Unison adds production capacity

Unison, a Madera, Calif.-based manufacturer of all-electric tube bending machines, has opened a new facility in Scarborough, U.K. The building more than doubles the production capacity of the company and accelerates machine building times by about 15 percent.

"The new facility has allowed us to expand every major department. We now have more software and hardware development engineers, and more manufacturing and sales staff," said Alan Pickering, managing director.

Located close to the company’s previous building, the new facility adds 24,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space, along with two acres of surrounding land. The building interior has been remodeled to increase the company’s manufacturing efficiency and capacity.

A dedicated flow line for building machines is fitted with a gantry crane to help simplify handling and installation of large components. Tube bending machines now progress through six sequential assembly cells, with application-specific tooling for each stage of the build cycle. At the end of the line, machines can be rolled into containers for shipping.

The expanded metalworking machine shop includes a $470,000 CNC machining center to help speed fabrication of components and tooling.