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History/Facts
Founded in 1957, the company's first product was rubber "treads" for Drill Carrier Corporation's air track drills. This put Tread in touch with the small diameter explosives market and the need for high security storage magazines. Early work by Tread Corporation led to the Type II portable magazines, as we know them today.In the 1960's, as the explosives industry began a conversion to bulk ANFO, the need for bulk handling and storage equipment prompted Tread to develop overhead storage bins, rail car unloading systems, bucket elevators, and mix plants.
In the 1970's, the widespread use of bulk ANFO led to the development of our first Treadbed models. These were heavy-duty pieces of equipment designed just for the explosives industry rather than converted farm bodies that were popular in the late 1970's.
In the 1980's, the introduction of user-friendly HEAVY ANFO products - mixtures of emulsions or water gels and ANFO - was facilitated through our development of simple, heavy-duty blend bodies. To support the use of this equipment, Tread initiated a field service program and began offering in-house training schools.
By 1990, continued evolution in bulk explosives led to the realization that explosives technology had outgrown the capability of simple borehole loading equipment. We started looking for a system or structure that could expand and adapt with the explosives industry. A product-planning program was initiated to define a new bulk truck control system, which we called Treadbed II. We have now gone a step further with the introduction of our Treadbed 2000 computerized control system.
By 1995, we identified different types of needs for the explosives industry - operator training, information transfer, and field service. Operator training is accomplished in a two day advanced operator training program which is attended by about 100 operators per year. Information transfer is covered by state-of-the-art parts, operation, and service manuals. This documentation is custom assembled for each piece of equipment and is available in hardcopy or CDRom. Our field service organization consist of 5 highly trained technicians strategically located around the US and in Europe to assist our customers in training, field service and commissioning activities. This year also saw our certification by the ASME to build pressure vessels.
By 1996, we realized the need to update our engineering department with new software and design tools to optimize this valuable asset. In doing this, we added an FEA design program and the capability to design and model in three dimensions. This tool allows us to simulate loading and stress analysis at levels accepted by the US Department of Transportation.
In 1997 Tread introduced short-term vehicle leasing to our customers. Our lease fleet started with 2 vehicles and has grown to 13 vehicles to offer a range of models to customers. Short-term lease commitments of 3 to 6 months can be attractive for trials with potential new customers, to replace equipment out of service for repairs, to replace package delivery with bulk delivery before committing to purchase a bulk unit, or in cases where capital funds are not currently available.
In 1998, we updated our fabrication equipment to match the enhanced engineering capability. This came by way of a 3000 watt laser capable of cutting 1/2" stainless steel and 5/8" mild steel to a tolerance of .003", a computer-aided press break for the accurate bending of steel, and a set of computer-driven rolls for rolling non-cylindrical shapes. These three pieces represent over one million dollars invested in fabrication equipment to optimize the designs of new equipment needed to remain at the forefront of blasting technology.
In 2000, we identified the need to expand the scope of our international field service for customers outside the
In 2000, we also invested in a set of CAD (computer aided design) engineering tools that allow engineers to model the design in a 3-dimensional environment. This makes for a more accurate and complete equipment design, as well as much improved documentation for the manufacturing floor and our customers. In addition, we licensed FEA (finite element analysis) software that can take the solids model from the CAD environment and import it into the FEA environment where engineering can analyze the design for both stress and deflection. More recently, we have begun the migration our engineering files into a managed file storage system that will allow for the complete product lifecycle management of our products.
In 2002, Tread began a total re-design of our bulk explosives mixing and delivery vehicles. In some market segments, these vehicles are referred to as mobile manufacturing units (MMUs) to describe the complex functions handled by this equipment in addition to delivering products into blasting boreholes. The re-design program launched UNIBODY in late 2003 after 10 man-years of specification and design work. The primary benefits of UNIBODY are added flexibility, added capability, increased capacity, reduced maintenance, and increased safety all in a more attractive package.
In April 2005, Tread moved to a newer facility in EastPark Commerce Center, 4 miles from our prior location. This 84,000 square foot facility provides room to grow and improve manufacturing efficiency through implementation of Lean Manufacturing concepts. August 2005 saw the introduction of a new shop scheduling system based on Lean concepts to further increase productivity. In November 2005 we started a complete functional testing program for bulk delivery units to insure quality and performance of our equipment.
As you can see by our actions, we take our commitment to this industry very seriously and are looking forward to being the supplier of choice for your upcoming equipment needs.
