On a recent Saturday, HE&M Saw received an SOS of sorts from Pioneer IWS in Dalton, Ohio.

The gearbox on the company’s 22-year-old Twister bandsaw required replacement to continue manufacturing COVID-19 related hospital field cots. HE&M no longer manufactures the Twister, so it would seem that having a gearbox in stock would be a long shot. However, as HE&M Saw prioritises being able to service all of its saw models, the company maintains a large inventory of replacement parts for older and discontinued machines, including a certain gearbox.
As a result, HE&M Saw answered its customer’s request bright and early Monday morning and shipped the gearbox same-day.
“The overnight delivery of a new gearbox for our 22-year-old Twister bandsaw was critical to the production flow of manufacturing thousands of field hospital cots in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Eddie Wengerd, general manager of Pioneer IWS.
Pioneer Equipment, like HE&M Saw, is an American-owned company with more than 40 years of manufacturing history. Core business focuses on the manufacture of farming equipment such as ploughs and carriage gears, but has also evolved into industrial workflow solutions and custom steel fabrication.
When the COVID-19 outbreak struck close to home – two of the Wengerd brothers had to quarantine after exposure at a trade show – the company decided to help in the nation’s counter-offensive.
Pioneer re-tooled its manufacturing facility in two weeks to mass produce the cots; around 100 can now be manufactured every hour.
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