Art's Way Announces Technology Improvements from Manufacturing 4.0 Grant

Sep 14, 2023

In April 2022, agricultural equipment maker Art’s Way, Armstrong, Iowa, was named a recipient of the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s (IEDA) Manufacturing 4.0 grant, a program created to infuse more technology into Iowa manufacturing businesses after the pandemic. In the year following, the company says it has spearheaded improvements to work through the company’s largest supply-chain backlog in history.

“We’ve implemented three new collaborative weld robots, called cobots, to vastly improve our product weld quality, consistency and output for our customers,” says Brian Wrightsman, Art’s Way vice president of operations. “Amidst ongoing labor shortages, it’s a huge advantage to have cobots that can produce consistently placed welds every time while increasing productivity.”

According to Art’s Way, the company has also implemented a high-definition plasma (CNC plasma) system for cutting thick metals, further increasing efficiency while producing tighter tolerences. Art's Way uses dual CNC lathes for finish machining spindles, axles and shafts with increased productivity and quality.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.