Good machines start with good design.
Custom automation machinery — designed and built in Michigan. From end-of-arm tooling to full custom machines, every project starts on the screen and earns its way to the floor.
What we’re known for
Design is where we start — on every project, at every scale. The same engineering team that models your equipment builds it, tests it, and stands behind it.
End of Arm Tooling
Mold-tending and specialty EOAT designed to your mold and your press — sensors, degating, insert molding, laser marking, and more. You own every file so you can make your own spares and replacements. Urgent job? We can turn a tool in 2–3 days.
Machine Build
Custom machines sized to ship on a straight truck — lasers, vision, bowl feeders, 6-axis robots. Priced below traditional machine builders, with expedited builds as fast as 9 weeks and your team involved at every step.
Design Services
3D modeling, 2D drawings, and FEA — from a small fixture to production lines over a hundred feet long. Extra design capacity for manufacturers, machine shops, and other machine builders, at an hourly rate that makes sense.
Prototyping
Testing equipment and early-stage product development — proving out geometry, material choices, and manufacturability before you commit. A practical first step for new products and patented concepts alike.
A design shop that builds
Plenty of shops can build a machine. Fewer think it all the way through first. Our projects earn their keep because the engineering comes before the iron.
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You own the filesEvery model, every drawing, every replacement part file — handed over, not held hostage.
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Fast when it mattersEOAT in as little as 2–3 days. Machine builds expedited in as few as 9 weeks.
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Right-sized pricingSerious engineering without big-integrator overhead — on tools, machines, and design hours.
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Your input, built inHigh customer involvement from concept to runoff, flexible on purchased parts and plant standards.
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We show upMichigan-based run support when your line needs us — backed by a 1-year warranty.
To cultivate meaningful relationships with our clients, team, and communities by delivering high-quality systems built on effort, trust, and collaboration — all to the glory of God.
Our mission
Heirloom drafting tools from a True North GrandpaSame job title, better tools
We write our own engineering software, and it changes what a small team can do. Our in-house tools generate drawings, run quality checks on our designs, manage part properties like material and finish, and keep every project file organized — so the work stays fast and the details stay right.
Not long ago this meant a room full of drafters bent over boards. Today one True North engineer can do the work of a whole department, in a fraction of the time and with fewer mistakes.
From the floor
Vacuum Lifter
A custom vacuum-assist lifter that lets one operator move large glass panels safely — one of our most successful prototype-to-production builds.
Wax Twist-belt and Stacker Line
A multi-station feed, wax, and stack system — designed and detailed in-house.
Clip-Install Tooling
End-of-arm tooling that installs clips at the press — automating a hand operation without adding a second station.
Have a project in mind?