Last week I had the pleasure of touring the new Genesis Casket Company plant in Indianapolis, Indiana. My wife, Jodi, and I have been good friends of the president of Genesis Casket, Tony Colson and his wife Margie for many years. I had to make a funeral home road trip to Indy so Tony invited us to stay the night at his place and then he’d give us the tour in the morning. And let me tell you, I’m really glad we did.
Genesis Casket Company is a brand new casket manufacturing company that will be ready to start making caskets in just a few short weeks. The plant is very close to being finished and it very impressive. This plant will take the rolled steel, cut it, form it, weld it, paint it, install the hardware, manufacture and install the interiors and get them ready for distribution all under the same roof.
They are using the latest in robotic computerized welding and custom made forming machines to make their caskets. As someone with an engineering degree I was amazed at the equipment Genesis has put together for this operation. The robots look like they are straight out of a “Transformers” movie, able to pick up the pieces and perfectly assemble the parts perfectly down to the smallest details. The assembly line then takes the parts into a high tech paint booth that will give the caskets a finish that will rival any sports car.
I have seen the prototypes and there is no doubt that the Genesis caskets will give the big three casket companies (Batesville, Aurora, and Mathews) a run for their money. But what Genesis is also hoping to do is give the Chinese imports some competition. Through the use of the latest technology Genesis is sure it will be able to realize a major cost savings and in turn pass that savings along to its customers.
Genesis plans to start out offering its caskets in the middle of the country first while it sets up its distribution centers. It will no doubt expand to the rest of the country as it grows. Tony has assembled a team of casket and funeral industry veterans that seem ready and capable to make this project a huge success.
I could tell you more about what the units will look like but I’ve been sworn to secrecy. I can tell you that they have some neat innovations they are working on that will make the caskets much more user friendly for funeral directors. The kind that will make you say “Gee, why didn’t anyone think of this before?”
Genesis promises to be at the NFDA convention in Chicago in October where the rest of the world will get a chance to see what I had a sneak preview of. I’m sure they will create a major Buzz.
I’m Dale Clock. Thanks for listening.
Dale-Time 