About Us
OUR HISTORY
Sterling Mfg. Co., Inc. began in September of 1986 as Elsten Machine Tool Co. The company’s owner and president is Stan Elsten. The operation started up in a 16 X 24 garage with one engine lathe, one manual mill, a cut off saw and one tool grinder. The offerings of EMT Co. were that of proto-type production parts and production tooling centering around the battery, printing press, rubber and poultry industries. It was the poultry industry which spawned company growth and the development of deboning equipment to enhance the effort of deboning turkey drumsticks, thighs and wings. Stan developed equipment which utilized fluid power in the form of pneumatic controls and cylinders to push the bones out of the intended parts of the turkey. With this invention, a patent ensued and was granted in 1991 and the ball started rolling. The first generation equipment was formatted on a mobile portable cabinet with wheels, which could easily be rolled off the floor and into the maintenance shop for repairs. These small but efficient machines delivered yields greater than hand deboning and up to 16 pieces per minute, which at the time was 4 times the hand deboning rate of one individual. These machines are still in use at some locations around the globe today.
In 1992 the format evolved into a two at a time deboning loading taking the pieces per minute to 32 with auto hock removal and increased yields over and beyond industry standards. These units have been in some plants now for 28 years and are still performing great. The latest format developed in the early 2000s is of a carousel design with 8 stations producing up to 60 pieces per minute with turkey wings, 45 pieces per minute with drums, and 35 pieces per minute with thighs. These units have been in some facilities since 2005 and they are our line of offerings to the industry presently.
Future projects to come are turkey mid-wing deboning, turkey drumette deboning with 16 stations, chicken drum and thigh deboning capable of up to 120 pieces per minute, along with other new ideas being developed soon.
Our customer list to name a few: Butterball LLC, Cargill Turkey Products, Jennie-O Turkey Store, Farbest Foods, Cooper Farms, Prestage Foods, Foster Farms, Michigan Turkey Producers, Dakota Provisions.