State-of-the-Art Manufacturing Facility
Designing and manufacturing the safest engineered products in the metal construction industry.
The Home of S-5! Manufacturing
Under the supervision of Vice President of Manufacturing, Harry Carner, the 74,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility, located in Iowa Park, TX (northwest of Wichita Falls), is where those mighty clamps and brackets start as simple extrusions and eventually get cut, deburred, machined, punched, packed and sent on their way to metal roofs worldwide.
The Story of S-5!
Learn how the "small idea” of using a block with a slot that would straddle the seam – like a saddle on a horse – has snowballed into a wide array of clamps and other innovations — ultimately becoming the “S-5!” family of products.
Idyllic Manufacturing Birthed from the Meeting of Two Innovators
In 1991, Rob Haddock had been a long-time contractor (and consultant) in the metal roofing and metal construction industry — having learned ground-up, straight from the trenches, all about erecting metal buildings and metal roofing. Throughout his contracting career, he was always innovating and discovering different and better ways to do things.
He realized the attachment of anything to standing seam roofing without violating the integrity of the roof was a seemingly impossible task. People needed to put things on their roofs, but there just wasn’t a good way to do it. So, he began tinkering with ideas to solve this age-old problem. He got the idea to pinch and grip the seam in a clamping kind of way; using a block with a slot that would straddle the seam —a bit like a saddle on a horse (he knows a little something about that stuff). He whittled his first prototype from a small block of wood; then he had a local shop make one from aluminum and tested it for holding strength.
The Master of Innovation vs. the Master of Manufacturing
Harry Carner had a decades-long tenure in the aluminum extrusion industry and manufacturer of all things aluminum. He was sold on the concept of adding value to extruded goods and a master of process manufacturing and fabrication.
He had been in management, frontline supervision and manufacturing, a plant engineer, running plant maintenance and performing tool or die type work. In addition, he had worked in aluminum smelters and in the production of raw aluminum — as well as anything else that has to do with aluminum production, whether it be anodizing, powder-coating or machining-work itself. He always ended up in a position of working for companies unable or unwilling to give him the equipment he needed to streamline manufacturing in a meaningful way.
Our Certifications
State-of-the-Art Equipment
Every aspect of the S-5! manufacturing process is stringently examined. Carner has designed much of the plant’s equipment. At the outset, the goal for the plant was centered on efficiency. This meant procurement of equipment specific to the production of S-5! components.
The plant features numerous pieces of critical machinery, such as CNC high-speed saws, horizontal and vertical machining centers, CNC lathes, grinders, welders, deburring stations, presses and stamping and stenciling machines, forklifts, material handling equipment and specific packaging machines.
It also houses a dozen or more major pieces of fully automated multi-purposed equipment. Various S-5! products can be produced with the same machines with only minor adjustments made prior to production.
Facility Staff
Using a four-shift cycle, the plant operates 24/7 to maintain and meet prime production levels of high-quality at low-cost components. The facility manages the daily workload within their in-house tooling department. We build our own fixtures, and we do our own tooling and equipment maintenance. And, when the repair requires parts that are not readily available, we build them ourselves.
The production line at S-5! is continually re-tuned and automated according to specific profile shape cuts needed, automation and robotics, and human-machine monitoring needs. The plant also performs all of its own machine maintenance, so that it is not dependent on an outsourced solution for an in-house need.
S-5! Testing Protocols
ISO 17025 Accredited Testing Labs
We use only ISO 17025 accredited testing labs—the highest-regarded in the industry–and follow strict ASTM standards. Accepted by the International Code Council, S-5! established the industry’s testing protocols and has conducted 5,000+ individual load tests on every conceivable metal roof profile. These tests cover numerous gauges and materials, including coated steel, copper and zinc – ensuring safety and maintaining the structural, metallurgical and weatherproofing integrity of the roof.
