Springs Magazine, Summer 2022, Vol 61 No 3 by Spring Manufacturers Institute

SUMMER 2022

THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE OF SPRING MANUFACTURE

A Publication of the Spring Manufacturers Institute / Vol. 61, No. 3

RESHORING

REVISITED Reshoring and the Spring Industry......24 2022 SMI Scholarship Program......41 The Spring Industry Reconnects......44 The Evolution of 3D Printing......46

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President’s Message From Gene Huber, Jr.

Reshoring and Our Present Reality In a post COVID-19 marketplace that is riddled with challenges in material supply and in some areas of the world labor shortages, just what is our present reality? Let me digress a moment and talk about an article I recently read in the April 2022 issue of Control Design magazine that was entitled: “Why warehouses can’t be virtual.” Now, this title really caught my attention and I actually asked myself this question before I even read the article: How could a warehouse be virtual? To be completely fair about this, my friend Jason Sicotte from Associated Spring made the point that it could be a building full of 3-D printing machines that basically printed what was needed to be shipped each day. That is a great point that I had obviously overlooked, but it is still not virtual. The article stated this: “At some point, a physical product needs to be transported and an order fulfilled.” I am discussing this article to prove a point: Our customers need physical parts to build physical products to have physical sales to keep our economies moving. This puts us as manufacturers in good stead, as those physical parts need to be made, coated, boxed and shipped. This in turn produces jobs, feeds families and fulfills dreams. I have discussed this situation with some of our customers and they have each related the following: that supply chains have been stretched razor thin, and that the reality is long supply chains are very vulnerable in today’s business environment. Many are responding by “reshoring” into regions of the globe to shorten the supply chain and reduce risk. These same customers have also related that this is not the least expensive option, but not having product is much more detrimental to business at this stage of the game. So, I challenge all of us SMI manufacturers to seek how we can assist in “reshoring” products into our individual regions. Once again, we will face hardship and difficulty in doing so, but I am sure that members of the Industrial Revolution felt those same challenges. Let’s work together to put manufacturing at the forefront of our society. Let’s help young people understand that it is an honor to have a job in manufacturing and that it is important to learn a skill and become a craftsman at their chosen trade. In short, let’s make parts! As efficiently as possible, as timely as possible and that meet our customers’ demands and needs. Let’s Go! Live a crazy good day and God Bless! Gene Huber, Jr.

SMI Executive Committee President: Gene Huber, Jr., Winamac Coil Spring Vice President: Don Jacobson III, Newcomb Spring Secretary/Treasurer: David DeVoe, Plymouth Spring Past President: Bert Goering, Precision Coil Spring At-Large: Dave Deerwester, The Yost Superior Co. Executive Director: Lynne Carr, SMI

SMI Board of Directors Jennelle Carlier, S3 Wireform • Kelley Christy, Diamond Wire Spring • Joe Devany, Betts Company • Chris Fazio, Diamond Wire Spring • Linda Froehlich, Ace Wire Spring & Form • Brett Goldberg, International Spring • Agustin Estalayo Ibanez, RPK Mexico SA de CV • Don Lyons, JonSpring • Peter Mendel, Kern-Liebers USA • Rob Meyers, RK Trading • Alex Melnikow, Midstate Spring • Tony Pesaresi, Winamac Coil Spring • Keith Porter, Jr., Newcomb Spring • Tim Zwit, Michigan Spring and Stamping

Springs Magazine Staff Lynne Carr, Advertising Sales, lynne@smihq.org Gary McCoy, Managing Editor, gmccoy@fairwaycommunications.com Dina Sanchez, Assistant Editor, dina@smihq.org Lisa Plefka Haskin, Art Director, lisahaskin95@gmail.com

Springs Magazine Committee Chair, Keith Porter, Jr., Newcomb Spring • Reb Banas, Stanley Spring & Stamping • Lynne Carr, SMI • Hale Foote, Scandic Springs, Inc. • Patrick Gillum, Gilco Spring of Florida, Inc. • Adam Jacobson, FENN/Torin • Lucas Karabin, Acme Monaco • Michael Shapiro, Gibraltar Corporation • Technical Advisor: Dan Sebastian Advertising sales - Japan Ken Myohdai, Sakura International Inc. Head Office: 3F,4F, ENDO Sakaisuji Bldg., 1-7-3, Bingomachi, Chuo-Ku, Osaka 541-0051, Japan Phone: 81-6-6624-3601 • Fax: 81-6-6624-3602 Tokyo Global Office: 5F Kamei No. 2 Bldg., 2-17-13, Kiba, Koto-Ku, Tokyo, 135-0042, Japan Phone: 81-3-5646-1160 • Fax: 81-3-5646-1161 E-mail: info@sakurain.co.jp Advertising sales - Europe Jennie Franks, Franks & Co. 63 St. Andrew’s Road Cambridge United Kingdom CB41DH Phone/Fax: +44-1223-360472 E-mail: franksco@BTopenworld.com Advertising sales - Taiwan Robert Yu, Worldwide Services Co. Ltd. 11F-B, No 540, Sec. 1, Wen Hsin Rd. Taichung, Taiwan Phone: +886-4-2325-1784 • Fax: +886-4-2325-2967 E-mail: stuart@wwstaiwan.com Springs (ISSN 0584-9667) is published quarterly by SMI Business Corp., a subsidiary of the Spring Manufacturers Institute: 2001 Midwest Road, Suite 106, Oak Brook, IL 60523; Phone: (630) 460-8588.; Web site www.smihq.org. Address all correspondence and editorial materials to this address. The editors and publishers of Springs disclaim all warranties, express or implied, with respect to advertising and editorial content, and with respect to all manufacturing errors, defects or omissions made in connection with advertising or editorial material submitted for publication. The editors and publishers of Springs disclaim all liability for special or consequential damages resulting from errors, defects or omissions in the manufacturing of this publication, any submission of advertising, editorial or other material for publication in Springs shall constitute an agreement with and acceptance of such limited liability. The editors and publishers of Springs assume no responsibility for the opinions or facts in signed articles, except to the extent of expressing the view, by the fact of publication, that the subject treated is one which merits attention. Do not reproduce without written permission. Cover designed by Lisa Plefka Haskin utilizing Shutterstock photographic imagery.

2 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

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Contents 24 FEATURES

22 Reshoring Revisited By Gary McCoy

24 Reshoring and the Spring Industry By Raquel Chole

30 Rebuilding and Reshoring By Harry Moser

34 A Conversation about Reshoring with Rosemary Coates By Gary McCoy

41 2022 SMI Scholarship Program By Gary McCoy

44 The Spring Industry Reconnects

By Gary McCoy

46 The Evolution of 3D Printing By Jason Sicotte

50 Accelerating Performance By Kate Zabriske

DEPARTMENTS

2 President’s Message

Reshoring and Our Present Reality

7 Global Highlights 10 Regional Spring Association Report 52 Flashback

Improving the Industry and Springmakers

55 Five Questions

HS Wire Technology

57 Springmaker Spotlight

Patrick Gillum Gilco Spring of Florida By Gary McCoy

63 Book Corner 65 CTE News 67 Inside SMI 71 Committee Connection

COLUMNS

13 Be Aware Safety Tips

Heat is a “Hot” Issue! By Laura Helmrich-Rhodes

17 Dean of Springs

What Business Are We in? Hint: There is No App By Dan Sebastian

19 Technically Speaking

Cast and Helix Measurements By C. Richard Gordon

4 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

73 New Products 75 Advertisers’ Index 76 Snapshot

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Global Highlights North America FENN/Torin sales manager Craig Watterson has announced the addition of John Gaughan, Jr. as the company’s new application and service technician. Gaughan started his career as a low voltage electrician, then worked in a machine shop that built custom precision measurement machines for 15 years. While working there, he gained knowledge in precision gauging, measuring inside diameter, outside diameter and heights and depths. Over the past five years, Gaughan moved into assembly and

service, where he had heavy involvement in building sub-assemblies and working with a team to assemble machines. In his new role at FENN, Gaughan will work on Torin Spring Coilers and FENN’s other product lines. Watterson says Gaughan looks forward to learning more about the spring industry, meeting and helping customers and making sure the product is up to their standards. “John brings a vast skill set with him to FENN, and we are excited to welcome him,” Watterson concluded.

Jackie Zenhye, a veteran marketing executive in the spring industry, has announced the start of Sell.Market.Win., a firm specializing in offering high caliber marketing talent (and the results that come with it) to B2B manufacturers at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire. “After more than a decade in the spring industry, I saw how springmakers faced new and tough challenges every day,” said Zenhye, who is president and co-founder of the company with her husband, Danny Bozart. “Unfortunately, as issues popped

up on the shop floor or in the supply chain, for example, the essentials of marketing strategy, planning and execution often fell to the bottom of the list.” Zenhye says the company is uniquely positioned to offer marketing expertise to spring manufacturers who cannot hire someone full time, or who are looking to add an outside resource to provide strategic marketing guidance or mentoring. “As a director of marketing in this industry for many years, I struggled to find an agency that knew our products that have a long and complicated cycle, and who could grasp all that went into effectively understanding, targeting, and winning our customers at a price point my budget could handle,” said Zenhye. “Sell.Market.Win. was created to do all of the above.” Zenhye added, “We are here for one reason: to help manufacturers win.” For more information, visit www.sellmarketwin.com.

John Gaughan, Jr.

Obituaries Ruth Janet Richter, nee Thomas, 87, of Elmhurst, Ilinois died May 4, 2022. Beloved wife of the late Ronald Arthur Richter; loving mother to Ronald “Rick” (Wendy) and Randall “Randy” (Bette) Richter of R-R Spring, Addison, Illinois; proud grandmother to Ronald (Krystle), Matthew, Jessica, Randy (Laurel), Eric and Jacob (Prong); dear great grandmother to Aela and Diana; fond sister to Ray (Annette) Thomas; sister-in-law to John Legrady; aunt to many nieces and nephews; special companion to all her friends at Panera. Services were held. Donations can be made to The Salvation Army in her honor at www.salvationarmyusa.org/ usn/ways-to-give/.

Jackie Zenhye

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 7

Global Highlights

International The Lesjöfors Heavy Springs group recently installed the largest model ever made of WAFIOS wire coiling machinery. In a first for WAFIOS, their massive FUL 226 model made its debut in the group’s Lesjöfors Fjadrar AB site. The €1.75m investment is part of an ongoing future-focused growth plan in the group’s expanding heavy springs market. Michael Gibbs, managing director of the UK factories and chair of the Heavy Springs group, said, “This exciting new investment cements the Lesjöfors group expansion intentions in the heavy springs sector and fuels our teams to continue to thrive being leaders in spring manufacture.” At 40 tonnes and just shy of 10m long, the FUL 226 can cold coil wire up to 30mm diameter in addition to coiling pre-tempered wire up to 22mm diameter, with a tensile strength of 2000 MPa. Capabilities have been further enhanced with a new motorized wire payoff, specifically developed by WAFIOS to manage the safety requirements of large wire dimension coiling. Jan Carlson, managing director of Lesjöfors Fjadrar, stated, “As leaders in Kevin Guest, head of quality, health and safety, and environmental management at Alloy Wire International, was recently appointed as a technical member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). Guest has worked for the company for 22 years. The business supplies 60 countries with nickel alloy wire, bars and wire rope, employing 33 workers. Out of those 33, Alloy Wire has 11 first aiders and 12 fire marshals, plus three other staff members have been awarded the IOSH Managing Safely certification. IOSH technical membership supports both the qualifications and experience needed by professionals working in a range of operational health and safety roles. Skills and knowledge need to be updated regularly and experience must be continuous to retain membership.

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Above: WAFIOS FUL 226 model; Right: Jan Carlson, managing director, and project lead David Stolpe, Lesjofors Fjadrar

heavy springs, we strive to lead from the front, securing the very latest technology to ensure we stay ahead of the game to deliver competitively to our customer base across the multiple sectors we serve. “This latest investment not only enables us to expand our product range, it also creates a new flexibility in material grade opportunities, increasing quality options, which in turn enables us to pass on cost efficiencies to our customers. Guest has been a health and safety officer since 2015, moving up the ladder three times to his current position as a consultant. Tony Ginda, IOSH interim head of membership engagement and development, said: “IOSH membership is acknowledged across the world as the benchmark for safety and health excellence. Technical membership is one of seven categories designed to suit different stages of career progression, and all levels of IOSH membership show our members’ commitment to achieving the highest levels of knowledge and skill in their field. “By securing IOSH technical membership, Kevin has shown he is dedicated to these high levels of professionalism, backed up by the qualifications and experience needed across a range of operational health and safety roles. As

David Stolpe, project lead at Lesjöfors, said, “It was certainly challenging, for us and WAFIOS, installing such a large and heavy piece of machinery, but world firsts are meant to be difficult, aren’t they? “Our engineers ensured the installation went smoothly, and after a period of intense training, we are now eager to optimize the potential of this new equipment.”

Kevin Guest

a TechIOSH, Kevin will be required to follow our Continuous Professionalism Development (CPD) program to keep his skills and experience up to date.” Alloy Wire International was established in 1946 and supports 15 industries, including aerospace, nuclear, automotive, chemical, electronic, medical, and oil and gas. n

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Regional Spring Association Report

CASMI Report By Michael Bandy, CASMI, Co-Executive Director

Baseball Event Scheduled for August The Chicago Association of Spring Manufacturers, Inc. (CASMI) will host its 2022 installment of “An Evening at the Ballpark” at Impact Field, Rosemont, Illinois, the home of the Chicago Dogs, a team of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball (AAIPB). The AAIPB is the largest and most successful independent minor league baseball league in the United States. The event will take place Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022. Successfully launched in 2018, this event has consistently delivered a great opportunity for all CASMI members to network while enjoying a baseball game. An Evening at the Ballpark includes your game ticket, networking, seating, food and beverage.

Upcoming CASMI Events CASMI has the following events scheduled for 2022. Details will be available on the organization’s website prior to each event. • Membership Dinner Meeting, Nov. 10, 2022, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Oak Brook, Illinois • Annual Holiday Party, Dec. 8, 2022, Cooper’s Hawk, Arlington Heights, Illinois

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An Evening at the Ballpark is a popular and well-received event. Sponsorship opportunities are not available because CASMI sees this annual get-together as an opportunity to thank its associate members and SpringWorld exhibitors for their continuing support of the organization.

Details and registration are available at www.casmi-springworld.org/event/ baseball22. To learn more about the Chicago Dogs and Impact Field, visit thechicagodogs.com.

SpringWorld 2022 Takes Place in October; Registration Is Now Open SpringWorld 2022 will take place Oct. 12-14 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. With more than 85% of available space sold on the trade show floor, companies that are interested in exhibiting at SpringWorld 2022 should contact CASMI to secure their participation. Call 630-359-4273, or email info@casmi-springworld.org. Exhibiting information is also available on the organization’s website at www.casmi-springworld.org/page/ SWExhibiting. Registration for this event is now open for exhibitor personnel and attendees, which is limited to spring, stamping, fastener, wireform manufacturers and

OEMs. Please visit www.casmi-springworld.org/page/SWHome for details about this event, including registration, hours of operation, housing, etc. SpringWorld, which is presented by CASMI every other year, provides a unique opportunity for spring manufacturers, wireformers, OEMs and their suppliers to network, including one-onone discussions with colleagues to share challenges, discuss solutions, and provide new insights for business.

Regional Spring Association Report

NESMA Report By Lucas Karabin, Acme Monaco, NESMA President NESMA companies have had a busy spring as we look ahead to a fast-moving 2022. NESMA members looked to accomplish some basic tasks this first quarter and have reason to celebrate. Our first and primary goal was reigniting the “NESMA Expo and Casino Night” held March 17 at the Bristol, Connecticut DoubleTree Hotel. Our Expo hosted 33 unique tabletop presenters during the three-hour event, and we sincerely appreciate their participation and all those who were able to attend. We had guests from a variety of supporting industries, from equipment to local materials processors to platers, and heat treaters, some of whom traveled with the sole purpose of supporting the NESMA event. The event was a dual event with casino gaming brought to us by Ace and Jacks, whose professional dealers dealt lessons as well as cards and dice for another three hours. We want to thank our events chairperson Ryan Cutter, president of FENN Torin, and former events chairperson Bob Swanson, president of United Wire Company. Both of them dressed for the occasion, with Bob Swanson showing his Irish with his full leprechaun attire. Our special guest was Paul Lavoie of Carey Manufacturing, who was recently named Connecticut’s manufacturing czar. Connecticut has instituted a manufacturing czar, who reports directly to the governor. Our 170 guests were also able to watch some great NCAA

basketball on movie projectors, though not terrific for us University Connecticut fans who lost in the opening round. Rhode Island guests were a bit more fortunate, as Providence showed they were the New England team to beat. In addition to the photos here, a great collection of photos by board member Andrea Tarantino can be found under the Events gallery section of our website, www.nesma-usa.com. Our event included a table for Tunxis Community College through a donation provided by Ultimate Wireforms. Our technical development committee, led by Al Mangels of Lee Spring, has been polling members on equipment and curricula we hope will find a home at the college’s new manufacturing center, located on Spring Lane in Farmington, Connecticut. The technical committee tries to advise and work with educators to bring spring and stamping industry education to an actionable level as we try and ensure a stable workforce.

(L-to-r): Ernie LeBlanc, Annelise Mackiewicz, Dee Babkirk and John Gaughan, Jr. NESMA board members, front row (l-to-r): Charlie Radcliff, John Higginbotham, Dee Babkirk, Paul Lavoie (Connecticut manufacturing czar, not on board), Laura Currier, and Damon Esposito. Back row (l-to-r): Al Mangels, David DeVoe, Allen Nadeau, Bruce Massey, Andrea Tarantino, Ryan Cutter and Lucas Karabin.

