Welcome to Success Stories, where we sit down with duct fabricators and sheet metal shops of all sizes for genuine conversations about how partnering with Mestek Machinery has impacted their operations. Watch the interview or read the transcript to learn how we help contractors find the right machinery and equipment solutions to boost their productivity and improve their business.
In this episode, we sat down with Joseph Lansdell, Owner of Poynter Sheet Metal, Inc. in Greenwood, IN to discuss his journey with Mestek Machinery and, specifically, his recent purchase of the Iowa Precision Pro-Fabriduct Full Coil Line and how it has helped him deliver a better duct with less leakage for a critical job.
As you evaluate your operation’s equipment needs, please remember that we’re always here to help. We’d love an opportunity to help you achieve your objectives so please don’t hesitate to reach out for a consultation. There’s absolutely no obligation — we’ll simply get some information about your operation and what you’re looking to do and see how we can help.
Owner | Poynter Sheet Metal, Inc.
Joseph started out as an apprentice and worked his way through the sheet metal industry, holding positions in nearly every department including the shop, VDC, project management, estimating, and operations management. Utilizing his industry knowledge and his bachelor’s and master’s in Business Administration, Joseph focused on strategic planning and a culture of continuous improvement. His efforts have grown Poynter into a $250,000,000-a-year company and successfully positioned Poynter for the largest project in North America, a $4.5 billion (300,000,000 sheet metal) EV Battery Plant in Central Kentucky, where they are currently the sheet metal contractor. Joseph was the 2016 SMACNA National President and was named SMACNA Contractor of the Year in 2019.
Our company decided to get a new coil line shearly from the volume that we run. At the time we purchased the Iowa Precision Coil line, we were running about 7.5M – 9M lbs a year. Today, we run 15M lbs of metal through our shop a year. So strictly running that much poundage through any machine, creates wear and tear. So we went out into the marketplace looking for a product that provided us with not only high quality end product for our customer, but that would stand up to the test of time.
When making the coil line decision, we elected to go with Mestek Machinery because of not only the quality of machines that we’ve already had on our shop floor, but with the progressive mindset of what they were doing with machinery today. The front end technology, the PLC, sensoring on the machines, and all the features that we didn’t have on our current machine led us to making that decision to purchase the Mestek Machinery product.
Iowa Precision Pro-Fabriduct Full Coil Line
The final decision really came down to seeing the product, talking to others, and realizing that if we made this decision to buy this machine, we were making a huge step up in quality. And that is shown through on the end results of many of our projects.
One of the final deciding factors for us choosing the Mestek Machinery product was the longitudinal seam going the full length of the Pittsburgh. When seeing that as a shop guy, I realized that this was something that was gonna lend itself to reducing the amount of leakage on our project sites, and it surely did. We had a large scale project that had a very high leakage rate. And we had great results on that project. Never expected to have this great of results. We ended up with over 750 tests on this job site at a very low leak leakage rate of of less than one half of one percent, and we passed every single test on that site.
Mestek Machinery is a top notch organization. They not only opened up their doors to their factory in Iowa for me to get to see the machine prior to delivery. But the moment it hit our shop floor, they were here to support us, and they have on every piece of machinery that we’ve purchased and continue to support us daily. Anytime a machine breaks down or we have an issue — user error, jam up, it doesn’t matter what it is — Mestek Machinery is always there to support us, and we continue to help develop their product in return.
There’s some really exciting things in the marketplace that are gonna come out that I’m excited to say that Poynter, not just myself, but Poynter as a team, has enjoyed the relationship with Mestek Machinery in developing products and new products for the market.
I’ve known about Mestek Machinery for many years, but our relationship started by accident. A friend introduced us on the way to catching a flight in an airport, and that quick introduction turned into us having the first fiber laser beta test site here for Mestek Machinery and their HVAC laser product.
That went so successful that today we have three of those Lockformer Fiber Lasers on our floor operating right now. It’s been a great relationship, one that is collaborative, one that’s back and forth and open and honest.
And, currently, we’re working on a really cutting edge product with Mestec in data retrieval from the machinery. Everybody’s business is now run with data, data in mind. Our workers desire that kind of input. They’re a generation that’s had a digital screen in front of them their entire lives, and they expect input and output from these machines. We’re working on something right now that will provide throughput data. It will provide operating, end user data, servicing data. It’s really an IoT for all of your machinery, and it’s gonna provide the end user and the owner of the business real time information that can help drive their business forward.
The Lockformer Vulcan Fiber Laser Cutting System — Poynter’s first purchase from Mestek Machinery and now three (3) on their shop floor.
So as as I mentioned earlier, our company has grown from 7.5M lbs up to 15.5M lbs, and I think this year, we’re gonna do close to 20M lbs. The machinery has to run to make that happen on a day to day basis. And our Mestek Machinery Coil Line are so solid that it’s something that I don’t worry about. And as a business owner, there’s plenty to worry about on a day to day basis.
I don’t worry week to week, day to day that our machinery is gonna be operational. And if something were to go wrong, that’s gonna be down for a very long time because Mestek Machinery’s service and response rate is so great that they keep us going. They keep us going as a partner. They keep us going not only in the shop, but our field as well. You know, in sheet metal, the field relies on the shop to deliver product. And if it’s down, the shop not only is down, but the field is as well. And at that rate of metal throughput in our organization, we have to have our machinery operational.
Mestek Machinery has been great to work with, and I don’t see that partnership ending anytime soon.
If I were a new shop owner and I was going to select equipment, I would highly consider Mestek Machinery as one of the partners, if not THE partner, to fulfill outfitting my shop with new equipment. The reason goes well beyond nuts and bolts and metal making machines. It goes beyond those things. It goes into service, support, and recommendations from a high level from a client facing manufacturer that’s at every industry event. There isn’t an industry event I go to, and I go to quite a few, that Mestek Machinery is not there. And, oftentimes, they are the only machinery manufacturer there. And why are they there? They’re there to learn the business, to know the business, to know the client.
And without knowledge like that, you don’t know what the client needs. And, oftentimes, I hear, I’m not sold equipment. I’m not sold a piece of equipment one time. I’m sold a relationship, sold a partnership, and I said I’m sold on service. So those are three reasons why I picked Mestek Machinery to outfit my new shop.
Mestek Machinery is comprised of a family of metal forming manufacturing brands with deep roots in the HVAC duct fabrication industry: Lockformer, Iowa Precision, Engel, and Roto-Die. Together, our brands design and manufacture the most complete, productive, and innovative metal forming solutions for the fabrication of HVAC sheet metal ductwork and fittings. With over 100 years of combined experience addressing every facet of the HVAC duct industry, our knowledge and experience allows us to develop cutting edge, precision technologies, and automated manufacturing equipment that saves sheet metal contractors and fabricators time and labor while ensuring a finished duct product of unmatched quality.
Looking to improve the productivity and profitability of your HVAC duct and fittings fabrication operation? Looking for a solution to address a particular application? Schedule a no obligation, 1-on-1 consultation with a Mestek Machinery Technical Advisor today.
Have questions about our machinery and equipment? Looking for help on a unique application? Need help with a budget estimate to determine overall equipment costs to evaluate if your project can be justified? Please don’t hesitate to reach out — we’d love to help.