This Holiday season the annual Light A Life Memorial Tree event through Hospice of Chautauqua County will be taking place once again. Anyone who purchases a Christmas tree ornament or makes a donation of ten dollars or more will have a metal star on the trees during the event. All of the profits go to support patients and family members of those with terminal illness. Ulrich is proud to be supporting this benevolent event.

Ulrich is happy to be involved with the Light A Life Memorial Tree Event this year through the custom sheet metal manufacturing portion of their business. Ulrich has donated 1,000 stainless steel stars that once put on the trees, will reflect the lights and make for lovely decorations. These stars were manufactured locally here at Ulrich Planfiling and will be an excellent way to decorate a tree meant to light up the night.

For more information or to support this event checkout Hospice’s webpage at:

Light A Life

Ulrich is excited to be featured in Manufacturing Engineering Magazine. The article focuses on Ulrich’s custom sheet metal fabrication capabilities and custom line of large document filing cabinets.

Laser Upped Custom Sheet Metal Fabrication Capability

More than six years ago Ulrich upped it’s game by adding  laser cutting technology. Overall the laser resulted in much greater manufacturing versatility. In addition the laser had much faster production time. Recently, a new Mitsubishi 301eX-45CF-R laser with a 4500-W resonator replaced the old laser.  This laser creates a 40% increase in production speed.

After all the benefit of the laser it can cut the parts in small lots. Once the laser has cut the parts. They move to a state of the art press brakes, with six-axis back gauges and quick-change tooling. The laser makes precision cuts with virtually any radius. As a result, the laser can even cut letters from the steel. “You would need a different punch tool for every letter processing them on a punch press.” says Jamie Carlson, Vice President of Engineering and Manufacturing. An added benefit of the laser is little to no deburring required. Ulrich is typically cutting 1/4″ (3 mm) steel or thinner.

In addition the laser protects the steel with peel away protective film. Ulrich has used this protective film to improve product finish. “Our manufacturing for furniture grade products is held to a high standard. It’s all about finish and look and suitability for the application,” says Eric Livengood, VP of Sales and Marketing. “Stainless steel has to be handled carefully to avoid scratches or other blemishes for furniture used in libraries, Universities, and other institutions. It’s a part of our shop culture and employees  are trained to leave the protective film on as long as possible during processing with the laser–even leaving notches on corners where welding is done.”

Fabrication of Stainless Steel Tanks

Likewise, Ulrich makes a variety of stainless steel tanks. In fact, some stainless steel takes  are as big as a small car. While, labs precision clean parts in other smaller tanks.  In particular, the computer chip industry cleans silicon wafers in this type of stainless steel tanks.

Additional Production Capability

In addition custom sheet metal fabrication is accomplished using the following:

• 95 ton Trumf TruBend 5085 press brake
  • with six-axis back gauge
  • quick-change tooling
  • and extra stroke
• 230 ton Cincinnati Autobend hydraulic press brake
  • with six-axis back gauge
  • quick-changeholders
  • and extra stroke
• CNC punch press
• welders capable of MIG, TIG and resistance welding

Also, a full CAD/CAM engineering service capability provides an important service to customers. Engineering staff works closely with customers to develop high quality product designs.

Read more in Manufacturing Engineering 

pdf of Manufacturing Engineering Article