Alloy Wire employees (l-to-r): David Di Nuccio, Michelle Nichols and Steve Gencarella.

Above: NESMA members enjoying their time at the craps table. Right: NESMA event gurus: (l-to-r): Ryan Cutter, FENN/Torin and Bob Swanson, United Wire. SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 11

Regional Spring Association Report

Vanguard in the Spotlight

Scholarships and State Government

Our Vanguard committee has also been busy, led by Jake Yeomans who took the reins in December. The committee has reached out to local high schools and volunteered in robotic competitions. We hosted a number of fantastic robotic teams among our New England towns and cities, and we are cheering on Bristol’s team as they travel to Houston for world finals. Committee members include Brian Zimmerli of Plastonics, Adam Jacobson of FENN/Torin, Brendan Schuch of Acme Monaco, Kristina Fischer of Gibbs Interwire, and Annelise Mackiewicz of FENN/Torin. The Vanguard is presently prepping for a family fun night on Sept. 7 at the home of the Hartford Yard Goats minor league baseball team. The Yard Goats stadium, Dunkin’ Donuts Park, was ranked as the best Double A stadium in the Eastern league. Visit the NESMA website for tickets and sponsorship opportunities.

Our scholarship committee has worked hard this spring to promote our two annual scholarships. It’s a very rewarding campaign that gives us an opportunity to give back. The Main Street Foundation, located in Bristol, manages the selection of our winners, with voting co-shared with volunteer board members. We thank all of those involved in managing this endeavor and all NESMA members who actively promote this to their employees. It’s a big part of the mission of NESMA to help pursue success in our community. Getting closer to state government has been made easier with NESMA’s participation in the Connecticut Manufacturers’ Collaborative (CMC), led by Allen Nadeau of Southington Tool who sits on their council. The CMC newsletter is now being shared on our website and NESMA members in Connecticut are encouraged to read it and voice their opinions. Topics like “Expansion of Paid

Sick Leave,” “Apprentice Tax Credits,” and “R&D Tax Credits” are the subjects of bills introduced in the Connecticut state legislature. The CMC lends a powerful consolidated voice among organizations representing various manufacturing groups. CMC updates can be found under the Events section of the NESMA website. We have a full calendar of events in the coming months. In June, we were scheduled to participate in a lunch and learn event at new member H.W. Green, a full-service metal scrap recycling facility in Plainville. Our annual golf tournament will take place Aug. 29 and moves to a new venue, at Farmington Country Club, a private course founded in 1892. Sponsors and golfers are welcomed to this historic private course. Be sure to support our events and visit our website at www.nesma-usa. com for complete information. n

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Be Aware Safety Tips

Heat is a “Hot” Issue! By Laura Helmrich-Rhodes, CSP, Ed.D.

here is a new “hot” issue at Occupational Safety and Health T Administration (OSHA)! The “Heat Illness Prevention Campaign” was launched in 2011, but as of 2021 it has taken

a front seat in the OSHA regulatory agenda. It is in the “pre-rule stage” to become a formal regulation in the Code of Federal Regulations. In April 2022, OSHA launched a National Emphasis Program for both indoor and outdoor employment, which means that any employer has a potential to be cited even before the formal adoption of the standard. Business owners and safety professionals with long careers know that federal OSHA has never had a specific regulation to cite employers for exposure to heat (or cold). We have long known the impact of heat in both construction and in manufacturing, but it just never made it into the code books. Heat has been especially dangerous for those who work outdoors in industries like agriculture and construction, but now we know that workers like warehouse and manufacturing employees have also incurred significant heat illnesses and even death. The Bureau of Labor Statistics show that heat is the leading weather-related killer, and it is becoming more dangerous as 18 of the last 19 years were the hottest on record. Excessive heat can cause heat stroke or even death if not treated properly. It also exacerbates existing health problems like asthma, kidney failure and heart disease. The statistics related to heat stress are alarming. From 1992 through 2017, it is estimated that 815 workers died and more than 70,000 workers were seriously injured due to heat stress. These events are often misclassified, so the magnitude is really unknown. We can all agree that one heat-related death is one too many. To be clear, federal OSHA is finally addressing this workrelated hazard; California, Washington, and Minnesota each have had their own state-run OSHA heat illness prevention regulations to protect workers. There are 22 state plans, which cover both private sector and state and local government

Laura Helmrich-Rhodes, CSP, Ed.D., is an independent regulations compliance consultant to the Spring Manufacturers Institute (SMI). A former member of PA/OSHA Consultation, she is an associate professor in the Safety Sciences Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where she teaches graduate and undergraduate classes on topics such as OSHA standards, safety communications, workers’ compensation and human relations. Rhodes is available for safety advice and information. Contact SMI at 630-495-8588 or laurahrhodes@gmail.com.

workers. There are six state plans that cover only state and local government employers. State plans are monitored by OSHA and must be at least as effective as federal OSHA in preventing work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths. Finalizing this rule will have some predictable technical difficulties for OSHA. Hurdles include how to require the determination of heat stress thresholds, heat acclimatization planning, exposure monitoring and medical monitoring. Since three states have successfully implemented regulations, it may go through with ease. It will depend mostly on the promulgation process. The bottom line is that it is a real hazard. Death and illness are preventable, and OSHA is “hot” to make a citation on this topic. What to Do to Protect Workers?

Regardless if there is a specific standard, every employer is obligated to provide a place of employment “free of recognized hazards (OSHA General Duty Clause).” Extreme heat, whether indoors or outdoors, falls within those obligations. OSHA provides many resources to help employers train employees and control this hazard. Specifically, the new “Heat Illness Prevention

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 13

Campaign” website www.osha.gov/heat has many clickable links, plus suggestions on how to create a written prevention plan (see sample below) and the following: • Provide workers with water, rest and shade. • Allow new or returning workers to gradually increase workloads and take more frequent breaks as they acclimatize or build a tolerance for working in the heat. • Plan for emergencies and train workers on prevention. • Monitor workers for signs of illness. OSHA’s publications suggest that the employer estimate actual heat exposure. There is discussion on how to do this and a clickable tool on the website (see helpful links below) to enter standard

Sample Written Heat Illness Prevention Plan (source OSHA Heat Webpage) • Who will provide oversight on a daily basis? (Responsibility, Accountability and Authority) • How will new workers gradually develop heat tolerance? • Temporary workers may be more susceptible to heat and require closer supervision. • Workers returning from extended leave (typically defined as more than two weeks) may also be at increased risk. • How will the employer ensure that first aid is adequate and the protocol for summoning medical assistance in situations beyond first aid is effective? • What engineering controls and work practices will be used to reduce heat stress? • How will heat stress be measured? • How to respond when the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory or heat warning? • How will we determine if the total heat stress is hazardous? • What training will be provided to workers and supervisors?

14 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

meteorological data to get an estimation of the exposure. The responsible individual, in a central location, should estimate heat stress using the best available methods for remote estimation. This assigned duty should be documented in the written plan. One more great phone-based app was created by OSHA and the Center for Disease Control (CDC). This can be used by workers as well as managers to keep track of the magnitude of outdoor heat risk. The “OSHA-NIOSH Heat Safety Tool” app features: • A visual indicator of the current heat index and associated risk levels specific to your current geographical location • Precautionary recommendations specific to heat indexassociated risk levels • An interactive, hourly forecast of heat index values, risk level, and recommendations for planning outdoor work activities in advance • Editable location, temperature, and humidity controls for calculation of variable conditions • Signs and symptoms and first aid information for heat-related illnesses To obtain the app, just search for “OSHA heat index app” at Google Play or the Apple App Store. You already knew that heat causes serious illness and even death. Now you know that OSHA is on high alert to cite those employers who are not addressing heat hazards, along with where to find some great resources to train workers and eliminate this preventable tragedy. Should you need additional assistance, contact your local occupational health provider/ hospital, workers’ compensation carrier, or SMI technical safety support services. n

Helpful Links OSHA Outdoor Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) from standard meteorological inputs https://www.osha.gov/heat-exposure/wbgt-calculator OSHA’s Unified Agenda-Clickable list of OSHA regulations and their status. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/unifiedagenda/ currentagenda Printable Guide - A great employee training tool https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/osha_heattraining_guide_0411.pdf

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What Business Are We In? Hint: There is No App

Dean of Springs

By Dan Sebastian

e are all in the people business, and our ability to work with W others makes everything work better. Communication is not just spoken or written words, it is visual and direct contact.

said it really takes a lot of work to get an engineer’s idea into a product. He smiled and said, “You really learned that we are in the people business, and your job is to get them to put their Manufacturing (especially springs) requires seamless, multiple skills together to accomplish the job.” human interactions to produce the highest quality product. In today’s new world, there are people who believe that we Without the springs we make in our plants, most of life as can work from home, and it is as efficient as going to work. As we know it would not exist. From airwe emerge from our shell of the last few spray bottles to space satellites, springs years, it is clear that the “myth” of working We are all in make things work. It takes the interaction from home is, at best, of limited value. the people business and cooperation of many people, all in There are indeed things we can do from the same location at the same time, to home, but being in the same place at the and people work better design, order, manufacture, bill and ship same time strengthens our abilities and when they are together. the product. make us stronger and our products better. I began my journey through the spring Toyota quality engineers proved that the world at the research and development center, where I thought I shorter the distance between supplier and manufacturer, the could use my education to first understand how and why springs higher the quality of the product. worked, which would help others. What I did not realize was We are all in the people business and people work better how much I needed to work with other people. when they are together. n One of my first projects required me to design a device to accurately measure the radial force of garter springs. When I completed the design, I thought I was done. My supervisor had Dan Sebastian is a former SMI president and another idea. He made me get the material, take it to the plant currently serves as a technical consultant to and find someone to make it the way it was designed and test the association. He holds a degree in metallurgical engineering from Lehigh University it. I quickly realized that it took people with all different skills and his industry career spans more than four and personalities to get the job done. decades in various technical and management It took several days and a lot of conversation (and a few roles. He may be reached by contacting SMI coffees and doughnuts) to get the job done. Upon my return at 630-495-8588. to the research center, my boss asked me what I learned. I

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 17

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Technically Speaking

Cast and Helix Measurements By C. Richard Gordon

an Sebastian wrote an interesting article in the Fall 2021 D issue of Springs titled, “What are the Causes of Spring Tolerances?” Dan identified parameters that have been measured 1

and are included in the regression analysis model used to generate spring tolerances. He also identified additional parameters that can have a significant effect on tolerances variation that are not included. Wire cast and helix are two of these parameters. In this article, cast and helix measurements are defined. Methods to control cast and helix in the wire manufacturing process are discussed. Making some simple cast and helix measurements on wire before spring coiling can help to better understand the variation in spring dimensional characteristics and aid in setting up the springmaking machine to minimize product variation. Cast and helix measurements described here are primarily for wire that is cold drawn prior to spring forming. Cast

Circular Cast of Wire2 The circular cast is the diameter of an unrestrained individual loop of wire that has been placed on a flat surface, as shown in Figure 1. A range is typically specified. Straight Cast of Wire3 Straight cast is the cast of wire that has been run out approximately straight when unwound from the coil. This is the typical cast of oil tempered or induction tempered wire. It can be specified and measured between two parallel lines. A maximum value is typically specified.

Figure 1. Diagram showing the measurement of circular cast2.

Figure 2. Diagram showing the measurement of flat helix2.

Helix

Flat Helix2 Flat helix or laying helix is the deflection or rise of the end or tip of an unrestrained loop of wire that has been placed on a flat surface as shown in Figure 2. Flat helix is typically measured on the sample when the circular cast of the material is measured. A maximum value is typically specified. “Dead” helix is the terminology used to describe when two ends meet in the laying or flat helix measurement3. Hanging Helix2 Hanging helix or spring out is the distance between two ends of a loop of wire or single winding hung vertically, as shown in

C. Richard (Rick) Gordon is the technical director for SMI. He is available to help SMI members and non-members with metallurgical challenges such as fatigue life, corrosion, material and process-related problems He is also available to help manage and oversee processes related to failure analysis. This includes sourcing reputable testing labs throughout North America, forwarding member requests to the appropriate lab and reporting results and recommendations. He can be reached at c.richard.gordon@gmail.com or 574-514-9367.

SPRINGS | Spring 2022 | 19

a series called HardWired. Videos are available on YouTube. A video on cast and helix control can be found at: www.youtube. com/watch?v=C2-4nMOr_Fs&list=PLfMZqmvhiTdkXGYEn wI5KCBTuscn8ouyR&index=10 In this video, wire industry leader Don Young explains how the measurements are taken and what adjustments can be made to the die box during wire drawing to change cast and helix on a standard wire drawing block. It should be noted that the adjustments described need to be made on each wire drawing block in a multiblock machine for the best control of wire during processing.

Figure 3. Diagram showing the measurement of hanging helix4.

Spring Manufacturing

If you find that you are having a problem with a spring coil setup after changing wire coils, it may be useful to check the cast and helix. You may want to check the cast and helix of wire coils on a regular or audit basis and provide feedback to your wire suppliers. Cast and helix consistency can vary from one wire supplier to another. n

Figure 3. Ideally, the two wire ends coincide. A maximum value is typically specified. Hanging helix is a more sensitive indicator of process variation that flat helix. Hanging helix can be calculated using the following equation5: lmax = (0.2xD)/d0.25

References

Where lmax is the hanging helix or spring out in mm, D is the coil cast diameter in mm d is the wire diameter in mm

1. Sebastian, D., “What are the Causes of Spring Tolerances,” Springs, Fall 2021, p.19 2. Pocket Guide for Ferrous Wiredrawing Practice, The Wire Association International Inc., (2014) 3. The Book of Wire and Cable Terms, The Wire Association International Inc., (2003)

Two examples are shown in Table 1 below using this equation. Values for D and d were specified in inches and converted to millimeters and the calculation of Lmax is done using the mm values. Quality wire manufacturers have more strict internal specifications than those calculated using the equation above. A hanging helix of 2 inches or less is considered to be acceptable in many cases. Less is better.

4. www.wirenet.org/the-book-of-terms 5. Ferrous Wire Handbook, WAI International Inc., (2008) 6. Per Enghag, Steel Wire Technology, 3rd Ed. (2003) Wiley-VCH

SMI has a team of experts, who speak the language of springs, ready to assist you. It could be a metallurgy question about fatigue life or corrosion. Or perhaps you need help with a spring design and the use of materials when manufacturing springs. To find out how SMI Technical Services can help you, phone 630-460-8588 or visit www.smihq.org/springsadvice.

Cast and Helix in Wire Manufacturing The Wire Association International created a series of videos on wire manufacturing and key issues in the wire industry in

Table 1. Hanging Helix Calculation

US (in.) Values

SI (mm) Values

Coil Cast, in. (mm calc.)

30.0

36.0

762

914.4

Wire Diameter, in. (mm calc.)

0.050

0.250

1.27

6.35

5.7

4.5

144

115

lmax

Hanging Helix or spring out, mm (in. calc.)

20 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

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By Gary McCoy

It’s always good to revisit a topic, especially after 10 years have passed. This issue takes time to reexamine the topic of reshoring, which we tackled in the Summer 2012 issue of Springs. Reshoring is def ined as “the practice of transferring a business operation that was moved overseas back to the country from which it was originally relocated.”

22 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

Back in the Summer 2012 issue of Springs, then SMI president Steve Moreland of Automatic Spring Products Corporation (ASPC) talked about reshoring in his President’s Message, “Reshoring Provides a Cause for Hope.” Moreland related the story of how a customer had moved an entire package of work back to ASPC because their current Asia source and the price advantage was no longer significant enough to justify the ongoing difficulties they were experiencing. As Moreland said, “Obviously, something had changed.” Moreland said the customer told ASPC, “The reshoring decision was based on several factors, including their inability to obtain consistent quality even after years of working with the low cost supplier; difficulty caused by having to purchase and carry such large inventories; continually increasing prices as costs in China and currency valuations changed; not to mention the fact that continuous improvement efforts within ASPC and other U.S. manufacturers had enhanced our relative competitive position.”

10 Years Later

Considering the pandemic and other recent global factors, has reshoring helped rebalance the North American economy, create new jobs and cut trade deficits? We have several articles that attempt to answer these questions. In her article “Reshoring and the Spring Industry” found on page 24, longtime Springs contributor Raquel Chole says a convergence of world events has accelerated the reshoring movement. “While spring manufacturers throughout North America were hopeful that this would result in a resurgence in the reshoring effort, those specific orders have not exactly been flooding their inboxes; however, shops are busy despite that, finding current customers are booking more orders than ever.” There are some reshoring gains among springmakers, as noted by leaders of Scandic Springs, Inc. and Vulcan Spring & Manufacturing Co. Among the experts quoted in Chole’s article is Harry Moser, head of the Reshoring Initiative. Moser suggests four steps springmakers can take to fully benefit from the reshoring trend. In addition to his comments in the main article, we reprint an article from Moser, “Rebuilding and Reshoring: Proposing a Goal for U.S. Manufacturing Success” on page 30.

