Industry Watch 20418

A TRAINING TRIUMPH IN TENNESSEE
In September 2005, an accredited injection molding training program will be launched in the South—in Giles County, TN to be exact. It will be a full-time training program, providing up to 1296 hours of training. Student recruitment will not only focus on those already employed by molders in the area, but also will include dislocated workers, high school juniors and seniors, and the general public.

An emphasis on worker ethics is built into the curriculum, which will focus on progressive study levels in the specific job categories found in most shops, like machine operator, setup specialist, and process technician. Students completing each study course will earn a certificate. Completion of the full curriculum earns the student a diploma.

The program will employ a variety of instructional strategies, including theory, classroom labs, live work projects, and student internships. It also will provide flexible scheduling to better accommodate industrial employees’ shifts.

The program is the brainchild of Bill Plate, manager of North American operations of Windsor Mold Inc. in Pulaski, TN, still known locally as Tenneplas. It’s a member of the Windsor Mold Group (Windsor, ON). Plate worked closely with James Dixon, director of the Tennessee Technology Center in Pulaski (TTCP), Robert Barnes of the Giles County Economic Development Commission (GCEDC), and with other community and state officials.

A 365-ton press was donated by Windsor Mold in Ontario to get things rolling. More than $225,000 was committed to the project by a variety of interested organizations to hire instructors, provide salaries, and to purchase additional equipment and training materials—everything from a Motan pellet dryer to Paulson training software. One party even donated five Fanuc robots.

TTCP has received program approval from the Tennessee Board of Regents for accreditation, so students will be eligible for Pell Grants and the Tennessee Lottery Scholarship. And TTCP has presented a plan to the local school board and high school principals to create a feeder system, so juniors and seniors can enroll in the program.

With the growth of automotive business down south and the immediate benefits expected from the program, Ken Lowe, Tenneplas’s plant manager, says he views the partnership as another step toward ensuring the future growth of the community and its industrial base.

“Hopefully, with this agreement more of our youth will be able to be trained, secure jobs locally, and remain in our community,” TTCP’s Dixon says. And GCEDC chairman Hascal Mayes adds, “This is a win-win situation for all involved.”—CK

GE FLUID ENGINEERING CENTER
GE Advanced Materials, addressing the need for potable water in much of the world, has invested in a new Fluid Engineering Center at its location in Bergen Op Zoom, the Netherlands. Scientists and technologists there are focusing GE’s R&D efforts on the use of engineering plastics in fluid engineering applications.

Work includes prediction of endurance and mechanical strength retention of plastic parts after extended use, and replacement of metal water handling components with plastics to save costs and eliminate risk of corrosion and heavy metal contamination.

Long-term performance data is being generated regarding fluid handling applications for all of GE’s materials and the staff is researching new processing and assembly technologies for these applications. Concept engineers will also design applications that make use of part consolidation—for example, making multiple components into one plastic component.—RN

EUROPEAN INJECTION MOLDING VACATION
If you’ve been nagging your boss year after year to let you attend the Fakuma show in Germany, this just might be the time to go. The Injection Molding Div. of the Society of Plastics Engineers is putting together a European injection molding vacation that culminates in Friedrichshafen, Germany at Europe’s biggest plastics trade show this year.

For a very reasonable $2900, you will find yourself in Stuttgart, Munich, Friedrichshafen, and many points in between, calling on the likes of Arburg, Ferromatik, and Krauss-Maffei (machinery makers); Gardena (injection molder); Schneider Form (moldmaker); Neureder (robotics maker); and BMW (carmaker).

The main event is the show, which is among the best in the world if you’re looking for a glimpse of the latest and greatest in molding technology. So, gird yourself for pig knuckles and visit www.4spe.org/communities/divisions (click on the Injection Molding Div.) or e-mail Krauss-Maffei’s Peter Lipp at [email protected].—JS

lEAR CORP. NAMES HALL OF FAME SUPPLIER AWARDS
Lear Corp. recently named nine suppliers to its Lear Hall of Fame Awards for 2004.

