From coil to panel

Worksport has boosted efficiency, improved product quality and expanded its ability to build advanced truck covers and clean energy solutions at scale with a new automated coil processing line.

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Worksport provides the design and manufacturing of truck accessories and portable clean energy systems. Known for its disruptive approach to truck bed cover systems, tonneau covers and its energy-forward products such as SOLIS and COR, Worksport recently took a bold step—bringing its manufacturing in-house.

Based in Buffalo, New York (USA), and founded in 2011, Worksport builds smart solutions for truck owners from bed covers to portable solar systems. After initially planning to scale production overseas, the company made a pivotal decision: to bring manufacturing in-house and take full ownership of how its products are made. The shift wasn’t just about cost—it was about control, quality, speed and vision. That vision started with a challenge: how to produce better covers, closer to home, and with long-term scalability in mind.

“Originally, we were going to grow manufacturing in China,” said Chris Bernaudo, COO, Worksport. “Then we raised triple what we expected, and everything changed. We shut the curtains, built a new type of company and brought it all home.”

An automation mindset

The company’s West Seneca, NY facility wasn’t just built—it was reimagined from the ground up.

“We wanted to automate as much as possible from day one,” Bernaudo explained. “Not to eliminate people, but to eliminate human error. It’s about consistency and quality.”

That philosophy led them to Prima Power’s PSBB line. “We weren’t looking for manual benders. We had a design in mind and were looking for the best solution,” explained Bernaudo. “Other suppliers offered cells—we needed a full line. Prima Power was the only one that came close.”

The PSBB automated line includes a Shear Genius punch-shear machine; Express Bender EBe panel bender; Fast Loading FL Storage and connection to a third-party coil system to process sheet metal products. 

To read the rest of this article in the May 2026 issue of ISMR, see https://joom.ag/nAKd/p40