Springs summer 2012 vol 51 no3

T h e I n t e r n ati o n a l M a g a z i n e o f S p r i n g M a n u f a c t u r e

Summer 2012, Volume 51 Number 3

Reshoring: Bringing Manufacturing Jobs Back to North America 16

Dispatch from DĂźsseldorf 26 The Potential of Potential 30

A Publication of the Spring Manufacturers Institute

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Inside Front Cover

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President’s Message From Steve Moreland

Reshoring Provides a Cause for Hope If you would have asked me about reshoring a few years ago, I would have given you a blank stare because this was not a word I was familiar with nor were any of my manufacturing friends. Sure, we knew all about offshoring, the practice of our large multi-national customers moving manufacturing to China and other low cost countries.

We knew, too well, the negative impact that offshoring had on our spring manufacturing businesses. We all saw large chunks of business leave our companies, not for competitors across the street, but for competitors across the ocean. Often times we heard they had prices that were essentially at or below our raw material costs. Unbelievable! It happened to us at Automatic Spring Products Corporation (ASPC), about five to 10 years ago. Some of the more difficult parts came back to us after a few months, but many of the jobs were lost forever.

Then starting a year or two ago, we began to hear the term reshoring, or the movement of some manufacturing back to the U.S. and the North American continent. At ASPC we started getting calls from customers who had moved their work years earlier, asking us to quote the same parts again. Ironically a large package of spring work came back to us last year as our customer determined we were now relatively competitive with their current Asian source and the price advantage was no longer significant enough to justify the ongoing difficulties they were experiencing. That customer moved the entire package of work back to ASPC; obviously something had changed.

Our customer told us 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.

I’m extremely excited about this current reshoring initiative for our North American spring industry and what it could potentially mean for all of us. In my inaugural speech at the SMI Convention back in March, I shared my passion for U.S. and North American spring manufacturing because of its importance to the long term wealth and strength of our nation. I continue to believe in the ingenuity, perseverance and the American spirit within our valuable workforce to continue to increase our global competitive position.

The reshoring movement is the first tangible evidence that our large multi-national companies are beginning to understand this as well. As this reshoring initiative accelerates, our entire nation and continent will benefit with renewed economic strength and increased employment opportunities.

I watched my grandson, Jayden, playing happily in our yard yesterday, exploring everything, picking dandelions, even tasting them; I saw his joy filled innocence and I wondered what our manufacturing landscape and economy would be like when he grows up and graduates from college 20 years from now.

A few years ago I would have been very discouraged thinking about his future, but today, I believe the reshoring movement gives us all cause for hope for the manufacturing and economic future of our nation and for our grandchildren.

Steve Moreland President, Automatic Spring Products stevemoreland@automaticspring.com

SMI Executive Committee President, Steve Moreland, Automatic Spring Products • Vice President, Russ Bryer, Spring Team • Secretary/ Treasurer, Mike Betts, Betts Spring • Immediate Past President, Scott Rankin, Vulcan Spring & Manufacturing • At Large, Hap Porter, SEI MetalTek SMI Board of Directors Tom Armstrong, Duer/Carolina Coil • Ron Curry, Gifford Spring • Ann Davey, John Evans’ Sons • Chris Fazio, Diamond Wire Spring • Kurt Gillespie, Century Spring • Richard Guimont, Liberty Spring • Gene Huber Jr, Winamac Coil Spring • Miko Kabeshita, Ark Technologies • Steve Kempf, Lee Spring • Bill Marcum, MW Industries • Brett Nudelman, International Spring • Byron Ress, Zapp Precision Strip • Richard Rubenstein, Plymouth Spring • Dan Sceli, Peterson Spring • Jeff Wharin, Bohne Spring • Ted White, Hardware Products • Chris Witham, Motion Dynamics Springs Magazine Staff Lynne Carr, Advertising Sales, lynne@smihq.org Gary McCoy, Managing Editor, gmccoy@fairwaycommunications.com Dina Sanchez, Assistant Editor, dina@smihq.org Sue Zubek, Graphic Designer, zubekdesign@gmail.com Springs Magazine Committee Chair: Richard Rubenstein, Plymouth Spring • Reb Banas, Stanley Spring & Stamping • Lynne Carr, SMI • Raquel Chole, Dudek & Bock • Ritchy Froehlich, Ace Wire Spring & Form • Bud Funk, Fourslide Products • Bill Marcum, MW Industries • Brett Nudelman, International Spring • Tim Weber, Forming Systems • Europe Liaison: Richard Schuitema, Dutch Spring Association • Technical Advisors: Loren Godfrey, Honorary Member • Dan Sebastian, Honorary Member Advertising sales - Japan Ken Myohdai, Sakura International Inc. 22-11 Harimacho 1-Chome, Abeno-ku Osaka 545-0022 Japan Phone: +81-6-6624-3601 • Fax: +81-6-6624-3602 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) 495-8588; Fax: (630) 495-8595;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 art created using images from the following: ©iStockphoto.com/Ruth Yoel

