I was at MK Products in Irvine, Calif. last week and was pleased to see a company taking advantage of the slowdown in our economy to retool, restructure and reinvent.

I was invited in by my friend and colleague, Denis Walp, who runs sales for MKM Products, a new division of MK Products, and was given the nickel tour of the company by Denis and Chris Westlake, Vice President of Operations for MK Products.

As Chris shared his vision of the newly introduced bolt-on of MK Manufacturing, it was obvious to me Chris has a passion to blasting his company beyond its existing product of push-pull consisting of Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) and Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) Orbital Welding.

The name of their existing product is “Cobra Welding Systems.” Simply the word “Cobra” itself demands much respect. The Cobra Welding System is sold in 40 countries today. MK Products was founded by Mike Kensrue. Mike’s iconic “Cobra” Welding is always present in everything he does, he even has a “Shelby Series 1” Limited Edition, Roadster of which only 350 were made. His Shelby Series 1 is displayed on the shop floor of the facility as a symbol of MK’s commitment to quality and innovation.

Currently, MK Products is leveraging its existing precision shop as a full in-house production facility with state-of-the-art equipment and engineering (i.e. CMM Inspection Equipment, CNC Mills, CNC Feed Lathes, and thousands of feet of assembly line and manufacturing space), and recently introduced MK Manufacturing (MKM). The company consistently develops new prototype products using 3D CAD workstations. This type of equipment produces a polymer material in the actual dimensions, shape and form for testing, before it is programmed and manufactured out of expensive material.

MK Product’s new target audience is general manufacturing, aerospace and medical device, automotive and motorcycle aftermarket products. MKM offers a turnkey operation that not only engineers and manufactures parts, but also assembles components and products. The company also uses custom ERP Solutions with Epicor’s Interactive Production Management system, integrated with Quality Management module for compliance with ISO9001:2008, AS9100C, ISO13485 Implementation.

After I visited MK Products, I thought a lot about this company, and how it is positioning itself for success in the future, and I’m really happy to see that it is not one of those companies that is sticking its head in the sand by cutting costs, and waiting out this economic downturn. Instead, the company is leveraging its best assets and technologies to get a jump on the competition. As such, I know that they will be in a great position once the economy starts to gain some traction.