Caveat Emptor – Buyer Beware

If you’ve had the need to “shop” for a new extrusion press and handling system in the last decade you no doubt noticed that the cost of a modern automated extrusion handling system can (depending on specifications) equal or exceed the price of the press.

It’s little wonder. The handling systems available today are several times more sophisticated than the press, and entail far more components and moving parts. They require mastery in multiple engineering disciplines to provide a reliable, productive system. Along with sawing and material handling expertise, the system provider must have a solid understanding of heat transfer for heating ingot, quenching, and heat treating profiles.

A dependable, efficient system is produced by personnel with years of industry experience to draw upon and scores of existing installations to reference. Building a team of such trained service personnel and the appropriate spare parts inventory results from years in the business.

Granco Clark has been the rare single source provider to the extrusion industry for many years. While others may try to make that claim, few have the ability to provide all the preheating, quenching, handling, sawing, and heat treating equipment required for a complete integrated/ interfaced system. Granco Clark was, in fact, the first to offer a complete Supervisory Computer System (SCS) for the extrusion process, a product that continues today in the refined version of SCS Extrude.

So the next time a supplier says he’s a single source for all your needs, challenge him to explain what his definition of single source really is. It should be more than some mechanical pieces that he claims he will make well.

Remember, you are investing a substantial amount of money in a long-term commitment . . . make sure it’s the right one.