From March issue 2019
Written and submitted by Bill Bryson
Hobson Motzer, Inc. is a privately held precision metal stamping company located in Durham, Connecticut. Founded in 1912, the company focuses on building precision progressive dies and stamping precision metal components for the medical, automotive and industrial markets.
Hobson Motzer is a vertically integrated company with core capabilities in precision stamping, coining, forming, shallow drawing, shaving to produce superior edge conditions, thin and hard materials, designing and building precision progressive dies, deburring, machining, laser welding and riveting. These processes are utilized to develop and produce precision metal components with unique characteristics.
Over the past decade, Hobson Motzer has em- braced the philosophy of continuous improvement and today is a recognized leader in the implementation of lean initiatives, SPC, internal and external KanBans, state of the art inspection equipment and a belief to do it right the first time. Hobson Motzer is ISO9001-2000 and TS 16949 certified. During this time, all employees have been trained in “Lean 101”. Today, the company employs a full time Lean/Continuous Improvement Coordinator who uses various tools such as: value stream mapping, setup reduction, 5S, KanBan, multitask- ing, cellular manufacturing and total preventative maintenance to continually improve the company’s operations. These efforts have not gone unnoticed.
Recently, Hobson Motzer was named “Supplier of the Year” for a Fortune 1000 Medical Company for 100% on-time delivery and 100% first pass yield.
Hobson Motzer is a financially strong company and is able to invest in new equipment, technologies and innovations. On average, Hobson Motzer invests 5% of their annual revenues in new equipment and technologies. Some of these investments include: high energy finishing, automated vision and laser inspection, high speed machining, pad printing, inline strip cleaning, automated check and correct equipment, automated machining and five axis laser welding. While all of these investments have improved performance, the largest of them, the laser welding equipment, is an excellent example of the company’s investment philosophy. The company invested in the laser welding technology to reduce lead-times, reduce inventories, reduce production time, and provide price reductions to the customer while improving quality. Hobson Motzer not only invested in the equipment to do this job in-house, they also designed and built the tooling fixtures to hold and process the components being laser welded. This pro- gram not only met the company’s goals of reduced inventories and reduced production time, it also met the customer’s requirements of increased capacity, shorter lead-times, improved quality and price reductions.
Shown above is a medical device, and fixture, after it has been laser welded.
(Above) Once the tools are made in their 30 man tool & die shop, Hobson Motzer has state-of-the- art presses to stamp parts, like this 180 ton Minster press. They have 26 presses ranging from 30 to 180 tons.
The company is dedicated to employee safety, training and development. The safety performance has been excellent due to annual safety training, ergonomic improvements and total preventative maintenance.
Hobson Motzer supports its industry through involvement with local technical schools and various trade organizations such as the NTMA (National Tooling Manufacturer Association), CTMA (Connecticut Tooling Manufacturing Association), and the PMA (Precision Metalforming Association). The company is a strong believer in manufacturing and more importantly, manufacturing in America. By supporting and developing students in the local technical schools and in sup- porting the various local trade organizations, the company hopes to foster a belief that manufacturing can be successful in America and more importantly in New England!
Hobson Motzer has a long history of supplying quality parts, providing excellent service and implementing innovative methods at a fair price. This combination of quality, service and price are the cornerstones of its business and the reason why they have satisfied customers today and the reason why every year new customers decide to work with them. For more information about Hobson Motzer, please visit the company’s webpage at www.hobsonmotzer.com or call us at 860-349- 6203 and ask for Bruce Dworak.
Some of the work they do is medical & considered quality-critical, and it is evident every place you go in the facility. Such is the case of this quality station on the press room floor.
Bruce Dworak, President of Hobson Motzer, Inc. and Frank Dworak, Chairman.
These stainless steel electrode blades are coined from wire to precise dimensions.
There are lots of tool and die shops across America that can produce tools like the one pictured here, but Hobson Motzer is really an answer shop, with a lot of capability, a boatload of talent and years of expertise.
