Two industrial distributors have extensive experience selling a brand of long-lasting band saws
Above: The WF130HA-DC-C from HE&M is a dual-column band saw designed for large cutting jobs.
March 2023- Two industrial distributors have extensive experience selling a brand of long-lasting band saws
When a machine tool builder produces sawing equipment that has a reputation for longevity, it’s not surprising that the builder has longterm relationships with its distributors. That’s the case for HE&M Inc. in Pryor, Oklahoma. Presented here are the experiences of two of the company’s distributors.
Dixie Mill was founded more than a century ago and has been selling HE&M saws since the late 1970s, according to Richard Cahn, president of the metalworking products supplier founded by his grandfather Michael E. Cahn in order to distribute supplies to sugar mills, farms and other industries across Louisiana and Mississippi. “We started off in 1917 selling what they would call ‘rope, soap and dope’— anything that anybody needed.”
He adds that the company has operated continuously out of the same building in the Warehouse District of downtown New Orleans.
Gulf States Saw & Machine Co. Inc. has not been in business quite as long, but the company started distributing HE&M band saws about two years after brothers Terry and Johnny Reach founded Gulf States Saw in 1992, says Alan Reach, territory sales manager. Johnny is his father and Terry is his uncle.
“My uncle and my dad were attracted to the fact that the machines were built in the USA,” Reach says. “They were attracted to the quality, the workmanship of the product, the support available from HE&M Saw and the parts availability. When they saw the success stories and the happy customers, they wanted to partner with HE&M Saw.”
ARRAY OF APPLICATIONS
In addition, HE&M has a band saw for virtually any application, including horizontal and vertical saws that miter and automatically index, as well as automatic non-mitering saws for straight cuts, Reach says.
“If you’re cutting single pieces of four-inch tube on a 45-degree miter and you have a lot of cuts in a 24- to 40-foot stick, then that’s a great application for an automatic indexing, double- mitering vertical saw,” Reach says. “If you’re cutting solid, round material, that’s a good application for a straight-cutting, dual-column H series, like the H130 or H160.”
Acquiring an automatic indexing band saw, however, isn’t suitable for some applications. “A lot of structural fabricators will buy the semi-automatic because they’re not cutting short parts, so they don’t need automatic indexing,” Reach says When a steel service center, for example, needs to quickly cut a bundle of 2-inch by 2-inch 11-gauge tubing, he adds that the WF series is the best choice because they feature a 9.2-degree cant, double retracting vises and a rigid and massive dual column. “The WF series was designed to bundle cut structural steel and wide flange beams. The WF series is absolutely phenomenal for the structural world, especially service centers, mills and large fabricators.”
According to Cahn, one aspect about HE&M saws that stands out is their longevity. “I don’t think anybody could deny it. We have a lot of 25-, 30-year-old saws out in the field.”
When a HE&M saw user with an old machine that finally wears out or is looking for a larger saw or one with an updated control, that customer tends to go with the same brand. “They’re very happy to buy another HE&M saw that’ll probably last for another 20, 25 years,” says Cahn.
Sometimes it can be difficult to let go of a machine that has proved so dependable over the years. Reach notes that when one steel service center in Paducah, Kentucky, replaced a 20-year-old H160 saw with a new H160, the veteran operator had a nostalgic moment when the old saw was being removed.
“He didn’t want to see the old one go,” he says. “He actually gave the machine a hug and, it sounds silly, made a video saying goodbye to the machine. Then, of course, we got him a brand-new one with the new HMI and all the new safety features and he’s quite fond of the new one as well.”
HE&M band saws are made in the USA and have a reputation for longevity.
SAFETY FIRST
Reach notes that one safety feature requires that the operator push one button to start the blade feature and another button to confirm blade start. “Both hands have to be accounted for when you start that blade motor, and those two buttons are far enough apart where you can’t get them both with one hand.”
A similar two-hand process is available for closing the vise: “The close button and the confirm button, but you don’t have to [use that process],” he says.
Cahn is sometimes so confident that a HE&M band saw will significantly enhance a customer’s sawing operation that he will offer to install a saw and remove it after a month at no charge if the shop does not want it. “I’ve done that a half dozen times, and I have never had anybody give it back.”
Cahn notes that a “strong majority” of Dixie Mill’s customers serve the oilfield equipment industry and saw difficult-to-cut materials such as titanium, stainless steel and exotics that must withstand down-hole environments. “They’re met with all sorts of chemicals, all sorts of abrasive and caustic materials.”
Cutting structural steel is a common application for HE&M semiautomatic saws.
DOING BETTER
Because sawing is generally the first operation for a workpiece, clean and accurate sawing is beneficial for the subsequent operation, Cahn says. However, in his distribution area, sawing is almost an afterthought, where the saw is located in the back of the shop and the newest employee operates it.
“I think a lot of the customers could do better than that,” he says. “They just think it’s a push-button operation where it is a little more sophisticated and is getting more and more sophisticated. People are realizing that, but we still have a way to go.”
To complement the saw line, Cahn says Dixie Mill distributes Lenox saw blades, which it first started selling in 1936. “Lenox has been a very good partner and works beautifully with HE&M.”
Gulf States Saw, however, welds and distributes band saw blades from Eberle America Inc., as well as Eberle flood and mist coolant, Reach says. Last year, the company welded about 20,000 blades with varying dimensions.
After some markets slowed and then the pandemic hit, Cahn says companies need sawing machines and so he expects his company to “do pretty well with selling HE&M saws in the next year or two. “We have a lot of customers who will buy an HE&M saw because they already have an HE&M saw and they can either put that other saw on the side for extra work or sell it. I’ve seen people sell an HE&M saw in which they got the same amount of money that they paid for it 15 years ago.”
With fabricators staying “extremely busy,” Reach concurs that the outlook for HE&M saw sales is strong. “The challenge is lead time. Lead times are tough because the volume of sales has been high.” MM
Dixie Mill, 504/525-6101, http://dixiemill.com/
Gulf States Saw & Machine Co. Inc., 877/724-7297, http://gssmachinery.com/
HE&M Inc., 888/729-7787, http://hemsaw.com/
