Wisconsin Oven - 2018 Year In Review
2018 was another strong year of growth for Wisconsin Oven. During the year they shipped an impressive 224 pieces of equipment to companies in industries such as composites, aerospace, technology, and automotive. This equipment included a mix of custom and standard batch and conveyor ovens that were used for curing composites, treating aluminum castings, post curing refractory material, and stress relieving automotive springs. This year the Wisconsin Oven team installed the world’s largest composite cure oven. This oven is a significant accomplishment in their drive to be the leading supplier of composite curing ovens in the world.
The continued growth led to many new employment opportunities. As many companies have experienced, with a strong economy comes the challenge of acquiring and maintaining quality employees. Another challenge in the manufacturing sector is the increasing skilled trades gap. Dave Strand, President, and CEO, had been noticing for years the need for more skilled trades workers in the job market and in 2018 made his dream of Wisconsin Oven Universal Training Center (WOC-U) a reality. At the new WOC-U center, experienced Wisconsin Oven production personnel and engineers provide specialized training to help prepare the workforce of the future. The students are paid during their training and many are hired to full time upon graduation.
Wisconsin Oven is owned by Thermal Product Solutions, LLC (TPS), a leading American manufacturer of industrial ovens, furnaces, pharmaceutical sterilizers, laboratory ovens, environmental temperature chambers, and stability test chambers. Other TPS brands include Baker Furnace, Blue M, Gruenberg, Tenney/Lunaire, and Lindberg/MPH.
“Rapid growth of all the TPS brands has created some nice cross-selling opportunities for all of our brands. Wisconsin Oven recently completed installation on what is believed to be the largest composite curing oven in the world. This successful project has created more orders for Wisconsin Oven as well as the other brands. Other exciting developments would be the order intake for our new Express Batch Oven (EBO) line. These standard units offer an attractive 4 to 6 week delivery time at a very attractive price point. Lastly, the purchase of a few new lasers should make a nice impact on our fabrication capabilities. Commissioning has just been completed for rollout in 2019” Dave Strand, President & CEO, TPS