Manufacturing industry continues to evolve in Valley

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Row upon row of machines fill Cencal CNC.

Powerful lasers and water jets are able to cut through hard materials to create machine parts.

"Since 2019, we have over-doubled in revenue," says Cencal CNC President Josh Wiebe. "We've gone from 50,000 square feet to 73,000 square feet. We're up to 85 employees and almost 60 machines."

Wiebe says the company has had to grow with its customer base.

One of Cencal's customers is right next door at DMM - Design Machine and Manufacturing - run by Josh's brother, Nick Wiebe.

"Cencal is one of our vendors -- they produce all of the fabricated components on our equipment," Nick said. "So yeah, highly critical to our operation."

DMM uses robotics to do end-of-line packaging for the food and beverage industry.

"Since 2019, we've tripled in size," Nick said. "Since that time, both in production, square footage, sales employment, basically, across the board."

The Wiebe brothers see the manufacturing industry continuing to integrate robotics.

They believe the younger generation will help shape that path.

"It's a very lucrative and interesting industry, and you can get into it a lot quicker," Josh said.

Both companies hire from local Career and Technical Education high school and community college programs.

They look forward to meeting potential employees or interns at Thursday's Valley Made Manufacturing Summit in downtown Fresno.

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