About Us

RPM and Associates, 333 Concourse Dr., Rapid City, SD RPM & Associates, Inc. was founded in 1982 by Rob Mudge, Deb Mudge and Rob's parents, Jim and Phyllis Mudge. RPM & Associates, Inc. is a manufacturing firm located in Rapid City and is a South Dakota corporation. Our core customers are coal fired power plants, mining operations, cement plants, chemical processing plants, Department of Defense and aerospace. We are focused on solving wear problems for our customer base using innovative ideas, automatic welding systems, creative machining and proper material selection.

Please take a few minutes to browse through our products and services, and contact any one of our sales associates with questions.

Operating Principles:

RPM operates under four basic principles: Safety, Quality, Production, and Profit. There is one driving force behind each one of them: A strong desire to solve our customers’ wear problems and save our customers dollars.

Safety.
Safety is very important at RPM & Associates. Rob Mudge, our President and founder states, "Safety is our number one priority. There is no job we have ever done nor will we ever do that is worth someone getting hurt over. Quite frankly, as far as we are concerned, that job does not exist." Extraordinary measures have been taken to ensure that our facilities offer the safest possible work environment.
Quality.

Over the years, RPM's quality service has earned it the distinction of being a
Basin Electric Preferred Vendor.

“The best is barely good enough” is a motto of Jim Mudge, co-founder and father of Rob Mudge. In 1982, this motto was adopted by the newly formed company, RPM & Associates. Since then, its meaning has been embraced by all employees and our customers experience it in our products every day.
Production.
RPM’s management and engineering teams are constantly reviewing and improving production processes to make sure employees have the best possible tools, equipment, education, and work environment to operate efficiently and competitively.
Profit.
When the first three principles of Safety, Quality, and Production are embraced, profit follows. RPM is able to provide competitive wages and benefits to its employees.

Services and Capabilities:

RPM & Associates, Inc. offers a variety of industrial and engineering services, including analytical and design engineering, CNC plasma cutting, forming, custom fabrication, and machining.

Engineering Services
Our highly skilled team of mechanical, metallurgical, electrical, and software engineers will analyze your problem and provide a timely and cost effective solution.

Services provided include engineering analysis and design, inspections, and re-engineering of specialty parts.
Onsite Metallurgy Lab and Coordinate Measuring Machines
We have an on-site metallurgy lab, multiple Faro portable coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), and a stationary coordinate measuring machine that enable us to repair or manufacture parts to very precise tolerances.

On-site Metallurgy Lab
Stationary CMM
Portable CMMs

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Other Equipment
RPM’s custom-built CNC cutting table can cut metal sheets as big as 140” x 78” and up to 6” thick. Computer-aided cutting ensures your part is cut with precision.

Our digital 4-roll hydraulic forming machine can form metal sheets up to 5/8” thick and 120” wide. A variety of radii can be achieved in both cylindrical and cone shapes.

With multi-axis lathes and mills, manual and CNC, RPM’s machine shop can resurface or manufacture almost any part. RPM specializes in large shafts, journal parts and pulverizer rolls. RPM's machine shop offers critical support to our welding capabilities.

CNC Cutting Table
4-roll Hydraulic Forming Machine
Large Shaft on Lathe
Vertical Turret Lathe

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Our History

RPM & Associates, Inc. was founded in 1982 by Rob Mudge, Deb Mudge and Rob's parents, Jim and Phyllis Mudge. Over the years, the variety of products and services we produce has grown dramatically. A few of the major milestones in the growth of the company are outlined below.

Date	Description
April, 1982	RPM & Associates, Inc. is founded.
February, 1986	Purchased first automated welding system.
October, 1986	Welded first pulverizer roll.
January, 1988	Built second automated welding system.
February, 1988	Welded first Coal Pulverizer Table.
January, 1991	Received first inquiry about atomizers and Flue Gas Desulphurization systems.
October, 1992	Started welding coal transport elbows and fittings.
January, 1996	Started manufacturing overlay plate.
April, 1996	Spun off sister company, RPM Solutions, Inc. (www.RPMSolutions.com), focused on atomizers, spray dryers and Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) systems.
March, 2001	Teamed with South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and began investigating laser technology.
June, 2002	Moved into a new 35,000 square foot facility.
March, 2004	First laser welding system started up.
December, 2009	Built and put into production in-house designed Laser Deposition Technology machine, RPM557, our second laser welding system.
February, 2011	Built third automated welding system.
March, 2011	Installed a CNC vertical turret lathe with 28,000 lb capacity.
December, 2011	Began 15,000 square-foot expansion, to be completed in November, 2012.
April, 2012	Celebrated 30 years of being in business.
October, 2012	Second 557 Laser System Completed.
January, 2013	Spun off Laser Deposition Technology Group to sister company, RPM Innovations, Inc. (www.RPM-Innovations.com)

About RPM & Associates

RPM laser cladding can make your worn shaft better-than-new with a variety of laser-deposited alloys that eliminate spalling.

Rapid City, the Black Hills, and South Dakota ... Our Home

The Chinese ring-necked pheasant population is huge in South Dakota. In 84 years of pheasant hunting in South Dakota, there have only been 21 years where less than 1,000,000 birds were harvested.

*On-site Metallurgy Lab*	*Stationary CMM*	*Portable CMMs*
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