In his helpful article, Moser says, “We can make great strides toward balancing the trade deficit by doubling the rate at which we reshore, i.e., bring offshored (sourcing shifted from the U.S. to another country) jobs back to the United States and nurturing a business environment that attracts more FDI (foreign direct investment).” He provides a convincing argument for the reshoring movement. “Success in balancing the manufacturing trade deficit within the next 20 years will depend on government actions that increase the price competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing and corporations, implementing more rapid automation, skilled workforce training, and greater use of strategic tools, like TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) in sourcing and siting decisions. These actions will drive reshoring, which will, in turn, increase capacity utilization above 80%, and drive automation investment and workforce recruitment.” This is one of 20 articles in Moser’s “Reshoring Series” that he wrote for AMT (The Association for Manufacturing Technology), the owner and operator of IMTS (The International Manufacturing Technology Show). Finally, I conducted a Zoom interview with Rosemary Coates, another reshoring expert. “A Conversation about Reshoring with Rosemary Coates” can be found on page 34. Coates is the executive director of the Reshoring Institute and has extensive knowledge and experience in manufacturing and outsourcing in Asia, Europe and the U.S. The interview looks at how the Reshoring Institute got started, what has changed in reshoring over the past 10 years, the impact of the pandemic and the current state of reshoring efforts. As Coates talks about in the interview, “supply chain leaders and executives have gotten smarter.” These leaders are taking a closer look at how to build resilience into their supply chain. One supply chain leader stated in a blog, “Bucking the globalization megatrend, companies are moving to a reshoring or onshoring model. But there are additional benefits too — a shorter supply chain is a more sustainable one, and with climate change the biggest existential crisis facing humanity, companies have a responsibility to act.” Perhaps your spring company can be or is already a part of the resiliency of your customer’s supply chain. Good luck in your reshoring efforts. Write me with your experiences at gmccoy@fairwaycommunications.com. n

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 23

By Raquel Chole

Reshoring and the R

Spring Industry

emember a decade ago, when there was a strong push for reshoring, also known as homeshoring? A convergence of world events has accelerated that move ment. Those contributing events include the rapid spread of a virus that became a pandemic and shut down industries around the world; trade wars around the globe, including the U.S. versus China and Japan versus Korea; Brexit, which has been cited as a factor in the shortage of truck drivers to move materials within Europe; and the Suez Canal obstruction by the grounding of the Ever Given cargo ship last year. The newest factor, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has resulted in further disruption to the supply chain. While spring manufacturers throughout North America were hopeful that this would result in a resurgence in the reshoring effort, those specific orders have not exactly been flooding their inboxes; however, shops are busy despite that, finding current customers are booking more orders than ever. According to many Canadian and American springmakers, the real problem is that the North American supply chain at its very basic level is challenged to keep up with demands for raw material. In addition, a shortage of labor — not just skilled workers — is presenting real challenges for keeping up with the demand for parts.

24 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

Harry Moser, president and founder of the Reshoring Initiative, has been at the forefront of the reshoring effort for many years. Because of the world condition creating a litany of supply chain issues, he is once again experiencing strong demand to speak at conventions and conferences; he is, once again, the face of the reshoring movement. By itself, any one of these current world events could result in supply chain interruptions, but Moser warns that so many disruptions at once are a massive risk to the supply chain. “The cherry on the sundae is the possible decoupling of China and the U.S. as trade partners and the material risk experienced due to Chinese conflict over Taiwan. Decoupling could take several forms. China could choose to stop shipping to punish the U.S., or there could be an embargo and they won’t be able to ship. If the Chinese invade Taiwan, the Taiwanese have pledged to blow up their factories to prevent the Chinese from getting their intellectual property, which will exacerbate the global supply chain issues.” Moser muses: “If all of a sudden, the Chinese stop shipping and companies tried to bring parts back to North American production, our members would go crazy trying to deliver and meet supply challenges.” Moser wants to wake up the world to supply chain options and the scenarios that have led to healthy versus negative supply policies. The first scenario is pervasive within the supply chain. This focuses on having one or two places in the world where a product is produced at the lowest possible labor cost and then shipped globally. The healthier option, according to Moser, is the Toyota policy of localization: contracting with Asian manufacturers to make components that will be used in the Asian market, and parts for North American vehicles being produced in North America whenever possible. Toyota’s production system has done a great job of producing local to sell local, says Moser. “The Japanese have done a better job of this than have U.S. OEMs. The Germans get it, also.”

Bringing the Business Home in Four Easy Steps

Moser urges companies to consider the factors he details on his website: reshorenow.org. He suggests that springmakers take these steps to ensure they are fully benefiting from the reshoring trend: 1. Go over old customer lists of companies lost to offshore production. Let them know you’ve put in new production machines that make your production systems more efficient. Moser says companies have never been more responsive on this front. 2. Go to the Reshoring Library on the Reshoring Initiative website and use the available tools to sort opportunities by industry and geography, so you can find companies that are bringing back production in your service area. Follow through by marketing directly to these companies. 3. Take advantage of the Import Substitution Program. Reshoring Initiative can provide leads for this. You can identify a product you can supply and use the Total Cost of Ownership Estimator® to help make your case for buyers to consider bringing the part back to North American production. 4. Focus on companies importing from China as your highest priority. Tariffs on China, possible violence in Taiwan and the potential for an embargo make components supplied from China dangerously vulnerable and increasingly expensive. Moser also recommends that springmakers use the tools on his site to prove to buyers that the total cost of North American manufacturing is the best global value and the safest option for ongoing production. “A common practice in manufacturing is for buyers to be rewarded for cutting purchase price, so to get them to listen to reason, someone needs to get to the boss to change the policy, the culture and the behavior,” says Moser. Another factor that will impact how manufacturers do business will be the effort to keep Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory. For most manufacturing production operations, systems have evolved to a refined JIT/Lean delivery status, opting to cut inventory. Localization is

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 25

more conducive to keeping these systems in place as overseas supply risks continues to grow, says Moser. Moser is concerned about the trade deficit growth under the Trump and Biden administrations. He feels the answer is to keep corporate taxes low and to launch a massive apprenticeship initiative that would focus on the enrollment of youth in manufacturing training programs, similar to Germany’s well established training systems. There, 60% of youth are in apprenticeships, many in manufacturing, versus only 5% in the U.S., with few of those in manufacturing. Without a similar quantity and quality of workforce, we will not reach Moser’s goal of reshoring 5 million manufacturing jobs.

Reshoring Gains

R. Hale Foote, president of Scandic Springs, Inc., in San Leandro, California, has seen some gains in the reshoring of parts. “We saw it happening even before COVID-19, in early 2020,” says Foote. He attributes this to supply chain issues happening in Asia, for the most part. Foote started getting requests from current customers for parts that are exactly the type of parts Scandic could be making, but his estimators had never seen the prints before. “We suspected the parts had originally been sourced in Asia, but the client could not get deliveries, so we definitely started getting a little bit of work that had been sourced over there,” he says. “Some of these go into very specialty medical devices or laboratory instruments, with volumes that, at the high side, are 2,000 pieces per year but definitely require precision at a high level. It seemed clear to us why they brought these back, but our clients tend to keep that information close to the vest.” Vulcan Spring & Manufacturing Co. in Telford, Pennsylvania, has launched a company initiative to encourage potential clients to source components domestically, and to place that business with Vulcan, according to Paul Jarossy, vice president of sales and marketing. His team has produced a video, called

“Overcoming Foreign Supply Risks with Onshoring Vulcan Spring,” that is easily accessible on YouTube by searching with the key phrase ‘Vulcan Spring reshoring.’ Jarossy uses two terms to capture the current impetus for parts to be made in North America: reshoring and onshoring. Reshoring refers to parts that were once made in North America but were re-sourced to low-cost countries, whereas onshoring refers to parts that were never made in the U.S. even though capability is there using existing equipment, often at a competitive price. This current initiative is an attempt to countermand an age-old issue for springmakers. “For years, companies have capitalized on our industry knowledge and design expertise to help design the appropriate springs — and, in a lot of cases, prototype those springs for them. But then, they decide to take that design offshore and save a few pennies at our expense,” explains Jarossy. “It is hard to avoid that because the designer or engineer we’re talking to is not always the one making the purchasing decision. We are just trying to help them out and they are just trying to solve a problem on their end. So, over the years, you try and protect yourself a little bit by signing an NDA or you provide a limited number of spring specifications. OK, so they’re going to take it offshore…fine. But, we’ll let the overseas competitor try and figure it out themselves in that case.” On the bright side, over the past couple of years, companies are at least looking at double sourcing. They will still maintain their offshore source, but now they want some product sourced domestically. In some cases, they are finding that North American companies can be competitive when figuring in all the costs of acquisition, which many eventually lead to complete North American sourcing. Obviously, the risk is a lot lower for these companies when they source domestically because there is not a danger of parts being stuck offshore on a container ship for six months. Vulcan has not lost any business to offshore suppliers in the last couple of years, which they consider to be a good sign. And, they have actually grown through the reshoring of products by customers; that growth

The Vulcan team follows a linear marketing strategy, starting with a short, simple, sometimes even fluffy blog. The next step is to generate an in-depth case study that educates the reader. Then, they follow up with a video that captures the concept visually. Paul Jarossy, Vice President, Sales & Marketing Vulcan Spring & Manufacturing Co.

26 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

provided the concept for developing a related marketing strategy. “We have written blogs on onshoring and we have been promoting it for the last two years, although our video is fairly new,” says Jarossy. The Vulcan team follows a linear marketing strategy, starting with a short, simple, sometimes even fluffy blog. The next step is to generate an in-depth case study that educates the reader. Then, they follow up with a video that captures the concept visually. In some instances, they may include a white paper with more technical information. A good example would be a recent series the team created on dampening springs. That tends to be more technical than something like the onshoring/reshoring effort. They use a local agency to, as Jarossy says, polish up the videos after the team creates raw footage in house. The onshoring concept was generated by Vulcan’s strategic sales team. “Our sales team is market based, not territory based, so that they can become subject matter experts in those markets. By reading up on markets, understanding trends and talking to clients, we generate ideas for blogs. Sometimes they are market specific, sometimes application specific, sometimes keyed to a product’s performance and, in this case, focused on global trends,” explains Jarossy. “A good marketer tries to find out what your needs are, but a great marketer or salesperson tries to discover what your wants are. I use the example: ‘I need to eat’ versus ‘I want a steak.’ Finding out that they want the steak is a specialized line of questioning. It’s not just about what a potential client is getting from other direct suppliers; it’s about what they wish they could have and are not getting now. This may be something we can address and solve for them.” Vulcan has a fairly extensive assembly group, so they don’t just turn out millions of springs. They inner wind them, weld them, mount them on spools or make specialized assemblies with them. “If our client is taking our springs to someone else who is putting them into an assembly, we can do that here instead and send the client the whole assembly at once,” says Jarossy. Vulcan recently took over an assembly process for a customer, and the team was delighted to hear the buyer say they are now in that buyer’s “send the order and forget about it” category, due to consistent reliability in delivering quality products on time.

Experiencing Supply Chain Issues at the Most Basic Level

The challenging issue most springmakers are experiencing is supply chain related. Most companies in North America buy raw material from the same suppliers, so everyone is in the same boat. The only difference is what each company does with the raw material once it’s in house. Foote attributes the problems to the fact that North American metalformers are all part of the world

Pictured (l-to-r): Ismael Pinedo, CNC wireforming set up expert at AARD Spring and Stamping with Wayne Violette, production manager/engineer.

economy and, therefore, all impacted by global material shortages. “It’s a constant battle to get the material that we need to make parts. Even basic things, like cold-rolled steel (CRS), are hard to get. What used to be a slam dunk is now either unavailable or has huge lead times.” Wayne Violette is production manager/engineer with AARD Spring and Stamping in Temecula, California. The difference he sees in the ways people are doing business is that many are trying to jump from one North American supplier to another because of raw material supply issues. “I haven’t seen any new business out of this situation. Yes, I’ve seen potential new customers ask me to quote on parts. But, I get ahold of them and let them know we all use the same wire suppliers. You can tell that lead time with their current supplier is the reason they’ve got it out for quote,” he says with a chuckle. “I’ll see jobs that have a blueprint from 20 to 30 years ago and it’s like: ‘Are you looking because your guys can’t find wire?’ Unless it’s on my shelf, I can’t do any better.” Violette agrees with Jarossy’s take on the situation: Springmakers all use the same vendors and the vendors use the same mills and the mills aren’t here anymore. They are all overseas. The attitude from them is: “We’ll do it when we want to do it and you’ll take what we give you.” Foote factors in consolidations of the supplier base, at least domestically. “Even the ordinary stuff has long lead times. We do a lot of work with red metals, copper and brass, and we used to have three to four suppliers. Now they are all swallowed up and the supply base has really contracted, so it’s a lot more challenging to get the materials we need.”

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 27

“It’s the mills that are really the problem,” agrees Jarossy. “We have seen extended lead times for raw materials now for several years. The mills have either shut down or have not come back online or they have gotten out of 301 stainless steel, which is what most springmakers buy. It’s a fairly niche stainless steel and the supply base is not very large, so that has been a challenge in our industry.” The normal nickel surcharge fluctuation might have been a penny or so a month in the past, but it recently went up 30 cents in just one month. Russia happens to be one of the largest suppliers of nickel in the world and the invasion of Ukraine resulted in disruption to many supply chains, including nickel. Lead times for raw materials now commonly stretch to upward of 24 weeks for materials that were once delivered in much less time. Vulcan’s policy is that if material is on the shelf, they’ll quote delivery of finished parts in four weeks. However, if material has a 24-week lead time, they will plan on starting the job within 48 hours of the material hitting the dock rather than four weeks from arrival. The main lead time problem lies with the suppliers. One vendor was so far out on orders it stopped quoting for a couple of months. Recently, Vulcan had a supplier that pushed out orders they were expecting the following week. For Jarossy, a lack of communication from some vendors is frustrating. Vulcan leadership holds their team to a high standard, but when their suppliers fail to communicate actual delivery dates as the deadlines are looming, the attitude from suppliers seems to be: the material will arrive when they can send it. Often, failures of the mills to meet deadlines is at the root of

Scandic Spring’s shop floor.

28 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

the problem. Despite all this, Jarossy feels his planning and production teams have done an incredible job in mitigating the impact of the disruption. For example, when one mill closed down after the pandemic started, claiming that producing stainless steel was not profitable enough for them, they transferred their capacity to a more profitable metal, which created a vacuum for stainless steel sourcing. Months later, another mill decided to fill that gap, but it is taking time for supply to catch up with demand. Still, this is not a process you can flip a switch on and they have not made their first delivery yet. A previously shuttered New England mill is working toward getting up and running again with new ownership, but that may take a couple of years. AARD is feeling the pain on lead times, with some material taking as long as six months to arrive. Violette uses a lot of chrome silicon and it has been taking the full six months. “Everybody everywhere is looking for it because I see them posting on SMI’s member emails. I don’t look for it there because I can see no one is finding it.” “Here’s what I really think happened,” says Violette. “And, I’m going to put this on the wire suppliers, the vendors. They saw something happening with COVID19 when this first started, and they automatically seemed to stop stocking materials. That happened right when COVID-19 came along, and the next thing you know, you can’t get material. “I’ve been lucky. I have a vendor that started up in the last five years, and he’s been moving material because he had a whole bunch of stock. He stocks a lot of my chrome silicon and he doesn’t sell it to anybody else either, since it’s stocked for me because I use a lot of it and I was one of his first and strongest customers. I’ve been really fortunate because there have only been a few jobs…maybe four or five jobs…that I have had to wait on material for,” says Violette.

Everyone is Taking on More Risk

Vulcan has a strong book of business with the retail point-of-purchase (POP) industry, which traditionally has had a hard time forecasting for long-term blanket orders because their usage tends to be project based. Some larger POP companies are more able to carry inventory, so they can place larger orders, but many of the smaller entities struggle to place those long-term orders. Vulcan balanced the raw material lead time concerns with the irregular product flow demands these companies experience and settled on a strategy that is mutually beneficial: a supply agreement. This allows the client to estimate usage over a long period so flat stock can be ordered. Client agreements also specify the maximum time for material consumption. “You know,” says Jarossy, “there’s nothing worse than not having the springs or the material for a project

A self-proclaimed “big believer” in education, Foote feels a structured apprenticeship program yields better results than on-the-job training. a client needs within a certain amount of time. As a result, everyone is having to take on more risk during these times.” In the case of AARD, Violette has not seen a rush to reshore parts. It’s true, clients have previously left and returned, but that was 10 to 12 years ago when the global supply chain had recession troubles. “Every time I hear someone say they are buying parts in China, but they want to bring it back, I’m like, OK…then, you give them a quote and they are like… ‘Oh, wow!’ Then you don’t hear from them ever again.”

Offshoring and Seeking Alternative Solutions

Whether aerospace or defense, automotive or medical devices, window shades or firearms, companies who have risked sourcing overseas have gotten burned. When they realized the true cost of acquisition of materials, some eventually draw the conclusion that it’s better to homeshore parts. On the other hand, disruptions within certain countries known for production, related to COVID-19 or raw materials or conflict, have resulted in North American springmakers supplying foreign markets, including Taiwan, China, South America and many places in Europe from Ireland to Hungary. In order for a foreign entity to source components offshore from North America, the supplying metalformer has to have a very sharp pencil, along with a solid reputation for quality, delivery and design expertise. Scandic’s team has become more assertive in suggesting alternative materials to clients. “We might suggest an alternative material,” says Foote. “If I can’t get quarter hard material, I am going right to asking for a formal deviation to let us also include half hard.”

Good Workers Are Hard to Find

Alongside the materials issue is the labor issue referenced by Moser. For AARD to even consider pursuing the reshoring element, Violette would need to have the workers to make the parts. Violette explains, “Right now we are so busy and we can’t get any labor. I’m just not looking for anything new, to tell you the truth. I am just looking to keep up with what we’ve got in the pipeline. I can’t find skilled labor here in Southern California. Period.” He feels the labor market is better in the Los Angeles and Santa Fe Springs areas, but AARD is 60 miles from there. “People just aren’t coming up here. I’ve had a spring coiler ad on Indeed for two years and never got a single response.”

