About

The RbSA Industrial story is the really the story of its founder, Jay Robinson.  

 

“The first time I saw a CNC tubing bender was when I found myself in the position of fixing one.” Recently hired as the Maintenance Manager of the 600,000 square foot Maremont facility in Loudon, Tennessee, Mr. Robinson’s first experiences with tube bending were also his first experiences with the service and maintenance side of CNC tubing benders. The company had recently been purchased by Ken Banks, owner of IMCO and was going through a lot of changes that included the systematic upgrade and improvement of its aging tube bending equipment. That first machine had been recently upgraded, but had been down for days, waiting on a service technician to arrive from the company that had performed the controls upgrade. “Realizing the technician would not arrive for several weeks we started pouring over inaccurate and outdated schematics and working closely with the individual component manufacturers. With the excellent support of the control engineers at Current Tech, makers of BendPro CNC Bending Software, the machine was back up and running production parts the next day.”  

 

As an exhaust manufacturer, with close to 1000 pieces of manufacturing equipment in the facility, the 20 CNC Tubing Benders were among the most critical machines in the building, and the shortage of qualified technicians to support them was a constant battle. “Looking back now, I see that the path toward the formation of RbSA Industrial started with those first challenges, and I learned so much, not just about tube benders and tube bending, but the challenges of high volume production in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.” In addition to the duties of Maintenance Manager, eventually Mr. Robinson was a Division Manager, with the responsibility of managing the production of 11,000 finished products every day. “Most of the parts being produced by the tubing benders were a component in a welded assembly. If the benders were down, total production eventually stalled.” 

 

“The decision to leave IMCO/Maremont was among the toughest professional decisions I have ever made. The ownership and executive management was nothing but supportive during my entire tenure and has remained so long after I left.” Seeing a niche in the tube bending industry Mr. Robinson decided to learn as much as possible and took a position as a Field Service Engineer. “I understood the application of CNC tubing benders to automotive exhaust, but my eyes were opened to how far into manufacturing this niche industry really reaches. I have worked on machines used in any number of industries: automotive components (exhaust, fuel lines, brake lines, frames, seating), aerospace, furniture, swimming pool components, HVAC, construction, windmill manufacturing, enclosed trailers - the list goes on and on.” After several years of repairing and upgrading existing machines, installing new machines, and eventually running the service department for a company specializing in tube benders, seeing the shortage of qualified technicians and lack of formal training and apprentice programs for technicians and operators, “I finally thought to myself – I can do this better.” 

 

RbSA Industrial was formed with the concept that quality and timely service is the key to success. When we started looking for a bender manufacturer to represent YLM Global was a natural choice. “I had worked several times with YLM throughout my time in the bending industry and had several opportunities to visit their factory. Their technicians and engineers truly believe in the products they create, and that belief is reflected in the amazing quality and level of service they provide.” The YLM slogan Global Brand, Local Service sets the tone for how this worldwide company operates. “Getting to work with the team at YLM is like getting to work with your favorite family members every day.” Our common goal is to keep our customers’ production needs as the priority and offer products and services that meet those needs. “Our distributorship agreement with YLM is very clear in terms of service: if a customer of RbSA Industrial has an issue with a YLM product that is affecting their ability to meet their production goals, a technician from AIM Equipment or a technician from YLM will be made available to be on site, usually within 24 hours of notification” 

 

RbSA Industrial is an authorized distributor and installer of BendPro tube bending software produced by Current Tech. BendPro is far and away the most popular option for upgrading the controls of an existing CNC tube bender, offering the ability to have a single control solution for all of the benders in a plant, regardless of who the original manufacturer was. Mr. Robinson: “I wish I had kept count of the total number of controls upgrades I have personally performed using BendPro controls, but I am sure that it is more than 30, and I have managed the installation of many more. The product from Current Tech is amazing in its flexibility to integrate with existing machines, and its installation always improves the performance and reliability of those machines.” Headquartered in Colorado, with additional engineers based in the United Kingdom, and with the support of Tennessee based RbSA Industrial, Current Tech offers unequaled support to its users, with support staff on duty covering every US time zone.