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Author Archives: CENTRYCO

  1. A Place to Grow …

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    I’ve been an employee here at CENTRYCO since June 1, 1993. Yes, I’ve been here for 23 years and counting!  When I first started here at CENTRYCO, I was 24 years of age and a single mother of a 1 year old daughter. What I liked about this company was that it was local, small, and they had benefits.

    I started out in the sewing department, then moved into the front office, answering phones and doing A/R and A/P.  After a few years of that, I moved into the purchasing department and assisting with sales.  Since I’ve been with the company I‘ve traveled.  I never even thought of getting on a plane until I came to work here!  Now I am a regional sales representative.

    I have grown and learned a lot working here at CENTRYCO, I have seen people come and go.  I’ve been here for the good times and the bad.  I will say that out of all my years working, this is the best place I have worked.  I look forward to what’s next to come in my journey here at CENTRYCO.

    Dionna Lytch, Regional Sales Coordinator

    Three things to know about me:

    • I’ve been married for 10 years and we have 9 year old son.
    • That baby daughter? In June she graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor’s Degree.
    • I love bingo, casinos and making things; I carry my crocheting bag everywhere!

  2. A Company “Of the People”

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    Here at CENTRYCO, we enjoy a reputation for having quality product and first class customer service. We’ll research and exhaust all probabilities and possibilities to accommodate the customer. We adhere to the latest ISO and Lean Manufacturing standards to assure quality at a competitive price.

    I believe that two of the many things that set CENTRYCO apart from others in the industry, is the loyalty and desire of our employees, on a personal level, to give their all, usually with a smile! It’s a personal thing and they have pride in the product they work on and what’s sent out the door.

    Because we truly believe that our greatest and most valuable asset is our employees, we take their suggestions and opinions seriously; they’re always given the proper consideration. It’s a “think tank” atmosphere where, more often than not, the answer or solutions to a problem comes from the people who actually work on the product. And that makes CENTRYCO a company “of the people”.

    Diane Rossi

    Fun facts about me:

    • I love to travel, anywhere, any time. My favorite destination (and where I’m headed when I win the lottery) is Hawaii.
    • Family means everything to me. They provide the context for everything else in life. (That makes CENTRYCO such a great fit for me … and me for them!)
    • My favorite TV show? Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives! I can’t get enough of Guy Fieri – and good food.

  3. How We Came To Be

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    We hear all the time that our helically-wound spring is a dying product line. And at every trade show, we hear, “What is this? I’ve never seen anything like it.” It’s not for everyone but, with having made over 2000 different variations (metals and sizes), it certainly does have its place in protecting machines and operators.

    While I was just a wee child, my uncle and a colleague or two were traveling from Chicago by train. They’d been there for a trade show (no one’s ever mentioned what kind of trade show though.) I can picture them, smoking their cigars and discussing opportunities uncovered while there. It was pre-OSHA and a recurring topic was the abundance of injuries in the machining industry.

    As the story goes, traveling on the train were some Boy Scouts and they were using mess kits, including their collapsible drinking cups. This inspired my uncle: using the principal of the cup and then developing it into a collapsible spring guard, it would be used to protect – both machinery moving parts as well as the machine operators. Pretty cool, eh? He called this spring an Elasticone; we call his invention a CENTRYCO Cover and we still customize them to fit your needs!

    I am Ginny Gordon Griffiths, part of the second generation of owners of this woman-owned company. I also am our human resources manager and benefits administrator.

    Fun facts about me:

    1. Married to Skip, a retired Lieutenant in the Philadelphia Fire Department, and we enjoy our “blended” family of 5 kids (one daughter, Jean Marie, at CENTRYCO!) and 7 grand kids ranging in age from 28 to 3 and in height from 6’5” to 3’.
    2. I love to travel, collect Dept. 56 villages, have been a Red Hatter, volunteer at church and in the community – love people and having fun!
    3. I have a dirty little secret – my Christmas tree, decorations, and North Pole Village are still up and lit – oh well, it’s almost time for Christmas in July, August, … and it’ll be Christmas again before you know it and I’m ready!