“You know,” says Foote, “I’m not an expert in our suppliers’ operations, but I know they are suffering the same phenomenon as everyone else: They lost employees and they have fewer and more inexperienced people for us to work with. We see that at the sales desks and on the floor. I think there is just a much less experienced workforce at these places now.” Foote has overseen a robust apprenticeship program over the past 10 years. He feels he has the right number of players in line as the older workers retire. “I’m very happy to have 25- and 30-year-old people completing their apprenticeships and looking forward to good careers here,” he says. A self-proclaimed “big believer” in education, Foote feels a structured apprenticeship program yields better results than on-the-job training. The programs at Scandic, through the State of California, include tracks for tool makers and machinists, as well as for set up people and prototype technicians. They also go beyond common fields to include working with lasers and brake presses. In those cases, Foote’s team creates their own curriculum.

Solutions

Foote looks to technology to solve some issues. Scandic has transitioned away from the old mechanical Torin coilers to CNC coilers because it’s an easier learning curve for new employees. The fact that the machines are faster make Scandic more competitive and better able to address reshoring and onshoring RFQs for the global market. “Theoretically, we’ve got a coiler that can do 80k pieces per hour. We haven’t hit that number yet but we may. “The real advantage of the newer CNC coiling equipment is that you can take a brand-new 18- or 20-something-year-old worker and, while you still have all the coiling tools, you control all the tools with a keyboard on a screen. That is much more attractive to this generation than letting them work on a mechanical coiler that has cams hidden way up inside a dark box and asking them to put their hands in there to adjust a split cam to get OD. That’s a hard sell,” says Foote. Violette has an answer to the world’s problems: “Get back to work. Forget about COVID-19. Get your vaccine and get back to work! Eventually the pendulum will swing back and everyone will have to come back to work.” n

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 29

Rebuilding and Reshoring Proposing a Goal for U.S. Manufacturing Success By Harry Moser

The future state of U.S. manufacturing depends substantially on our success in reducing, rather than further increasing, our approximately $800 billion goods trade deficit, excluding petroleum. That deficit, after adjustment for price differences, equals about 40% of actual U.S. manufacturing output, 5 million manufacturing jobs at current U.S. productivity levels. With a diverse and educated workforce, abundant natural resources, top technology and the world’s largest gross domestic product, the United States can be less dependent on imports than other countries, but we currently have trade deficits with nine of our top 10 trading partners. Less dependence on imports reduces costs and risks related to distance: freight, delivery, inventory, etc. and country-specific costs and risks: rising wages, IP risk, political instability, etc. Companies with local supply chains fare better against disruption. Stanley Black & Decker reported no increase in costs and “much less impact from the coronavirus than would have been the case if it had remained in China.” In an interview with CNBC, John Quincey, CEO of Coca-Cola, said plant shutdowns were limited to “just a couple of places.” He credited the good outcome to local production of Coke’s soft drinks. We can make great strides toward balancing the trade deficit by doubling the rate at which we reshore, i.e., bring offshored (sourcing shifted from the U.S. to another country) jobs back to the United States and nurturing a business environment that attracts more FDI (foreign direct investment)1. On page 31, we discuss the potential benefits of reshoring.

30 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

Doing The Math

Since 2010, the rate of offshoring slowed from approximately 200,000 jobs each year to about 100,000 each year. Over the same period, the rate of reshoring increased from approximately 6,000 jobs each year to about 150,000 each year, resulting in a net gain of approximately 50,000 jobs each year. While this is a promising start, at this rate it would take close to 100 years to close the current five million-job deficits. Achieving an average increase of 250,000 net jobs each year would balance the $800 billion/year goods trade deficit in just 20 years. Here is the math: • Maintain the current rate of offshoring at about 100,000 jobs each year • Double the rate of reshoring and FDI to about 300,000 jobs each year. • Increase the rate of exports (U.S. shipments to foreign customers) to provide about 50,000 jobs each year. (Every $1 billion in new exports of American goods supports more than 6,000 additional jobs here at home, the same ratio as for reduced imports.) Importing less and exporting more are the only ways to grow manufacturing at a given level of gross domestic product and goods consumption. We can have much

more of an impact focusing on reshoring (importing less) than exporting more because of the costs or “friction” of about 15% associated with exporting or importing U.S. products are, on average, about 30% more competitive here than being exported to Asia, for instance. Figure 1 uses China as an example. Reducing imports is a larger target, since imports are about 40% higher in value and about 100% higher in volume or weight. The idea is gaining popularity among U.S. consumers at the same time countries implement more regulatory and structural barriers to protect their home markets. Economists in academia have long espoused a general position that the United States should make no effort to change market outcomes. If other countries want to sell products at much lower prices, the United States is enriched by buying instead of making. Others have stated that it makes no economic difference whether we make computer chips or potato chips. Forty years of stagnant median-incomes (about 0.6% each year2) and declining economic and industrial resilience, however, suggest that the United States should consider more proactive measures.

U.S. Competitiveness

Success in balancing the manufacturing trade deficit within the next 20 years will depend on government actions that increase the price competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing and corporations implementing more rapid automation, skilled workforce training, and greater use of strategic tools, like TCO in sourcing and siting decisions. These actions will drive reshoring, which will, in turn, increase capacity utilization3 above 80%, and drive automation investment and workforce recruitment.

Benefits of Success Societal

Increasing reshoring of U.S. manufacturing can have a wide-ranging impact on many other national challenges. For example, reshoring will bring well-paying jobs to urban communities which can be a critical

factor in balancing economic inequality. Reintroducing good job opportunities into rural areas would help reverse the damage done by trade-related job loss at the heart of the opioid epidemic. An increase in manufacturing will strengthen overall workforce training and recruitment. Increasing well-paying manufacturing jobs in the United States can be a critical factor in recovery from COVID-19 pandemic-induced unemployment.

Environmental

Offshoring’s impact on the world environment has been significant. Moving manufacturing to developing countries drives higher carbon emissions and other pollution due to reliance on fossil fuels and less efficient power generation modalities. Manufacturing goods far away from their ultimate sale and use location results in commensurately higher transportationrelated emissions. In addition to lowering emissions, less shipping reduces the global quantity and types of packaging and its associated waste. Furthermore, the less environmentally responsible locations will have added incentive to achieve higher environmental standards sooner, as they lose business to the environmentally conscious United States.

Economic

Increasing well-paying manufacturing jobs in the United States can be a critical factor in supporting recovery from COVID-19 pandemic-induced unemployment. More tax revenue from greater economic

WHERE SOLD

WHERE MADE

U.S.

China

U.S.

$100

$115

China

$100

$85

30%

U.S. Price Disadvantage

Figure 1: Based on TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) being 15% higher for exports than for domestic sales.

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 31

U.S. Mfg. Employees, %

Jobs Reshored or FDI’d 2010 to 2018, %

High

21%

24%

Medium-High

35%

44%

Medium-Low

14%

15%

Low

31%

17%

Total

100%

Tech Level

Figure 2: Reshoring Initiative’s Reshoring Library database.

activity could help offset spending on stimulus programs and reduce budget deficits. Strengthening U.S. manufacturing through reshoring could increase capital investment by about 20% for 20 years and drive increases in productivity and manufacturing employment, two key factors in increasing manufacturing output and economy growth.

Resilience

The United States was producing an estimated 10% of its 2019 PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) requirements. Then in 2020 the pandemic struck, and demand increased threefold and foreign sources stopped shipping. U.S. factories would have had to increase output 30X in a few months - obviously impossible. A key consideration, therefore, is what level of production is necessary to be resilient to potential threats? I propose that, for most products, the U.S. should produce at least 50% of what it consumes and essentially all of what it needs for defense. If we cut our manufacturing trade deficit to zero, the resulting 40% increase in production would dramatically reduce dependencies.

Product Mix

Reshoring is enabling a higher percentage of highertech product production than current U.S. manufacturing, thus improving our product mix (see figure 2). Phasing up production over 20 years will allow for incremental and sustained skilled workforce recruitment and capital investment. The largest U.S. trade surpluses are now in aircraft and spacecraft4. Europe and China will not accept our getting 100% of those markets. I propose that, rather than becoming even more specialized in aerospace and defense, become less dependent in other products, e.g., medical, appliances and machinery. In essential products, get our annual production up to at least 50% of annual consumption. Strengthen both original equipment

32 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

manufacturer (OEM) assembly and the supply chain. Make manufacturing, once again, the career of choice for smart, aggressive youth. In other articles in our series, for example, “Rebuilding And Reshoring: Collaborative Partnerships” we outline steps that can be taken to reduce our $800 billion annual goods trade deficit and make the United States more self-sufficient. The Reshoring Initiative® works with companies, economic development organizations (EDOs), and Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEPs) to fill the gaps. The free online Total Cost of Ownership Estimator® will more accurately determine the real profit and loss impact of reshoring or offshoring. After doing the math, most companies will decide to bring some work back. For help, contact me at harry.moser@reshorenow.org.

Rebuilding the Supply Chain

Whether you are an advanced manufacturer, job shop owner or OEM, you are in the midst of your own supply chain challenges, uncertainties and questions. In an extraordinary effort to support you, AMT — The Association for Manufacturing Technology and IMTS — International Manufacturing Technology Show are dedicating signiﬁcant staff and ﬁnancial resources to help you rethink, reengage and reestablish supply chains. Moser’s article was originally published at IMTS.com (https://www.imts.com/read/article-details/Rebuildingand-Reshoring-Proposing-a-Goal-for-U-S-Manufacturing-Success/1422/type/Read/1) on Feb. 2, 2021. Harry Moser’s full 20 article Reshoring Series and related articles by others can be found at https://bit.ly/387ESop. n

Sources

1. In the rest of the article “reshoring” includes FDI. 2. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/01/09/ trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/ psdt_01-10-20_economic-inequality_1-0/ 3. The output actually produced with the available resources as a percentage of the potential output that can be produced if capacity were fully used. 4. U.S. International Trade Commission.

Harry C. Moser is the founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative®. The mission of the organization is to bring good, well-paying manufacturing jobs back to the United States by assisting companies to more accurately assess their total cost of offshoring and shift collective thinking from offshoring is cheaper to local reduces the total cost of ownership. It is a nonprofit organization that offers many free tools to advance its mission. Visit reshorenow.org or email: info@reshorenow.org.

Safety & Health

Cold Stress 1

The Problem

Fast Facts

Cold temperatures are often associated with occupations that take employees outdoors during the winter months. In addition to the obvious outdoor cold condition jobs, many employees work indoors in refrigerated environments year round. Production facilities involving food and the distribution network required to get refrigerated food products to consumers require exposure to cold conditions. Prolonged exposure can lead to cold stress. Some employers fail to recognize and address cold stress hazards due to lack of monitoring and knowing the related signs and symptoms, which include: • • • •

MAIN FACTORS

that contribute1 to cold stress:

Hypothermia Frostbite Cold water immersion Dehydration

• High or cold wind • Dampness • Cold temperatures • Cold water

Solutions that Work Even the most attentive, proactive worker can’t tackle the dangers of cold stress alone. A cooperative approach is important. OSHA’s guidance for cold stress prevention lists engineering controls, training, safe work practices and personal protective equipment (PPE), such as appropriate cold weather attire, as foundational components for employers to build into their work plans. Employers should: • Provide engineering controls such as thermostats and door flaps to help control exposure • Train workers on how to help prevent and recognize cold stress illnesses and injuries, and how to apply first aid treatment • Give workers frequent breaks in warm areas • Ensure employees are dressed properly in cold temperatures • Reduce exposure time • Allow workers to interrupt work if they feel a cold condition affecting them

70°F Hypothermia can occur in any water temperature below this level.2

How Grainger Can Help

Twice as many people die of “excessive cold” conditions in a given year than of “excessive heat.”3

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Your Grainger Rep is Standing By Contact your Grainger representative or login to Grainger.com/smi and view a list of the most common cold stress related products 1 2

GRAI NGE R .C OM / S A FETY

https://ehs.princeton.edu/workplace-construction/occupational-health/heat-cold-stress/cold-stress-facts NIOSH, Cold Water Immersion, June 2018 CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics Compressed Mortality Database

By Gary McCoy

A Conversation about Reshoring with Rosemary Coates

Rosemary Coates is the executive director of the Reshoring Institute and the president of Blue Silk Consulting, a global supply chain consulting firm. She is the author of five books on global supply chain management, including “42 Rules for Sourcing and Manufacturing in China” and “The Reshoring Guidebook.” Coates lives in Silicon Valley and has worked with more than 80 clients worldwide. She has extensive knowledge and experience in manufacturing and outsourcing in Asia, Europe and the U.S. Coates in a member of the board of directors at the University of San Diego Supply Chain Management Institute. She earned a B.S. in business at Arizona State University and an MBA at the University of San Diego. As we look at the subject of reshoring in this issue of Springs, I asked Coates about how the Reshoring Institute got started, what has changed in reshoring over the past 10 years, the impact of the pandemic and the current state of reshoring efforts. Here’s an edited version of our conversation.

. Give me a little background on the Reshoring Institute and your mission as an organization. For about 15 or 20 years, I helped companies offshore to China. I became a China manufacturing expert. Things were going gangbusters once China rose to be a part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and flung its doors open to trade. The 2012 presidential election saw Barack Obama and Mitt Romney tell the world that China was causing our economic woes, and they were stealing all our jobs. After that, I was embarrassed to tell anyone what I did for a living. This got me thinking about what I was doing. I knew because we were closing factories in the U.S., people were losing their jobs. Some of my clients were talking about the possibility of bringing manufacturing back,

34 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

so we started working to help companies rethink their global manufacturing strategies. Pretty soon I had a handful of clients that were interested in reshoring, and it sounded like a great idea to me. I’m on the board at the University of San Diego Supply Chain Management Institute. I flew to San Diego from my base in Silicon Valley. I talked to the director and said, “If I start this Reshoring Institute, would you house it for us for a while?” And they agreed. We started the Reshoring Institute in 2013 and I started taking student interns to help us. About 50 percent of the mission is to help our clients with reshoring projects. We do a lot of consulting in that regard to help them figure out how economically they can bring manufacturing back to the U.S. The other 50 percent of the mission is to take graduate student interns from MBA programs and engineering programs and teach them about the real world of manufacturing, because they’re going to become the leaders of tomorrow. Our interns are paid, and they come on board for one or two semesters. We put them to work as either junior consultants on our projects, or we assign research to them. They write our case studies and write papers.

. Where is the organization at today? Over the last eight or nine years we grew at a slow but steady pace, with clients interested in reshoring or doing projects with us. Our major reshoring projects include site selection and ‘Made in the USA’ labeling projects, which is more complicated than you would think. We do lots of domestic sourcing projects with companies who are interested in finding domestic manufacturers for their raw materials, as well as their subassemblies. The Reshoring Institute grew at a steady pace, but when the pandemic hit it’s been all-out fast forward since then. That’s because risk was introduced into the equation. Companies now understand that not only is it an economic process, but it’s also very risky to have all your production in China. Or to have all your parts, especially critical parts, sourced in Asia. We have a lot of interest from companies that are interested in reshoring, but most of them are trying to take the first step, which is domestic sourcing. We help these companies find domestic suppliers.

. The Reshoring Institute started in 2013, and that’s close to the last time we did an issue on reshoring in this publication. What has changed in reshoring over the past 10 years? I keep telling people that supply chain leaders and executives have gotten smarter. It used to be when I was consulting with my clients, the only thing they were interested in was finding a low-cost production place. Not just cheap labor, but an overall low-cost production location that included low-cost facilities. What they were looking to achieve was better bottomline results. Sometimes, I’d get a client that would say, ‘Well, my competitors have all gone to China. I guess I better too.’ Basically, it was economics. Fast forward to today and these same executives are considering a wide variety of variables in making this decision. It’s no longer just dollars and cents, it’s vulnerability and market strategy asking questions such as: ‘What’s the risk of a particular country?’ and ‘Where are my opportunities?’ I’ve been to China many times, and I think the quality of products that are made there can be very good. They make Lamborghinis in China! If you can control your supply chain, you can make very high-quality products like iPhones and medical devices. However, in today’s environment under Xi Jinping, it’s become quite risky. As Donald Trump and his team were China-bashing during his administration, in retaliation, Xi Jinping and his cronies were America-bashing. So now it’s not such a friendly place for Americans. It used to be if I went there, they would welcome me as an American and a foreigner. Today’s environment is not like that anymore. Supply chain executives have really become smarter and more strategic about what they’re asking for. In today’s environment, it’s more common to see executives ask for a strategy like ‘China Plus One’ or ‘China Plus Two.’ China Plus One would be manufacturing in China, plus manufacturing in one other country area, like Vietnam, Taiwan or Mexico. China Plus Two might involve manufacturing in China, plus Mexico and the U.S. or China plus Vietnam and the U.S. Executives are considering the risk that’s involved.

