Thunder Creek Equipment, headquartered in Pella, Iowa, manufactures high performance fuel and service trailers for construction, agriculture and heavy equipment industries. As demand for its rugged, precision built products continued to grow, the company began looking for ways to strengthen efficiency on the production floor. One of the most labor intensive areas was brake press tending, where operators manually loaded and unloaded heavy steel plates—some over six feet long and weighing more than 150 lbs—throughout each shift. The work was repetitive, physically demanding and created a safety hazard on the manufacturing floor.

Thunder Creek needed a solution that would improve consistency, reduce physical strain and keep production flowing. To address these issues, they partnered with The Way Automation, a system integrator known for its expertise in machine tending applications.

Working together with Thunder Creek, The Way Automation designed a robotic cell that automated the entire loading and unloading process on a Cincinnati 135-ton press brake, leveraging FANUC’s heavy-payload R-2000 robot to pick, position, and form the steel plates with precision. The cell replaced an underperforming panel former, maximizing parts produced per square foot in a tight production area. Even during install, as Thunder Creek tweaked their preferred layout, The Way Automation’s team reacted nimbly, rolling with changes to find the best solution for the manufacturing facility.

The automated cell immediately delivered measurable improvements: higher throughput and consistent cycle times, and more efficient use of labor, all without the ergonomic concerns and safety issues that previously existed. Operators who once spent their shifts manually tending the press can now support higher value tasks elsewhere in the plant. The robot’s precision also ensures repeatable part positioning and bend accuracy, improving overall quality—even downstream, where the welding robot now operates with a higher accuracy due to increased brake press consistency. Despite the sophistication of the system, operators find it intuitive and easy to run—even without prior robotics experience. In fact, the success of the first cell has already led to a second FANUC-powered press brake tending system, currently being installed alongside the original.

Thunder Creek Equipment, headquartered in Pella, Iowa, manufactures high performance fuel and service trailers for construction, agriculture and heavy equipment industries. As demand for its rugged, precision built products continued to grow, the company began looking for ways to strengthen efficiency on the production floor. One of the most labor intensive areas was brake press tending, where operators manually loaded and unloaded heavy steel plates—some over six feet long and weighing more than 150 lbs—throughout each shift. The work was repetitive, physically demanding and created a safety hazard on the manufacturing floor.

Thunder Creek needed a solution that would improve consistency, reduce physical strain and keep production flowing. To address these issues, they partnered with The Way Automation, a system integrator known for its expertise in machine tending applications.

Working together with Thunder Creek, The Way Automation designed a robotic cell that automated the entire loading and unloading process on a Cincinnati 135-ton press brake, leveraging FANUC’s heavy-payload R-2000 robot to pick, position, and form the steel plates with precision. The cell replaced an underperforming panel former, maximizing parts produced per square foot in a tight production area. Even during install, as Thunder Creek tweaked their preferred layout, The Way Automation’s team reacted nimbly, rolling with changes to find the best solution for the manufacturing facility.

The automated cell immediately delivered measurable improvements: higher throughput and consistent cycle times, and more efficient use of labor, all without the ergonomic concerns and safety issues that previously existed. Operators who once spent their shifts manually tending the press can now support higher value tasks elsewhere in the plant. The robot’s precision also ensures repeatable part positioning and bend accuracy, improving overall quality—even downstream, where the welding robot now operates with a higher accuracy due to increased brake press consistency. Despite the sophistication of the system, operators find it intuitive and easy to run—even without prior robotics experience. In fact, the success of the first cell has already led to a second FANUC-powered press brake tending system, currently being installed alongside the original.