Loyalty. It’s a cornerstone of business for Atlantic Fabricators LLC and the driver behind the decades-long relationship with its bending and roller machinery supplier Trilogy Machinery Inc. “We’ve been buying equipment from the folks at Trilogy for a long time. They are very knowledgeable,” reports Kevin Wellman, shop supervisor for Atlantic Fabricators.
The relationship has led to six equipment installations the most recent being a plate roller and horizontal bending machine which have improved product quality, shortened production time and freed up valuable floor space on the shop floor for the Elkton, Maryland-based fabricator.
NEARLY NEIGHBORS
Atlantic Fabricators provides replacement parts and OSHA upgrades for above-ground water and oil storage tanks to a range of industrial customers. The shop performs heavy welding and custom metal fabrication working in carbon and stainless steels and aluminum.
The fact that Trilogy Machinery is located just a 40-minute drive from Atlantic Fabricators made the initial contact pragmatic. The distributor just celebrated 17 years under its current name but has roots that trace back to 1930 when Trilogy Vice President Ben Flamholz’s great-grandfather started a metal business in downtown Baltimore. Before Trilogy was founded (in 2009 by Flamholz and four colleagues who left another local distributor), Atlantic Fabricators was already familiar with purchasing machinery from the team. In subsequent years, whenever it was time for a new machinery purchase, Wellman knew just who to call. “We only deal with Trilogy for our machinery needs,” he states.
Today, Trilogy is the exclusive distributor for several product lines including SweBend plate bending rolls, angle bending rolls and other specialty rolling machines; Lemas plate bending rolls; Sunrise ironworkers, punching machines, automatic processing systems and horizontal benders; and BSP Systems for tube punching systems.
HORIZONTAL BENDING
Last year, Wellman reached out to Fred Gebhardt, a senior product manager at Trilogy, because it was time to upgrade the press brake bending equipment at Atlantic Fabricators. The fabricator’s conventional vertical press brake was becoming a production bottleneck. It was also difficult for the operators to process a growing number of smaller, thicker, narrower parts in the existing press brake with a huge 12-foot bed.
Wellman made the short trip to the Trilogy showroom to observe bending and roller equipment in action. “We brought along some challenging products to see how the machinery performed. The quality of the finished parts was superior to what we were currently doing. We made our decision on the spot,” recalls Wellman.
The decision included purchasing a Sunrise HBM-82 horizontal bending machine with 82- ton capacity and a wide range of custom tooling for different bending applications including pipe, flat bar and more. A key feature of the HBM-82 is excellent repeatability of stroke with an accuracy of +/- 0.004 inch, thanks to a digital linear encoder and proximity sensors.
ROOM FOR GROWTH
The impact of the HBM-82 to the Atlantic Fabricators operations was immediate. “The machine is a lot more precise because of the automatic backgauge for accurate positioning. And it’s a real time saver, which improves our cost margin,” notes Wellman. He cites the programmable touch screen controller which enables quicker set up of the HBM-82. “Our employees are able to spend more time bending and less time programming the equipment,” he adds.
Another benefit: “The conventional press brake has been freed up, so we can now run two jobs at the same time instead of one. The HBM-82 replaced some older machines and has a smaller footprint, so we have available space to expand our operations,” reports Wellman.
BUSINESS IMPACT
Word has spread regarding the efficiency of the Sunrise HBM-82. “We have already brought in a few jobs specifically for this machine, expanding our business with current and new customers,” says Wellman. “We recently ran a test for one of our bigger clients. They were very impressed with how our pipe saddles turned out. We made 50 saddles on the HBM-82 and they were all identical.”
The tight tolerances are a boon to downstream operations as well. “If the parts are bent with consistency, we can create a template or jig and make the weld seams the same. This means less setup time downstream from bending,” notes Wellman.
PLATE ROLLER
In addition to purchasing the HBM-82 in 2025, Atlantic Fabricators bought a Lemas 3-roll plate bending line. “We were having problems with surface marking and scratches as well as the piece being out of tolerance with our single-roll equipment. This was particularly pronounced on our aluminum vents,” says Wellman.
Although the scratches were an aesthetic issue, the tolerance was a significant quality concern. “When the tolerance is off on a vent, the air flow can become compromised and the vent could cause damage to the roof of a tank,” explains Wellman.
Lemas 3-roll machines are available for materials from 3 to 10 feet long and up to inch thick. The machine features hydraulic adjustment of the rear bending roll and the lower pinch roll, providing reliability and efficiency.
The rear roll is hydraulically tiltable for cone rolling and the hydraulic drop end allows for easy removal of the complete cylinder or cone. Trilogy’s Gebhardt reports that the flexibility of the Lemas unit allows Atlantic Fabricators to accurately roll material in a range of widths and thicknesses.
Other features include digital readouts with accurate positioning of the bending roll for repeat jobs and a quick pinch-setting feature to easily set the correct pinch according to material thickness. “These features are not generally offered on lightgauge machines and are keys to Atlantic Fabricators achieving accurate shells,” explains Gebhardt.
The improved surface quality on the aluminum vents is courtesy of hardened rolls a standard feature across the entire Lemas line.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Trilogy offers customers onsite installation and training for its machinery, although it’s not always required. “The touchscreen controls on the HBM-82 make the machine easy to run, so most operators don’t require training. The controls are very intuitive, designed to walk the operator through the programming steps,” explains Gebhardt.
Trilogy ships its machinery with quick response codes that link to the setup training module. Support is also available via its website and dedicated support contacts. “We are 100 percent U.S.-based and offer lifetime service and support to our customers,” says Gebhardt.
“We’ve enjoyed supporting Atlantic Fabricators over the years and witnessing their growth. We are grateful for their trust in Trilogy and our equipment,” states Gebhardt. Of course, he’s angling for another equipment order to help Atlantic Fabricators fill the newly created floor space. “When we are ready, Trilogy will be my first call,” assures Wellman.
Atlantic Fabricators LLC, 410/620-0010
Trilogy Machinery Inc., 410/272-3600, http://trilogymachinery.com/