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 35

. You touched on the pandemic earlier. How has that affected the current supply chain situation? As most people know, COVID-19 has had a huge effect on global supply chains. Shortages and disrupted manufacturing schedules took place due to the opening and closing of countries, as well as factories, especially across China. A few things happened. First, the closing down of China to air traffic made it difficult for companies to schedule cargo movements and just to get their products out of China. One of the first things that happened was we shut down air traffic to China. We weren’t landing any planes there, including a lot of the cargo carriers like FedEx and UPS. The pilots didn’t want to fly there. Fifty percent of the world’s air freight capacity is belly-cargo on passenger aircraft and with flight cancellations that capacity disappeared overnight. Second, the ocean carriers quit serving many of the ports or they restricted their schedule. Instead of being in Shanghai twice a month, they only went once every other month. The third problem was the increase in demand. Contrary to popular belief, we actually increased our imports into the U.S. from China during the pandemic. We were all sitting at home ordering laptops for our kids and consumer electronics and demand spiked, which was a surprise to everybody. Semiconductor companies turned from making semiconductors for the automotive industry and other places, and shifted semiconductor production to laptops because there was such a huge demand. That had a whipsaw effect throughout the industry regarding semiconductors and everybody has semiconductor shortages now. It will take a long time to catch up production from the pandemic. Then from the U.S. side, industrial buyers started experiencing shortages. I’ve been doing business with China for a long time. In January 2020, I was reading reports about the pandemic in China and how factories were closing. I write for Supply Chain Management Review, and I raised the red flag to let supply chain people know that they were going to have problems, and yet I was getting no response. People

36 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

were unaware or didn’t understand the magnitude of what was coming. On Feb. 13, 2020, I was at Purdue University speaking at their annual supply chain event. I got onstage and I said to a group of about 200 manufacturers, ‘How many of you have a plan ready for alternate suppliers from China because of the pandemic?’ No one raised their hand. I told them there was a huge problem coming, but nobody expected it. The gentleman who spoke after me was from John Deere, and they already had shortages because Wuhan, China is the automotive center for the country and that is where many of their parts were coming from. They were already trying to find domestic sources and alternate sources and 3D printing of critical parts and taking all kinds of measures. They were ahead of the game at the time. Because most companies were practicing the very popular lean manufacturing processes or a low inventory policy on raw materials, it caused havoc. Manufacturers had to shut down because they didn’t have raw materials and parts. A lot of the companies were trying to find domestic sources. Because so many manufacturers shifted production to China, so did all their sources, which left big holes in the capability of U.S. sources. Most companies have responded recently by building inventory to alleviate part shortages, which means additional working capital required. In addition to building inventory of raw materials and parts, a lot of companies have worked to develop alternate U.S. suppliers, and we’re helping a lot of companies do this. Some are not yet interested in fully bringing back production to the U.S. or never will, but they are very interested in mitigating risk through domestic sourcing. Helping companies with domestic sourcing has become a significant part of our consulting business. As a non-profit organization, we can do this at very reasonable cost. With so many companies interested in developing domestic sources, we are busy. But these domestic sources are not so easy to find. Many suppliers don’t have the capacity; or they’ve lost all their welders and electricians and they have a shortage in tool and die makers.

. You touched on the labor shortage. Are you seeing more manufacturers turning to automation to fill in some of those jobs that they just can’t take on? Absolutely. Automation is one of the key pillars in reshoring. We don’t want all the jobs back, despite what our politicians may say. We don’t want the 23-cents-an-hour production back because it doesn’t pay a living wage. If it doesn’t pay a living wage, we have to supplement those people’s income with welfare. Essentially by saying we want all the jobs back, they’re saying, ‘Well, we want to create a welfare state.’ What we do want back are the more sophisticated, higher-paid, skilled jobs to match a fully automated environment.

. Most SMI members are job shops that make springs, wireforms and light stampings. How can they help their customers and potential customers get involved in reshoring? I know a lot about machine shops because we’ve done so much machining sourcing. Machining is one of those areas where people are truly looking for U.S. suppliers. Because a lot of them are small job shop environments with little advertising, they’re not the easiest places to find. If you’re in San Diego and you’re trying to find a machine shop and a perfect match exists in Connecticut, how do you find them? It isn’t just a Google search — if the supplier is small and not doing paid advertising, they might end up on page 10 of a search. I think turning to small manufacturers is very attractive if you can find them. One way for small manufacturers to be known is through organizations like local Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEPs), a U.S. Department of Commerce service. MEPs are now adopting search engines where you can register, and you can find customers and suppliers. Suppliers are also using Thomasnet and software such as CONNEX. These services are designed to have manufacturers like small machine shops register so they can be found. The other thing I would suggest is advertising that products are ‘made in the USA.’ If you’re a machine shop and you are making those products in the U.S., you ought to be tagging that on social media and have

that all over your website, because we now know that Americans prefer products that are made here and they’re willing to pay more. Our study (available on www.ReshoringInstitute,org) shows that most people are willing to pay up to 20% more for products made the U.S.

. What do you see as the future of reshoring? I think in 2012 reshoring was an interesting idea and people weren’t opposed to it, but now, in 2022, it’s very obvious that it needs to happen. I believe the U.S. government should create an industrial policy, which they have never done before. We’ve always believed that the government should be hands off, but now, after experiencing the pandemic, we see that’s not totally ideal. We need to make some things in the U.S. to sustain the health and prosperity of Americans. The Biden administration, in the first 100 days, did a deep dive supply chain study. You can see that on our website under U.S. manufacturing, where we have a tab for policy. The study came up with a variety of things that needed to be made here, and four items were at the top of the priority list. They included pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, rare earth elements and EV batteries. Those four things should become part of a critical industrial policy that we don’t have right now that supports the health and well-being of Americans. It means once we officially support those critical industries, there will be investment dollars and startup funds from the government that will help ignite those industries. We are seeing companies develop a global manufacturing strategy and staff up to support global operations. Twenty years ago, there was no such thing as a chief supply chain officer. Now they’re everywhere including the c-suite, as a strategic and essential business contributor

. Anything else you would like to add? I would encourage people to come to our website, where we have published an enormous amount of research, case studies, white papers, articles and podcasts that could be helpful, at www. reshoringinstitute.org. n

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 37

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Eleven Students Receive $25,000 in Aid Through the 2022 SMI Scholarship Program By Gary McCoy

t was another succesful year for the SMI Scholarship program. The 2022 program resulted in awards of $25,000 in financial aid to 11 students among a pool of applicants from SMI members in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The program has awarded $335,000 in scholarships since it started in 2010. “Education is really what SMI is all about and being able to recognize these students for their achievements in this area is truly an honor,” said SMI president Gene Huber, Jr. “Education in all areas of life is arguably how we move not only ourselves, but our society and world forward as well. SMI is proud of these students and the parent employees of our member companies and we wish to congratulate each one of them for their efforts and achievement.”

To be eligible for an SMI scholarship, award winners must be a full-time employee or a dependent child of a full-time employee who works for an SMI member company. For 2022, SMI awarded five regional scholarships in the amount of $2,000 each. In addition, six at-large scholarships were selected: • Ronald and Adrienne Banas Scholarship, $5,000 • International Spring Scholarship, $4,000 awarded to two students in the amount of $2,000 each • Callaghan-Hart Scholarship, $2,000 • Albert H. Goering Memorial Scholarship, $2,000 • The Gibraltar Company Scholarship, $2,000 SMI member companies will receive information for the 2023 scholarship program in the fall, via mail, email and SMI’s website, www.smihq.org.

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 41

2022 Regional Scholarships Scholarship Recipients Say Thanks

Canada Henry J. Monkhouse Hometown: Balderson, Ontario SMI Member Parent: Debra Monkhouse, Central Wire Attending: Carelton University, Ottawa, Ontario Major: Communication and Media

Here are edited excerpts from correspondence sent to SMI by this year’s scholarship recipients to express their gratitude. Thank you for the generous Ronald and Adrienne Banas scholarship from SMI. I am very pleased and appreciative to be selected as a recipient of this award. I plan to attend the University of North Alabama and major in exercise science with a pre-professional concentration. I will enroll as a full-time freshman in fall of 2022. My ultimate career goal is to become a physician assistant and work in sports medicine or orthopedics, so that I may use my interests to give back to my community. Receiving this scholarship has motivated me to pursue my dreams and gotten me one step closer to making them a reality. I look forward to being able to give back to my community as a physician assistant in the future. Thank you for your confidence and willingness to help me achieve my goals. yla O‘Guin K Centerville, Tennessee I would like to thank SMI for the generous award toward my education at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. This award makes a big difference to me, and I truly appreciate this support as I prepare to enter the fourth and final year of my degree program. enry Monkhouse H Balderson, Ontario

42 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

U.S. Daisy Beltran Hometown: Garden Grove, California SMI Member Parent: Juan Beltran, Newcomb Spring Corporation Attending: California State University, Northridge, California Major: Master of Public Health Hannah Cutter Hometown: Farmington, Connecticut SMI Member Parent: Ryan Cutter, FENN/Torin Attending: Iona College, New Rochelle, New York Major: Speech Language Pathology Mehzabeen Mastan Hometown: San Leandro, California SMI Member Parent: Sheik Mastan, Betts Company Attending: Life Chiropractic College West, Hayward, California Major: Chiropractic Justin Vaichus Hometown: Wolcott, Connecticut SMI Member Parent: Charles Vaichus, Newcomb Spring Attending: Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Connecticut Major: Cybersecuity

2021 At-Large Scholarships Albert H. Goering Memorial Scholarship Olivia Lane Hometown: Geneva, Illinois SMI Member Parent: Pattie Lane, Patrick Manufacturing Attending: University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska Major: Nursing

Callaghan-Hart Scholarship Natalie White Hometown: St. Peters, Missouri SMI Member Parent: Grzegorz Gruchala, Sterling Spring Attending: University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi Major: Chemistry

International Spring Scholarship Mina Truesdale Hometown: Whitewater, Wisconsin SMI Member Parent: Stephen Truesdale, R&L Spring Company Attending: Cedarville University, Cedarville, Ohio Major: Chemistry

International Spring Scholarship Lora Wargo Hometown: Carrollton, Texas SMI Member Parent: Jason Wargo, Newcomb Spring Attending: Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas Major: Computer Science

Ronald and Adrienne Banas Scholarship

I wanted to reach out and express my appreciation for the scholarship. I am so grateful to be able to receive such a generous grant from SMI to put toward continuing my education. I am so lucky to be selected out of all the qualified applicants to receive this scholarship. A little bit about me: I am currently attending the University of NebraskaLincoln (UNL) as a sophomore with a major in pre-nursing. Sadly, there is no nursing program here at UNL, so I have applied to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Lincoln to obtain my bachelor’s degree in nursing. Education has always been such an important part of my life and being a nurse has always been one of my life goals. I am beyond appreciative of the scholarship to allow me to continue my pathway into the nursing field, we need them now more than ever! Olivia Lane Geneva, Illinois I want to express my sincerest gratitude for being selected to receive the Callaghan-Hart Scholarship. I hope to continue furthering my education as a chemistry major at the University of Mississippi and learning all that I can in preparation for medical school. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. Natalie White St. Peters, Missouri

Kyla O‘Guin Hometown: Centerville, Tennessee SMI Member Parent: Jason O‘Guin, Sumiden Wire Products Corporation Attending: University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama Major: Exercise Science

The Gibraltar Company Scholarship Ishmam Rahman Hometown: Warren, Michigan SMI Member Parent: Md-Nurur Rahman, American MSC Inc. Attending: Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan Major: Electrical Engineering

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 43

The Spring Industry Reconnects A Report on the 2022 SMI Annual Meeting in Scottsdale

By Gary McCoy

fter a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the 2022 SMI Annual Meeting included a lot of hugs and handshakes as the industry gathered at long last in Scottsdale, Arizona from April 23 to April 26.

The event included a farewell to Bert Goering (aka The Pandemic President) of Precision Coil Spring, who completed a two-year term as SMI president. Goering will now serve as past presiBert Goering dent as Gene Huber, Jr. of Winamac Coil Spring takes the reins. In addition, a new executive committee was elected that includes vice president Don Jacobson III of Newcomb Spring, secretary/treasurer David DeVoe of Plymouth Spring and atlarge representative Dave Deerwester of The Yost Superior Co. At the April 26 president-elect reception and dinner to conclude the annual meeting, Huber took time to thank Goering for his contributions during the past two years. “I’m a Sunday school teacher and you always need some object lessons,” joked Huber as he displayed some masks and gloves to signify the challenges with COVID-19 that Goering faced during his presidency. “Bert has managed SMI during some difficult times,” said Huber.

“He’s done it with a calm and steady hand, with a touch of California humor.” Huber mentioned Goering’s leadership as SMI made the tough decision to cancel the Metal Engineering eXpo last year, and his guidance and support as the association successfully pivoted to teach its spring design training classes online. “Bert, I am humbled and happy to work with you,” said Huber. “The Bert Goering years have been successful.” SMI executive director Lynne Carr recognized Goering for his accomplishments with a plaque and a $1,000 contribution in Goering’s name to Catholic Charities of Southern California. Flowers and gifts were also presented to Goering’s wife, Anna Beth Goering. Huber said he has received many well wishes and congratulation on stepping into his new role as SMI president. “The opportunity is both humbling and exhilarating at the same time,” said Huber. He explained the negative influences impacting all spring companies of labor and material shortages, increased material prices and the challenges of operating in a post-COVID world. On a positive note, Huber said “manufacturing is at the forefront.” Daniel Pierre III (left) of JN Machinery and Kelley Christy of Diamond Wire Spring. Participants in the first-ever pickle ball event.

Jennelle Carlier of S3 Wireforms and Myriam L’Heureux of Pyromaitre.

44 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

SMI’s new executive committee (l-to-r): past president Bert Goering, Precision Coil Spring; secretary/treasurer David DeVoe, Plymouth Spring; president Gene Huber, Jr., Winamac Coil Spring; vice president Don Jacobson III, Newcomb Spring; and at-large Dave Deerwester, The Yost Superior Co.

Huber says he sees the fervor and desire by SMI members to work on education, communication, benchmarking and unifying the industry. The main message of Huber’s message was a term that is often used by a couple of his sons: “Let’s go!” Huber said everyone in the room is a leader. “This organization is one of the leaders of our industry,” he explained. “As a team, let’s develop tools that help us as a whole meet the negative influences and exploit the opportunities! In short, help us help you, and let’s go!” Inspired and Educated The SMI annual meeting included a presentation by Lisa Ryan, president of Grategy. Ryan spoke four years ago to SMI attendees and followed up on that inspiring message with more gratitude strategies to create a positive workplace culture. She said the “Great Resignation,” where a record number of people have left the workforce, is probably better titled as the “Great Reassessment.” Ryan touted the benefits of conducting “stay interviews” with employees as a proven retention strategy. “I encourage you to ask your employees three things they like about working at your company,” Ryan said. “Feedback is a gift.” Attendees received a copy of Ryan’s new book, “Thank You Very Much.”

Lisa Ryan

Michelle “Sonic” Ruehl

Liz Hickox of Core Financial Partners is a retirement plan specialist and the point person for SMI’s new 401(k) multiple employer program. Hickox’s presentation at the SMI annual meeting provided an opportunity for members to understand the particulars of the program and the potential cost savings. SMI’s regulatory compliance consultant, Dr. Laura Helmrich-Rhodes of Safety Geeks, went into detail about the current Top 10 OSHA Violations and strategies that SMI members can take to keep their workplace safe. Rhodes encouraged questions and invited members to utilize her services for training and workplace safety assessments. The final educational event was a fast-paced presentation by Michelle Ruehl (aka Sonic) and Don Haley (aka Striker) of Afterburner. Both Ruehl and Haley are currently officers and pilots with the U.S. Air Force. With an inspiring presentation that included dramatic videos, Ruehl and Haley drew upon their military training and the Afterburner “flawless execution engine” to explain the organization’s winning strategy of “plan, brief, execute and debrief ” and how leaders can apply this to their business. The Afterburner team of Ruehl and Haley brought a unique perspective on helping unleash true potential within business teams.

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Mark your calendars for the 2023 SMI Annual Meeting, to be held April 22-25 at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando. n SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 45

By Jason Sicotte Engineering Manager – Innovation & Materials, Associated Spring, Barnes

The Evolution of 3D Printing in the Spring Industry

y now, most technical people in the industry have heard of additive manufacturing and likely have either used it or seen examples. In the simplest of terms, additive manufacturing is 3D printing. It’s an emerging manufacturing practice that began in the 1980s and allows people to create physical, three-dimensional objects directly from a computer design file. While the original idea was that we would print products in the spring industry, the most significant benefit lies in prints that support production, inspection and quality.

46 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

Stereolithography 3D printing began to be commercialized with the advent of stereolithography in the late 1980s to early 90s. Stereolithography works by directing a laser over a vat of liquid resin that solidifies, thus building the model, layer by layer, as the platform retracts throughout the build. However, these printers were expensive and only used by large corporations that could afford this cutting-edge technology. The LOM by Helisys Soon afterward, competing, lower-cost technologies began to emerge, such as our first in-house printer, the LOM by Helisys. In 1995, the LOM was indeed state-of-the-art, as it was capable of converting 3D CAD designs to solid physical parts. This printer worked by laying down layers of laminated paper and cutting the desired shape on each layer with a laser, resulting in a solid block with numerous cubes to be removed (similar to support structures today). The ultimate models were literally paper glued together with strength on par with very light wood. While they generated solid real-world representations of digital designs, they lacked the resilience to be a functional part or model. It should be noted that the LOM technique did continue to expand and improve with new material options. Potential Replacement for Conventional Manufacturing As additive manufacturing accelerated about 10 years ago, the common thought process centered around how end products would eventually be 3D printed, thus rendering conventional manufacturing processes obsolete (Springs, Summer 2015, Vol. 54, No. 3). Traditional views focused on how spring coilers can produce thousands of parts per hour for pennies per piece. In fact, the consensus at that time was correct — 3D printing would not replace conventional manufacturing any time soon. There were many reasons for this, including how current spring raw materials are too strong, low cost, high quality, and easy to form to be replaced. In reality, that situation has essentially not changed today. However, there has been significant technological progress such that additively-produced springs are certainly feasible from various materials, both metals and composites. Unfortunately, the widespread perception that additive manufacturing was unsuitable for producing springs likely led to a slow embrace of the technology, which may have delayed its adoption in our industry. With some creative thinking, there are limitless opportunities for 3D printing to improve our businesses, although not in the way originally envisioned.

