Gerard Daniel evolves as a customer-driven engineered solutions provider for critical filtration and separation applications

Gerard Daniel Worldwide has grown to be a leading engineered solution provider of mesh products used in a wide array of filtration and separation applications.

The company, founded in 1952, became known as the “wire-mesh superstore’” and built its reputation on intelligently sourcing quality wire cloth and providing customers with exceptional customer service. While that’s still the case today, strategic investments have enabled Gerard Daniel to provide deep engineering expertise and manufacturing solutions to their filtration and separation customers. The company now has 11 plants in six locations, spanning the U.S., Canada and Europe and has a wide range of forming and assembly production capabilities.

Gerard Daniel offers a full Engineering solution service – skilled design and manufacturing engineers will work with a customer, developing a solution to meet the project needs. The company goes beyond a traditional “build to print” component manufacturer and collaborates on the whole process from sourcing and design, to manufacture and delivery – all with the goal of providing the lowest cost of supply to the customer.

The company’s in-house tool and die group play a big part in the efficiency of the production process – especially complex with wire mesh, which does not behave the same as sheet metal. The knowledge, equipment and experience of their toolmakers allows them to rapidly manufacture and deliver prototypes and first articles for new development projects – some of which have clearance tolerances of one tenth of a human hair.

Gerard Daniel’s growth has elevated its position as an experienced filtration and separation solution provider, supplying a wide range of industries including aerospace, vehicles, food & beverage, pharmaceutical, oil & gas, mining, and industrial applications. Gerard Daniel’s solutions range from small coffee strainers at one end of the technology spectrum through to fine particulate fluid filtration and high-frequency sound modulation in aircraft engines at the other.

For this edition of IFN’s Executive Q&A, we interviewed Timothy E. Kardish, CEO at Gerard Daniel Worldwide.

Ed Gregor: Gerard Daniel has been supplying wire cloth for many years and it’s such a competitive business. What have you done differently than your competition to become the largest supplier of wire cloth in the U.S.?

Tim Kardish: Gerard Daniel starts with the customer first and works diligently to build upon its rich, nearly 70 year history, as a wire mesh & wire cloth supplier. I believe there are a growing number of customers and prospective customers who think of Gerard Daniel as their partner for filtration and separation engineered solutions addressing Design for Manufacturing (DFM), product & process integration and cost reduction.

Ed Gregor: I always thought of Gerard Daniel as a wire cloth company, but when I saw your website, the company has forward integrated such as pleating. Smart move! What stimulated this thinking?

Tim Kardish: Gerard Daniel is often recognized as a reliable, knowledgeable and customer-centric producer and distributor of industrial grade wire mesh and wire cloth for the most demanding applications. Pleating is one of several value-add services Gerard Daniel can provide to industrial filtration and separation clients. Other manufacturing technologies and value-added services that customers depend on Gerard Daniel for are stamping, edging, sheering, slitting, calendaring, laser cutting, heat treating, coating & finishes, wire drawing, tool & die design production, build-to-print and, of course, weaving. Customers drive Gerard Daniel’s innovation and competencies.

Gerard Daniel is committed to serving customer requirements for engineered products through a collaborative approach to DFM, assembly, integration, and cost reduction.

Tim Kardish

Ed Gregor: Can you pleat multiple materials, such as multiple layers of wire cloth or wire cloth and nonwoven fabrics into pleat-packs?

Tim Kardish: Gerard Daniel has Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and production competencies in a wide variety of pleat-pack material types, including nonwovens, expanded foil, perforated stock, as well as wire cloth.

Ed Gregor: Do you want to elaborate further on any added capabilities?

Tim Kardish: Gerard Daniel, driven by customer requirements, is an end-to-end provider from wire cloth to integrated filtration & separation subassemblies to turnkey filtration solutions for critical applications in transportation, aerospace, water, alternative energy, oil & gas, food & beverage, medical, chemical, sound and architectural market applications

Ed Gregor: Please comment of your worldwide holdings?

Tim Kardish: Gerard Daniel applies a center of excellence approach supporting customers in North America with facilities located in Canada and throughout the U.S. and for Europe through our facility in Ireland. Gerard Daniel supports customers in Asia/Pacific through VMI and alliance partnerships.

Ed Gregor: Are you open to carrying or supplying other materials beyond wire cloth?

Tim Kardish: The breadth of Gerard Daniel’s product offering includes perforated metal, expanded metal and foils, welded wire panels, filter assemblies, filter leafs, plastic injection molding, separator machines, separator screens, insulation products, finely drawn wire as well as wire mesh and wire cloth. Gerard Daniel is committed to serving customer requirements for engineered products through a collaborative approach to DFM, assembly, integration, and cost reduction.

Ed Gregor: What macro-trends do you see in the wire cloth business in the future?

Tim Kardish: Beyond recent, and hopefully short-lived, supply chain disruptions and raw material price instability, customers are asking Gerard Daniel to partner with them to accelerate time to market and value engineering to drive margins and profitability.

Ed Gregor: Anything else you would like to comment on?

Tim Kardish: Gerard Daniel values our customers’ trust in our commitment over almost a 70 year history to provide an extensive breadth of offering, accurate and timely delivery of products derived from a wide range of media including wire mesh, wire cloth and wire into critical industrial applications. Thank you.

For inquiries as follow-up to this interview, please contact Steve Crooks, VP Sales, scrooks@gerarddaniel.com; (800) 232-3332) The company website is www.gerarddaniel.com.