The Trussville Tribune | Spotlight on Industry | October 2020

SPOTLIGHT ON INDUSTRY October 2020

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Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

October, 2020

2020 is the year for new business even amid pandemic

O’Reilly Auto Parts coming soon to Clay

Imperio Steakhouse & Grill coming to Trussville November 2020

By Erica Thomas, managing editor

TRUSSVILLE – Across the nation, businesses are struggling to get through the coronavirus pandemic.

The restaurant industry has been one of the hardest-hit and restaurant workers have struggled to keep food on their own tables.

Some restaurants have made changes to operations in order to give more to the individual employee. Locally, some of those employees

have been able to make ends meet by working for delivery services such as Trussville To Go and Shipt.

But not all industries have been impacted negatively.

Despite the pandemic, new businesses are opening in our area and plan to open soon.

Even new restaurants and specialty shops are planning to open by the end of the year.

The latest announcement from the Trussville area is the pending opening of a new steak house. Imperio Steakhouse & Grill will be in lo-

Pastry Art Bake Shoppe coming to Trussville October 2020

The Original Hot Dog Factory opened in Center Point in September 2020

cated at the intersection of Service Road and Chalkville Mountain Lane. Owner Alex Muniz and his partners, Ernesto Tafoya and Hector Alvarez, hope to open the restaurant by mid to late No-

vember.

Pastry Art Bake Shoppe is moving from Inverness to Trussville. Owner Carol Gregg is opening the location off Gadsden Highway and hopes to be open by the end

of October.

Sky Bear Confections is another local business opening soon. Marla Graves, a chocolatier selling hand-crafted sweets will open her brickand-mortar store off Gadsden Highway after renovations to the building are complete.

In Center Point, The Original Hot Dog Factory opened in September, filling a vacant property off Center Point Parkway.

The city of Clay is getting a new Raindrop Car Wash and O’Reilly’s Auto Parts

store and more businesses are showing interest in the city, according to Mayor Charles Webster.

Leeds City leaders just announced this week that a new grocer is hoping to move to town and in Moody, new hotels and restaurants have emerged over the past year.

Although there have been some business closures and some commercial spaces remain empty, the growing interest of doing business in our area is uplifting and encouraging.

SPOC Automation: One of America’s best places to work

By Crystal McGough

SPOC Automation is a true gem of the Trussville community, hidden in plain sight. Many people who pass

by SPOC Automation while driving down Highway 11 may not know they have just passed one of Inc. Magazine’s Best Places to Work in America for the year 2020, nor one of Business Alabama Magazine’s Best Companies to Work for in the State, both titles that have recently been added to SPOC Automation’s list of recognitions, including being named on Birmingham Business Journal’s list of Birmingham’s Best Places to Work in 2016.

“We’re kind of like the best kept secret in the industry,” CEO Bobby Mason said.

SPOC (Sensorless Pump Off Control) is an innovation company that builds automation products for the midstream and the upstream energy market.

“All that sounds great and wonderful, but in short, what we do is motor controls and automation – so we control electric motors with variable frequency drives, which is a huge energy savings for our customers,” Mason said. “We control the electric motors on oil and gas wells, on the exploration and distribution side of the business … we help them get it out of the ground. We control the motors that are on the pumps, so we actually control the pumps because we are the part that actually takes the power and then applies it to the motors on the pumps, and then all the processes come back through us. It gives them precision controls and allows us to automate their processes to help us to get oil and gas more efficiently, lower costs, improve mechanical and electrical life of their equipment.”

Mason compared SPOC’s

technology to the dimmer on a light switch, which controls the intensity of the electricity going to the light bulb.

“We have technology that allows us to do the same thing with an electric motor, so now we can speed up and slow down your pump or your compressor, or whatever that rotating equipment, based on the variables that the field conditions are having,” he said. “So, you don’t have to mechanically go and change out pulleys and shivs to change speed. We electrically can change the characteristics of the motor and change the speed without having to do any mechanical changes, whatsoever.”

While most of SPOC Automation’s technology and equipment is used in oil and gas production, essentially any equipment that rotates and has an electric motor on it is a candidate for their products.

