The sounds of robots spraying powder coating onto the parts of medical devices and various electronics components is music to the ears of Tom Furrer, president and owner of TWF Industries in Alexandria, Minnesota.
TWF is one of the premier powder coating and finishing operations in North America, and the 40 employees there know that Furrer likes to hear nothing more than the equipment humming and quality parts heading out the door.
“Our success is based on the high quality and expertise we have with difficult parts and our resources,” says Furrer, especially on the difficult medical and electronics parts.
Maybe the only sound Furrer likes to hear is more of is the traditional and gospel bluegrass music that he makes with his band, FlattGrass Revival. After singing and playing guitar his entire life, Furrer and his wife, Jill, helped formed the band five years ago with two other friends, Todd and Kimberly Moser, and perform regularly for community gatherings, the elderly, as well as Bluegrass festival open mic opportunities.
30 Years of Experience
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| Jill Furrer, CFO |
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| Ron Eastlund. Production Manager |
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| Benjamin Furrer, Materials Manager |
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| Daniel Furrer, Technical Sales Rep |
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| Travis Strahm, Human Resources |
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| Jilaine Strahm, Administrative Assistant |
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| Hannah Kracht, Quoting and Process Design |
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| Lee Brewer, Compliance Director and Maintenance |
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| Terri Walter, Quality Analyst |
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| Jennifer Hines, Customer Service/Shipping |
But when they aren’t out playing the fiddle and guitar, Jill helps Tom run the company and is the chief financial officer. The duo started TWF Industries in 1986 along with one other employee on board in an old lumber yard of 4,000 square feet in nearby Barrett.
“We painted parts during the day, and I would fix rejects at night,” Tom Says. “We had two used liquid booths and two small used electric batch ovens. There were long days, and many learning opportunities.”
Today, they are in a spacious 70,000 square feet facility with the same goal as they had more than 30 years ago: provide customers with cost effective, reliable, high-quality finishing services that add value to their products.
TWF Industries has a myriad of services, including an expansive pretreatment system that includes:
- Iron phosphate with a six-stage iron phosphate washer.
- Chromate conversion coating that is certified to the stringent MIL-DTL-5541 standard with 12-foot tanks offering both RoHS compliant clear chromate and yellow chromate processes.
- Alodine 5200: the facility has a six-stage line of 12-foot tanks that can handle magnesium.
Their finished coatings include liquid that sprays architectural coatings, urethanes, epoxies, bake enamels, water born, polyesters, acrylics and high solids, as well as powder coatings that include epoxy, polyurethane, TGIC and hybrids.
TWF also applies functional coatings such as RFI/EMI shielding, non-skid, dry film lubricant, conductive, military coatings, Xylan and Kynar. The value-added services include masking, screening, pad printing and laser demask.
Focus on Difficult Parts
“Our focus has been on difficult parts for the medical and electronic industry that require second operations,” Furrer says. “We also do a wide variety of short to long run jobs for several different industries.”
Furrer and his wife are blessed with an outstanding management team that focuses on customer service:
- Travis Strahm is the office manager and HR director
- Ben Furrer is the materials manager
- Daniel Furrer is the technical salesperson
- Terri Walter is the quality analyst
- Ron Eastlund is the production supervisor
- Lee Brewer is the compliance manager and the head of maintenance.
TWF also has many value-added services that it offers customers:
- Masking: they take considerable pride in their masking expertise, including the design and use of special masking fixtures when appropriate.
- Laser Demask: TWF offers the latest technology for precision removal of liquid and powder coatings, which is especially useful for high value cosmetic requirements.
- Screening/Pad Printing: from logos to nomenclatures, TWF has proven printing expertise that ensures crisp reproduction and consistency throughout every run; one color to four color and in a variety of inks.
- Filling: when specified, weTWFfill and smooth any voids, seams or stud heads.
- Grinding: if specified, they will grind welds and spot welds to a smooth, even surface, resulting in a uniform, finish-ready surface to enhance overall product aesthetics.
- Stripping: when paint needs to be removed, TWF does it in-house using the proper chemicals or their own burn-off oven.
- Assembly: TWF has ample experience at specified light assembly.
Last year, TWF added a new five-stage washer and automatic guns, laser demask and lead-to-teach robots. Their top suppliers are Sherwin-Williams, Axalta, Diamond Vogel, Henkel and Bell Bank.
“We are focused on automation and continuing to stay focused on quality parts,” Furrer says. “We plan to add more robots and cells.”
That will be even sweeter music to the ears of TWF Industries.
