Podcast: How Co-Line and Hexagon are combining robotics and human talent in manufacturing

Key takeaways

• Strong workplace culture and employee appreciation help attract and retain skilled manufacturing talent.
• Apprenticeships remain vital for training, bridging the skills gap, and preparing workers for advanced tech.
• Automation and robotics at Co-Line are designed to complement—not replace—workers, boosting efficiency.
• AI adoption in manufacturing is accelerating, offering major gains in scheduling, estimating, and operations.

In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Robert Brooks speaks with Denny Williams of Co-Line Manufacturing and Doug Wood of Hexagon Production Software about the intersection of workforce development and technology in manufacturing. The conversation explores how Co-Line fosters a strong culture to attract and retain talent, the role of apprenticeships in bridging the skills gap, and the ways automation and robotics are being integrated to complement—not replace—workers. They also discuss how software, connected workflows, and emerging AI applications are shaping the future of efficiency and competitiveness in the industry.

Below is an excerpt from the podcast:

RB: Denny, would you begin by telling us about Co-Line Manufacturing? What do you do? Who are your customers? How many employees do you have, and what types of skills are involved there?

Williams: Yeah, thank you for the question. I mean, started in 1979, Co-Line was founded by Dale and Tana Brand as a small farm repair and welding business. We're right here in the heart of Iowa, in the middle of farm country. So not every farmer had the ability to repair their own stuff, even back then.

It's owned and operated now by the second generation, Eric and his wife. Today, and over the years, Co-Line has moved from farm and commercial repair into full-blown, large-scale manufacturing. The same family-owned and -operated mantra has continued, and production has transitioned into that full-service job shop. We not only manufacture components for our customers but also a line of our own proprietary products—things like our Sure-Latch gate latch and similar items. So, a very wide product range.

Co-Line is a company committed extensively to customer service, quality, and on-time delivery. We like to say here at Co-Line that we can shape the metal that moves the world. We are a large-scale manufacturing company with a plethora of capabilities—everything from welding to laser cutting to stamping to powder coating. We don't like to say no to our customers. So when they send us an example, we like to say, "Yeah, we can handle that."
We are very blessed—like you asked about our customer base—we’re very blessed to have a diverse one. Everything from agricultural equipment to products used in the residential recreation space, such as our goal-set basketball hoop we make here, to industrial equipment, power sports, and so many industries in between. Like I said, we have a hard time saying no to people.

In terms of employees, there are 260 of them. We run two shifts. The majority are on first shift, but the second shift is really our utilitarian operators that can jump from work center to work center to fill in wherever the shop is busy. On second shift, you know, they fill in the gaps.

We’re constantly hiring and looking for welders—both manual and robotic weld operators—fabricators, machinists, machine operators, maintenance people, customer service, estimating, engineering, painters, truck drivers for our semi fleet, material handling, packaging…everything that would be in a large-scale manufacturing setup, we have here at Co-Line.

I just want to highlight one thing, because I mentioned earlier our on-time delivery commitment. We have our own fleet of semi trucks, and that really allows us to control our own destiny when it comes to delivering our product on time and at the quality level we expect. Does that answer all the questions?

RB: Yeah, that’s an excellent outline—really very well done. Describe, if you will, the present environment. How are things going for the business right now?

Williams: Well, I don’t think anybody would sugarcoat it and say the environment in manufacturing is the best it’s ever been right now. It’s challenging, but at the same time, we have a steady workload and plenty of new opportunities being quoted.

We have such a diverse array of customers, like I mentioned earlier, that we’re not very dependent on one industry. If they’re down, it’s not going to make or break Co-Line by any means. So we’re very blessed to have that diverse customer base and diverse customer needs, and we pride ourselves on being agile and opportunistic. If one industry is down, we can put our resources toward an industry that may be trending up, and be able to grab more opportunities in that area.

So, always looking for those opportunities that will help us expand our existing partnerships, but also to build our customer base with new partners as well.

RB: That’s a very honest assessment. In one sense, I’m glad we have this type of atmosphere in which to operate, because people are not just stumbling around trying to keep up with the orders flowing in. But I realize that’s not the way everybody looks at it. We want to examine Co-Line’s success at recruiting workers and inculcating skills. But first, would you describe the workforce problems or difficulties, or the circumstances that you’ve had to overcome at Co-Line?