Numerous Printing Technologies Fast forward to 2022, where numerous printing technologies that can meet almost any desired price point and quality level are available. Today, equipment price points range from under $100 to well over $1 million. Given this situation, there is a printer available to fit any budget. Now, the only challenge is identifying the optimum combination between cost, strength, and quality. The efficacy of a 3D print is directly related to the strength of the material and the cost of the print. A low-strength print using plastic materials such as PLA, ABS, nylon, etc., can be beneficial for having a solid, three-dimensional part in hand to study a product’s design concept or even its mating components. This type of model could help analyze material handling and fixturing needs. Roughly speaking, printers of this type range from $100 to $2,000 and are very attainable by companies with smaller budgets. Fiber-reinforced plastics are the next step up in material strength and usefulness in our industry. These plastics can be chopped fiber mixed in a resin or continuous fiber laid down in layers, sandwiched in the middle of the build for the highest strength. Typical fiber materials include glass, high-strength glass, Kevlar, and carbon. The Mark Two™ from Markforged is one such printer with this capability. With strength in this class that rivals aluminum, there are numerous applications for fiber-reinforced plastics in the industry, especially supporting production equipment.

3D printed high strength forming tool with steel dowel inserts, used to form a prototype cantilever spring.

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 47

3D Printing at Associated Spring Associated Spring is a brand within the Engineering Components strategic business unit of Barnes. In 2021, Barnes intensified its focus on digitalization by developing its digital program as an essential component and strategic enabler within the company’s operating system, the Barnes Enterprise System (BES). 3D printing is just one example of how Barnes fully supports our digital transformation. One recent in-house built spring forming machine included six high-strength fiber-reinforced prints, which saved over $3,000 and trimmed several weeks off the overall lead time. This machine was put into serial production and continues to perform as expected. As each of our global facilities has identical, high-strength 3D printers, engineers in the U.S. (or any of our sites) could quickly send a design over the internet to be printed on-site if a redesign or replacement part was ever necessary. Our highstrength printers are networked together and have completed thousands of prints over the past four years. The price point and level of this technology continue to evolve and are far more attainable today. This mature, industrial-scale technology plays a key role in supporting our production and automation efforts. We have several examples of robots in production using cleverly-designed end effectors (also called EOAT, End-Of-Arm Tooling) with unique features that conventional subtractive machining operations could never have produced. Other applications include fixturing, testing, gauging, and even forming thin gauge steel parts. Printing Metal The current apex in additive manufacturing is printing fully functional metal parts. Most metal printers on the market can print from a variety of materials ranging from stainless steel to various tool steels, titanium, Inconel, and copper. Price points

3D printed machining fixture for rapid prototype development for vehicle electrification application.

for these systems range from approximately $100k at the low end to well over $1 million, depending on your quality (density and accuracy) and speed requirements. Today, metal printers can produce high-strength components rivaling wrought spring alloys, albeit at a substantially higher capital cost. The true benefit of 3D printing (even using metal) is creating unique geometries that conventional subtractive methods could never physically machine at any cost. Endless Possibilities Today’s experienced workforce is very well trained in conventional subtractive manufacturing processes. Recent engineering school graduates are much more widely exposed to additive techniques; however, they lack the experience required in a production environment. In my experience, the full benefit of 3D printing isn’t easily documented before purchase. Ultimately, the true value is revealed when the benefits offered by additive manufacturing are tailored to function in a production environment. Once additive manufacturing is on-site and available to use, the team will quickly learn what is possible and dream up ideas and uses which weren’t possible or available before. It is truly a transformative tool that has become a standard part of development and production, saving thousands of dollars and months of project lead-time. This benefit became even more crucial during the COVID pandemic, as many industries faced production delays and lost time due to illness or quarantine and supply chain constraints. Now, instead of ordering custom raw material for tooling and having it machined, in many cases we can simply hit “print” and make numerous designs from one common spool of raw material. n

About Barnes

High strength 3D printed robot end effector, including some unique geometries which would be very difficult or impossible to machine conventionally.

48 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE: B) pioneers technologies to help change the world. Employees across the globe are dedicated to Persistent Ingenuity™ — advancing what’s possible and delivering to the highest standards. We serve a wide range of end markets and customers, including healthcare, automation, packaging, aerospace, mobility, and manufacturing, delivering breakthrough products and services to shape a more inclusive and sustainable world. For more information, visit www.barnesgroupinc.com.

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Accelerating Performance “They’re here, but they’re not here. My staff isn’t committed, and it’s obvious to me and our customers. We’re in trouble.” “To say that initiative is lacking is an understatement. My staff doesn’t think beyond the basics. If they hit a wall, they stop. The idea of looking for a window never crosses their minds. Frustrating!” “Maybe it’s them. Maybe it’s me. Our team just goes through the motions. I wish there were a magic formula to get people focused and motivated.” While there isn’t an instant solution for increasing enthusiasm, focus and initiative, there are steps any leader can take to orchestrate success.

Step One: Communicate the Direction

It’s hard for people to reach a destination if they don’t know what it is. Whether you call it mission, purpose or something else, employees need to have a solid understanding of the organization’s why, the team’s why and their why. Leaders who promote engagement regularly connect day-to-day tasks and expectations with the bigger picture. Work on creating clear lines of sight. For instance, “Debbie, we’re here to service members. Everything we do should help our members get the most from our conferences. As the registration clerk, it’s important for you to accurately register members and send their confirmation documents within two days of receiving a request. Our goal is timeliness and accuracy.”

50 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

Step Two: Delegate Responsibility and Authority

Step Three: Recognize Good Work and the Importance of Others

Once people know the direction, good leaders give them responsibility and the tools they need to execute the plan. Will everything be done exactly as the leader would do it if he or she were to take on the task? Doubtful. However, great leaders know when to step in and when to stand back and let others own their work. “John, your job is to manage customer returns. While I have guidelines for you to follow, you can decide and then let me know how you will organize your work.”

No matter their role or level in an organization, people like to be appreciated and recognized. Whether someone is a vice president or a temporary worker, leaders who engage their teams communicate the idea that everyone has an important role. Take the time to articulate how others contribute. “Eric, you are the face of the office. When people visit us, you are the person who sets the tone. Thank you for taking pride in the appearance of the reception area and screening visitors in a friendly way that doesn’t feel like an interrogation. You’re nailing it.”

Seven Steps for Promoting Employee Engagement By Kate Zabriskie

Step Four: Support Stumbles

Slips, trips, and falls will happen when people solve problems, and leaders who engage their teams to the full capacity have the good sense to support the stumbles employees will inevitably encounter. In other words, it’s about having the maturity to get beyond blame and focus on what to do differently in the future. Do you assume the best? Do you steer clear of throwing others under the bus? Do you treat errors as learning opportunities? If not, you’ve got some room to improve. “Eric, the event did not go as you had hoped, and now is the time to learn from the experience. In hindsight, what could have been done differently?”

Step Five: Instill a Sense of Calm and Certainty

Without a clear course, employees spend a lot of time worrying and focusing on what-ifs that may never happen. But with a sense of certainty, people’s shock absorbers function at maximum capacity. A leader with a plan reduces fear, uncertainty and stress. The plan can be short term and it can change, as long as it’s there and communicated. Do you do all you should do to keep people in the loop? “Folks, we’re in a period of transition. We have several companies interested in acquiring us. Nothing has been decided and for the next two months, we’re going to operate as usual. When I get information to share, I will share what I know. Until then, if you have questions, ask. Our top focus today is hitting the numbers on our secondary production line.”

Step Six: Promote a Level Playing Field

Fairness trumps favoritism every time, and people will stick with a leader through some horrible circumstances when that person is a straight shooter and doesn’t favor some over others. Stay mindful of what’s fair, and think about how your team will perceive your actions.

Step Seven: Address Problems

Engaged teams eschew mediocrity, and the people at the top have high standards for everyone. When problems occur, leaders who engage confront them head on. If you have conversations you’ve put off, now is the time to reset and communicate what’s expected. Leaders who engage don’t do so by accident or without work. If you want to jump-start or refocus your team, start with these seven steps. With some deliberate effort on your part, you should start seeing results. n

Kate Zabriskie is the president of Business Training Works, Inc., a Maryland-based talent development firm. She and her team provide on-site, virtual and online soft-skills training courses and workshops to clients in the United States and internationally. For more information, visit www.businesstrainingworks.com.

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 51

Flashback

By Gary McCoy

Improving the Industry and Springmakers (Editor’s Note: In this edition of Flashback, we reprint the President’s Message from the May 1993 edition of Springs. The thoughts put forth by W. Parker “Park” Blatchford nearly 30 years ago still apply today: SMI remains committed to improving the industry and springmakers.)

In the global community we all have access to the same machinery, wire and technology. However, the ability to use these resources wisely to their fullest capacity depends solely on each individual. It is our own individual abilities, either personal or corporate, that will separate the successful competitors from the pretenders. SMI has assumed a leadership position in helping make us more effective in adapting to the changes that are rushing toward us every day.

52 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

In the next few months, SMI members will see a greater attention given to education. We will offer programs that will enable springmakers to work smarter in areas as central as spring design and quality control, and as ancillary as regulatory compliance and personal enrichment. In the pages of this issue of Springs, readers have an opportunity to learn about effective means to ward off business frustration arising from such indirect influences as regulations, nontraditional workforce and new thinking about the process of meeting customer needs and demands. In addition, we will concentrate on such central themes as evaluating new technologies and their impact on our business. There is more to springmaking than just making springs. Enjoy this issue with renewed enthusiasm, and the realization that after 60 years SMI is still committed to improving the industry and springmakers. n

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Five Questions

HS Wire Technology Five Questions provides an opportunity for SMI associate members to tell the spring industry about their company and the products and services they offer. In this edition, we talk with Tim Becker, MetalWorks Division President, Hickory Springs Manufacturing Company.

Can you tell us about HS Wire Technology and the products it offers to spring manufacturers?

HS Wire Technology is the wire manufacturing entity of the MetalWorks Division within Hickory Springs Manufacturing. We produce three categories of wire — low carbon, high carbon as drawn (including phos music) and induction tempered, which includes commercial and chrome silicon. The HS Wire facility in Conover, North Carolina produces the full range of our wire product offering. We also manufacture induction tempered wire at our OT West plant in Phoenix, Arizona, and in Bedford Heights, Ohio at the former American Spring Wire through an exclusive toll processing agreement with OPEX Steel Processing. All our wire producing facilities operate using environmentally friendly rod cleaning and induction heattreating processes.

What are the latest trends impacting wire manufacturers and what effect is it having on spring manufacturers?

I don’t think we can escape mentioning the escalating costs to produce wire or springs. Raw materials inputs, such as hot rolled wire rod and steel scrap, have increased in cost dramatically in the last 18 months, along with labor and transportation. The effect is springmakers

are looking at alternative suppliers and potential product substitutions to help offset higher costs. Another trend is that the steel mills are investing further into downstream products, causing new competitive situations that could change the landscape of the supply chain.

What type of services do you offer to springmakers?

In addition to the quality wire products mentioned, HS Wire Technology has metallurgical and failure analysis capabilities. Our experience with manufacturing spring wire also allows for raw material design and specification building assistance with our customers. The HSM logistics team has a large asset-based fleet of tractors and trailers for reliable and timely delivery of our products.

What logistics challenges has your company faced as a result of COVID-19 and ongoing supply chain shortages?

We face the same challenges as the rest of the manufacturing world in these unprecedented times. Increasing costs, managing raw material supply, labor demands and shortages of numerous basic supplies. Availability of these items was taken for granted historically. The challenge is to service customers in a manner they deserve. I believe the relationships with both our suppliers and customers has allowed HS Wire Technology to perform well in today’s very difficult marketplace.

Can you tell us about a recent challenge that you were able to solve for a customer?

A customer approached us recently with an opportunity to help them grow in a specific market by collaborating on designing a new type of wire that allows for better longevity in a very tough application. Working with several suppliers and multiple trials with feedback from our customer, we were able to establish a manufacturing process producing wire that exceeded the customer’s expectation. Another example is investment made by HS Wire Technology in improving wire packaging that allows for more consistency from coil to coil, resulting in quick changeovers for our customers and improved efficiency. n HS Wire Technology Division of Hickory Springs Manufacturing 1115 Farmington St. Hickory, NC 28613 Phone: 828-328-2201 twbecker@hickorysprings.com www.hickorysprings.com

Tim Becker

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 55

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Springmaker Spotlight

Patrick Gillum

Respect the Spring A Profile of Patrick Gillum and Gilco Spring of Florida By Gary McCoy, Managing Editor

Wassociate the catchphrase with standup comedian Rodney Dangerfield. It

hen people hear the phrase, “I don’t get no respect,” they immediately

is no secret that many springmakers like Patrick Gillum of Gilco Spring of Florida have felt the same way about springs, because they are often overlooked and taken for granted. Unfortunately, few customers understand the complexity of the design and manufacturing that goes into making them. Gillum recalls a hockey trip he took with one of his sons that landed them at a pizzeria in Huntsville, Alabama. He noticed all the servers wore t-shirts that said: “Respect the Pizza.” That phrase got the wheels rolling and Gillum thought: “You know what, I’m going to use that.” It wasn’t long before he had t-shirts made for his employees with the phrase “Respect the Spring” printed on the back.

SPRINGS | Spring 2022 | 57

Springmaker Spotlight

Gilco Spring founder Marvin Gillum

Respect Your Roots Gilco Spring has been a respected manufacturer of springs and wireforms for more than 50 years. One thing you immediately discover when interacting with the management and employees of the company is that they do not take themselves too seriously. The 25 staff members enjoy working together and having fun. At the same time, they take pride in the parts they produce. “We work hard and have wonderful people here, who are creative and imaginative to figure out how to make stuff better, quicker and faster,” said Gillum.

The work ethic and values evident at the company are due to its founder, E. Marvin Gillum, who established Gilco, Inc. in 1969 in the metro Detroit town of Roseville, Michigan. The original focus of the company was to serve the automotive industry. Marvin Gillum got his start in the spring industry at Midway Spring Company, which was owned by his uncle through marriage. When he got fired from Midway, he took his industry experience and relationships with customers like Fisher Body and Holley Carburetors to start Gilco Spring. “Back then, you could get a loan on your word,” explained Gillum about his dad getting the business started in a rented facility in Roseville through a loan from the State Bank of Fraser. “Everything progressed nicely, the economy was growing and, except for a little hiccup during the ’70s energy crisis, the business was doing well.” When Gillum’s dad started having heath issues, he decided to open a southern facility. “He actually had property in Lexington, Kentucky that he was going to build on,” explained Gillum. “My dad was in the thoroughbred horse business and his ultimate plan was to have a horse farm, which he did. He ended up selling the property in Lexington and buying property in the late ’70s in the Tampa Bay area and a horse farm in Ocala, Florida.” Marvin Gillum opened Gilco Spring of Florida as a branch of the Detroit operations in 1979 at its current location in Oldsmar, Florida.

Gillum and general manager Todd Gaito reviewing prototype samples.

“You can still be content and work really hard at the same time.”

58 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

Springmaker Spotlight

“ We work hard and have wonderful people here, who are creative and imaginative to figure out how to make stuff better, quicker and faster.” Selling Cars When his dad established the Florida operations, Gillum was a student at Michigan State University. Like many children who grew up in the business, Gillum started worked at Gilco Spring in the summer of 1978 before he started his college studies. He worked every summer at the family business in Roseville while he was in college, eventually earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1982. “One of my dad’s rules was you had to get a college degree and work for somebody else for a while before joining the family business,” said Gillum. With a weak economy at the time, Gillum found a job selling cars in Parma, Ohio. “It was a great experience in dealing

with the public and dealing with bosses and co-workers,” said Gillum of his brief stint in the car dealership business. His return to the spring industry came through a phone call from his dad, who said, “Hey, I really need somebody in Florida to help out down there. What do you think?” Gillum pointedly said to his dad, “Sounds good to me.” The move to Florida took place in October 1983 and Gillum has never left. “I was never much of a winter sports guy, being more of a golfer and tennis player, so Florida was and continues to be a perfect fit for me.” After his father’s death in 2000 and his mother’s passing in 2003, Gillum

sold the operations in Michigan in 2007. His older brother had been running the Michigan division but ended up leaving the company. For several years, Gillum commuted between Florida and the Detroit area to run the two facilities. “I was dealing with the automotive industry and that was not a lot of fun,” declared Gillum. “I’m not a great economist or anything,” admitted Gillum. “As I traveled back and forth between the two states and not being intensely involved in the automotive industry, I could see from the outside looking in that something wasn’t right.” Gillum closed the sale for Gilco Inc. in Roseville on Aug. 10, 2007, which

First shift and management team of Gilco Spring celebrate achieving ISO 9001:2015 registration.

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 59

Springmaker Spotlight

coincided with his 47th birthday. It was a good time to sell. That is because, as many will remember, 2008 proved to be a challenging time to be in the automotive industry due to the Great Recession. Gillum has three other siblings, two brothers and a sister, and he eventually bought them out to obtain full ownership of the company. Sadly, both of his brothers have since passed away. Growth and Diversification Gilco Spring of Florida still does a small percentage of automotive work. It is

Gillum (second from left) with sons Jack (far left) and Kyle (far right) and nephew Alex Humphreys posing with “Spring Man” logo designed in 1959 at Midway Spring.

primarily known for working with a variety of customers in aerospace, appliances, building products, electrical, fasteners, furniture, HVAC, lawn and garden, refrigeration, hydraulic and pneumatic, medical, military, power tools, recreation and seating. “I don’t have any customer that is more than 13% of our business, which is rare for a company in our industry,” said Gillum. When asked if his customers have changed over the years, Gillum emphatically says, “Yes. I think we have one customer left that we used to do business with out of the Michigan facility. So, it’s pretty much all new customers since the early 2000s.” Gillum says they continue to invest in new equipment and in 2016 underwent a 10,000 sq. ft. expansion to bring its total space to more than 28,000 sq. ft. with an additional 10,000 sq. ft. planned for later this year. The company does a lot of round wire springs, flat springs and wireforms. “I like to refer to us as a boutique stamper. We do not do a lot of stamping, but we have a couple of presses that we can do for certain jobs for our very diversified customer base.”

