing company now called Cancade BCI Ltd., Brandon, Man. It offers advanced welding and component development in addition to a lineup of truck bodies, trailers, and agricultural equipment. This purchase complemented the shop’s offerings in Linden. And with more than 50,000 sq. ft. of shop space and 45 employees at the Manitoba facility, Regehr continues to make tech investments like the new 10- by 24-ft. plasma table with Hypertherm power supply.

“We've continued to stay in the agricultural industry as well as commercial, but we also are currently producing a lot of components for the oil field,” said Regehr “In the last year, we’ve taken on some large projects, like an extremely large service rig that we built and tested on-site and then shipped to Saudi Arabia. We’ve done some major projects for the oil sands as well.”

Last summer, the shop switched its 130, 200-, and 260-amp, multi-piece plasma consumables to Hypertherm HPR one-piece cartridge consumables and saw immediate benefits.

Plasma Upgrades

CBI has been able to take on many of its projects because of investments in the latest equipment, and this is especially true of its plasma tables. The shop generally gets a yearly allotment of torch heads and consumables and had been using multi-piece cartridges for its plasma tables.

“We really hadn’t been aware of these new one-piece consumables when Hypertherm first suggested them,” said Scott Chrismas, CBI quality manager. “With the multi-piece cartridges, we had some challenges with cut quality and found that we sometimes mixed up consumables, whether it was the wrong nozzle or electrode. We put a lot on our plasma table in a given day, so it can get mixed up.”

During the yearly allotment meeting, Hypertherm mentioned that they were now offering the HPR one-piece cartridge and asked CBI to give it a try. So, during the summer of 2022, it began experimenting with the new cartridges.

“We tried this new style of consumables on a few small projects and we found that we really like them,” said Chrismas. “We started to shift as many of our uses over to the one-piece consumables. We are still trying to figure out how they are best going to work for us.”

The shop initially started experimenting with the 130-amp consumables and then switched its 200- and 260-amp consumables to the new cartridges in the fall and saw immediate benefits.

“One of the first things we saw was an improvement in cut quality,” said Chrismas. “We are seeing lots of improvement and it's consistent, which is unusual for consumables, as we tend to see a drop off in cut quality as the consumables are used. These new ones offer a pretty consistent cut quality through the lifespan of the cartridge. We also find that we are spending far less time on things like cleaning slag and cleaning up edges. The marked quality improvements were unexpected.”

Another improvement is the reduction in downtime that comes with changing the consumable. With the original cartridges, the changeover could take upwards of 15 minutes, making sure it was installed and lubricated properly.

“These new cartridges come pre-lubricated and take 30 seconds to switch out,” said Chrismas. “And we don't have to take the torch head off anymore to make the switch. We just pop the nozzle off, put the new consumable in, and pop on the nozzle and it’s good to go.”

Growing Pains

While the new single-piece cartridges offer many benefits, CBI has experienced a few growing pains. The shop works with a number of different amperages that the cartridges can’t accommodate.

The cartridges are available in amperages of 130 up to 260, but the shop commonly operates anywhere from 80 to 400 amps.

In the last year, CBI has taken on some big projects, including this extremely large service rig that was built and tested on-site and then shipped to Saudi Arabia.

“I am really hoping that they at least come out with a 400-amp consumable in this cartridge,” said Regehr. “Right now, we are cutting a lot more thicker-sized plate -- in the 1.5 to 2 in. range -- which means that we need a higher amperage cutting head than what the existing lineup offers.”

And because of this, the shop is currently double stocking several of its plasma components. With the limited amperages, the multi-piece and single-piece cartridges are stocked. But also, the multi-piece and single-piece cartridges use different torch heads, so CBI must ensure that it has the necessary torch heads for both options.

“We haven't done a full cost analysis yet, and we don’t expect to have that completed for several more months,” said Chrismas. “Once we see what kind of usage we're getting out of these new cartridges, we will have a better idea of how to move forward. But from an initial production standpoint, we are seeing an advantage.”

Beyond the initial growing pains, CBI is still determining the lifespan on the consumables within its production environment.

“We still need to better predict when the best time is to change them out,” said Chrismas. “What point do they wear out versus the old style? One of the advantages of the older ones is that we know what to expect, and we can simply place them in a micrometer and know when they need to be changed. With these new ones, we are still figuring it out. But it’s been an interesting process and we’ve been surprised by some of the initial benefits.”

CBI is always looking for ways to improve and better provide one-stop-shop services to its customers, and the new plasma cartridges are just one way it is doing that.

Associate Editor Lindsay Luminoso can be reached at lluminoso@canadianfabweld.com.

Cancade CBI Ltd., cancade.com

CBI Mfg., cbi-mfg.com

While CBI has expanded over the years, both in size and capabilities, it started out as an agricultural equipment manufacturer producing grain boxes, elevator lifts, and truck hoists for local farmers. It continues to serve this industry today.