When Wilbur Curtis Co. Inc. was founded in 1941, America was a country powered by coffee. Wartime rationing made every cup a cherished commodity – soldiers relied on strong, black coffee for comfort and alertness on the front lines while Americans back at home brewed it in kitchens and factory breakrooms.
It was a time when diners and lunch counters were popping up across the nation to serve wartime and industrial shift workers; offering “bottomless” cups of joe around the clock fueled their businesses – and their patrons. As coffee surged in popularity, reliable equipment to brew it in large volumes was hard to find.
To accommodate growing demand in this new, burgeoning coffee culture, Wilbur Curtis opened its doors and began producing coffee makers – dependable machines designed to meet the needs of a country that was running on caffeine. Mike Silva, plant manager at Wilbur Curtis’s Montebello, Calif., factory, says the company’s story is truly one of American innovation and craftsmanship.
“The company was founded at a time when coffee was becoming an essential part of American life,” he explains. “From our early coffee dispensing systems to landmark innovations such as our Gemini satellite brewing system in the 1980s and the first commercial brewers with advanced digital controls in the 1990s, Wilbur Curtis has consistently shaped the evolution of professional coffee brewing equipment. It’s been achieved through innovation, engineering excellence and a commitment to quality and customer satisfaction.”
Coffee talk
Since the 1940s, America’s relationship with coffee has grown far beyond its status as a functional beverage; consumers today seek out rare coffee bean varieties roasted in creative ways, and they are particular about the way their coffee is brewed. With more than 170 million daily coffee drinkers in the United States alone, the market for coffee machine manufacturing has become fiercely competitive.
During its nearly 85 years in business, Wilbur Curtis has been one of the key suppliers of coffee brewing equipment for the country’s more than 60,000 coffee shops and diners. To accommodate the ever-growing caffeine community, the company significantly expanded its line of offerings – producing more than 300 finished goods SKUs and around 1,000 make-and-buy items. If it can produce a cup of coffee, Wilbur Curtis most likely manufactures it. That includes the iconic decanter brewers seen in classic diners, the batch brewers used in breakrooms and breakfast restaurant chains, and the single-serve models that feature adjustable controls for the most discerning coffee connoisseurs.
“Wilbur Curtis employs approximately 150 people, runs seven production lines and manufactures around 120,000 units per year across a 10,000-sq.-m site,” Silva says. “With its in-house machine shop handling metal fabrication, laser cutting, welding and bending, Wilbur Curtis maintains full control over production quality and reliability.”
Wilbur Curtis is not just serving the American market, though. In 2019, the company joined Groupe SEB, a French-owned global leader in small domestic appliances and professional coffee machines, which allowed Wilbur Curtis to leverage the group’s global resources and expertise. The acquisition enabled Wilbur Curtis to expand its international presence and continue its commitment to product innovation.
Engineering the perfect cup
The machine shop that Silva mentioned is home to a fleet of fabrication equipment, including several Muratec machines. Over the years, Wilbur Curtis has invested in various turret punch presses, including two 20-ton Motorum M2048LT servo-driven models. Designed for high-volume, high-variety sheet metal fabrication, they are ideal for Wilbur Curtis’s large catalog of products. The large turrets hold up to 54 tools, which means setups for new product runs are fast and easy. Wilbur Curtis also relies on a Motorum M2048TS 20-ton turret punch press, Motorum M2548 25-ton punch press and Motorum M3048TG-S 30-ton punch press.
“For many years, Wilbur Curtis operated with a highly manual manufacturing process,” Silva says. “Every step from metal cutting to forming was done by hand. While this approach reflected our craftsmanship and attention to detail, it also limited our ability to scale efficiently as product demand grew.
“To meet increasing production needs and ensure consistency across our expanding product lines, we made a strategic investment in Muratec Motorum turret punch presses and automation systems,” he adds. “These machines have significantly enhanced our productivity, precision and flexibility on the shop floor.”
To increase output and accuracy while also improving operator safety and ergonomics, Wilbur Curtis’s M2548 and M3048TG-S both feature fully automated sheet loading and unloading systems. The M2548 is outfitted with an FS2512, Muratec’s most efficient automatic loading and unloading system to date. Together, the two systems have significantly helped the company reduce cycle times and increase throughput, but they have also sparked a variety of other benefits.
