You have probably walked all over Sbemco Int'l Matting by Design’s work. You may have even wiped your shoes off on it. And that is A-OK with them.
Sbemco, which does business as Matting by Design, is the nation's largest manufacturer of custom and designer commercial floor matting products for retail store entryways and commercial properties. Its products complement the décor of high-end commercial buildings and protect the floors of just about every major retail store around the world, including Target, Kohl’s, Bloomingdales, Macy’s, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue.
A classic American success story, Sbemco started out small in 1986 as a part-time venture in co-founder Brian Buscher’s basement in rural Algona, IA. Buscher, a carpet installer, started a side business hand-cutting logos and designs into floor mats. Eventually his innovative work caught the eye of Target Corp and Sbemco catapulted to success, moving out of the basement to a small leased facility, which it outgrew within four years. The rest is history, and as of August 2008, Buscher estimated that in that year alone his company had cut more than 25 miles of 12 ft wide matting. (Photo courtesy Sbemco International Matting by Design)
Setting Itself Apart
The company sets itself apart from its competitors by offering higher quality and attractive matting that is breathable and slip resistant, thanks to its signature pink and blue proprietary backing and one-of-a-kind system that laminates this backing to polypropylene and nylon surface yarns. It also is able to offer intricate computer-generated designs that it cuts on a Jet Edge ultra-high pressure waterjet system.
Buscher noted that his continued growth and entrance into the architectural and property management market was made possible largely by his decision to invest in his first Jet Edge precision waterjet cutting system in 1996. Sbemco’s original 13 x 20 ft Jet Edge system enabled the company to drastically increase productivity by cutting its matting with a supersonic CNC-controlled waterjet that is created by pressurizing water up to 55,000 psi with an intensifier pump, then forcing it through an orifice as small as 0.005 in.
Before installing it first waterjet system, Sbemco used paper templates and hand cut its designs with carpet knives, a time-consuming process that limited creativity. Now it can easily cut precise computer-designed details that would have been impossible or impractical to cut by hand.
“When we got our first Jet Edge, it was specifically to speed up production and we realized the quality and accuracy would go up,” Buscher recalled. “Later, we realized that we could expand our offerings. With the waterjet, the amount of detail we can do is higher than what everyone else can do and we can do it a lot faster. It also gives us the opportunity to do more complicated jobs that we would have had to turn away. Details that were too hard or impractical to cut by hand before are now easy with the Jet Edge. The accuracy allows us to also cut pieces much smaller than we ever could before. The Jet Edge allows us to cut intricate pieces with remarkable accuracy and speed. The use of water means we are not using mechanical blades that can stretch our fabric. Laser systems are not an option because of the melting issue.”
Productivity, Creativity Skyrocket
Jeff Grandgenett, one of Sbemco’s two waterjet operators, noted that productivity shot off the charts after the company installed its first Jet Edge.
“When I started we had as long as an 8 week production time. Now within 3 weeks, a project which could include dozens of mats is shipped out the door. We don’t even hear the word ‘overtime’ anymore.”
Since adding waterjet cutting capabilities, Sbemco has increased sales every year without adding a single employee or scheduling an hour of overtime, thanks to the waterjet’s productivity, Grandgenett added. (Photo courtesy Sbemco International Matting by Design)
Buscher noted that by freeing up production time, the Jet Edge has given Sbemco the ability to multitask.
“We can start it up and walk away,” he said. “It can cut mats faster and error free all day.”
With the Jet Edge, Sbemco can now tightly nest the pieces it cuts from the matting, which has greatly reduced the company’s scrap, Buscher said.
“We’re saving huge on materials,” he noted. “Our scrap is in the single digits. We are well below 5%. It used to be in the double digits 10 years ago. It’s almost to the point where scrap is a non-issue.”
A Custom Solution
In 2007, Sbemco increased productivity even further by replacing its original waterjet table with a 16 x 31 ft in-floor waterjet cutting system that it powers with its original Jet Edge intensifier pump, which still looks and runs like new. (Photo courtesy Jet Edge)
Buscher worked with St. Michael, MN-based Jet Edge, ALLtra Corp of Dewey, OK, and an engineering consultant to design his one-of-a-kind system, which brings the waterjet cutting work surface to floor level so large pieces of heavy matting material can be dragged into place to be cut rather than lifted up onto a traditional waterjet table. A custom grate system allows waterjet operators to walk on top of the work surface as they position the material. The system also features a unique waterjet tank that is left unplugged so it can drain every night. Sbemco’s crew can then get inside the tank and squeegee any carpet fiber residue into a trough, then collect it in a vat for easy disposal.
Both Grandgenett and Buscher said they would highly recommend Jet Edge to others.
“The Jet Edge is clean, fast, and accurate with very, very low cost of operation and service,” Buscher said. “The performance of the system and ease of use is top shelf. Our Jet Edge pump has performed without a single issue for us for 12 years. It shows no sign of failure at all. The speed and size of the Jet Edge allows for rapid production and flexibility in our production processes which all help bolster our bottom line. The more we use the system, the more creative we become in using it to solve additional manufacturing issues, which just increases our capacity, further lowers manufacturing costs, and helps reduce employee workload and fatigue. If the Jet Edge is not solving a current manufacturing issue, it is because we haven’t thought to use it to solve that problem yet.”