Three of those were plastics industry suppliers: Elgin Die Mold Co. (Pine Grove, IL), a custom injection molder of small-tonnage parts; Hi-Tech Mold & Engineering (Rochester Hills, MI), a mold manufacturing company with four plants and a total of 125,000 sq ft in Michigan; and U.S. Farathane Corp. (Sterling Heights, MI), a custom injection molder/contract manufacturer.According to information provided on Lear’s website, “Elgin Die Mold’s continuing persistence, competitive pricing, and high quality make the company a valuable supplier. They have a deep understanding of the traits of a model supplier and continue to provide a sustainable contribution to Lear.”

Hi-Tech Mold & Engineering is a “full-service supplier capable of handling any size tooling program,” notes the Lear release. “In 1998, Hi-Tech located a 135,000-sq-ft facility in Winchester, TN to be in close proximity to companies requiring a full-service mold supplier.”

U.S. Farathane’s “ability to pair innovation with solid value is what has made [the company] a leading supplier to the automotive industry,” says the Lear release. “U.S. Farathane is a full-service provider of value-added design and high-quality solutions.”

These Hall of Fame suppliers were selected from more than 3200 companies that supply Lear.—CG

WELFARE-TO-CAREER PROGRAM A WINNER
In 1999, the monthly retention rate for employees in the Welfare-to-Career program at molder Cascade Engineering (Grand Rapids, MI) averaged 83%. In 2004, it averaged 97.8%.

The Welfare-to-Career program supports unemployed and underemployed individuals as they move from welfare dependence to economic self-sufficiency. Through it, Cascade offers opportunities to employees and to the community by providing education, coaching and mentoring, resource guidance, and transportation for employees.

Documented benefits to participants and to society at large include reduced cash-assistance payments and increased tax receipts. In addition, participants in 2004 received $40,336 in assistance for emergency car purchases and repairs, utility services, and housing.

Cascade’s program benefits employees financially and personally by making career awareness, advancement, and self-sufficiency a reality, according to the company. It reportedly is the only company in the state that has one full-time and one part-time caseworker from Michigan’s Dept. of Human Services onsite.

In 2004, 97 former welfare recipients participated, including 30 who achieved self-sufficiency—they were no longer receiving any cash assistance from the state.

Information on the benefits of the program to participants, to the company, and to the government can be found in case studies at www.conference-board.org and www.ssireview.com.—CK

A NEW STORE FOR STEEL
In support of the local tooling community, tool steel supplier Bohler-Uddeholm Corp. (Rolling Meadows, IL) has opened its latest steel store in Waterbury, CT. It joins eight other steel stores strategically located nationwide in Alabama, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, California, and Ohio, which has two.

Built in areas with a high concentration of customers, steel stores can fill orders for premium and standard tool, die, and mold steels. They focus on cold work tool steels. Orders can be picked up on the same day or shipped using your preferred delivery service.

“The Waterbury steel store enables us to build strong relationships and have a local presence,” says Andrew Davis, national steel store manager. “This growth in the Connecticut area shows Bohler-Uddeholm’s commitment to the local tooling community.”

“Our territory covers New England, New York state east of Rochester, Pennsylvania east of Harrisburg, all of Delaware, and all of Maryland,” says Mike Strenk, supervisor of the Waterbury steel store. “But if I have a stock for someone, say, in Ohio—if I have it, I’ll cut it and ship it.”—CK

NEW CAPACITY, NO TRAINING
Insert molding specialist Mamco (Mold-A-Matic Corp.; Oneonta, NY) recently purchased four new verticals—two 30-ton Newbury shuttles, a 30-ton Newbury rotary, and a 90-ton Mitsubishi. Luckily, VP Mark Veragi tells us that the new machines are similar enough to the presses they’re replacing that no new training is required. He’s equally happy about the added capacity the new presses provide.

“The new shuttle machines come with the ability to run larger mold base sizes than the two older presses we replaced. The Mitsubishi also offers increased capacity while the rotary machine, which accommodates four mold bases, provides even more capacity,” Veragi says. “They give us the ability to be more versatile. When scheduling gets tight, we can run more of our jobs on these presses.”