“Automation enables our teams to focus on higher value tasks, such as assembly, quality control and continuous improvement, ensuring that we maintain the same level of craftsmanship while embracing modern manufacturing standards,” Silva says. “The Muratec systems have improved our flexibility and speed in product development. We can now prototype, test and refine new designs much faster, adapting to customer needs and market trends with greater agility.”
Silva credits the equipment for the company’s dexterity when developing new products, specifically the punch presses’ ability to quickly integrate new tooling. With the goal to always produce durable components with excellent precision and consistency, Wilbur Curtis is always looking for ways to be more efficient and productive with new technologies. Thanks to that philosophy, businesses have long looked at the company’s coffee makers as quality products they can rely on for years on end.
Full-bodied finish
Silva also credits the success at Wilbur Curtis to the company’s employees. The average employee tenure is 14 years, but several have been with the company for more than 40 years. Jeff Kalmbach, general manager of the machine tools division at Murata Machinery USA Inc., recently toured the Wilbur Curtis manufacturing facility and noted the company’s dedication to its employees. With more than 19 years at Murata Machinery, Kalmbach is keen to the signs of a good employer. As an industry-recognized automation subject matter expert, he is also keen to the tools that can help an operator be successful.
“One of the things that impressed me about Wilbur Curtis is how they spend a great deal of effort in developing their people and building a strong work environment for their teams and their employees,” he says. “They take great pride in their employees, and investing in automation is another way to invest in employees – giving them the latest technology to do their jobs better and build better morale, which certainly helps with retention, as well.”
Silva agrees, adding that automation supports his teams by reducing repetitive tasks and potential injury risks. It allows operators to focus more on quality, technical adjustments and process optimization while also opening the doors to overnight, unattended operations.
“The introduction of the Muratec equipment has transformed the role of our fabrication operators from a primarily manual function to a more technical one,” he says. “Our employees have learned the basics of CNC programming and now work with greater precision and process control, rather than purely physical tasks.
“This evolution has allowed our teams to develop new technical skills, gain a deeper understanding of automation and data-driven manufacturing, and work in a safer, more ergonomic environment,” he adds. “It’s a great example of how technology and people can grow together to drive performance and innovation.”
Shared legacy
Murata Machinery Ltd. (MML) got its start in Japan in 1935, just a few years before Wilbur Curtis was established. By 1961, MML was producing machine tools, and the very next year, long before automation became an industry buzzword, the company was focused on automating its systems.
Founded by MML in 1974 to serve the North American market, Murata of America Inc. acquired the Wiedemann Division in 1989, forming Murata Wiedemann. The company introduced the unified “Muratec” brand in 1991 and merged both companies in 2002 to become Murata Machinery USA Inc., also known as Muratec USA.
“Muratec machines have been automated from the beginning, and that’s the true legacy of our company,” Kalmbach says. “We like to say that automation is in our DNA. It’s what we do and what we’ve always done. It isn’t something that we think about later; it’s always top of mind. Every person who works at Muratec understands automation. We lead with that, not follow up with it.”
For companies like Wilbur Curtis, a machine needs to be easy to use, easy to change over and easy to set up. To deliver on those needs, Muratec starts with the software.
“We need to give our customers equipment that’s easy to understand and use,” Kalmbach explains. “Operators have a lot of responsibility, including getting jobs done in an expeditious manner. It’s all about time and how fast you can do something. And that’s why there’s a constant focus at Muratec on ease of use, which often starts with software development at the control panel and the touchscreen.
“In general, society has thought that automation will replace people,” he adds. “But I absolutely don’t think that’s the case. Instead, it relieves a person from doing mundane, monotonous or unsafe work, allowing them to do something that brings more value to them and the company. That, to me, is really the role that automation plays for today’s manufacturers, and it’s our job to bring that connection between a piece of equipment or task to the operator.”
Coming full circle, Muratec USA just remodeled its employee breakroom at its North American headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. Part of that effort included the installation of two brand-new Wilbur Curtis three-station coffee systems. Wilbur Curtis has helped keep America caffeinated since WWII, and now it is helping the staff at Muratec with their daily grind, too.
