Customer Success Story - VEC Technology, LLC

VEC Technology required an HMI/SCADA solution coupled with data bridging/reporting/archiving that can be used over the Web, can integrate with the OPC communications protocol and can directly interface with the company’s product databases. They required the solution to control and monitor the company’s patented closed molding operations. They wanted a system that could manage various parameters based on several criteria, including the specific product being produced, ambient conditions and material properties. Also necessary was the ability to provide long term storage of multiple key parameters for product warranty information. The company sought a product with future-proof technology. They also looked for a solution that presented a simple user interface for making edits, as well as an easily maintained Web-based client/server architecture. VEC Technology aimed for a “single vendor” approach, intending to reduce both the number of automation interfaces as well as extra support staff to maintain various systems.

VEC Technology’s Greenville, PA. location provides custom composite manufacturing. Its parent company, J&D Acquisitions, also owns Larson Boats, a Little Falls, MN manufacturer of recreation boat hulls that utilizes the VEC process, “a patented, state-of-the-art, computer controlled manufacturing process that guarantees that every part is made to the most exacting standards of fit and finish, resulting in parts with unparalleled beauty and unprecedented quality.” VEC Technology considers itself a one stop shop for OEMs, providing part concepts, design, engineering, tooling and manufacturing, with seven molding stations at its Pennsylvania facility. The company states that manufacturing cells utilizing its Patented Floating Mold technology receive a “low-cost, high-quality, extremely accurate, closed-mold solution” and that VEC Technology has achieved “great success in the marine, construction, containers, transportation, farming equipment and recreational vehicle markets.” Larson Boats, itself a customer of VEC Technology, can process boat hulls in the 17 to 24 ft range at its Minnesota location, which includes eight molding stations and an automation mix plant.