“We just happen to be super focused into the energy space with oil and gas because we were able to carve out a very nice market presence in it,” Mason said.

Mason founded SPOC Automation, in Trussville, in 2002, with some of SPOC’s first customers being in the coal bed methane fields in Tuscaloosa.

“That’s why a company in Trussville, Alabama, is in the oil and gas industry,” he said. “We actually got started here. We’ve since moved that

out and now we have close to 70,000 units running across the entire world.”

While SPOC has sales and service teams spread throughout the United States, and distribution partners globally, all of the manufacturing and engineering is done in Trussville.

“We’ve got new products that we’re developing that we’ll be launching next year that will actually get us into some additional spaces with even more green energy savings and alternative energy solutions,” Mason said. “So, I’m excited. I see us continuing to grow. We have a lot of headwinds, obviously with COVID and there was the oil crisis at the exact same time, but we’re still a market leader.”

SPOC Automation produces world-changing technology, but it is the culture and values of the company that secured their place on lists of the best places to work in Birmingham, Alabama and the United States. Through SPOC’s five core values, articulated in its Lift Up program, this innovative company has created a business culture that is to be rivaled.

Those core values are: Committed, Solution Focused, Passionate, Caring and Gratifying.

To make it even more interesting, SPOC has their own definition for what each of these values means to them as a company. To be committed is to do it right, and do it on time, every time. To be solution focused means that, as an

innovation company, they are always looking for a better way. Being passionate means they are there to win, but more importantly, they are there to help their customers win.

Caring means they invest to make their employees, customers and suppliers better.

Finally, gratifying means that while they take their work seriously, they also find it fun and exciting to make products that change the world.

the Lift Up coin. That’s the person that ideally represented SPOC Automation’s core values the best. Sometimes, that’s a hard decision.”

As a company, SPOC strives to lift up not only one another and their company, but they lift up their customers and industry, as well.

“I’m just tickled to death with the spirit of the people that work here because they truly live out our core

“We’ve been very blessed to have put together a great team and they’ve bought into this culture,” Mason said.

“We live it out. I think that’s the secret to our success – not only our people, but our culture of always trying to lift people up.”

If an employee witnesses a co-worker in the act of living out one of their core values, they can nominate that person to the management team. The management team then votes on whether or not that action met the criteria of living out the core values. Each month, SPOC has an awards ceremony where they give employees custom coins representing their five core values. At the end of the year SPOC awards the prestigious Lift Up coin.

“When you win, you get a coin and recognition in front of all of your peers; it’s something that’s very coveted here,” Mason said. “Then at the end of the year, we give a monetary award and there is a special coin – we only give one out a year – that’s

values and try to not only lift up our sales, but our industry through knowledge,” Mason said. “Ultimately, we believe that we are lifting up the country by what we do, by lowering lifting costs and producing more efficiency and higher reliability in our energy supply. It only stands to make us a better country if we can be energy independent, and we play a big role in that. I believe that we will continue to grow and solve more problems.”

During the shutdown in early 2020, SPOC started a new program called Build Up, where they gathered experts in the field and began making videos to share their combined knowledge. The information that they shared would normally be considered trade secrets, or at least something that other companies would have to pay for, but SPOC decided to make this information freely available.

“We started sharing videos called Two-Minute Drives,”

Mason said. “It’s been picked up by magazines all over the world, it’s been shared online in various formats – our web traffic has just exploded – as people go and learn about problems and how to solve them. We did that out of a spirit to build up the industry to help them rebound and recover and thrive on the other side of this pandemic and oil crisis.”

While SPOC Automation does business globally, Mason said that the heart of the organization being in Trussville is a major positive for the company.

“Trussville is just such a wonderful community,” he said. “It’s easy for us to draw talent to our company because of the great people that are in this area. We have a growing, vibrant city here.

We bring people in from all over the country that come in, because we do a lot of training here, and people are just blown away at the beauty and how clean the city is. Just being associated with this area is a positive for us.”

SPOC Automation is located at 7363 Gadsden Hwy, Trussville, AL 35173. You can also visit them online at spocautomation.com.