Mamco precision molds components for a wide variety of demanding markets, like automotive, telecom, military, and aerospace; and for a wide variety of demanding customers, like Teradyne, Siemens, and Harley-Davidson.—CK

TASUS EXPANDS TO SERVE THE SOUTHWEST
Tasus Corp., headquartered in Bloomington, IN, will open a new molding facility in Georgetown, TX on Aug. 15 to serve its automotive customers in the Southwest. The custom molding company is a Tier One supplier to Toyota Corp. and a “Top Toyota Supplier” for the past four years.

Tasus is strictly an automotive supplier. The 112,000-sq-ft plant will open with four presses: 720, 500, 300, and 395 tons. Tasus is bringing several automotive jobs from its Bloomington, IN plant to support two customers in El Paso and McAllen, TX, according to Walt Barkalow, general manager. Although the plant will mold larger parts to start, Barkalow notes that they are putting into place the flexibility necessary to move in the direction of the market, whether that is for large-tonnage parts or small-tonnage components.

The company also offers value-added services in Bloomington such as automated assembly. Its Georgetown plant will have limited secondary services that will expand as business dictates.

Initially, Tasus in Georgetown will employ 25 people. Half of the building is complete for phase one, and the second half of the plant will be completed in phase two as the business for the plant grows. When fully operational, Tasus expects the plant will have 150 to 200 employees.—CG

SHORT SHOTS
D-M-E Co. (Madison Heights, MI) has begun to offer free, same-day delivery service of Class A mold components that it has in stock at the Master Unit Die facility (Greenville, MI) to moldmakers in the Grand Rapids, MI area. “The Grand Rapids area has one of the highest concentrations of moldmakers in the world, making it ideally suited for this kind of service,” says John Harding, D-M-E’s Midwest regional manager.

Business in China is booming for auxiliary equipment supplier Maguire Products Inc. (Aston, PA). Its sales there could triple or even quadruple those of 2004, so it has opened new offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Suzhou. It has also installed a new lab and demonstration facility in Shanghai and it has posted a Chinese language website to better serve its growing customer base.

Engel plans to open a new technical center at its York, PA facility this fall. It built its first North American-built all-electric in July. And, according to Walter J. Jungwirth, president and CEO, Q1 orders are up 18% for the new fiscal year. It sold 570 press/robot units in its last fiscal year, which ended in March.

Kuka Robotics (Clinton Township, MI) has signed Programming Plus (New Berlin, WI) as a system partner. Programming Plus has designed a process that translates Delcam CAD files to CAM files that turn Kuka robots into cost-effective and efficient rapid prototyping, milling, and material removal systems that also can load the parts they are machining.

A full-service PIM molder, Mathson Industries (Troy, MI), has formed a strategic alliance with Negri Bossi USA Inc. (Newark, DE) to develop injection presses specially designed to process PIM materials and plastics. A 300-ton, 27-oz model built at Negri Bossi’s Milan, Italy HQ is scheduled to arrive at Mathson’s Troy plant in September.

Milacron Inc. (Cincinnati, OH) has announced that Glenn Anderson has become GM for its North American injection molding business, replacing Ross A. Anderson (no relation), who is now Milacron’s CFO.

Salina Vortex Corp., manufacturers of dry-bulk material handling systems, broke ground in June for a new facility that will double the size of its existing plant in Salina, KS, enabling it to meet increasing global and domestic demand.

Although it only opened its new, 40,000-sq-ft, QS–9000 facility in El Paso, TX just last year, Plastics Molding Technology (PMT) has received the 2004 supplier certification award from Emerson Electric (St. Louis, MO). PMT runs 48 horizontal and vertical presses.

The SPE Automotive Div. is accepting nominations for its Innovation Awards. Nomination forms can be downloaded from www.speautomotive.com/inno.htm. Complete forms are due no later than Sept. 16. The Innovations Awards Gala will take place on Nov. 16 at the Burton Manor in Livonia, MI.—CK