Springs and Horse Racing Patrick Gillum said his dad attended many SMI meetings, but never got involved as a volunteer leader. The reason? “He was too busy trying to win a Kentucky Derby!” Hooked on the horse racing business from his uncle who owned Midway Spring, Marvin Gillum operated a 100-acre horse racing farm in Ocala, Florida from 1980 until his death in 2000. At any time, Gillum said his dad would have more than 50 horses at the stables. Though he never got his Kentucky Derby win, Gillum said that one of his dad’s mares named La Bonza did win a big race in the Chicago area.

60 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

“He did very well at the sale of the horses he owned,” said Gillum. “He would breed up-and-coming sires and sell them at auctions. I think he broke even, which is pretty good in the horse business.” Gillum said he briefly followed his dad’s legacy in horse breeding. One of the last horses he owned was coming down the stretch in third place during a race. “The horse fell down,” lamented Gillum. “I think that was God’s way of telling me to get out of the horse racing business.”

The company’s complete product line includes compression springs, extension springs, torsion springs, flat springs, wireforms, clips and an array of fourslide components. They are ISO 9001:2015 certified and have recently implemented a new ERP management system to track customer orders from start to finish. When it comes to a philosophy for running the company, Gillum said he repeats what his father always told him and his siblings. “You supply a great product at a fair price and you’re ethical in your business practices.” But there is one more thing that Gillum added: “Just pray a lot, which has worked out pretty well for me in some very trying and difficult times.” The company makes no apologies for the principles it follows. “Gilco Spring is a company grounded in Christian values of honesty, integrity, respect, kindness and a sense of social responsibility,” states the company on its website. “We strive to honor God in all we do. This is reflected in how we conduct our business and how we care for our employees — our greatest asset.” Matters of the Heart Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gillum said things were going quite well at Gilco Spring. “Obviously, the last two years have been very challenging because of COVID-19 and the supply chain issues,” explained Gillum. Since 2018, Gillum had begun the process of pulling away from the dayto-day operations of the company, but COVID-19 pulled him back to be involved in purchasing and supply chain issues. He envisions that soon he will be able to just focus on big picture items for long term growth and sustainability and succession planning. “All the kinds of interesting things that go along with being a business owner,” explained Gillum. The plan is to eventually turn over all day-to-day operations to longtime general manager, Todd Gaito, his sons, Jack

Springmaker Spotlight

“ Gilco Spring is a company grounded in Christian values of honesty, integrity, respect, kindness and a sense of social responsibility. We strive to honor God in all we do. This is reflected in how we conduct our business and how we care for our employees — our greatest asset.” — states the company on its website and Kyle Gillum, and his nephew Alex Humphreys. Alex has been with the company since 2017 and is responsible for all sales and new business development. Jack does all the estimating and customer service for Gilco Spring and Gillum says he will eventually be responsible for all purchasing. Kyle started at Gilco Spring in 2021 and is involved in logistics management and inside sales. The leadership transition has also been difficult because Gillum had triple bypass surgery in March 2020, just before the large COVID-19 wave hit every industry and household. Heart disease was common in Gillum’s family. His father, Marvin, experienced his first heart attack at 40, had another bypass in his late fifties and lived to be 67. His older brother died from a heart attack at 55. Gillum knew heart disease was in his genes and tried to keep himself in decent shape by riding bikes and lifting weights. “My wife, Lisa, and a friend of mine were really on my case to get tested,” explained Gillum. “I went and got a calcium test and the guy who put me in the tube pulled me out after three minutes and said, ‘Sir, you need to go get a catheterization right away.’” Gillum said he did not tell his wife right away, until he made the catheterization appointment. The test revealed he had 98% blockage in his left descending artery, commonly known as the widow-maker. The bypass surgery was successful, and Gillum says he has a new lease on life. “I’m glad my wife and buddy were on my case and hopefully I’m good for a few more decades.”

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 61

Springmaker Spotlight

Family Fun Gillum said they are still working on a succession plan for the business. In the meantime, he said he is having fun with his sons and nephew. “We laugh every day!” With a chuckle Gillum says, “They make fun of me because they’re millennials and I make fun of them for being millennials!” As a fan of “The Office” TV series, Gillum has a bobblehead of the main character, Michael Scott, on his desk. “Alex, Jack and Kyle always tease me that I am the real Michael Scott and unfortunately, sometimes I am. We have a good time together.” Gillum and his wife, Lisa, married in 2016. He jokes that they are a blended family like the “Brady Bunch plus one.”

Gillum has four sons and Lisa has two sons and one daughter. As previously mentioned, Gillum’s two youngest sons Jack and Kyle work in the business. One of Gillum’s older sons is an international tax attorney and the other works in the restaurant business with a friend of Gillum’s. Lisa’s oldest son just recently started working in the shipping department at Gilco Spring. Lisa’s younger daughter and son are still at home. When asked about how he personally gauges success, Gillum mentioned the many experiences of life he’s been through, which include some good times as well as the inevitable challenges that life has thrown at him. “Through all these things, I like to say, ‘Success is having peace and contentment,’” said Gillum.

“Of course, there are other things people think about when it comes to success that involve money and things,” explained Gillum. “Those things are fine and the fruit of your labors and the things you can enjoy. At the end of the day, I believe you want to put your head on your pillow at night and feel peaceful and contented.” Gillum said he used to think that contentment was just “settling,” but he discovered that is not what it involves. He said a friend told him it was biblical principle: “You can still be content and work really hard at the same time.” Especially with his recent health scare, Gillum sees contentment as enjoying life daily, and of course educating customers to respect the springs they make. n

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Collective Illusions Reviewed by Gary McCoy

was sent a copy of “Collective Illusions” by the book’s author, Todd Rose, and it sat on my desk for quite a while. Once I picked it up and started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. I was captured by the eye-opening insights Rose put together on the premise that “much of our thinking about each other is informed by false assumptions that drive bad decisions that make us dangerously mistrustful as a society and hopelessly unhappy as individuals.” Collective illusions are situations where most people in a group go along with a view they don’t agree with because they incorrectly believe that most people agree with it. As Rose said in a recent interview with Mike Huckabee, “It’s not just that we’re misreading a few people, it is that the majority thinks the majority believe something they don’t.” Rose is a former Harvard professor and the co-founder of Populace, a think tank dedicated to building a world where all people have the chance to live fulfilling lives in a thriving society. His book relies on neuroscience, behavioral economic and social psychology research. He debunks one of the most popular collective illusions about how people personally define a successful life. Populace research found that most people would choose option A for themselves, “that a person is successful if they have followed their own interests and talents to become the best they can be at what they care most about.” However, Rose says most have fallen for the collective illusion that most people would choose option B, that “a person is most successful if they are rich, have a high-profile career, or are well-known.” The results of the 2019 Populace study of more than 5,200 people found that

97% chose A for themselves, but 92% thought that most others would choose B. Rose says a complicated set of illusions driven by conformity bias distorts how we see the world around us. “From toilet paper shortages to kidneys that get thrown away rather than used for desperately needed transplants, from racial segregation to the perceived ‘electability’ of women for political office, from bottled water to ‘cancel culture,’ we routinely copy others, lie about what we believe, cling to tribes and silence others.” Part 1 of the book examines “The Conformity Trap.” In Part 2 Rose looks at “Our Social Dilemma,” which shows how the biological limits of our brains tend to bend us toward collective illusions. In Part 3, “Reclaiming Our Power,” Rose shows “how you and I can contribute to a world free of collective illusions by taming social influence, once and for all. He says this can be down by committing to regaining our “personal congruence” and “restoring social trust.” This would be a good book for company leaders to read. It can help you understand what your customers and employees really want, not the collective illusions you may have falsely adopted. This is a book driven by a noble goal of helping us toward making better decisions. n

Have a favorite business book you would like to tell us about or review? Send your suggestions to Springs magazine editor Gary McCoy at gmccoy@fairwaycommunications.com.

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CTE News

West Virginia’s Stellar Apprentice Program Deploys Skilled Apprentices Across America By Catherine Ross

est Virginia’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center, The Robert C. Byrd Institute (RCBI), has an Apprenticeship Works program, which partners with manufacturers across the country to develop registered apprenticeship programs and customized workforce training for new and incumbent employees. Some of the most in-demand apprenticeships include CNC operator/programmers, tool and die makers, electrical maintenance technicians and welding technicians. “Ultimately, the apprenticeship program helps us reduce our recruiting costs, because we can train workers in the skills they need for the job instead of hiring them away from another company,” says Linn Yost, CEO of Micro Machine Works in Vincent, Ohio.

Multiple Services to Help Manufacturers

Nationally recognized, the program provides a wide range of apprenticeship services, including developing and setting up customized apprenticeship programs to meet a manufacturer’s specific equipment, process and product needs. It develops online training to complement hands-on training and works with businesses to identify and pull in local

resources such as universities, community colleges, and technical schools to provide related training. “One of the things that really differentiates us is that if a company has multiple sites in different states, we can provide them compatible training and related services across all sites,” says Lucinda Curry, RCBI’s director of workforce development. “We also provide guidance to company administrators, mentors, and the apprentices themselves, as well as train the trainer courses in advanced manufacturing topic areas.”

Customizable to Your Needs

In the past six years, the program has worked with 67 company sites in 21 states and has sponsored or trained more than 700 apprentices and more than 450 preapprentices. Many of the manufacturers they work with have multiple locations in many states. “We are very agile and fill in gaps to meet companies’ training needs,” Curry says. “For example, we are an important resource for small- and mid-sized manufacturers who want a registered apprenticeship program but need administrative and related training expertise, which may not always be available locally.”

As part of RCBI’s customization, industry-recognized credentials such as NIMS for machinists or AWS for welders can be added, and RCBI trainers are prepared to administer preparation and testing for both NIMS and AWS.

Ohio Company Trains Five Apprentices

Micro Machine Works is a small, southern Ohio-based manufacturer that has benefited from the program. “We are a small job shop with 18 employees and have used the apprenticeship program to hire skilled employees,” Yost says. “It is so difficult to find qualified employees in our region. We are currently training five apprentices through RCBI for positions in CNC machining and quality technician. Next year, we plan to add an employee in an additive manufacturing apprentice program. Ultimately, the program helps us reduce our recruiting costs, because we can train workers in the skills they need for the job instead of hiring them away from another company.”

Training in Illinois and Pennsylvania

Martin Engineering, headquartered in Neponset, Illinois, has trained several apprentices as tool and die makers and

Ultimately, the apprenticeship program helps us reduce our recruiting costs, because we can train workers in the skills they need for the job instead of hiring them away from another company. — Linn Yost, CEO

Micro Machine Works Vincent, Ohio

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 65

CTE News

CNC machine operators in the past several years. “We began working with RCBI in 2017, and we currently have five trainees in the CNC apprentice program in addition to an apprentice who just finished the program,” says Kathy Erdmann, Martin’s people development and training manager. “We’ve consistently struggled to find skilled operations people in our region, and we have successfully used the program to train new hires with very little experience for their positions.” “We use the program as a structured method of ensuring good training to fill skilled labor positions that are difficult to fill,” says Tony Cates, human resources director at PCC Airframe/ SPS Technologies in Jenkintown, Penn. “We’re currently training six apprentices in CNC machining. The training is robust, and the RCBI staff have been fantastic. They’ve been tremendous in supporting us to ensure the proper selection and training of employees.” Currently, RCBI is also training apprentices for sight glass manufacturer Cyclops Industries in West Virginia and flooring provider Mohawk Industries, Inc. in multiple locations. n Originally published by IMTS and is used with permission.

Catherine Ross is director of education – Smartforce Development at AMT (The Association For Manufacturing Technology), the owner and operator of IMTS (The International Manufacturing Technology Show). IMTS 2022 is Sept. 12–17, Chicago, Illinois.

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Inside SMI

n a tearful announcement during the 2022 SMI Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, SMI executive director Lynne Carr announced that she will retire after the 2023 SMI Annual Meeting, April 22-25 at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando. “It was a difficult decision,” explained Carr to those in attendance at the April 26 president-elect reception and dinner in Scottsdale. “But after 27 years, it is time. I want to thank everyone in this room for your love and support over the years. The spring industry is like family to me.” SMI president Gene Huber, Jr. of Winamac Coil Spring thanked Carr for her years of service and said, “Lynne, it has been 27 years and where would SMI be without you? Many traditions and

standards that you have set and upheld over that time have been impeccable. You will be missed.” Huber asked the assembled crowd to join him in a standing ovation for Carr, “and her invaluable service to this group and industry.” After a chorus of thunderous applause, Huber concluded, “Lynne, this isn’t even close to the retirement party yet!” He promised that SMI will hold a big party in her honor during the Orlando meeting. Carr has been the heart and soul of SMI since she started with the association in 1995 as a part-time administrative employee. Since 2013, she has served in her current role as executive director.

SMI executive director Lynne Carr

She has worn many different hats while working for SMI and has become a beloved friend and colleague to many in the spring industry.

Springs Magazine Has an App! Springs has been a print magazine since 1962. As additional communication formats have emerged in recent years, Springs has diversified its portfolio for the convenience of those who would like to read an electronic version. An app for smartphones and tablet was developed by SMI several years ago and it can be accessed using this QR code, or visit: Android (Google Play) play.google.com/store/apps/ details?id=com.branded. springsmag iPhone (Apple Store) apps.apple.com/us/app/ springs-magazine/id975325058 The app contains the current issue of the magazine and archived issues going back to the Winter 2015 edition.

Each issue includes hyperlinks for email addresses and websites included in stories and advertisements. You can also access an electronic version of Springs at the SMI website at: smihq.org/page/springs_magazine. Going forward, the QR code for the app will be available on Page 2 of the magazine.

Send Us Your News

Lynne Carr Announces 2023 Retirement

SMI members receive priority placement for their product, company, personnel and events announcements in the magazine. Your news releases should be roughly 50 to 100 words and may be accompanied by color photos (high-resolution .JPEG photos at 300 dpi preferred). Send to dina@smihq.org.

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 67

Inside SMI

Spring Design Training at SpringWorld 2022 SMI will present two advanced level spring design courses at SpringWorld 2022 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. The first course, 301 Springs — Fatigue, will take place Wednesday, Oct. 12, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The second course, 304 SpringsDimensioning, Tolerancing and Testing, to be held Thursday, Oct. 13, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Each course is $295 for SMI members and $425 for nonmembers, and includes a continental breakfast, along with water, coffee and snacks. The schedule for each class day: 8:30 – 9 a.m. Continental Breakfast and Registration 9 – 1 p.m. Class (breaks at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and Noon) 301 Springs — Fatigue The 301 training is an advanced course which is designed as a focused, realworld spring design training session utilizing SMI’s Advanced Spring Design (ASD) 7 software. Students will learn: • The causes and mechanisms of failure in springs • The definition of fatigue and three stage fatigue failure process • The four key factors of fatigue • Fatigue design considerations for a successful project utilizing the SMI seven step spring design process • Goodman diagram interpretation and how to input engineering fatigue test data into the ASD7 software • Fatigue failure analysis methodology overview Students will have the opportunity to seek opinions and clarification of any fatigue related issues which they may have. This class will benefit the student by increasing their knowledge of fatigue

68 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

of springs and their company by having an SMI-trained associate as part of their team. The training course instructor is SMI technical director C. Richard Gordon, who has many years of experience in the wire industry and at SMI, conducting failure analysis projects on springs. He currently oversees SMI’s failure analysis program. SMI team members who developed the course will also be available to answer questions during the presentation. 304 Springs — Dimensioning, Tolerancing and Testing Training The 304 training is another advanced course which is designed as a focused, real-world spring design training session utilizing SMI’s ASD7 software. In this course, dimensioning, tolerancing and testing will be discussed for three spring types: helical compression springs, helical extension springs and helical torsion springs. Students will learn: • Dimensioning • Correct dimensioning etiquette • Types of dimensions • Engineering drawing • Tolerancing

• The sources of tolerance data included in ASD7 and the Encyclopedia of Spring Design • Critical tolerance characteristics and calculations for each spring type • Commercial and precision quality factors • Tolerancing dos and don’ts — don’t over tolerance • Testing • Good workmanship practices • Correct methods and equipment • Performance characteristics Students will have the opportunity to seek opinions and clarification of any dimensioning, tolerancing and testing related issues which they may have. This class will benefit the student by adding to their knowledge of dimensioning, tolerancing and testing of springs and their company by having an SMItrained associate as part of their team. The 304 training course will also be taught by Gordon, and SMI team members who developed the course will also be available to answer questions during the presentation. To register, visit smihq.org/page/springdesign-training-program or contact Dina Sanchez at dina@smihq.org.

Inside SMI

SMI Survey Schedule SMI regularly surveys its members to help them understand how they are doing relative to others in the industry.