“If you really want to see who SPOC Automation is, visit our website,” Mason said. “As soon as you get to it, you can go to ‘About Us’ and there is a short video on there about the Lift Up program. It gives you a great picture of what we do and who we are.”

October, 2020

Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

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Amerex Corporation is a ‘mainstay’ in the Trussville community Amerex Corporation is the world leader in the manufacturing of portable fire extinguishers, and they are located right here in Trussville. Founded in 1971 by Ned Paine, Amerex has had a multi-generational impact when it comes to employment, with nearly 500 people working at the Trussville plant.

“It’s not uncommon to run across people that are celebrating and recognizing their 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, and even 40th anniversary,” Director of Training and Continuing Education David Rice said. Rice has been with the company for 12 years. “It’s a place where people come and stay for a length of time.

It’s also not uncommon to see multiple generations of people of the same family all working there. So, it really is huge when it comes to not just an employer, but also a kind of family employer. Of

said. “That’s because (Ned Paine) was where the land and a large portion of the cash came from for the construction of the schools. That’s just one example of where the Paine family did give back in large part to the community. There are so many different things that were done throughout the era where Ned Paine owned Amerex that just really were extremely supportive and really created and fostered that kind of family atmosphere.”

While Amerex fire extinguishers are used throughout the world, the company only manufactures product from its Trussville plant.

“This is not just me speaking, but also many attendees I have in my classes will attest to the same thing, that it is without a doubt the best unit, and it is made in Trussville,” Rice said. “It’s manufactured right there; it’s not just a U.S. thing, but an Alabama thing.

There’s a lot of pride wrapped up in that.”

course, that goes both directions. Not only do we get the benefit of a real strong employment base, but we also are able to provide jobs. We do have a very reciprocal relationship there.”

Rice said it is no coincidence that the Amerex factory is located across the street from Paine Elementary and Paine Intermediate School.

“The elementary school and the middle school both have the name Paine on them.

Well, there’s a reason,” he

Amerex is not only a world leader in the supply of fire extinguishers, but they also develop fire suppression systems for vehicles, such as transit busses, and restaurant systems for commercial kitchens and industrial applications. They even have a military division that produces fire suppression systems for military vehicles.

Like many businesses, Amerex faced challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, but they rose to the chal-

By Crystal McGough, for The Tribune

Rice said that he was surprised at how well the virtual classes have been received, especially due to the tactile nature of the lessons.

“Largely, the people that are attending my classes are very tactile learners and a

lenge. The company developed new digital services and launched a new web store, making it easy for Amerex to continue meeting their customer’s needs.

“Like other businesses, the pandemic has made it difficult to visit customers,” Marketing Manager Susan Ray said.

“The web store puts information conveniently at their fingertips. It also allows them to order at their convenience.”

Additionally, Rice was able to make his training classes completely virtual.

“We had done very little online or virtual training prior to March of this year,” he said. “When I say very little, there were a couple of occasions where I would do an international class by way of the internet. Sometimes, if we did a product rollout that needed to have a training component with it also, then, in a lot of cases that would be done virtually, but it was just one of those things that we did to augment the in-person classes.

Until March, Rice taught in-person classes internationally almost weekly. Little did he know that his travels would come to an abrupt stop.

“The last class that we did for this year was in Las Vegas, in conjunction with a trade show,” he said. “I did not know at the time that would be the last one we would do

for the year, but within about 10 days, I was able to transition to completely a virtually-delivered class. The curriculum is virtually the same. It really changed very little. The only thing that really changed was now people are watching me on a computer screen rather than sitting six tables back on the right, or wherever they happen to be.”

The virtual classes turned out to be a blessing in disguise, not only for Rice and Amerex, but for those attending his classes, as well.

“One of the things that I have found from a delivery and educational standpoint that I like a lot is exactly what I just mentioned,” he said.

“Now everybody has a front row seat. It’s been really kind of a boom from that perspective, just simply because I’m able to deliver the content more clearly. It was met with more of a positive response than I would have ever imagined. It has had so many positives on the complexion of the training aspect just simply because of things that I can do now that we couldn’t do before. It’s fantastic.”

www.amerex-fire.com

certain amount of hands-on is necessary for them,” he said.

