Access Machinery, Ranfar Partner for Open House

Customers at the Ranfar / Access Machinery open house are introduced to the shop's 600-ton press brake.

On March 10, Ranfar Steel held an open house in association with Access Machinery in Ranfar's newly expanded facility in Courtice, Ont. The 8,000 sq.-ft. expansion has become the company’s metal processing area, housing a 4 and an 8-kW laser, as well as two press brakes. All are Durma machines, and in an arrangement with Access, Ranfar’s expansion serves as a “working showroom,” allowing visitors to get a better understanding of its new capabilities, and the opportunities that come with investment in Durma’s laser and press brake technologies.

More than 70 visitors attended the open house. They had the opportunity to see the lasers cutting a variety of part thicknesses, as well as test runs on both a larger hydraulic and a smaller servo electric press brake.

Ranfar bought its first 4-kW laser in 2019.

“Our clients were very happy with the results of that investment,” said Andy Yang, vice-president, manufacturing, at Ranfar. “We attracted a lot of business from other fabricating businesses that needed laser-cut parts. It didn’t take long for us to experience a backlog on the machine.”

With the purchase of an 8-kW laser with a 20-ft. bed, the shop’s capacity expanded significantly.

“The 4 kW can only cut material up to ¾ in. thick, whereas the 8 kW can cut up to 1.5 in.,” said Yang. “Previously we had to sub out any thicker cutting but now we can handle all that work in-house. It also allows us to better control our quality.”

“Lasers have increased our customer base substantially,” said Randy Farmer, owner of Ranfar. “We can offer more services to our existing customers, and we continue to attract new customers because of these investments.”

Of the relationship with Access Machinery, Farmer said, “we bought our first laser from them and have developed a good rapport and have built upon that relationship. Having this as a showroom is a good demonstration of the strength of that relationship.”

“I would like to wish Ranfar Steel continued success and more expansion down the road,” said Irina Solovianenko, managing partner at Access Machinery. “We have been helping Canadian manufacturers grow since 2016 supplying metal fabricating equipment. Today we celebrate Ranfar Steel’s expansion by acquiring the latest technology from Durma. The success of my company is rooted in the ability to build true and meaningful relationships with our customers. Our relationship with Ranfar is a good example of this. We also have here today representatives from Durma who came all the way from Turkey to support us, which is very meaningful, and we have Mate Precision Tooling, our tooling partner. Investing in your team and partners leads to more growth for everyone.”

All the sales receipts that Access generated from the open house were to be donated to UNICEF and Red Cross to support aid to Ukraine.

A big draw for attendees was Ranfar's new 8-kW fibre machine.

“Ukraine is my motherland,” said Solovianenko. “It gave me the first 20 years of my life and the education that helped me in my success in Canada.”

Access Machinery has stayed in touch with customers via YouTube demonstrations and training sessions during the lockdowns over the past two years.

“The way you reach the customer has changed over the past two years,” said Solovianenko. “We will continue with our online demonstrations this summer. Having said that, in-person events like this can’t be replaced, and we are looking forward to being at FABTECH Canada. We expect that it is going to be one of the greatest shows for the past number of years because even though digital communication is great, people still need interaction, they still need face to face contact.”

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