For the people who run the floor
The floor is costing you. Seeing it is the hard part.
Material gets buried. One machine caps everything behind it. The person who knows how it all runs is the one person you cannot afford to lose. As one owner put it to us: "I want to be looking at it, not looking for it."
We have stood where you are standing
We walk the floor before we talk robots.
A first visit with us starts at the machine, not in a conference room. We listen more than we talk, and we write down what we saw and hand it to you.
- The whole lineNot just the one station we could sell you.
- Credit where it is dueWe name what you already fixed. Nobody should pay to solve a problem twice.
- A straight answerIf automation does not fit yet, we say so, and we say why.
We are a FANUC Authorized System Integrator. FANUC gave us its 2025 Outstanding Growth Award, and FANUC America published a case study on a press brake cell we built for Thunder Creek Equipment. We automate any brand of machine you already own.
- 2022FoundedBixby, Oklahoma, June 2022.
- 2025FANUC Growth AwardThe Outstanding Growth Award, from FANUC America.
- 5States servedArkansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Machine Pilot: how we work
Three steps. You decide after each one.
Before any of it, free
- The Fit CheckFive yes or no questions, about a minute. You see the answer without giving us your contact information.Take the Fit Check →
- A first visitHalf a day on your floor, no charge. If automation does not fit yet, we say so, and why.
The Walk
A paid floor study.
We spend time on your floor with the people who run it and follow your parts from machine to machine. You get a written map of where time and material wait, with your own numbers on it, and a ranked list of what to fix first.
- The map, in your numbers
- A ranked list of what to fix first
- An offer to scope the first cell
You hear the price before you say yes. What we learn on the Walk is never charged for again.
The Cell
A fixed-price robot cell.
For the station that holds you back. Scoped in writing before anyone buys metal, designed and built by TWA in Bixby, Oklahoma, installed on your floor, and your people trained to run it.
- A fixed price, set in the proposal
- Any brand of machine you already own
- A one-year warranty
What comes after the first cell is your call.
The Partnership
Optional, after the cell runs.
If you want us there for the long run: layout for the next cell, what your cells report through a read-only monitor that never moves a machine, training for your people, and support from the team that built it.
- Layout for the next cell
- What your cells report, read-only
- Training and support
Offered when you are ready. Never a condition of the cell.
Machine Pilot
We move data, not just parts.
A robot running alone is a task. A cell that reports its cycle times, uptime and part counts to the people running the business is an operation. Machine Pilot is how a TWA cell does it, from the first cell to the whole plant.
- Cycle times Every part, timed. A slow cycle shows up the day it starts, not at month end.
- Part counts Counted at the cell as they come off. Nobody walks out with a clipboard.
- Uptime Running or stopped, and for how long. The stops are where the next fix is.
What is at stake
Not warnings we wrote. Things owners told us.
- A hundred-part job restarted because four pieces could not be found.
- A buyer walked in, saw paper and spreadsheets, and wrote a bottom-dollar offer.
- A thirty-five year veteran set a retirement date with most of the shop still in his head.
Each one came with a plan. The plan is the three steps above, and it starts with your floor.
Real cells, real floors
Thirty seconds of what we build.
The case studies
Thunder Creek Equipment · Pella, IA
150 lb Plate Unattended: Thunder Creek, Featured by FANUC America
Thunder Creek kept its 135-ton press brake. TWA put a robot on it. Six-foot, 150-pound plate runs unattended, and FANUC America published the story.
- 150 lb
- Steel plate per part, unattended
- 6 ft
- Plate length the gripper carries
- 135 ton
- Press brake kept, not replaced
A grain storage equipment manufacturer
Two Years Running: A Press Tending Cell for Grain Bin Hardware
April 2024In continuous production since
A precision sheet metal job shop
A Brake They Already Owned: The Retrofit
176 tonPress brake kept in service
A high-volume tube fabricator
A 30 Part Order Unattended on a Legacy Tube Bender
30 partsFull order, unattended, nobody from TWA on site
A trailer manufacturer
Sixteen Foot Panels Over 500 Pounds: Bringing Trailer Forming In House
548 lbHeaviest panel in the family
A work-truck body manufacturer
19,700 Doors at 100 a Day: A Robotic Sanding Cell
19,700Doors through the cell by spring 2025
A clean-fuel component manufacturer
Sixteen Foot Vessels Wet With Resin: A Clean Fuel Handling Cell
196 inLongest vessel the gripper carries
Every study, with the numbers and where they came from: all the case studies.
What success looks like
You are looking at it, not looking for it.
Not a promise of a number. A picture of the shop you would be running.
- Looking at itYou see what the floor is doing instead of hunting for it.
- Not one person deepThe station runs without the one person it used to depend on.
- Your call, every timeThe next step is yours to choose, because the first one proved itself.
The Way Automation, Bixby, Oklahoma
Built Here. Backed Here.
Designed and built at 14935 S Grant St in Bixby, Oklahoma, for shops across Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.
FANUC Authorized System Integrator
A credential we hold today, from FANUC America.
2025 FANUC Outstanding Growth Award
Given to TWA by FANUC in 2025.
A FANUC America case study on a TWA cell
FANUC America published it. The customer is Thunder Creek.
Or call (406) 491-7310, or write to Sales@thewayautomation.com.