  4. Getting To Know Who …

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    Welcome to the CENTRYCO blog section. We’ve debated what to put here, how it should look, what it should be about, and who should write it. After much deliberation, we decided to introduce you to the “WHO” of CENTRYCO – the “WHAT” of CENTRYCO is explained in the rest of the website.

    These blogs will be written by some of the people who make CENTRYCO who it is. They’ll be from Sales, Engineering, Finance, and Production and Management. The perspectives will differ but the mission is the same: to tell you, our customers, who we are and what we believe you should know about us.

    You can get bellows and way covers from other companies and, frankly, most of our competitors offer products at least as good as ours. But there are some important differences — and perhaps those distinctions will be the factor(s) that convince you to partner with CENTRYCO.

    We hope you enjoy getting to know us!

    Sincerely,

    Mary T. Gordon, President

    3 things to know about me:

    1. I am the proud mother of 2, grandmother of 2 and owner of 2 Boxers
    2. I enjoy playing piano and accompany 2 choirs
    3. Despite all that, 2 is NOT my favorite number! It’s 9 – and the number worn by my favorite Philadelphia Flyer, Bob Kelly.

  5. Engineering Insights

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    One of the great things about being an R&D Engineer is getting a first look at new and innovative ideas. And here at CENTRYCO we not only get to look at them, but to be involved in the design and development. One such idea came disguised as a simple RFQ. It read, “Bellows to be exposed to salt water. Bellows must be resistant to UV as well as occasional impact from waves”. Never being one to let such an interesting set of requirements go un-noticed, we called the company immediately.

    It seems that this particular company was on the forefront of the Green Energy movement. They were using a specially designed buoy that would be placed in the shallow waters of a bay. The constant movement of the waves would cause a cylinder rod to move up and down. Through a series of clever mechanical devices this movement was used in conjunction with a generator and in turn could produce electrical power. A series of buoys were all coupled together by undersea cabling and would act as an electrical power generation station! Basically, free energy from the sea.

    Our part in this was to provide protective coverings for the cylinder rods for the prototype buoy. Otherwise these would be exposed to the direct impact of waves and salt water. These needed to be made from UV resistant material and be strong enough to endure constant exposure to a salt water environment. To retain the round shape of the bellows, we used a series of stainless steel wire welded rings on the inside of the bellows. These were akin to a “skeleton” and would also help the bellows resist impact from waves.

    Our proposal was accepted and several weeks later we supplied the first set of these bellows to this company. They were installed on the prototype which has been operating ever since.

  6. Rod, Shaft, and Screw Covers

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    Some people refer to them as rod covers, others as shaft covers, others still as screw covers, and there are a whole host of additional names beyond those. We call them CENTRY® Covers, and they’re what our business was founded on. As one of our most versatile products, they cover a wide range of applications, and we’re always finding more.

    With their dynamic telescoping action, they automatically expand and contract with your machine. We manufacture them from stainless steel, blue carbon steel, or copper depending on your application. CENTRY® Covers can handle corrosive and outdoor environments, weld splatter, and in some cases they can even be used to cover laser beams.

    To install a CENTRY® Cover, you typically have to take your machine apart and put the cover over the rod, shaft or screw you’ll be covering. But in some cases, that’s much easier said than done. That’s why we make open wound covers as well. These can be wound on so you don’t have to take the machine apart. We also sell pilots and retainers to help center the covers if necessary. And whatever type you choose, we make sure that there’s enough overlap in the cover to render it a true enclosure, ensuring that dust and other contaminants stay out of your machine.

    Beyond our standard sizes, we’re happy to provide custom CENTRY® Covers as well. And by filling out one of our application guides, we can get started on choosing the best cover for you right away.

  7. Vacuum Formed Bellows

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    CENTRYCO expands their product line with the technology to produce very small bellows utilizing a vacuum-formed technology.

    These polyurethane-based bellows provide fully sealed protection with excellent fatigue and wear characteristics. Abrasion resistance and tear strength provide millions of cycles without failure even in the most severe applications.

