SW: Reflecting on the past year, have machinery sales increased during the pandemic, decreased or stayed roughly the same?

CR: In the beginning of the pandemic, Covid-19 had a significant impact on BACA Systems order intake. It effected our ability to ship and train our customers in the field. We adapted our equipment launches with more training in the field and adjusted the equipment installations to meet the different state-by-state safety requirements. After March and April passed, BACA Systems saw our customers’ businesses start to return to normal levels. We saw the volume of our order intakes increase. We feel that this is due to our customers generally being deemed as an essential business. This allowed them to continue to produce their products. We also saw that end users were investing more in their homes as they continued to spend more time within their homes due to the pandemic. Our customers found the need to become digital (if they were not already) and address their need for continued labor challenges. The countertop industry continues to advance in their use of automation to increase productivity and quality, all while reducing labor in their manufacturing plants.

SW: What types of capabilities on your machinery do you think have been the most beneficial to fabricators recently?

CR: One of things we continue to hear from our Robo SawJet customers is that their Robo SawJets cost of ownership is significantly less than the gantry style machines they had run in the past. Our robotic system just does not have the mechanical failures that gantry systems typically do. It also produces and cuts more per shift. We keep hearing this from customers who have experience with both types of machines. A sawjet process continues to be the number one way to increase profitability in the fabrication business. It allows customers to be able to nest their parts much closer together than a 5-axis CNC saw or a manual bridge saw. Nesting parts together allows the customer to reduce their cost of material by 10 to 15%. By cutting sinks, arcs and radius all in one process, sawjets significantly reduce downstream manufacturing. This also increases the CNC routers capacity by at least 20%.

SW: What are some of the new innovations in robotic technology?

CR: There have been many advancements in robotic based technology throughout all industries. Specific to manufacturing countertops, one of BACA’s new products, the Robolution Pro, now provides total process capabilities for mitering with the blade and the waterjet. Inside mitered corners are done with the blade and completed with the waterjet. This again provides complete process capability for our customers with one machine.

SW: How do you go about deciding what new machinery advances are needed for fabricators?

CR: We consistently listen to our customer’s feedback. We talk with them and look for their pain points in their fabrication process. This could be targeted to improving and having less maintenance, making things easier to use, doing more automatic processes that require less operator involvement, all while producing parts with more consistent results. We also follow the market trends. We look ahead to what new materials are being introduced and what the customers’ needs will be. We feel it is our job to look in front of the manufacturing process. We also work with our customers to understand how to improve our products.

SW: Are you finding lead times for new machinery to be quicker or longer these days?

CR: We continue to work on driving down our lead times to meet our customer requirements. Having products available with short lead times is beneficial to our customers as their businesses evolve rapidly.