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automating the job shop by bringing automation to small and medium-volume production runs. We service some large Fortune 500 companies, but we also work with a lot of small and medium-sized OEMs, and we are increasingly capable of automating effectively at those smaller batch sizes,” he begins.
As a long-established family-owned company with over 80 years of history behind it, Louis Industries trades short-term decision-making in favor of what Lance calls the long approach. That sense of long-term thinking is deeply embedded in how the business operates.“ What I preach to my staff, customers, and suppliers is that we are planning to be 100 years old. To achieve this age, we do not make decisions today that might benefit us for the next 90 days and hurt us later. Instead, we are asking how we continue to build a company that is sustainable for the long term. That thinking is what led us into automation. We started exploring robotics about ten years ago and invested in more advanced technology around five years ago. But buying the robot is only part of the equation. Building the team around that equipment, including engineers, operators, and salespeople who can sustain it, understand it, develop it, and push its potential, has taken just as long. Now we are at the point where we can scale because the team and the infrastructure are in place. I think that this illustrates what the long approach means to us: create something sustainable, build the right team around it, then scale what you have proven works,” Lance explains.
Expanding its facility felt like a natural extension of Louis Industries’ focus on building sustainably. The multi-milliondollar expansion and remodel of its
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