StairSupplies employs over 230 people across six production facilities in Indiana. The company is a leading manufacturer and supplier of high-quality stair components, including treads, railings, handrails, wood and iron balusters, and newels.
It produces thousands of stairway designs in more than twenty wood species. In recent years, the company has invested heavily in technology to expand into metal and glass products.
Demand for the Viewrail range, which focuses on metal stair parts and systems for customers across the United States, increased rapidly.
Order volumes continued to rise. To meet this demand, the company needed a more autonomous production process. A key challenge was finding a reliable method to attach treads to a single support staircase.
Traditional fastening methods were evaluated. Welded nuts and other connection types were not considered suitable for the application.
“StairSupplies is a strong example of how operational and capacity improvements can be achieved by implementing the Flowdrill process. The company continues to work with our technical specialists to further optimize its application.”
Mitch Ray
Technical Sales Engineer
Flowdrill USA
The production team explored several technologies to find an alternative fastening solution.
After extensive trials, Flowdrill delivered the best performance. The friction drilling process was used to create a threaded hole directly in 7ga steel tubing. This threaded connection attaches to stringer brackets without the need for additional hardware on the backside.
Production operators reported that the formed thread provides sufficient strength to bolt directly into the tubing. This eliminates the need to access or secure the reverse side of the material.
More than 1700 Viewrail systems are now manufactured each year using the Flowdrill process. The consistent quality and repeatable performance provide a stable platform for further volume growth in the coming twelve months.
StairSupplies has worked closely with Flowdrill for over five years. During this period, the company has achieved measurable operational improvements:
