Smoker Craft, Inc., based in New Paris, IN is a family-owned and operator manufacturer of mid-length recreational boats, including three pontoon brands, the Smoker Craft fiberglass brand, and several aluminum V Bottom boats.

After more than 100 years of fully manual production, Smoker Craft received a Manufacturing Readiness Grant through Conexus Indiana. Grants are provided to help manufacturers make innovative capital investments in smart manufacturing at their Indiana operations - leveraging state-of-the-art technologies including robotic automation.

Before starting the automation project, Smoker Craft worked with enFocus, a nonprofit organization that helps manufacturers in Indiana with high-impact projects. EnFocus steered Smoker Craft in the right direction based on their experience in manufacturing and system integration. Following that collaboration, Smoker Craft understood that the key to making a successful transition to automation required a skilled and experienced robotic system integrator. Guide Engineering, a FANUC Authorized System Integrator was a great match.

Right from the start, Guide Engineering’s designer worked very closely with the team at Smoker Craft to develop an automation system to quickly weld aluminum pontoons and various components. They collaborated every step of the way, and today, the robotic tube welding system is a huge success for Smoker Craft.

The system uses three FANUC ARC Mate 120iD robots to quickly weld pontoons in just 10-12 minutes each. In addition, the automation meets Smoker Craft’s quality and consistency standards, and relieves their highly skilled welding team from the strenuous tasks related to welding pontoons.

Smoker Craft’s automation system continues to produce high-quality pontoons that meet the needs of their rapidly growing customer base, now and in the years to come.

Smoker Craft, Inc., based in New Paris, IN is a family-owned and operator manufacturer of mid-length recreational boats, including three pontoon brands, the Smoker Craft fiberglass brand, and several aluminum V Bottom boats.

After more than 100 years of fully manual production, Smoker Craft received a Manufacturing Readiness Grant through Conexus Indiana. Grants are provided to help manufacturers make innovative capital investments in smart manufacturing at their Indiana operations - leveraging state-of-the-art technologies including robotic automation.

Before starting the automation project, Smoker Craft worked with enFocus, a nonprofit organization that helps manufacturers in Indiana with high-impact projects. EnFocus steered Smoker Craft in the right direction based on their experience in manufacturing and system integration. Following that collaboration, Smoker Craft understood that the key to making a successful transition to automation required a skilled and experienced robotic system integrator. Guide Engineering, a FANUC Authorized System Integrator was a great match.

Right from the start, Guide Engineering’s designer worked very closely with the team at Smoker Craft to develop an automation system to quickly weld aluminum pontoons and various components. They collaborated every step of the way, and today, the robotic tube welding system is a huge success for Smoker Craft.

The system uses three FANUC ARC Mate 120iD robots to quickly weld pontoons in just 10-12 minutes each. In addition, the automation meets Smoker Craft’s quality and consistency standards, and relieves their highly skilled welding team from the strenuous tasks related to welding pontoons.

Smoker Craft’s automation system continues to produce high-quality pontoons that meet the needs of their rapidly growing customer base, now and in the years to come.