“Well, we’ve been able to duplicate that with the efforts of another couple of colleagues at Amerex. We’ve been able to get parts and pieces in the hands of the people that are at the various different remote locations so they can kind of follow along with the actual parts that I would normally be showing them on a computer.

They actually have one there in their hand. That part was logistically interesting to get worked out, but with a couple of the support people that we have in Trussville, as well as our product managers that we have in Trussville, we have all pulled together and made that really kind of a seamless transition.”

While originally founded

by Paine, Amerex was later acquired by McWane, Inc. During that time, Ned Paine remained on board to make the transition as seamless as possible. Rice said that under the ownership of McWane, Amerex has maintained its close, family-like quality.

“I hesitate to use that term because it does get overused

a lot, but truthfully, there is a very nice, cozy feeling to being part of the family,” he said. “That has been maintained, in large part, even after we transitioned to part of the McWane group.”

Over the years, Amerex has received many awards, recognitions and accolades, including ISO and OSHA approvals, and while the Trussville location is the main manufacturing facility, they also have distribution centers in New Jersey, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Despite its global outreach, however, what truly makes Amerex special is its roots in the Trussville community.

“Amerex has been a mainstay of the community for years,” Rice said. “Even before I knew what Amerex was – I had never heard of the company before I was offered a job there, which I know sounds kind of weird – people used to wait for openings to come up so they could work there.

It used to be said that people don’t really ever leave Amerex – they just eventually die and then somebody else moves in – because people came and stayed forever. It was just because of the company, itself.

“Having said that, I don’t see that changing. I fully expect Amerex to remain a mainstay of the community for years into the future, just simply because business is still great. We’re still going ahead, full steam. So, most definitely, it’s going to be an entity that is going to become part of an icon of the community. It already is to a large degree, but certainly that’s not going to change.”

Amerex is located at 7595 Gadsden Hwy, Trussville, AL 35173. They can be contacted at (205) 655-3271 or online at amerex-fire.com.

Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

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October, 2020

Bama Steel: As strong as family stretches all throughout the region, from working on sites ranging from Tamko in Tuscaloosa, to Auburn and to within the Birmingham metro area. That success has grown Bama Steel into a $5 million dollar a year business with upwards of 250 customers, many of whom are regulars.

By Joshua Huff, for The Tribune

TRUSSVILLE — Trussville’s new entertainment district is a sight to behold.

Located in the heart of downtown, the new venue just off of Highway 11 and Chalkville Road is surrounded by restaurants, pocket parks, breweries and is anchored by an amphitheater that is home to a 27-foot wide LED video screen installed to host year-round sporting events, family nights and concerts.

Hidden amongst all the grandeur is the undercurrent of hard work conducted by multiple companies ranging from architect TURNERBATSON to locally owned Bama Steel.

The latter, a small family-owned company, has earned a reputation as one of the most respected rebar companies in the area.

That reputation afforded Bama Steel the opportunity to work on Trussville’s amphitheater, which will be a staple of the community for years to come.

Owned by the husband and wife team of Allen and Donna Streetman, Bama Steel opened its doors in 2006 along with former partner and good friend Stanley

in particular: Leigh Martin, Ryan Hart and Ricardo Vega, all of whom have worked with Bama Steel since the onset.

“Those three have been with me since day one,” Streetman said. “They’re here every day. I would just like to put a little contribute out to those guys. To all my

Hart. Allen, who has been in the rebar business since 1966 and has exclusively worked within the Birmingham metro area, now owns the company outright after buying out Hart a few years ago. “(Hart) and I actually started the business,” Streetman said. “We found the building over here in Pinson.

We have a 15,000 square foot manufacturing area. We fabricate reinforcement bars.

We cut and bend to structural engineer specifications.”

Over the years, Bama Steel has earned a reputation as a company that places customers first. So much so,

that most of Streetman’s customers come back time and again.

“They know that they come first,” Streetman said.

The reach of Bama Steel

Some of Bama Steel’s success can be attributed to Streetman’s 40-plus years in the rebar business and to the intimate nature of the company, which boasts of just 10 employees, three of whom have worked with Streetman from the first day.

“We do claim to be family owned and operated,” Streetman said. “My wife works here; My daughter works here. I am the owner, CEO, chief estimator and salesman.”