    Bellows can now be made with diameters as small as 5mm and up to lengths of approximately 125mm.

    CENTRYCO’s vacuum formed bellows proved excellent resistance to hydraulic and motor oils, grease, ozone, microbes, and hydrolysis processes among many other contaminants.

  8. Protecting the World of 3D Printing

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    Protecting 3D Printing Equipment

    It’s the new big thing, as game-changing a technology as the personal computer was a generation ago. If you’re involved in manufacturing, you’ve no doubt heard of 3D printing. Maybe you’re even putting it to use in your design, prototype and production operations.

    The technology, also referred to as additive manufacturing, uses plastics and powdered metals to additively build solid objects, such as tool parts, that are designed using CAD/CAM software. A 3D printer enables you to physically print out a 3D object—no tooling required, providing lots of flexibility when you’re doing design work. You can create a CAD design in the morning and have a prototype built in a few hours. By the afternoon, you can hold it, inspect it, and show it to your client. The whole process is much faster and much cheaper than tool making.

    We’ve explored the use of additive manufacturing here at CENTRYCO, especially in mold making. At the moment, it’s not a viable solution for manufacturing our products because the rigid materials utilized in 3D printing at present don’t allow for the flexibility our products require.

    In the meantime, we’re working with early adopters to protect the investments they’ve made in their 3D printers. Our customers use CENTRYCO pleated or sewn screens, constructed in anything from simple light-duty to heat-reflective/heat-dissipation materials, to shield workers and the machines themselves from potential mishaps.

    If you’re using 3D printing for design, prototyping or production purposes, we’d like to hear from you. Head over to our Facebook page and tell us how you’ve fit 3D printing into your production process.

  9. Providing Protection for Coordinate Measurement Machines

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    Custom Protection for Coordinate Measurement Machines

    The success of many manufacturing operations hinges on the use of coordinate measuring machines (CMMs). As manufacturers strive for tighter and tighter tolerances, precision becomes ever more important. CMMs are a means to achieve this precision, serving as probes to verify that the angles, lengths, widths, heights and other important parameters of manufactured parts and components are correct.

    To check such a wide array of factors, each CMM makes use of a versatile positioning system. For the CMM to perform properly, this positioning system needs to operate smoothly. The margin for error isn’t just slim, it’s non existent. This is a zero tolerance situation. To complicate matters, these systems are very sensitive; dust or other contaminants can have a serious impact on how they function. This is where our products come in.

    Our perma pleated screens are used to protect the various mechanisms that maneuver these positioning systems, mechanisms such as linear rails, ball screws and lead screws. The low spring force and low coefficient of friction of our perma pleated screens make them an ideal choice for this application, ensuring that they won’t interfere with the delicate operation of the positioning system.

    Our screens are made custom for each machine. Once we design a cover for a customer, we have that design. From there, the customer can blanket order in whatever quantity they need. As soon as we fulfill an order, we can get to work on the follow up order, ensuring they’ll always have the screens they require.

    Coordinate measuring machines are a critical part of manufacturing everything from automobiles to X-rays. CENTRYCO perma pleated screens protect these machines, allowing them to function as they should and helping to ensure precision in manufacturing.

  10. Providing Style and Protection with Perma-Pleated Screens

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    There are more applications for our Perma-Pleated Screens than for any other product we manufacture. Like our other products, these screens can help protect your employees by keeping fingers, hands, clothes and hair away from moving parts. They can also protect your machines from contaminants such as dust and oil, assuring that your machines will last longer with less maintenance.

    CENTRYCO Perma Pleated Screens also offer an aesthetic advantage. By covering up moving parts machines can look nicer, and in certain cases less threatening. For example, our screens have been used in medical offices to make some machines less intimidating for patients.

    Recently, some of the more popular applications of Perma-Pleated Screens include a variety of inspection equipment and robotic positioning systems. As these technologies become more prevalent in manufacturing, so does the need for machine guards to protect them.

    CENTRYCO Perma Pleated Screens are incredibly versatile, and have been used to handle a wide array of challenges. The stories we’ve shared above are just some examples of what they can do.