Here’s the schedule of surveys for the remainder of 2022 and into 2023. Key Business Trends

Survey Sent

Responses Due

Results Sent

Second quarter 2022

July 11, 2022

July 18, 2022

July 19, 2022

Third quarter 2022

Oct. 4, 2022

Oct. 11, 2022

Oct. 12, 2022

Fourth quarter 2022

Jan. 11, 2022

Jan. 18, 2022

Jan. 19, 2022

Wage & Benefits (every other year — regular member contacts)

Survey Sent

Responses Due

Results Sent

2022

Aug. 6, 2022

Sept. 6, 2022

Sept. 20, 2022

Survey Sent

Responses Due

Results Sent

Oct. 1, 2023

Oct. 30, 2023

Nov. 30, 2023

(regular and associate members)

Salary

(every other year — regular member contacts)

2023

Calendar of Key Events for the Global Spring Industry 2022 July 21 SMI Spring Design Training 301 Springs — Fatigue Online www.smihq.org Oct. 5-7 wire and Tube Southeast Asia Bangkok, Thailand www.wire-southeastasia.com Oct. 12-14 SpringWorld 2022 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, Illinois www.casmi-springworld.org Oct. 25-27 wire South America São Paulo, Brazil www.wire-south-america.com

Nov. 9-11 ISO/TC227 Meetings Hangzhou, China Nov. 23-25 wire India Mumbai www.wire-india.com

2023 Sept. 12-14 SMI Metal Engineering eXpo South Point Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas www.metalengineeringexpo.org

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Committee Connection

SMI Board Meets Face to Face in Scottsdale By Gary McCoy

fter more than two years of Zoom meetings, the SMI board of directors met in person Sunday, April 24, during the annual meeting in Scottsdale. SMI president Bert Goering was happy to greet everyone in person during one of his last official duties. Goering reviewed the year-to-date dashboard, and praised SMI executive director Lynne Carr for keeping SMI on the right path with the association’s finances during the challenging times that COVID-19 presented. Goering said work is underway for the 2023 edition of the Metal Engineering eXpo in Las Vegas, with a desire to attract new committee members. Work will begin soon on recruiting speakers and soliciting topics of interests from springmakers and associate members. Recently, Gary Van Buren retired as SMI’s technical advisor. Goering thanked Van Buren for his service, especially in teaching the spring design classes. He said SMI is confidentially working on a replacement for Van Buren, with a very promising and capable candidate that would be available in six months once a noncompete agreement expires. In the meantime, SMI technical director Rick Gordon will teach the spring design

classes, with the authors of the classes available during the training to answer questions. The board voted to change its bylaws to increase the term of board members from its current length of two years to three years. The additional one year was suggested to help new board members get established and contribute ideas. The maximum number of terms for board members will remain at two. SMI treasurer/secretary Don Jacobson III said SMI is on track financially, especially with the addition of additional revenue from the spring design classes. Jacobson presented the 2022 budget, and it was unanimously adopted by the board.

Convention Planning

David DeVoe, chair of the convention planning committee, reported that the 2023 annual meeting will be held at the Waldorf Astoria in Orlando, Florida. Future sites suggested by the committee included Hawaii, San Diego, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and the Florida Keys. DeVoe said the committee hopes to find new, fun things to do in order to attract younger members to attend. There is also consideration of reinstituting a mentorship program for newcomers to the annual meeting.

Membership

Tony Pesaresi

The membership committee, led by Agustin Estalayo of RPK Mexico and Dave Deerwester of The Yost Superior Co., reported that industry consolidation has lessened the number of members. Over the past year, SMI has lost two regular and nine associate members. The committee hopes to conduct a marketing study on how to attract new members and hopes to create a social media package to help attract younger members.

SMI President, Gene Huber, Jr.

Technical

Tim Zwit of Michigan Spring and Stamping, the chair of the technical committee, provided an overview of SMI’s technical services. He noted that SMI has taken on 27 failure analysis projects and cumulatively 492 students have attended SMI classes/webinars. New courses were developed that included the 301 Springs Fatigue course in January and the 304 Tolerancing course in March. The committee continues to develop new courses while keeping the 201, 202 and 203 classes going on a regular basis. Zwit said the most in-demand new courses according to SMI surveys is the Snap Ring Design course, which is about 90% complete, and the Constant Force Torsion Design. There has been some interest in some advanced classes after those. There has been discussion that SMI’s fatigue data is conservative, because it was created in the 50s and 60s. Zwit said the committee wants to start evaluating fatigue life and update the standards in the ASD7 software. Zwit noted that several SMI members regularly participate in the international ISO TC/227 meetings for standards development. This year’s meeting will be

SPRINGS | Summer 2022 | 71

Committee Connection

held in China, and in 2023 SMI will host the meeting in Las Vegas, in conjunction with the Metal Engineering eXpo.

Magazine

Magazine chair Keith Porter, Jr. of Newcomb Spring said the committee discussed some marketing ideas but need to determine the cost. Porter asked board members to show him the Springs magazine app on their phone, and only 50% indicated that they had it. To help the app gain more readers, Porter noted that in ongoing issues of the magazine there will be a QR code so readers can download the app to their phone or tablet. Porter said the committee also talked about having a quarterly podcast to coincide with each issue of the magazine. He said it would be an attempt to move away

from the “old stuff ” and to present things in an attractive way to a younger audience. He noted it could include different people for different topics. The committee discussed possible theme topics for the magazine in 2023, which included: plant industrialization; cybersecurity; and carbon footprint in spring manufacturing. Porter said the committee is looking for more ideas.

Benchmarking

Committee chair Kelley Christy of Diamond Wire Spring said their committee is also concerned with membership participation because benchmarking provides invaluable information for each company, yet most don’t participate. He noted the participation rate for the Annual Market Survey is at 20%, which is not unusual. He said the committee is looking at various ideas to increase participation.

Associates

Daniel Pierre

Associates committee chair Rob Myers of RK Trading stated that committee members want to know when the Metal Engineering eXpo and SpringWorld trade shows will combine. He said associate members can’t handle a show every year, because of limited resources as well as manpower. Both shows are going to be smaller because of these issues.

Regulatory Compliance

Keith Porter, Jr.

72 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

SMI regulatory compliance consultant Laura Helmrich-Rhodes conducted three on-site visits in the last year to help these companies modify their reporting. Three of the four webinars for the year have been presented: Top Ten Citations; Effective Safety Committees; and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Electrical Requirements. There was a lot of interest in the electrical webinar. OSHA/COVID-19 communications

were added to the website, as well as all the slides for the webinars. Committee chair Joe Devany and Rhodes discussed having a safety advisory group that has Zoom meetings, because many of the companies’ safety people are not necessarily coming to the SMI annual meeting or the trade shows to participate in the committee meetings. Rhodes said it would help determine article topics, webinar topics, and what hot issues springmakers are having at their plants.

Trade Show

Committee chair Daniel Pierre III of JN Manufacturing wants every committee member to confirm their ongoing participation. The committee will hold its next meeting in July via Zoom. The committee will look at various ways to entice more participation in the 2023 eXpo in Las Vegas.

Regional Associations

CASMI president Tony Pesaresi represents the organization on the SMI board, and said the organization has had good monthly meetings through April, but they will be taking a break in the summer. Attendance has been about 40 or 50 people per month, which is down, and participation is mostly from suppliers as opposed to springmakers. The golf outing is scheduled for June, and a baseball event in August. SpringWorld 2022 will take place Oct. 12-14. David DeVoe reported that NESMA’s focus is on education and training. They are trying to get into schools to talk to kids about manufacturing, from eighth grade on up. After setting up successful programs in New England, DeVoe said they would like to bring this to other parts of the country with the participation of CASMI and/or SMI. n

HTC Servo Pretension Device HTC has announced its newest innovation, the Servo Pretension Device on a coiler. Pretension (aka initial tension) has always been an important factor for coil springs that influences the performance of the spring and coil body. Setting up pretension of a spring body is a paramount step to produce springs SDR with consistent quality. For the ease of pretension SDL setup, the HTC unique servo pretension

device is now available as an optional axis to the HTC-CL 5-axis spring coilers. The additional servo pretension axis is programmed to move the second coiling point straight in and out to finely adjust the pretension of spring body, while holding the wire firm without scratching the wire surface. This feature can also be utilized to eliminate the gap of the closed end of the coils and help to adjust the spring end squareness easily. The HTC servo pretension device can be selected and installed for right hand (SDR) or left hand (SDL) spring or both (SDR+SDL), to cater to your regular jobs. For additional information, contact Forming Systems Inc. at info@formingsystemsinc.com or 269-679-3557.

With and Without Servo Pretension Control

HTC pretension design

Cognex In-Sight 2800 Cognex Corporation, the leader in industrial machine vision, has released the In-Sight 2800 series vision system. According to the company, In-Sight 2800 puts the power of a full-featured vision system into an easy-to-use package that gets applications running in minutes. “It has never been easier to apply deep learning to a production line,” said Carl Gerst, executive vice president of products, platforms and solutions. “The InSight 2800 system can be trained with just a few images to automate everything from simple pass/fail inspections to advanced classification and sorting — no PC or programming is needed.” In-Sight’s EasyBuilder interface guides users through the application development process step-by-step, making it simple for even new vision users to set up any job. Experienced users will appreciate

how In-Sight’s intuitive, point-and-click interface simplifies more complex application development and keeps operations moving fast. The combination of deep learning and traditional vision tools gives users the flexibility to solve a broad range of inspection applications. Operators simply select the tool designed to deliver the highest possible accuracy for their task. Tools can be used individually for simple jobs or chained together for more complex logic sequences. The toolset also includes ViDi EL Classify. Using as few as five images, this powerful classifying tool can be trained to identify and sort defects into different categories and correctly identify parts

with variation. The ability to classify by multiple features or characteristics allows users to solve more tasks with a single vision solution. The new In-Sight 2800 system also offers a wide variety of accessories and field-changeable components to help users adapt quickly to changes such as new parts, faster line speeds and higher quality standards. For more information, visit: www. cognex.com/in-sight-2800 or call 1-855-4-COGNEX.

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New Products

Fives Launches IoT Product: North American CertiFire® Fives North American Combustion, Inc. has released its flagship Industry 4.0 product for the forging and heat treatment markets. The North American CertiFire® is a first-of-its-kind Internet of Things (IoT) device for automatic combustion system tuning. The auxiliary hardware device is designed to tune a furnace combustion system quicker and to tighter tolerances, streamlining temperature uniformity surveying and certification. Preconfigured for each unique system, the technology is plug-and-play compatible with most industrial control equipment. Learn more about tightening

furnace temperature uniformity here: fivesna.group/certifire Designed to supply four key benefits to customers: • Tuning speeds. Average 70% reduction in tuning time • Tuning accuracy. Tolerances beyond ±5°F for Class I furnaces • Product quality. Consistently produce reliable parts • Real-time data and analytics. Accessible anytime, anywhere According to the company, using its patent pending algorithms, the tuning accuracy of the North American CertiFire® surpasses manual tuning, with the

ability to tune a Class IV (±20°F) furnace beyond the temperature uniformity of Class I (±5°F). “We expected automation to help us tune faster than by hand,” said Justin Dzik, manager of business development at Fives North American Combustion, “but after testing we were able to see just how big of an impact this technology will have on the industry.” Through advanced data processing and real-time analytics, the CertiFire® gives insight into degradation, expected maintenance, predicted failures and a smarter recertification window.

New Norton Abrasive Process Solutions Program Saint-Gobain Abrasives has introduced its new Norton Abrasive Process Solutions (APS) Program, which was established to help customers determine the optimal grinding or finishing solution for the application at hand, ranging from simple to complex, offhand or automated, and for metal fabrication, production grinding and virtually any abrasives operation. The APS Program draws upon the vast knowledge of the Norton team along with access to 30 different machines, and a new stateof-the-art APS Robotic Automation Cell, which is at the core of the new APS Program located at the Higgins Grinding Technology Center in Northborough, Massachusette The APS team

74 | SPRINGS | Summer 2022

provides abrasive process development, optimization, automation and in-house testing. APS services encompass the testing and optimization of new abrasives, improving quality and/ or throughput, and trying entirely new and customized processes. The new APS Program is positioned to be an extension of the customer, where tests can be conducted so that customers do not have to reassign limited inhouse resources and pause their own production. “At a time when North American manufacturers need to deliver highquality products faster, while stressed with labor shortages, we are thrilled to announce the new APS Program, which can relieve some of their burden,” said Tony Landes, APS lead. “The APS Program is uniquely setup to deliver a comprehensive array of services, including a quick response and short turnaround. The APS team can

provide the broadest array of grinding and finishing process development solutions for any type of abrasive.” The APS Automation Cell can deliver abrasive-to-part and part-to-abrasive applications, wet/dry processing and uses a full range of abrasives such as coated, non-woven, thin wheel, bonded and super abrasives. Equipped with a verified turnkey solution, manufacturers can then contact an automation system integrator to implement the solution. This avoids costly trial and error at the integrator level. The automation cell features an industrial robot with a 210-kg load capacity that allows the APS team to perform processes using nearly any size part or tool. The force sensor-capable robot performs in a multi-capacity role, meaning it is fitted with an end-of-arm gripper to allow for part-to-media processing, as well as tool changers that use traditional hand tools to perform abrasive-to-part processing. The system includes a programmable pivot table, 6-inch-deep coolant pans, abrasive tools, toolholders and radial compliant devices. For more information, visit nortonsga.us/aps n

New Products

Send Us Your News SMI members get priority placement of their product news. News releases should be roughly 50 to 100 words and may be accompanied by color photos (HiRes .JPEG at 300 dpi preferred). Send to dina@smihq.org.

Advertisers Index A & D Trading (440) 563-5227. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Admiral Steel (800) 323-7055 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Alloy Wire International (866) 482-5569. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Anchor Abrasives (708) 444-4300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 BB Spring Technology +39 031 536584 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 CASMI www.casmi-springworld.com . . . 18 Diamond Wire Spring Co. (800) 424-0500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Dispense Works (815) 363-3524. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Elgiloy (888) 843-2350. . . . . inside back cover

FENN/Torin (860) 259-6600 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Forming Systems Inc. (877) 594-4300 . . . . . . . . . . back cover Gibbs Interwire (800) 800-4422 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Gibraltar (847) 383-5442. . . . . . . . . . . . . .40, 56 Industrial Steel & Wire (800) 767-0408. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 JN Machinery (224) 699-9161. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38-39 Larson Systems (763) 780-2131. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Mapes Piano String Co. (423) 543-3195. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 NIMSCO (563) 391-0400. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 North American Spring Tool (860) 583-1693. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Proto Manufacturing (800) 965-8378 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Radcliff Wire (860) 583-1305. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 RK Trading (847) 640-9371. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Simplex Rapid (563) 391-0400. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Spring Manufacturers Institute (630) 495-8588. . inside front cover, 33 Tool King (847) 537-2881. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 United Wire (800) 840-9481 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Vinston (847) 972-1098. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 WAFIOS (203) 481-5555. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Zapp Precision Strip (203) 386-0038 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

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Snapshot

Hobbies: Working with my children at fundraising events. When my son was 8, he founded Scoopsfortroops.org. Now 11, he and his 14-year-old sister continue to raise money for veterans with catastrophic injuries. Helping our ever-deserving veterans has become a passion for our family. Favorite places: The coast of Maine and Singapore. Best times of my life: Time with my family and watching our children grow. (L-to-r): Rebecca, Kara, Michael and Scott Ahern

Name: Rebecca Karabin-Ahern Company name and city: Acme Monaco Corporation, New Britain, Connecticut. Brief history of your company: Founded in 1947 by Harold Davies and purchased by the Karabin family in 1965, Acme Monaco is headquartered in New Britain, with satellite offices in Presque Isle, Maine and Singapore.

of New Britain YMCA and Lions Club. Current member of ScoopsforTroops. org, and the Community Initiatives Committee at the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain. Birthplace: New Britain, Connecticut. Current home: Plainville, Connecticut. Family: Husband, Scott Ahern, children, Kara and Michael, and pet, Hershey.

The company is owned by Michael J. Karabin, CEO/COB, and his children, Rebecca Karabin-Ahern and Lucas Karabin, with each holding the position of co-president.

What I like most about being a springmaker: This is a two-part answer. The business side of me says knowing our products in the medical field helps save lives, the orthodontic products make people smile, and all the great industrial applications we are a part of. The sentimental side of me has to say the connection with our customers, suppliers, and the continued business relationships that were fostered by my grandfather and father.

Job title: Co-president.

Favorite food: Maine lobster.

Spring industry affiliations: Past board member of The Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, past president

Favorite song/musician: Anything from James Taylor and Jimmy Buffett.

Acme Monaco is a world leader in custom manufacturing of catheter guidewires, stylets, orthodontic hardware, springs, stampings, wireforms, and retaining rings for various industries.

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A really great evening to me is: Enjoying time poolside on a Sunday with my entire family while watching the kids swim, and enjoying dinner together. The one thing I can’t stand is: A narcissist. My most outstanding qualities are: The want and ability to help others, and organization. People who knew me in school thought I was: Shy. I knew I was an “adult” when: Our daughter was born. If I weren’t working at Acme Monaco, I would like to: Get back into flying. The most difficult business decision I ever had to make was: Investing to expand our two facilities at the same time. Role models: My parents Michael and Diane Karabin and my late grandmothers. I would like to be remembered in the spring industry for: Being a leader who cared for her team members like family. But people will probably remember me for: Being the older sister of Lucas Karabin (NESMA president).

Rebecca Karabin-Ahern Acme Monaco Corporation

MISSION-CRITICAL SINCE

75 1947

Y ® AL L O

O IL

AN ALLOY SO INFLUENTIAL TO MISSION-CRITICAL PRODUCTS WE NAMED OUR COMPANY AFTER IT.

Elgiloy Alloy

Developed in 1947, Elgiloy Alloy, a non-corroding watch spring material with an infinite life span, was soon recognized for applications in aerospace, petrochemical applications and medical devices.

Elgiloy Specialty Metals

Today, Elgiloy Specialty Metals processes more than 50 high-performance alloys for strip & wire applications. We offer: Precision strip down to .0008" Round wire from .001" diameter Shaped wire from .005" Centerless grinding, shaving, polishing & cut-to-length services

Elgiloy.com | 888-843-2350 Elgiloy Specialty Metals is a division of Combined Metals & an affiliate of Gibbs Interwire