In December 1967, a family-owned machine tool business opened its doors in the Salt Lake Valley. A couple of decades later, a new family took over the business when long-time salesman Roger Jorgenson and his wife decided to purchase it from the previous owners.
When Roger retired in 2008, he sold the company to his kids, who have taken up the legacy of offering the best in metalworking equipment along the Wasatch Front and beyond, serving 13 Western States in new equipment, and nationwide in used equipment.
To help commemorate the 50th anniversary, Jorgenson Machine Tools (now Bud’s Machine Tools) held an open house at our Salt Lake City facility on November 1st and 2nd, 2017.
The open house ran from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM each day and featured press brake training classes sponsored by Wila and Radan, machine demos, discounts, a BBQ lunch, snacks, giveaways and prize drawings (including the grand prize drawing for a free band saw).
We offered two free press brake classes during the open house.
On Wednesday, November 1st, we held a class sponsored by Wila USA, Using Less to Do More… Optimizing Your Press Brake Tooling Mix for Maximum Productivity. David Bishop, the Business Development Manager for the Western Region of Wila USA, delivered the the presentation. Attendees received tips on how to become competent in proper press brake tooling selection from this veteran with 38 years of experience in the industry. The class was so popular that Dave agreed to hold a second class in the afternoon that also filled nearly to capacity.
On Thursday, November 2nd, we held a class sponsored by Radan, Bending Solutions for the Sheet Metal Industry. The Radan team delivered a presentation about the Radbend offline programming solution that Radan developed for press brakes.
Our complete inventory of in-stock machines was available for inspection both days, and several machines were under power, with demonstrations taking place throughout the open house. The highlight of the show was our lineup of Durma-built press brakes, with demos being run on three different models.
Attendees were given the opportunity to submit business cards for our grand prize drawing for a new 8″ capacity WE-310DS double miter horizontal band saw. Those entering the raffle were also allowed to spin a game wheel for the chance to win jackets, shirts, caps and other swag on the spot. A variety of other giveaways were also available for the taking on tables sponsored by ourselves, Radan and MEI Rigging.
The grand prize drawing was held as the show concluded, at 3:01 PM on the second day. Ferron Collings of Gerber Construction had his entry drawn to win the band saw. Congratulations Ferron!
Whoever said, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” has apparently never been to an open house here! We had quite the spread offered both days, courtesy of the Fun Events Company. The menu included BBQ chicken quarters and BBQ pork ribs, along with ranch beans, potato and pasta salads, fresh baked buns, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and a variety of canned soft drinks.
Between lunch, snacks, giveaways, drawings for prizes, classes, one-on-one consulting, machine demos, and more, the open house was a great success for our company in helping to promote our products and, according to our visitors, was a fun and educational experience for them.
