Above: Combining automation, laser cutting and bending gives SteinerZ Fabrication a triple play in terms of accuracy and consistency
April, 2026- When Titus Steiner first made contact with MC Machinery, his business was merely a speck on the map in the middle of the Midwest. However, his small-but-mighty mindset was infectious and paved the way to an enduring relationship with MC Machinery that has widened the horizons for SteinerZ Fabrication, Russellville, Missouri.
The company now operates a suite of press brakes and automated laser cutting equipment in an expanded building and has experienced a dramatic increase in production capacity.
“In 2019, our six-person crew was working nearly 20-hour days. After adding MC Machinery equipment and automation, we realized the true value and power of automation. Now we have a crew of 23 employees, we run 9- or 10-hour shifts, and business is steadily growing,” reports Steiner.
‘BELIEVED IN US’
Steiner founded the business in 2011 with a used 2.6kW CO2 laser, working in an outbuilding on his mother-in-law’s farm. He was loading and unloading material manually. By 2019, SteinerZ became known for providing a high level of customer service and had built a new facility a few miles from the family farm. The shop was humming along to the point that “it felt like we were working around the clock,” recalls Steiner. That’s when he started contacting laser suppliers and considering automation.
“MC Machinery invited me up to the Chicago area to see their fiber lasers in action. We were still a small operation—in fact, a Google Maps search of our address at the time still showed a hayfield,” Steiner quips. He was impressed with the laser demonstration and MC Machinery’s responses to his technical questions. “What impressed me even more was the warm welcome I received. They treated me like family. They believed in us—seeing the trajectory of our business—and offered me in-house financing.”
The 3015 GX-F from MC Machinery has impressive positioning accuracy and repeatability.
EMBRACING AUTOMATION
Steiner returned from the product demo having signed a purchase order for a new MC Machinery ML 3015 eX-F80 two-dimensional 8kW fiber laser, which was installed shortly thereafter. The impact at SteinerZ was almost immediate.
“With automation, our laser team went from working around the clock to six to eight hours per day. It felt like we went from being super-busy to having idle time. The laser was processing work so quickly,” he says. In 2023, SteinerZ added an MC Machinery 3015 GX-F 12kW laser cutting machine—integrating it into the automation of the existing 8kW system. Last year, the original 8kW laser was upgraded to a new 12kW laser, matching the one installed in 2023. And the business keeps growing. Says Steiner, “when we went from one to two lasers, and with the integrated automation, we tripled the volume of product we can process.”
A neatly stacked job by the MC Machinery press brake demonstrates the beauty of consistency.
The fiber lasers handle up to 16 different materials and unload onto one of four different tables. “The impact of the MC Machinery lasers was instantaneous—right out of the box. There is less setup required on the new laser. The automation allows loading and unloading without much human interface. We just need to make sure the kerf calculations are correct,” explains Kent Nolt, CAD and CAM programmer at SteinerZ Fabrication.
THE CUSTOMER PROMISE
The speed of the laser combined with automation helps SteinerZ deliver on a key customer promise: two-week turnarounds on typical projects. The fab shop specializes in precision CNC laser cutting and metal fabrication in a variety of project sizes—anywhere from one-offs to 50,000 parts.
The company supports a range of customers such as manufacturers of agricultural machinery, solar power, construction, communications and power generation. The fabricator serves customers that need prototypes, production runs or complex welded assemblies.
“Customers come to us for consistency in precision—and our short, reliable lead times,” says Steiner. MC Machinery’s press brakes, lasers and automation help SteinerZ deliver on these expectations.
“With the automated lasers, we know we can deliver consistent lead times, and we can add a premium for even shorter lead times—we are that confident in the MC Machinery equipment,” explains Nolt. Prior to automating the laser systems, SteinerZ’s lead times had been about three weeks. “Once we became automated, our lead time on the laser was cut in half,” he says.
Nolt cites a job requiring the cutting of 230 sheets, performed over four days on one machine. “Without the MC Machinery equipment and automation, we would manually be loading and unloading the material for the project. Doing so in four days would be impossible,” he adds.
TIGHT TOLERANCES
Another key customer benefit is the tight tolerances promoted by SteinerZ, which is an ISO-certified shop that meets laser cutting tolerances within +/- 0.005 inch. This is made possible by the positioning accuracy and repeatability of the ML 3015 eX-F80 of 0.0019/20- inch and +/-0.00039-inch, respectively.
Leandro Friesen, team lead manager at SteinerZ, offers an example of these tight tolerances: cutting 120-inch plate with less than ” tolerances on the outside edge. “We leave a skeleton that is exactly ” wide on the edge. It is very impressive to cut that accurately. The automation gives us accuracy in both laser cutting and loading/unloading far more accurately than we could achieve with a human,” Friesen says.
PRESS BRAKES
In addition to the fiber lasers, SteinerZ also runs three press brakes from MC Machinery. “We used to have three different brands on the floor. We found that having equipment from the same manufacturer makes it easier for training. We can leverage one controller across the whole spectrum of equipment,” explains Steiner.
The company’s most recent press brake is a BB 6020 hybrid electric from MC Machinery. “That machine is really nice in terms of accuracy, speed and repeatability,” Steiner says. “We can take a 3-foot-wide plate and process with three or four bends and still have terriffic accuracy. When I see a pallet of bent parts that look perfectly identical, I think it’s a thing of beauty.” Customers have noticed the skills, too. “With the addition of the MC Machinery press brakes, our customers tell us the parts are way more accurate than our competitors. For customersand also our in-house needsthis accuracy means a simplified assembly process and a better final product,” explains Steiner, adding that this consistency is achieved regardless of material. Setup of the MC Machinery press brake enhances the speed of production. “The programming has a very user-friendly interface. There are very few stepsonly four or five from turning on the machine to getting bent parts. We can have parts bent in as little as one minute,” Friesen says.
Continuing to deliver on speed and accuracy remains a focus at SteinerZ. In the near term, Steiner has his eye on a tube laser. No doubt, that will keep the business visible on Google Maps well into the future.
MC Machinery Systems Inc., 630/538-8642, http://mcmachinery.com./
SteinerZ Fabrication LLC, 573/796-3100, http://steinerz.com./
