Accelerating Innovation

Industries We Serve

Specialty Automotive

The specialty automotive industry is a fast-paced, demanding business. To be successful, partners must be flexible, innovative and move with speed all surrounded by quality to build a relationship with these customers.

ETM has provided powerful solutions to a variety of automotive customers for numerous specialty vehicles. ETM produces components for flagship vehicles, designed and built to capture the excitement of the industry.

Molding

High precision exterior body panels

Specialty reinforcements

Vinyl roof substrates

Replica vintage car body panels

Finishing

Class 2-8 Trucks

Because of ETM’s innovative manufacturing capabilities, we have been a key supplier to a variety of major heavy truck manufacturers for the past several decades. Our ability to produce lower volume components with significantly lower tooling costs makes ETM a cost-effective partner. When you couple the lower tooling costs with our in-house ability to produce our own tooling, we are capable of delivering new programs in less time than competitors that rely on outside tooling suppliers. This also means that we can work in concert with our heavy truck customers to produce prototypes quickly and to makes changes on the fly as new programs evolve.

Finishing

Agriculture

ETM supplies the heartland of America. Because of the flexibility in our manufacturing practices we are able to produce a variety of products for the agriculture market who’s seasonal requirements change dramatically throughout the calendar year.

ETM produces critical components for the most respected names in the industry. We work from the conceptual stages through prototypes and into production to insure these highly intricate vehicles are able to meet limited planting and harvesting windows.

Molding

Cold molding and VARTM technologies employed

Engine cooling products

High strength air intake component

Exterior body panels

Finishing

Recreational Vehicles

America loves to travel and see the great outdoors. ETM has been involved with the recreational vehicle market going back several decades. From the early days when a box was dropped in the back to pick-up through today’s modern motor coaches that scream of luxury, ETM has met every challenge.

ETM provides these customers with first-class products and finishes that complement the expectations of today’s buyers. From design to finished part ETM can be a single source supplier.

Molding

Defense

ETM supplies mission-critical components for military vehicles. Quality, speed, flexibility, and lightweight are cornerstones of ETM’s business model and product portfolio. Whether the final product is on land or sea ETM has the capability to deliver.

Molding

Custom Components

From supplying mission-critical components for military vehicles through producing eye-popping components for personal watercraft, ETM has always been poised to serve a wide variety of industries. We welcome the opportunity to work with our current and new customers from concept through development and into production to build components that exceed expectations. The best part; we excel at each of these tasks and still help reduce your total program cost.

Molding

Weight bearing engine cover for school buses

Critical underbody insulation systems for military applications

High strength component for severe duty applications

Compete monitoring of entire manufacturing process

Finishing

Trimmed and prepared for top coat finishing

Capabilities

Finishing and Assembly

ETM is a full-service supplier of molded components. From conceptual design, through product engineering, and manufacturing, to finishing and assembly. We offer a full range of services. In streamlining operations, our customers require their delivered components go through a series of finishing steps so they are ready for installation. ETM saw this change coming in advance and was prepared to offer assembly of an array of subcomponents including doors, locks, insulation, gaskets and wide range of fasteners. ETM also provides a multi-stage paint booth that allows us to offer you the ability to receive your parts prime painted and ready for a glistening top coat.

In-House Tooling

Our in-house tool shop means your tools and fixtures get built faster and at a lower cost. Multiple production tooling options are available from ETM. Which tooled process to use is dependent on several factors including part design, part volume, tool fabrication timing available, program life, and finished part surface desired. At ETM, these factors are reviewed with the Customer and the ideal option, or options, are presented. ETM maintains an in-house tooling department which provides two primary services for our Customer. One service is that of fabrication for all production related tooling for new programs. ETM is capable of fabricating the primary compression mold as well as the necessary secondary tools to complete the part to Customer specifications. This in-house capability allows for optimized tool build timeframes and better program management. The other primary service afforded with our in-house tooling department is a tool maintenance process for all production programs. Tools are reviewed at the end of scheduled production runs, and as necessary revitalized prior to the next scheduled production run.

Hybrid Tooling

Best suited for intermediate volume, long program life, parts where finished surface of the part is critical.

This Tooling consists of a machined metal (aluminum or steel) cavity cut from CAD data, with a corresponding epoxy laminated core.

Tool life expectancy is mid-range in volume – upwards of 30,000 mold cycles.

Tool cost tends to be 1/3 of the cost of comparable SMC Tooling.

Part cost is typically higher than seen in SMC, depending on the part features. A cosmetic part will be more expensive than a non-cosmetic part in comparison to SMC.

This process is well suited for medium volume applications where part surface is critical but the program life is not long.

Epoxy Tooling

Best suited for low to intermediate volume programs, where part surface finish criteria is not critical; or where a higher part price can be tolerated to allow for the additional surface preparation of the molded part, offset by a lowered tooling investment.

This Tooling consists of a laminated epoxy surface compression mold, fabricated from a master die model cut from CAD data.

Tool life expectancy is low to intermediate in volume, dictated by the part surface requirement. Cosmetic parts can expect up to 8,000 mold cycles while non-cosmetic parts can run up to 20,000 or more cycles. Tool life is highly dependent on part design.

Tool cost tends to be 1/5 of the cost of comparable SMC Tooling.

Part cost is typically higher than seen in SMC, depending on the part features. A cosmetic part will be more expensive than a non-cosmetic part in comparison to SMC. Part cost is similar to Hybrid Tooling.

This process is well suited for low to medium volume applications with short program life expected.

R&D Testing

You demand new technologies and ground-breaking designs. You need your partners to deliver innovation while simultaneously lowering the total cost of your components.

We have a dedicated R&D team to help you by researching new raw materials and developing manufacturing techniques that offer cost savings, weight reduction, enhanced strength, increased durability, and improved aerodynamics.

R&D requires the testing to verify that concepts can be taken from the drawing board to the field.