Streetman made a point to thank three employees

other employees, I feel like we have the best crew of all time.”

The employees are split into two groups: five work out of the office while five work in the field. The company begins a job with a bidding process. They take contractor plans, estimate the costs and bid against other rebar companies. The process mimics how other contractors find work, Streetman said.

“Low bidder is the low bidder,” he added.

Once Bama Steel wins a

bid, it then designs field placing drawings from the contractor plans. Those drawings will have all the lengths and bend shapes for the rebar. That directs rod busters where to place said rebar.

The rebar itself is purchased locally at Nucor Steel Inc. in Birmingham. Streetman has been buying material from that plant since 1976.

of concrete and stick a tower in it.

“It’s usually a nice truckload of steel,” Streetman said.

Streetman is proud of the work that his company does. He iterated that while they might not always be the cheapest option out there, Bama Steel will always do the right thing and provide

“They’re very good to us,” Streetman said.

As versatile as Bama Steel is, the company’s forte lies within the construction of cell tower foundations.

Streetman has been laying the foundation for those towers for more than 20 years. The process is relatively simple: dig a big hole, place rebar, pour in a bunch

quality of quantity.

“We don’t claim to be the cheapest,” Streetman said.

“We claim to be the best.”

For those interested in the services that Bama Steel provides, feel free to reach them at (205) 680-9200.

The company is located at 5200 Pinson Valley Parkway, Gilmer Industrial Park Building 1.

BAMA STEEL (Bama Steel Employees) RR/LR, Jeff Blanton, Blake McCombs, Jordan Hughes, Ricardo Vega, Kaleb Klaus.

FR/LR, Ryan Hart, Stephanie Schaffer, Derek Horton. Not Pictured: Leigh Martin

Alan & Donna Streetman owners of Bama Steel

WE WOULD LIKE TO GRACIOUSLY THANK OUR CUSTOMERS: Choice Walls, MSE Building Company, Oak Mtn Construction, Stewart & Perry, and Blalock Building Company

1 Gilmer Industrial Park, Birmingham AL 35215 • 205-680-9200

October, 2020

Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

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Bryant Bank: Working to see Alabamians through a pandemic Community Statement

The team at Trussville – can’t say enough wonderful things! They worked 20 hour day were so informative, hardworking, and so caring of their community. I know they have worked so hard for all of their businesses!

WE RISE BY LIFTING OTHERS

A lot to beand learned through this crisis, and f At Bryant Bank, our caring our willme it’s the invaluable relationships with you ingness to lend a hand isbankers whatand makes a dif- Bravo, Bryan your accountant.

Bank Trussville! ference for others. Our entire team is committed to making a lasting impact and strives Barnett Furniture, Trussville to provide stability for fellow Alabamians.

This commitment to service begins at the topBANKER and works CONTACT A BRYANT TODAY! its way down. Our commuBRYANTBANK.C 205-661-5900 nity support comes in a variety of forms and includes volunteer work, philanthropic giving, corporate programs, and both financial and non-financial educational events with a focus on the underserved, underprivileged, one that can push some of child welfare, and child education. that fear aside and get down to what really matters, and We are proud to be servant leaders on what really matters is family whom you can depend. and making sure that your

PERSONAL | BUSINESS | MORTGAGE BANKING SER

Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. NLM

A world that we once knew literally changed overnight.

As mid-March approached, we began to hear about the Coronavirus pandemic a bit more frequently, but it hadn’t hit home just yet. Looking back seven months now, we could have never anticipated the impact and toll that this global pandemic would take, and has continued to take, around the world and at home in Alabama.

When our economy came to a screeching halt, lives were upended and businesses were forced to shut down.

Like many, the bankers at Bryant Bank were nervous about the unknowns ahead, but quickly knew that every customer would be impacted in some way.

Fortunately, the Government recognized that finan-

cial assistance would be vital to keeping our economy alive and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was born.

As the team at Bryant Bank worked relentlessly to understand the intricate details of the program, they began to communicate with customers about the financial relief.

Living out their mission to put care into action to help Alabamians invest in their full potential was never more important than it has been during these unchartered moments.

Like every bank, Bryant Bank had to navigate the constant changes and unknowns of the PPP but remained calm as they began to help customers one phone call, text, and email at a time. But one thing was different in regards to how Bryant Bank approached

the PPP process – they did not waiver on their expectations for a standard of excellence when delivering a very personal level of customer service that is filled with care, compassion, and empathy for others.

You see, at Bryant Bank, every customer is someone.

They know their name and know their story. Customers have local bankers that they can call upon at any time and it was paramount for the bankers to provide this level of service throughout this unprecedented time. To put this into perspective, this is what one banker had to say in early March when this [COVID-19] began.

“We can be that shoulder that you need to cry on, we can be that person that you need to talk to, we can be the

business is on sound financial footing, and it is at Bryant Bank.”

At the bank, it was all hands-on deck as the PPP applications began to roll in.

It was important for customers to have a human to talk to rather than a computer system to work with. Team members helped in any way.

Administrative staff from different departments put their jobs on hold to jump in so that bankers could support each customer personally. As it became time to submit the applications to the SBA, bankers spent nearly 24 hours submitting to the portal. During this time, it was

a beautiful testament to the dedication of the bankers as they worked tirelessly to provide customers a lifeline that was essential to keeping their employees paid and business doors open.

All-in-all, Bryant Bankers worked alongside 1,300 Alabama small businesses and reinvested $150 million back into our economy. It is not an exaggeration to say that bankers worked night and day to help customers survive.

Now as bankers and small businesses across the country prepare for loan forgiveness, it will be important again for

borrowers to work collaboratively with their banker. Just as Bryant Bank did at the beginning, they will continue to passionately serve their customers throughout the entirety of this process and beyond.

Bryant Bank recognizes that the road ahead will have its challenges, but time-aftertime we see the resilience of Alabamians. Together, we truly are Alabama strong.

And as time carries on, the Bryant Bank vision to see every Alabamian experience a financially stable future and live in a thriving community will always remain.

The team at Trussville – can’t say enough wonderful things! They worked 20 hour days, were so informative, hardworking, and so caring of their community. I know they have worked so hard for all of their businesses!

A lot to be learned through this crisis, and for me it’s the invaluable relationships with your bankers and your accountant. Bravo, Bryant Bank Trussville!

Barnett Furniture, Trussville

CONTACT A BRYANT BANKER TODAY!

205-661-5900

PERSONAL | BUSINESS | MORTGAGE BANKING SERVICES

BRYANTBANK.COM Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. NLMS 582857.

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Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

October, 2020

NRTC Automation delivers high-value industrial automation solutions

By Tanna M. Friday, for The Tribune

BIRMINGHAM — Alabama continues to be on the move with a thriving workforce, robust infrastructure business-friendly policies, and a pursuit of innovation. It remains in the top three auto exporting states in the nation, complete with automotive suppliers and automation building facilities to support Alabama’s booming automotive industry.

NRTC Automation, founded 2011 in Tilbury, Ontario, opened its doors to the Birmingham area to deliver high-value industrial automation and manufacturing equipment solutions to the world’s most respected automotive companies. From decommissioning and tear outs to industrial robotic training services and custom flexible work cells, NRTC is the key to integrate automation into workplaces. With personalized training and custom-built designs, NRTC Automation is the destination for all industrial automation and manufacturing equipment services.

Since April 2019, NRTC Automation is dedicated to their goal to be the leader in providing one-stop industrial automation solutions locally and internationally.

“NRTC Automation began offering decommissioning services to our customers,” says Dan Hill, Vice-President and General Manager.

Decommissioning, Hill explains, occurs when a product

model reaches the end of a life cycle. It is then removed in preparation for a new line of equipment. “We work with Mercedes-Benz and Magna International to clean out and remove their robotic lines from their facilities to make room for more incoming work.”

NRTC Automation offers comprehensive business solutions to its customers including decommissioning and tear out services, automation services and custom-built work cells, service parts manufacturing, equipment sales, engineering, training, and robot refurbishing.

