Gary Errthum founded EK in 1970 as a small machining and fabrication shop in Columbus, Wisconsin, as a repair business for local farmers and businesses and a way to earn a living while spending more time with his family.
In the more than 50 years since, Errthum has built a substantial ‘work family’ that includes over 200 people working in a 200,000 square feet contract manufacturing business in two buildings in Fall River, which includes a pretreatment and powder coating operation.
Gary Errthum “It’s all about respect,” Errthum says. “It’s about working together and showing respect no matter what your job or title is,”
EK’s two core businesses are what Dan Weinberger, EK’s Director of Sales and Estimating, calls their Complete Manufacturing division and their newest Power Products line.
“We’ve outmatched our competition in comprehensive machining, fabrication, welding, assembly, powder coating, and power system protection products like large-scale generator enclosures,” says Weinberger, adding that EK has been quietly growing over the years, incorporating new capabilities, expanding its team, and making a huge impact on the Fall River community through economic growth and youth apprenticeship programs.
50th Anniversary Brand Re-Launch
To honor the 50th anniversary, EK’s sales and development team set out to re-launch the company’s brand to match their success in mid-2020.
“Incorporating our history and emphasis on quality was really important to the project,” Weinberger says.
EK installed a new Gema OptiGun Automatic Powder Coating guns with Gema’s MagicCompact EquiFlow booth that includes a cyclone recovery system. Steve Slack, EK’s Vice President of Operations, says it’s not just about what they do, but it’s how and why they do it.
“We work really hard to create a culture of respect, education, and pride,” Slack says. “And that shows in our end product.”
Errthum is the principal owner of EK, and Jeff Errthum is the Vice President of Finance. Aside from Slack and Weinberger, Corporate Executive Secretary Sherri Dowdell rounds out the company’s executive team.
Bringing Powder Coating In-House
A big transition for EK came when they moved the powder coating company they owned, the Roscoe Powder Coating Co. — which previously had powder coated their parts — in-house. At the same time, EK designed and fabricated an 8-stage pretreatment tanks and wash system from T316 stainless steel.
“That change eliminated trucking and allowed consistency in the pretreatment of the parts,” Weinberger says.
EK installed a new Gema OptiGun Automatic Powder Coating guns with Gema’s MagicCompact EquiFlow booth that includes a cyclone recovery system. They also recently added two robotic welding cells.
Gema’s Magic Systems offers 5 to 15 minutes color change time.With a powerful 100 kV cascade and advanced electrostatic controls, Gema says the OptiGuns offer the highest transfer efficiency in the industry for perfect quality in every application and are the ideal solution for color change.
Gema’s Magic Systems offers 5 to 15 minutes color change time and is the best color change solution even for metallic powders, structured powders, and other challenging materials. The company says the OptiCenter, ZA reciprocators, OptiGuns, and the CM touch screen controls are all designed to work together for quick and clean color change.
EK is thrilled that the Gema system allows them to deliver a high-quality coating to their customers on an extremely consistent basis.
“I feel that the addition of the automatic Gema system has allowed for very consistent coating thickness, and that creates repeatability in the finish,” says Slack, who helps oversee full machining operations — lathe, mill, and 5-axis milling — as well as laser cutting, punching, multi-axis forming, welding, robotic welding, powder coating, and assembly.
8-Stage Pretreatment a Critical Component
EK’s powder coating equipment includes a 1,100 ft. in-line overhead conveyor system to handle part sizes up to 46 in. x 46 in. x 120 in. x 600 lbs.; the 8-stage pretreatment process; a curing oven and cool down chamber; as well as a wastewater treatment systems to neutralize chemicals, clean output water and concentrate solids for disposal.
Specifically, the 8-stage pretreatment process includes:
- Acid descale
- Rinse reverse osmosis (RO) water
- Alkaline cleaner
- Rinse RO water
- Rinse RO again water to ensure that they don’t carry alkalinity into the 6th stage.
- Zirconium
- Rinse RO water
- An empty stage that can be used for powder coating unique materials
EK Power Products launched in 2008, building on their experience in the “job shop” industry.Weinberger says one of the most critical pretreatment processes is the acid descale, which mitigates the oxidation produced from laser cutting metal. EK uses a phosphate-free acidic solution in the first stage of the pretreatment process.
“This removes this oxide and allows the powder to adhere directly to the base metal, ensuring paint durability and longevity,” Weinberger says.
EK’s finishing system can apply a thermoplastic or a thermoset powder coating. In addition, their batch powder coating area has been expanded to accommodate large-scale parts and components up to 8 ft. wide, 10 ft. tall, and 20 ft. long.
The batch powder coating area contains a wash and iron phosphate booth, an aluminum oxide blast booth, a downdraft electrostatic powder booth, and a completely programmable automated curing oven.
Besides the Gema equipment, EK uses TCI Powder Coatings and Coral Chemical for their pretreatment.
Power Products Division Create Growth
Most of the components that EK fabricates are for various industries, including aerospace, agriculture, construction equipment, water treatment, appliance industry, and for back-up and primary power packaging, including fuel tanks, for data centers, hospitals, cloud computing, and any other critical industry.
EK Power Products launched in 2008, building on their experience in the “job shop” industry and leveraging their existing manufacturing processes, capabilities, and expertise to create innovative and reliable generator packaging solutions for diverse applications.
Their new Power Products division quickly outgrew the space set aside at EK’s headquarters leading to the construction of our new production facilities in Fall River, a 106,000 sq. ft. operation that was built to accommodate the largest, most heavy-duty power generation equipment enclosures on the market.
Gary Errthum says the source of their success is their people and their pride in producing the highest quality product they can.
“Our quality system drives continuous improvement, and that system is the core of how the business operates,” he says. “Our success is also driven by having good customers that engage and allow the business to succeed. Customers come back because of our quality and delivery.”
Managing Quality and Capacity
Weinberger says EK recently rebranded with a new website and logo and are utilizing social media and internet searches to attract new business. But he says the majority of their business comes from word-of-mouth or recommendations from existing customers.
“Retaining the business is making sure we manage our quality and capacity,” Weinberger says. “Delivering quality parts on time is not always easy in a job shop. The quick color change and reclaim system in the new powder booth helps shorten lead time and maintain quality.”
Gary Errthum says EK touches many lives in the work they do, from machining crash housings for the aerospace industry to machining and fabrication of components for agriculture, construction, water treatment, and custom-designed fuel tanks and enclosures for data centers, hospitals, and many other critical industries.
Having an in-house powder coating system allows them to improve the quality of the products they produce.
“The powder finish provided by us must weather some harsh environments,” Errthum says. “And we have the personnel, quality system, and equipment to meet these demands.”
