Meyer Manufacturing has come a long way since its humble beginnings more than 70 years ago. In 1946, Alvin Meyer quit farming and built a machine shop in Dorchester, Wisconsin, a small village in the heart of America’s Dairyland. At that time, the company, known as Meyer’s Machine Shop, had just two employees, including Alvin. They built a variety of equipment, including farm wagons, snowplows, trailers, forklifts and grain elevators.
“They just did a little bit of everything,” said his son, Don Meyer, current President for Meyer Manufacturing.
Over the years, the family-owned company has grown to become a leader in the farming equipment industry. Their current product line includes forage wagons, manure spreaders, 40-foot semi trailers, bale haulers and farm wagons.
The company still resides on the same property but has drastically grown in size. Meyer Manufacturing now has 147 employees. Their newest shop expansion added 66,000 square feet of manufacturing space, allowing the company to improve and expand their paint line.
Their previous paint booth was an aging Zhongda booth.
“It needed work,” said Joe Repka, production engineer manager.
Not only was the booth aging, but it no longer fit their needs. As Meyer grew, so did their product line and size. The company recently developed a line of TMR mixers for feeding cattle. Their largest TMR mixer was too large to fit in their existing booth. So they were left with the decision to try to modify their existing booth or to purchase a new, larger booth.
They decided to look at new equipment to improve their throughput and quality. They worked with ICAFE, GFS distributor, to design a paint finishing system that maximized their shop space.
Meyer’s new GFS equipment included:
When it came to equipment size, Meyer decided to go a little bit larger than what was needed for their current product line. The reason was to allow for future product line changes.
“We wanted to make sure we don’t outgrow our booth and oven again if we build larger products down the road,” said Meyer.
Since adding this new equipment, the company has seen improvements in productivity and throughput. The drive-thru design on their paint booth and oven allows product to quickly and easily move through the painting and curing process.
By adding an oven to their painting process, they are able to push more product through the shop. With their previous paint booth, they had to wait a day for the paint to fully cure on the product before they could move it.
The company also saw immediate improvements to product quality since adding their new equipment. Better airflow in their new booth reduces contamination, allowing for a better paint job and cleaner booth.
“We have been impressed by how much the overall product appearance has improved with our new booth and oven,” said Repka.
As an added bonus, Repka says they have been surprised by how quiet the paint booth is.
“We hardly notice it’s running,” said Repka.
To learn more about Meyer Manufacturing, visit www.meyermfg.com.
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