“Each business unit serves a purpose, offering customers a one-stop solution,” says Hill. “In addition to our decommissioning and tear out services, NRTC offers automation services which includes the design and production of automation cells. This unit goes hand-in-hand with our engineering and training

tario location provides automation and equipment sales,” says Hill. “This facility located on Carson Road specializes in service parts manufacturing, engineering services, and automation. Our recent purchase of a new 100,000 square foot warehouse facility on Fleming Road will provide equipment warehousing and equipment sales.

According to Hill, decommissioning does not just include demolition, but rather selectively removing equipment in a way that equipment can be salvaged and resold, resulting in a sustainable and environmentally safe operation.

“Typically, before NRTC Automation, companies would perform a demolition that includes removing equipment and placing it in a dumpster,” says Hill.

“NRTC Automation salvages any robots, weld controllers, electrical components, processing equipment, and some-

service solutions. Furthermore, our robot refurbishing takes place during decommissioning. After removing old robotic equipment, along with any parts that have value, we clean, repaint, and refurbish the equipment and parts.

This allows us to offer our customers a 50 to 60 percent savings.”

The NRTC Automation locations specialize in business solutions. “Our Tilbury, On-

times fencing and guarding, while the rest is scrapped and hauled away. From an environmental standpoint, NRTC Automation comes into facilities in such a way that does not damage the building while salvaging the equipment, which results in a more selective, methodical approach to removing equipment from a facility.”

NRTC Automation has continued to evolve into a

company to make the best use of salvaged equipment while providing multiple services to its customers.

“This company began with the concept of decommissioning,” says Hill. “We discovered that if we provide automation solutions to our customers while building automation cells, we can build these cells with our own salvaged and refurbished equipment. We save our customers 50 to 60 percent for any automotive cell we build as opposed to purchasing new equipment.”

According to Hill, NRTC Automation will supply automotive-related parts manufacturing and build automation cells to perform those processes. Automation cells can used in any type of processing, including automotive, food processing, medical, packaging, and much more.

“We provide solutions to overcome the customer’s hurdles,” says Hill. “For example, we are in the process of providing a solution for a customer in palletizing and building boxes. These services are generally performed by employees working in a repetitive motion, which could potentially cause injuries.

The process of automation replaces the dangerous types of situations and positions that can effect humans faced with ergonomic challenges.”

This is where the engineering side of the business comes into play. “The engineering team will begin a discussion about finding a solution to a problem, incorporate CAD

data, download and needed date, and work back and forth to process the equipment,” says Hill. “From there, NRTC Automation will design and build a model to produce an automation cell. It’s simply a design and engineering process with the customer until we can meet their needs.”

“We want to be the one source for all our customers’ automation needs,” adds Hill.

“There are many companies that offer engineering support services, build cells, or provide demo services. I don’t know of one company that offers demolition, equipment refurbishment, engineering, and the cell build, as well as build parts. We strive to offer the one-stop solution.”

To put it succinctly, NRTC Automation will design the line, perform installations, remove unwanted equipment, resell the equipment, provide manpower and the support to commission it, as well as provide robotic training.

“There are plenty of companies that specialize in either one or maybe two out of our five business units, but they don’t offer all five services in the industry like NRTC Automation,” says Hill.

NRTC Automation is working with statewide organizations such as AIDT, who provides quality workforce development for Alabama’s new and expanding businesses.

“AIDT is coming to our Birmingham facility, along with 48 local applicants,” says Hill. “We are looking to hire up to ten of those applicants to join our team.”

In addition to hiring locally, Hill shares that NRTC Automation wants to make an impact in Alabama. According to Hill, building a strong workforce is key in the robotic industry.

“We are happy to donate any equipment to support an education program in the interest of robotics,” says Hill.

“We are willing to partner with any organization who would like to help further that knowledge. Ultimately, it benefits everyone in the long run. The whole industry is in need of robotic programmers.

NRTC Automation would love to partner or work with anyone and support them with the equipment to help develop that workforce.”

“We appreciate the hospitality and support we have received in the community,” says Hill. “We are willing to donate, sponsor, and help strengthen the ties here. We not only want to grow our business, but also become a long-term partner in the community.”

NRTC Automation is the source for your automation needs. If you are a local manufacturer, visit their website to learn more about how they can help you grow your business with automation.