Williams: One of the biggest challenges we have is our rural location. We are truly in the middle of the cornfields, 10 minutes from the closest town. So our location is probably one of our biggest challenges—recruiting talent and finding talent.

There’s a lot of manufacturing in this area, so a lot of manufacturers means a lot of competition for good employees. And we also look for specific people. We’re not going to settle for everybody that applies at Co-Line. We really look for people that are, number one, hard working, and number two, they’re going to be on time. They’re going to show up, and they’re going to be happy around their coworkers, because we really believe in the culture here at Co-Line. That culture has been a huge factor in not only our success, but in our growth.

So those are the challenges—our rural location, and the fact that we are pretty selective. We don’t look for just anybody that can work.

RB: That’s a good lead for me, because as it was presented to me, Co-Line has a model for attracting Gen Z workers and bridging the skills gap. I’ve been reading about this problem for manufacturers for at least 15 years. So how did your model develop? Is there a back story you could set up for us to understand this?

Williams: Well, the biggest thing here that ownership believes is that to be successful, we need to make sure our people feel appreciated. So we do several things for our employees, such as $5 catered lunches, $5 haircuts on-site, and $5 massages on-site. We have Fabulous Fridays just to show all the employees appreciation. So every Friday there’s something that leadership and ownership will do to say, “Great week, we appreciate you.”

We’re having a pretty large event tomorrow here at Co-Line that’s all about motors. They call it Motor Mania, and every year everybody brings something with an engine. There’s a parade, and it’ll be a big deal. It’s one of the favorite Fabulous Fridays of the year. So it’s stuff like that—where we get the employees together a little bit longer, have a great time, show them we appreciate them, and build some camaraderie between all of our people.

The first thing is just showing that we appreciate them. Our Christmas party is awesome. Our family picnic recently was amazing—we have a fireworks display at the end of the picnic that people from counties all over Iowa come to see. There’s actually a tour bus that comes every year just to see our fireworks.

So, the culture and appreciation that happens here at Co-Line is amazing. We’ve also never shied away from the opportunity to give a tour. I was actually just discussing this with our HR manager. She said, you know, there’s a gentleman who toured Co-Line in high school, and then he toured again at the community college he went to. He took some time, went into the National Guard, served two tours, and he just recently reached out for a full-time interview here at Co-Line. So that tour base we’ve established over the last decade plus—allowing people to come in and see our facility, our capabilities, and all of our technology—has really paid off.

Also, working with all the local high schools, community colleges, and trade schools has been phenomenal. Another funny story comes to mind. Our continuous improvement lead told me about recruiting somebody from Culver’s. Everybody listening from the Midwest will understand—Culver’s is a popular fast-food joint. And the thing about Culver’s—and even, I’ll throw in Chick-fil-A—is that when there’s a good employee at those places, you can identify it right away. They’ll follow process, they’ll be friendly, they’ll serve you with a smile, and you can pretty much tell that person is going to be a good employee just based on how they work in that fast-food environment. So we have recruited people from Culver’s to work at Co-Line.

The recruiting umbrella, if you will, is very big at Co-Line. We get people from all over, and we’re very thankful for all the folks we’ve hired over the years who are hard workers and great members of the team.

And probably—this is the fourth topic I’ve mentioned—lateral opportunities at Co-Line are big. We love attracting talent, but more importantly, we love retaining talent. And sometimes, when you have a gentleman or a lady that’s, you know, done this for a while and they’d like to try something new, we say, “OK, let’s try it out. What do you want to do?” And we’ll move them.

For example, we just recently had a gentleman in our assembly department who is now running our newest tube laser because he showed initiative and thought, “Maybe I could change positions and do something new.” So that can-do attitude and willingness to learn is big with the people we hire.

RB: That’s impressive. I mean, I think any outsider would recognize you’ve established Co-Line as an institution in your community. People recognize it for what it is, and they feel comfortable being drawn there. Are there fundamental worker skills that you prioritize?

