Category Archive: Insights

Sigma Design Reflects on 22 Years of Evolution

Sigma Design is celebrating their 22nd anniversary under current ownership. However, the company’s origins go back much further, originally founded in 1962 as a machine design firm by brothers Murph and John Abraham. Machine design became a tougher and tougher gig as the manufacturing sector in New Jersey, and nationwide for that matter, started to contract through the 80’s and 90’s. The Abraham brothers had started seriously considering closing shop. Sigma’s current owner, Jerry Lynch, knew the brothers for some time. As fate would have it over a friendly lunch, they mentioned that if the right buyer came along, they would probably sell the company. Entrepreneurship had been a lifelong dream for Jerry, an engineer by trade with decades of experience in manufacturing. The idea of taking a company that was established but struggling and in need of a new vision appealed to Jerry and the acquisition was complete in early 1999.

Sigma Design began under new ownership as it had ended under the former ownership, strictly a design firm with no manufacturing capabilities. Jerry could see the trends, as well as the desire by current customers to have a design firm that was also engaged in the manufacturing and production process. Customers wanted a one stop shop that could produce their designs, rather than just deliver the detailed design and manufacturing package. The ability for a single company to fully design and draft, then pilot, test, debug and refine a piece of equipment became strongly in demand. Many large manufacturers do not have the internal resources dedicated to refining and perfecting engineered systems. This ultimately led to the foundation of the Sigma Design of today, when in 2011 they purchased a 20,000 sq-ft facility to afford means to manufacture their designs.

Sigma continued their evolution once they had room to work. Since acquiring the new facility they have gained capabilities in all facets of manufacturing. Sigma has a full weld shop offering qualified welders in TIG, MIG and SMAW process as well as a CNC machining area. They have a fully tooled assembly area which can accommodate electrical control panel fabrication and large electro-mechanical assemblies. Drawing on an area of expertise of their owner, Sigma formed a partnership with Spiral Water Technologies. This necessitated a 200 GPM water filtration system test loop that is now a fixture in the Sigma Shop.

One area where Sigma Design excels is with advanced engineering and analysis. Sigma caught on early to the 3D modeling FEA trend and has engineering expertise to use these tools. Performing stress analysis, heat loading, fluid flow etc. in a digital environment helps their customers visualize their designs and adapt to design conditions before manufacture, and more importantly, service in the field. These tools also aid with material selection and manufacturing process layouts. Sigma has become an expert ally for their customers in using these tools on both Sigma Designs, as well as finding non-obvious challenges with customer supplied designs. Jerry along with his smart, creative staff has transformed the business into a single-source provider of design, analysis and manufacturing services of new products, equipment, and machinery.

As Sigma heads towards the future, they are gaining momentum and stronger than ever. They have started to establish themselves as a reliable design and manufacturing partner for large, international companies. This has led to an aggressively growing work history, especially with repeat manufacturing work of large devices and pieces of equipment. Sigma will continue to evolve, learn, and enhance their business model as their company grows into 2021 and beyond.

Posted in Advanced Engineering Analysis, Company News, Made in New Jersey, Made in USA, New Product Development, People, Press, SIGMA Capabilities

Lessons From 2020 Have American Manufacturing Ready for a Strong 2021

In what wound up being one of the most challenging years in anyone’s memory, the American economy faced a gauntlet of obstacles in 2020. A global pandemic, record unemployment numbers and a contentious election cycle led to a disastrous first half of the year by many metrics. However, as it always has, the American economy and manufacturing sector improvised and adapted. Remote working, meeting, and selling surged as the US had to respond to the pandemic, which also placed an even higher focus on employee safety. Efforts to reshore American manufacturing were already well underway heading into 2020, however the pandemic and seemingly instant surge in consumer demand for goods like PPE, medical goods and cleaning equipment led to rethinking many industry supply chains. Countries where labor is cheap often lack the infrastructure to quickly respond to large demand swings. The cost of commercial transportation continues to and will most likely always continue to rise. Reshoring became even more of an economical issue, as well as a necessity for increased response to demand.

From a recent Forbes.com article:
“Despite 60% of manufacturers feeling the impact of COVID on operations, a recent survey of senior leaders of manufacturing and distribution companies noted significant or modest growth in company revenue during the pandemic. Demand for products is surging, requiring new and innovative production methods, and many manufacturers have stepped up to the plate. As we close out the year, we will better understand just how much manufacturing changed in 2020. But economic uncertainty aside, the unprecedented supply chain disruptions of the year are a blessing in disguise for manufacturers, as they encouraged the often-stagnant industry to move faster and become more resilient than ever before. If there were a year to push the industry forward towards progress, this was it.” 1

American manufacturing looks to be heading into 2021 largely recovered from the hit it took in early 2020, and ready to soar. It is easy, and somewhat lazy to point to the DOW as any sort of indicator for the economy, specifically in manufacturing. However, the American Manufacturing Index (US ISM Manufacturing PMI) is a reliable indicator of the state of the manufacturing sector, and signs are looking great heading into 2021. The index is up roughly 45 percent from its low in May 2020, and almost back to its highs we experienced through 2017-2018. With the COVID vaccine already being distributed, albeit in limited numbers, America is on the cusp of turning the corner on the pandemic and getting back to some state of normalcy during 2021.

It is no secret that the domestic network of small design, engineering, and fabrication businesses are the backbone of large American manufacturers. At Sigma design, we pride ourselves on being part of that network serving large American companies across many industries. Whether it be Medical and Life Sciences, or Clean Energy and Wastewater Treatment, Production Machinery and Fixturing, or a startup getting its product design refined and to market, we have the capability to serve any customer at any level. Sigma Design also looks poised to be heading into 2021 with great momentum and an ever-growing portfolio of projects for our customers. We have invested heavily in our capabilities in recent years to be a one stop shop for our customers. From advanced design analysis and engineering, welding and fabricating, machining and assembling, to panel building and programming, Sigma Design can take a project from idea to reality. We have a library of satisfied, repeat customers to prove it.

1. Amar Hanspal, “Five Predictions For The Manufacturing Industry In 2021” Forbes, December 7th, 2020, accessed January 15th, 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/amarhanspal/2020/12/07/five-predictions-for-the-manufacturing-industry-in-2021/?sh=79586f0428ca