Certified Testing
Holding strength of clamps or brackets varies according to what it is attached to. Metal panel profiles and substrates are different in gauge, geometry, dimension, material type and material properties. So, we test our products according to those variables. S-5! load tests provide real holding strength of actual production parts on actual roof materials.
Testing Protocols
- Salt fog corrosion testing in accordance with ASTM B 117 for metallurgical compatibility
- Water penetration testing in accordance with ASTM E 2140 to prove weather integrity
- Parts, assemblies tested by UL and FM
- Computerized finite element analysis (FEA) during design, development, improvement stage to prove structural integrity
- R&D destructive testing of prototypes to prove the results of the FEA
- Tensile load testing of all clamps and brackets
S-5! Quality Control (QC) Protocols
Certified Material
Our manufacturing facility utilizes state-of-the-art equipment and automation and is certified to ISO 9001:2015 quality assurance standards. We track every aspect of our supply chain, including lot traceability & Certificates of Conformance (C of C).
Certified Manufacturing
We use only raw material, chemically and mechanically certified to ASTM standards. We are regularly audited by:
- UL
- FM
- ICC
- TÜV, and
- Intertek..to ensure proper QA procedures.
And, it’s not just one and done. Inspectors “drop by” the plant unannounced to ensure adherence to all necessary processes and documentation.
Waste Not, Want Not
S-5! is dedicated to sustainable practices – not only in producing high-quality and incredibly durable products that last for the life of the roof itself, but also in raw material recycling.
All scrap is recycled including our saw and drilling chips, our aluminum drops or solids, our stainless-steel shavings or turnings from the CNC lathes. All material that goes into production either comes out as a finished S-5! product or gets reprocessed. All machining coolants are captured and recycled. There are no emissions from our facility.
Engineered. Tested. Certified.
Our extensive testing for holding capacity enables any S-5! installation to be engineered appropriately for the service loads to which it will be exposed on the roof.
The assurance that the parts tested are the same as those actually produced every day can ONLY come with the kinds of certified QC methods described here.
No other metal roof attachment company that appears in the market tests their products to the extent we do.
The Facts Speak for Themselves...
Safety First
From training to automation to accreditations, S-5! gets the job done. The plant has received numerous quality and safety awards, most notably S-5! is a four-time recipient of the MBMA Safety Awards for having no recordable injuries.
We have cameras and computer-controlled safety measures, so if there is some “mishap,” the machine automatically shuts down and sends a message to the supervisor by cell phone. Even if off-site, staff can check the camera to see what the issue is and arrive at the plant within minutes. It only happens on rare occasions, but our people can, and do, respond immediately.
Quality Check…Quality Control
S-5! Manufacturing and its staff fully stand behind the products they produce with Zero Defects quality controls.
One Final Check
The final inspection stop for all of our products is the packaging area. Each packaging inspector conducts a visual inspection of each and every part - 100% - and this is then audited by the department head. The final QC process contributes to the plant’s high and consistent weekly production rate. Our Vice President of Manufacturing’s extensive experience along with a few S-5! trade secrets contribute to the well-oiled machine that is the S-5! Manufacturing plant today.
From an Old Wal-Mart to a State-of-the-Art Manufacturing Facility
The photographs below illustrate the dramatic transformation the manufacturing plant underwent in becoming the home of S-5! Manufacturing. Immediately following the acquisition of the 20+/- year old facility (originally a Wal-Mart), the building underwent massive modernizing: retrofitting lighting systems, adding another R-20 insulation to the ceilings and rehabbing inefficient HVAC equipment, all to the end of creating a more comfortable workplace for S-5! staff while conserving energy and the environment.
Extensive remodeling was done - adding thousands of square feet of office space. A striking facelift was applied to the outside of the building; and 70 kilowatts of solar power were added to the exterior of the building, saving 30% of grid power costs.
TESTED. TRUSTED. ENGINEERED.
Architects, roof consultants, building owners, roof manufacturers and metal roof contractors alike endorse S-5! as the safest engineered products of their kind and the most trusted name in the industry…we do things The Right Way™.