Williams: Oh, that’s— I mean, it’s such a great question. Yes, obviously, if you’re going to be running all the machines, you have to be proficient in them. But more generally, I’m reminded of a John Maxwell quote: “People of value value people.”

We have five core values here at Co-Line, and the people we hire need to follow those core values: respect, compete, inspire, support, and subordinate. And when you find people who agree to those core values, they generally are great fits here at Co-Line.

And I don’t want anybody to get hung up on the last one being “subordinate,” because a lot of people hear that and think of the negative connotation, insubordinate. But when we say subordinate, we mean in the job shop environment there are ebbs and flows. So if tube laser is busy this week and powder paint is not, maybe we can ebb and flow—move some people into a different department and subordinate them to the different roles. That’s very important for us: to have people who are willing to work in different departments on different days if need be. Team players. People who’ll have no problem jumping into a different area the next day.

RB: Excellent. Are there training tools or methods that you recommend to others?

Williams: I was talking to our HR manager, and she basically said our best tool is apprenticeships. Bring the young individuals in from schools, or even gentlemen who are just looking for a career change, and let them be an apprentice under a seasoned operator until they can swim. Because we’re not going to throw them into the deep end on a VMC or a tube laser or anything like that and let them sink—but certainly give them the time they need to learn it. And we’ve had great success with apprenticeships. I really think they were a huge thing in the early years, and they’re becoming more and more important now to train the workforce. So I really think apprenticeships have been our biggest benefit.

RB: And another point of continuity too, of course, because it keeps people connected one generation to another. Do you see new skill requirements emerging for your business?

Williams: We’ll need new skills in robotics and technology in general, but specifically in AI. As we continue to automate more, we’ll need additional talent to program and perform maintenance on that new equipment. It’ll bring additional needs for folks with experience programming PLCs, overall electronics—not just for the robots, but for some of the fixturing and tooling that’s getting pretty sophisticated. With go/no-go sensors, all the latches and clamps are PLC-pneumatic controlled.

So we’ve got a lot of technology we’re using—not just on the Hexagon side with our laser nesting and so on—but also in all of our tooling. There’s a lot we’re looking for in terms of people with great skills in programming and technology. And what better generation than Gen Z—who were born into technology? So we’re definitely reaching out to those folks.

RB: What technology or process developments are happening at Co-Line now, together with the personnel program?

Williams: Technology is always a complement to our workforce. Co-Line’s been in business now 46 years, and there’s a zero-layoff policy. So we are not going to replace our employees with technology—we’re going to complement and augment our employees with technology. We can do that at a rate that still allows us to grow.

It’s very important to us that the sticks and the stones—the technology and the robots—we can buy that just like everybody can. But the heart and the soul that keeps the Co-Line culture is what we really want to make sure is happy. So we don’t ever look to replace our workforce. We look to expand our capabilities and complement our workforce with technology.

But you’re absolutely right. More robotics—we’ve recently implemented cobots on press brakes, stamping presses, VMCs, and in our hand-welding area, to help our welders do a lot more work in less time. It’s been very, very beneficial to have these cobots set up in different areas of our plant.

When it comes right down to it, the equipment won’t work without the hearts and the souls that run it. So we very much focus on complementing our workforce instead of replacing it with technology.

RB: That’s interesting about your investment in cobots. Can you preview any technology choices that you’re evaluating right now or considering in the future?

Williams: Leadership at Co-Line is constantly evaluating new technology. Nesting software is a great example of a past investment based on research, and I have to believe—just like that—our newest tube laser from Mazak is another great example. It’s the FG400 NEO, and it’s actually the first five-kW machine in the States. The technology used on the head of that new tube laser actually comes from a lot of Mazak’s chip-cutting machines. So we now have the ability on this new tube laser not only to tap—which we’ve had on a lot of our tube lasers—but also, with the high-speed spindle technology, we can actually flow-drill on the new tube laser as well.

So, some pretty new technology there in the tube-laser world. And we’re always trying to be on the cutting edge. I mean, when you talk about Co-Line Manufacturing—you think—we were the first ones to have the Space Gear lasers in Iowa. We’ve been the first to do a lot of things here in Iowa. We also have one of the biggest Schroeder benders in the United States that’s not at an OEM. So we like to be on that cutting edge of technology.