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Current Spotlight Business: Joining Technologies
Joining Industries Emphasizes Continuous Improvement
At Joining Industries of East Granby, which provides precision laser welding and related services, you won’t encounter the sparks and sizzles of traditional welding. Bright and orderly, this calm space houses computer-controlled equipment that welds metal parts ranging from the barely visible to those weighing six thousand pounds.
The company was started in 1992 as Energy Beam Labs, a small electron beam welding facility in Cheshire. Renamed Joining Technologies, the business moved to East Granby in 1998, where new capabilities included laser and other specialty types of welding. Subsequent product lines are laser cladding, precision machining, and laser automation systems sales and repair.
Today, Joining Industries is the parent to two companies: Joining Technologies (electron beam, laser, gas tungsten arc and resistance welding; additive manufacturing; and machining) and JT Automation (custom sales, manufacture and service of welding machines).
Joining Industries CFO Don Anneser says, “Machining has been our biggest area of growth in the last few years, making us a one-stop shop for manufacturing of metal components, from material procurement and machining to assembly, welding, testing and delivery.”
PURSUING DIVERSITIES AND SYNERGIES
Clients span the medical, automotive, energy, aerospace, military and semi-conductor industries. Thanks to this diversification, the company was able to grow its business throughout 2020’s pandemic-related disruptions.
“Around three-quarters of our customers are within 200 miles of us,” says Greg Miller, president of Joining Technologies. “It helps being situated near the airport, in Aerospace Alley along I-91. And it helps having good school systems and technical schools in this area, too.”
Thanks to the synergies between Joining Technologies and JT Automation, the company can support its clients in multiple ways over time. Rather than losing a client that brings welding in-house, JT Automation can consult on equipment purchase and set-up, ongoing maintenance, training, and creation of workflow and safety programs.
“Whichever way the conversation goes, it’s not awkward,” Miller says, “We don’t have a horse in the race—we want to give them the best solution to meet their current needs.”
PUTTING THEIR MISSION TO WORK
With a steady head count of about 100 employees even as sales have grown over the last several years, the company runs lean. “Our focus when hiring is on bringing in the right attitude and aptitude—finding the right fit for our corporate culture,” Miller says. A key part of that culture is tapping employees’ hands-on expertise to continuously improve work processes through Kaizen techniques.
Joining Technologies’ mission pledges “to improve the lives of everyone that we can possibly touch: our employees, our customers, our suppliers and our community”—and that vision is reflected in the company’s day-to-day operations.
“We have a set of core values we live by. We are constantly evolving to do more and to offer more value to our customers,” says Miller. “We do not just spin our wheels—we have to be constantly improving, innovating and growing. That’s built into our DNA.”
Anneser concurs, “The more we grow and the better we do, the more we can impact lives for the better. We can’t be complacent.”