Middlebury aluminum processor adds new cutting machine

MIDDLEBURY — A new machine at Champagne Metals is helping the company achieve efficiencies and offer new services and should have a nationwide impact on manufacturing, according to a company executive.

In March, the cut-to-length machine that can handle rolls of aluminum sheeting up to 111 inches wide went into production. Butech Bliss of Salem, Ohio manufactured the machine for Champagne Metals.

“We take coiled aluminum, level it and cut it to length for use in all types of industries,” said Darren Hayes, chief operating officer for the company.

He said the company has customers in a variety of industries, including pleasure boats, especially pontoon boat builders, van box truck manufacturers, liquid and dry bulk tankers, dump bodies and other industries.

The new cutting line can handle up to .375-inch (3/8-inch) thick aluminum, down to .030 stock.

The machine’s width is ahead of other cutting machines in the industry, Hayes said.

“Right now, there is no mill that can produce that wide yet,” he said, “but we are ready for them when they can.”

The cutting line also wraps the finished sheets with straps and then places those sheets on pallets, creating an efficient operation that is less labor intensive, according to Hayes.

Champagne Metals hosted local and county officials Wednesday for a viewing of the machine in operation. The company received a tax phase-in from the Elkhart County Council when it opened in November 2013.

Customers will have a lot of options with the new cutting line, Hayes said, because the machine can trim up to 8 inches of aluminum from each side of a role of expensive metal.

“Say they have a roll 96-inches wide and it has been sitting on their floor, and they say ‘that’s obsolete, we can’t use it anymore,’ but they do use 80 (inches) wide coils,” Hayes said. “Send it to us. We will trim off those 16 inches and put it in sheets at the same time and give you your scrap back and you have sheets you can use.”

The new machine also offers assurance to original equipment manufacturers nationwide that their supply of aluminum sheeting will continue uninterrupted in case Champagne’s 100-inch cutting line at its Glenpool, Oklahoma plant goes down for an extended time.

“Now, we have something within 12 hours where we can have something from Oklahoma to Indiana, even if the line breaks down for some reason,” Hayes said.

Another service the machine allows Champagne to offer is working with aluminum mills to process rolls or sheets to a customer’s width specifications.

The new machine joins an existing 80-inch wide cutting line at the factory and a metal splitting (SLEAR) machine.

The addition of the 111-inch cutting line is part of an expansion at the Middlebury factory. The original building was 85,000 square feet and an addition was recently added to bring the footprint up to 150,000 square feet, according to Hayes.

The factory features heavy-lift overhead cranes and indoor loading and unloading of semitrailers. The company has a fleet of its own trucks.

The plant is just south of C.R. 2 in the Greenfield Industrial Park along the Indiana Toll Road.

The company has 35 employees now and is looking for more, according to Hayes. He said there are 10 to 15 openings.

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