A fabricator of high-grade smokers and wood-fired ovens uses laser welding to upgrade their operation across the board.
What’s a Success Story?
There are a lot of reasons why our customers invest in LightWELD: it might solve a specific problem for them, or help them be more productive, or they might just be excited by the technology. Whatever the reason, we love talking to them and learning about their businesses.
Our success stories are a closer look at some of our customers, what they’re working on, and how LightWELD has helped them find success. We hope that their stories can help give you a better idea of how the industry is using and benefiting from LightWELD.
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About the Company
Cookshack started as a side project in 1956 in the backyard of husband-and-wife team Gene and Judy Ellis. Born from their shared passion for barbecue, the project’s primary goal was to make it easier to enjoy smoked foods from the comfort of their own home.
It started with a charcoal grill and later a stone fireplace design, both of which showed little promise. Eventually, Gene developed a welded metal box prototype that used electric heating. As the concept was refined, it became easier to enjoy delicious and convenient smoked foods more often.
After sufficient testing (including taste-testing at family meals), the invention showed clear promise. And it was even starting to drum up interest among other backyard cooks, who were asking Gene to build smokers for their own backyards. It wasn’t much longer before Cookshack was formally founded.
Gene’s design, which allowed restaurants and catering companies to smoke food without the hassle of managing a traditional barbecue pit, quickly made waves in the industry. Now, after decades of innovation, expansion, and delivering high-quality products to restaurants, commercial kitchens, and backyard enthusiasts alike, Cookshack has become a recognized name in the premium barbecue equipment market.
Learn more about Cookshack here.
Industry
BBQ Equipment
Company Size
11-20
Location
Ponca City, Oklahoma
The Challenge
Historically, Cookshack has struggled to find welders with the kind of experience required to build their products. While there are plenty of skilled welders in the Ponca City area, most of them are used to working on heavy duty materials. With little to no experience working with thin gauge stainless steel, the primary material used in most restaurant equipment, these veteran welders often struggled to adapt.
Cookshack builds a wide range of barbecue and cooking equipment, including smokers, charbroilers, and pizza ovens. Stainless steel is a primary material in most of Cookshack’s products.
“The welders that we hired from the oil fields would blow holes right through stainless steel. We learned that it was easier to hire people with no welding experience at all and train them ourselves,” according to Stuart Powell, CEO of Cookshack.
While MIG and TIG welding are fully capable of handling thin-gauge stainless steel, both methods present a range of challenges in these applications. Beyond the risk of overpenetration, arc welding processes rapidly introduce heat to the welding area and the surrounding material, making warping a primary concern. Even with a properly trained and experienced welder, it is often necessary to slow down the process and use complicated fixturing to achieve the desired results.
“One look at the first weld and it was clear that it didn’t need any cleanup. I was asking myself how I lived without laser welding as I bought a machine on the spot.”
Powell, who is always looking for opportunities to improve the company, began to investigate handheld laser welding. At the time, the technology was relatively new, but welders were finding that it was particularly well-suited for thin gauge stainless steel.
Conveniently for Powell, LightWELD was about to be exhibited at a nearby trade show with live and hands-on demos. He seized the opportunity and brought some of Cookshack’s parts to the show to see what laser welding could do.
Powell recounts the story: “I showed up to the booth with my parts in hand. They looked at the pieces and said, ‘This will be the easy’ and welded everything up on the spot. I was so impressed!” Continuing, he added, “One look at that first weld and it was clear that it didn’t need any cleanup. I was already asking myself how I lived without laser welding as I bought a machine on the spot.”
Implementation challenges
Handheld laser welding might have been a perfect match for Cookshack’s applications but implementing new and unfamiliar equipment was a bumpy process.
The shop’s welders, who were used to arc welding, were skeptical of laser welding. While both welding methods share a lot of similarities, visual differences in the weld puddle and the required hand techniques created early resistance. As a result, the company’s new LightWELD machine was initially underutilized.
A large manufacturer adjacent to Cookshack had also invested in an alternative handheld laser welding machine but was struggling to get it into everyday production, further fueling welder skepticism.
The Solution
Powell knew laser welding could transform his business and refused to give up. Leaning on his existing relationship with the local welding community, he brought the problem to a vocational technical school. The school, also recognizing the potential of laser welding, procured two LightWELD systems and got to work developing applications and understanding how and when to utilize a laser.
“We use LightWELD in production every day. And now we are building the best-looking smokers we have ever built.”
Together with help from the Handheld Laser Institute, an organization dedicated to educating and empowering users to be successful with laser welding, the vo-tech school, Cookshack, and several local manufacturers made a breakthrough with the technology.
“The Handheld Laser Institute radically changed our view of laser welding,” according to Powell. “We use LightWELD in production every day. And now we are building the best-looking smokers we have ever built.”
The adoption problem at Cookshack was eliminated almost overnight. Cookshack’s welders were now excited about laser welding once they understood how it worked. According to Powell, “After they were trained on LightWELD, they would come back on fire and eager to use it.”
Scaling with a new tool
After his first LightWELD machine was integrated into full-time production, Powell saw not only the benefits of high-quality welds, but also the benefits of reduced post processing. “Using a laser reduces clean-up time dramatically and makes a much better-looking product. It fits our needs perfectly.”
At the time of writing, Powell has added a second LightWELD to Cookshack’s shop and plans to expand to eight machines over the next several years. “LightWELD is helping us build the best smokers we have ever made. Just based on our current demand, we could easily take advantage of eight machines. And that is just to support what we are already doing.”
While Powell is happy to call laser welding a big win for his company, he’s not content to rest on his laurels. With the operational improvements made possible with laser welding, Cookshack’s CEO is optimistic about growing the business with ongoing product and technology innovations.
Beyond electric smokers, Cookshack offers pellet-fired smokers, charbroilers, pellet-fired pizza ovens, and a range of purpose-built fabricated accessories. Handheld laser welding directly enables the company’s mission to be a complete solutions provider for premium commercial and residential barbecue – and LightWELD is becoming a foundational part of the company’s fabrication strategy as a result.
A new addition to the toolkit
Despite his enthusiasm, Powell is also pragmatic about what laser welding can and can’t do and acknowledges that there will always be a place for MIG welding on his shop floor. For some of Cookshack’s larger parts, achieving the necessary fit up can be a challenge due to practical tolerance limitations in upstream processes.
According to Powell, “We are investing in improved shearing and bending equipment, but with some of our larger products MIG welding works better for us. That isn’t going away completely. We’ll always have a need for a little MIG welding, but LightWELD is replacing about 90% of it.”
“We’ll always have a need for a little MIG welding, but LightWELD is replacing 90% of it.”
Advice for other manufacturers
Powell doesn’t mince words when asked about handheld laser welding. Considering the experience the manufacturer next to Cookshack has had with an alternative laser welding machine, he advised, “Don’t buy the imports. Every one I have seen is junk.”
His experience has also taught him that a high-quality machine is just one ingredient for success. According to Powell, laser welding is easy to use once you understand it, but some expert training makes getting started easier. “It might take time to get used to it at first, so you should plan for that. Having an expert to train you can make all the difference,” says Powell.
Learn more about Cookshack and their premium barbecue equipment here.
Getting Started with LightWELD
Cookshack is just one of thousands of customers that have expanded their capabilities with LightWELD. But every operation is different. That’s why we’re here to help – whether you have questions about safety, what’s possible, or just want to try LightWELD before committing, we’re here to make getting started easy.
Click here to get started. We’ll take it from there.
