Red Bud Celebrates 50 Years

Most people have heard the classic story of business success. An ambitious young individual, filled with ideas but lacking resources, sells his prized possession to start the company of his dreams. From humble beginnings, the small company grows bit by bit and over time, becomes an industry leader.

The story of Red Bud Industries (Red Bud, IL) is no different. In 1959, Ken Voges, just 23 years old, sold his 1955 T-Bird to start his own machine shop in a small building on his parent?s farm near Red Bud. His teenage work experience in machine shops left him filled with ideas to use in his own venture, known at that time as ABC Metal Products. His parents and wife helped in the business and offered the moral support needed to get the company up and running.

The company began by serving area farmers with their machining needs and within two years, had moved into building tools and dies for manufacturers of heaters, washers and dryers, and commercial staplers. In the early days of the company, projects were sometimes taken on to maintain steady work and keep from laying off employees. At times, these projects appeared to be above the company?s design and fabrication capabilities. However, each project proved to be successful and prepared the workers for more challenging tasks.

Some of the first major projects included building progressive dies, particularly a burner die for the manufacturing of furnaces, automated transfer units for old dies, and coil lines used in the manufacturing of transformers. These coil lines were the earliest venture into the engineering and design of the present product. Around that same time, a 12 in (30 cm) automatic Shear was designed and built, further laying the foundation for today?s product.

While these early projects were successful, the company needed a product that was more than a one time project and could offer more stability to the workforce of 15 people. In time, Ken?s brother Bob asked him where he would be able to purchase an accurate and reliable Feed to transfer steel to Presses. Ken felt this was just the type of project for his young company, and a new product line gradually evolved.

In 1964, the company moved to a manufacturing space in the town of Red Bud. However, the company quickly outgrew that location, and plans were made to construct a new home for the company on the outskirts of town. In 1971, Red Bud Industries moved into its current location, at that time a 25,000 sq ft (2323 sq m) facility. Around the same time, the company expanded its product line to include cut-to-length equipment. Even early on, the company backed each piece of equipment with a 5-year warranty, a standard for which the company is known to this day.

On August 21, 1973, the company was granted its first patent for its Grip Feed Measuring System. This patented system allowed for closer tolerances in the blanking process. The Grip Feed was quickly accepted, showing that the company was becoming a presence in the industry.

In 1978, the company purchased its first computer to help keep track of inventory. In the years ahead, the computer system was customized for quoting lines without extensive engineering time and to accurately keep track of the time involved in the various manufacturing processes. Through the various computer programs, the company was able to effectively monitor costs, reduce manufacturing time, and respond to customers and their needs more efficiently.

During the mid-1980s, Red Bud began offering toll processing services to its customers and other service centers as a method to test new machines. This venture proved to be quite successful and in late 1992, the toll processing business was spun off into its own entity, now known as The Material Works, Ltd.

The late 1980s and 1990s were a period marked by continual updates and improvements to the product offering. Multi-blanking capabilities were added in 1988, and to date, the company has built approximately 120 of these systems. The patented Slitter was one of the first to offer CNC Programmable Knife Positioning that allowed the knives to be locked in position with just the push of a button. In 1997, a Dual Action Grip Feed System was introduced that broke the 400 fpm (122 mpm) barrier, the first system of its kind to do so.

A patented Slitter-mounted Stress Reduction Pinch Roll System was introduced in 1998. During this time, the company also developed their patented In-Line Stretcher Leveler to address issues relative to flatness and trapped internal stresses and to meet customer demands for higher quality material.

The progress of design research and engineering continued into the new millennium. In 2000, the company installed its first Coil-To-Coil Slitter. During this time, Red Bud also developed their first ¼ in (6.35 mm) and ½ in (12.7 mm) Stretcher Levelers. User friendly equipment continued to advance and, in 2006, Red Bud Coil Processing Systems were nationally ranked #1.

Today?s machines can process heavier gage material at closer tolerances than ever before. Major advances have been made in the capabilities of Stretcher Levelers in recent years. The company now quotes Stretcher Leveler Lines that can process material up to ¾ in (19.05 mm) and 96 in (2438 mm) wide. These lines can be seen in Canada, Belgium, Australia, Israel, and the U.S.

To maintain its reputation of after-sales service, RBI Tech Support, Inc. was introduced as a spin-off in 2001 to provide installation, startup, training, maintenance, and repair services for Coil Processing Machinery. RBI servicemen are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via their service hotline to assist customers.

The original building has been expanded three times since 1971 to meet the ever-growing number of orders. The building was doubled in size in 1986 and again in 2000. The 2000 expansion included an office which hosts customers from around the globe. In the summer of 2008, the manufacturing facility was doubled once again to its current size of 200,000 sq ft (18,581 sq m). The newest expansion allows multiple shipments at once that result in quicker deliveries to customers.

Part of the recent expansion included several new CNC machining centers capable of operating unattended throughout the night and weekends, and also additions to the capabilities of the existing automatic CNC machining centers already in use. In addition, the workforce has expanded to keep up with customer demand. The company currently employs over 150 dedicated and hardworking people and boasts over 1000 installations worldwide in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, Israel, Russia, India, South Africa, Latvia, Belgium, Germany, and China, with an upcoming order being shipped to Spain, in addition to 37 states in the U.S. Today, nearly half of equipment is shipped to international customers.

Fifty years later, the company that began in a small farm building in a rural community has evolved into an industry leader known worldwide. While many things have changed in the past half century of business, the principles on which Ken Voges founded his company still hold true, with safety, good employee wages and benefits, and customer satisfaction as top priorities. And so they will remain for the next 50 years!