Fabrication for Success

9 Jun 2020

The Giumenta family immigrated to New York in 1912 from Messina, Italy. The family was filled to the brim with artists and industrialists, and soon forged a path in the metalworking industry. Entrepreneurial family blood, perseverance, and adaptability led Federico Giumenta to found Utility Brass & Bronze in 1945. The company specialised in ornamental and handcrafted ironwork including metal railings and casework. With the help of his three sons, Michael, Federico Jr., and Anthony, business began to boom.

Guidance from his father and mentor, in addition to 40 years of hands on experience and a degree in Architectural and Mechanical Design, propelled little Anthony to transform Utility Brass & Bronze into the company it is today, Architectural Grille. Anthony, along with his sons Anthony Jr. and Stephen, are currently involved in the day to day operations of the prospering company.

Architectural Grille is a state of the art manufacturing plant specialising in custom linear bar grilles and perforated grilles in a wide selection of finishes. Additional products include decorative panels and screens, drain covers, vent covers, HVAC products, radiator enclosures, sunshades, awnings, signage, lighting, plus a whole host of additional custom metalworking goods.
 
To carry on its ethos of continuous improvement, Architectural Grille has developed custom machinery solutions to keep its factory in tip top shape. Stephen Giumenta takes a particularly strong interest in maintaining the latest and greatest equipment to ensure the Architectural Grille factory is as lean and mean as possible.

In addition to a laser cutting machine, a Waterjet, CNC punching machines, FOM and Kaltenbach saws, Architectural Grille has added TigerStop automated positioner and pusher equipment to its lean manufacturing arsenal throughout the facility.

The company has 4 TigerStops and 1 SawGear on an array of applications including a DeWalt chop saw for processing wood in the shipping department, a Kaltenbach automatic steel saw, a FOM Panda 400 aluminum upcut saw, and additional aluminum mitering saws. The TigerStops and SawGears eliminate measurement errors. Parts are cut accurately again and again to the thousandths of an inch without the need of a tape measure or manual gauge or clamp.

“We cut linear bars and they need to be precise,” explains Richie Cammarata, Production Manager and Shop Foreman at Architectural Grille. Richie has been with the company for 10 years and knows what features to look for when buying machinery.

“Accuracy is really what we look for in our products. Everything we do is for the most part custom, every job and every order can vary dramatically from the previous job, so it’s important that we can cut the different dimension needed as quickly as possible. We primarily process aluminum, brass, bronze, and stainless steel. The majority of what we cut starts at around 22 foot lengths. We cut to length as much as we can for grille components, and the TigerStop helps us to do so with minimal waste,” explains Richie. 

“The biggest challenge that we face as a manufacturer today is finding skilled and dedicated employees. So when buying new equipment it is important that it not only work great it needs to be easily learned by our operators and new employees,” explains Stephen.  

Stephen Giumenta elaborates, “I knew TigerStop was the company I was going to use. Simplicity in set up and ease of use was the main factor for us to go with TigerStop. It’s really easy to use the TigerStop machines. After a couple of hours, if you have a head on your shoulders, it’s not hard to grasp.”

It doesn’t matter if an employee has been trained to use a tape measure or not, TigerStops automatically convert fractions to decimals and vice versa. All the operator has to do is type in desired lengths and press start. The stop quickly moves to position for repeatable accuracy again and again. Not only has Architectural Grille cut down on wasted material, it has increased quality control. 

For further information contact SCM Group Australia 1300 42 22 38.