Achievements and Landmarks

"In-house product development is the secret to our success," said President Ralph Badillo.  "Our solutions usually require deep technological thought.  The answers do not often reside at the surface."

When a well-known cap company urgently sought relief from the massive downtime experienced in their sewn eyelet operations, they turned to Ralph's Industrial.  Ralph's conceived, designed and manufactured a solution entirely in-house -- a patented eyelet punch attachment which is compatible with the Juki 206 programmable tacker.  The cap company has since purchased 15 eyelet machines.   It now has none of the downtime of the previous equipment and has enjoyed substantially improved eyelet quality and cost efficiency.

In fact, R& D Manager Paul Badillo sees innovative technology coupled with Ralph's in-house product development as the solution to some of the most difficult problems confronting the sewing industry.  Paul is a principal of the hook and sewing machine parts manufacturer, Bakron Corp., which works in cooperation with Ralph's to find alternative materials for constructing parts.

Paul explained, "Around ten years ago, Ralph's entered into a new phase of sales -- getting into new products beyond the straight sewing machine.   One of our initial products was the eyelet attachment.  We took it from the drawing board to reality, and it has taken over the eyelet industry.

"We have been doing 21st century product development.   We have six patents alone on the eyelet attachment, and we are constantly seeking to bring the innovation further."

Paul currently holds 17 patents for his product work with Ralph's and Bakron Corp.  "I see a lot of our products sold in this industry with the emphasis on cutting a few minutes of downtime.  With our advancements, it's not just minutes;  we're saving what could conceivably be hours of downtime,  hundreds of dollars in mechanic's time for diagnosing the problem, as well as replacements parts costs."