2 SPRINGS Summer 2012

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Table of Contents

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26

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

16 Reshoring: Bringing Manufacturing Back to North America

By Raquel Chole

2 President’s Message Reshoring Provides a Cause for Hope

24 10 Students Named SMI Scholarship Recipients for 2012-2013 26 Dispatch from Düsseldorf

By Scott Rankin 30 The Potential of Potential

By John Passante 40 Are You Committing the Seven Deadly Sins of Business Transformation?

By Mohan Nair

COLUMNS 13

Be Aware Safety Tips OSHA's Hazard Communication Program Joins the United Nations

By Jim Wood

15 IST Spring Technology Cautionary Tale: Reshoring

By Mark Hayes

7 Global Highlights

10 Regional Spring Association Report 35 Flashback Outsourcing Update

By John Guzik 47

Springmaker Spotlight Working Knowledge Anchors Second Generation Springmakers: A Profile of Sound Spring, Inc., Kent, Wash.

By Gary McCoy

53

Inside SMI SMI President Addresses ESF Meeting in Düsseldorf; SMI Scholarship Program to Expand; Celebrating 50 Years of Springs

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56 New Products 59 Advertisers’ Index 60 Snapshot Christopher Fazio, Diamond Wire Spring Company

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Global Highlights North America The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has announced that ISO Standard 11891: 2012, hot formed helical compression springstechnical specifications, was published April 15, 2012.

Companies interested in using this standard must purchase it from ISO or ANSI. More information is available at http://webstore.ansi.org/.

The second edition of “Shot Peening,” a technical publication from Metal Finishing News, is nearly sold out. Unusual for a work of technical literature to become a bestseller, especially since the market is usually very limited, this edition includes various new technologies and contributions from 22 industry experts and demonstrates a wide range of knowledge.

For more information, visit http://www.mfn.li/books/.

Hardware Products Company, manufacturers of custom and standard springs, announced the appointment of Rick Rideout as operations manager.

His appointment emphasizes the company’s commitment to specializing in small runs in compression and extension springs, wire rings, and wire forms with rapid turn-around times.

Rideout brings more than 15 years of spring manufacturing experience, and returns to Hardware Products after running his own printing company.

“Hardware Products is moving very steadily into the ISO-9000 environment. Rick’s 15 years of spring manufacturing experience, coupled with his many years of structured manufacturing management, make him the perfect individual to step into our operations management position,” commented the company’s president, Ted White.

Dayton Progress Corporation announced Greene County Career Center (GCCC) as the winner of their “Manufacturing Challenge” competition, aimed at promoting careers in manufacturing to high school students. Located in Xenia, Ohio, GCCC provides 26 career-technical programs to 573 students in fields such as manufacturing and transportation, business and technology, engineering, services, agriculture and more.

As winner of the competition, Greene County Career Center will receive a Dayton Progress Manufacturing

Technology and Scholarship Grant, valued at $40,000, consisting of: three new computers with monitors, capacity and accessories suited for Computer Aided Design (CAD); licenses for the latest CAD software, based on state-of-the-art CAD technology used today in industry; the cost of training a faculty member in the use of the CAD systems; and five $1,000 scholarships for Greene students to Sinclair Community College’s STEP II Program, the premier area program in skilled manufacturing. Dayton Progress and the school will jointly establish student selection criteria.

In addition to the Manufacturing Challenge prize, four well-paid after-school internships will be offered to qualified senior year students from Greene County Career Center, Miami Valley Career Technology Center, and West Carrollton High School. Each of the internships is expected to lead to full-time employment upon graduation. The interns will be trained for a manufacturing career by Dayton Progress.

“We’re very excited about the enthusiasm and effort that each of the participating schools put into this competition” said Dayton Progress president Alan Shaffer. “The goal of this project was to promote awareness of careers in industrial manufacturing within Dayton area high schools, and all participants have demonstrated that. Greene County Career Center’s entry was truly unique and should result in a creative and innovative program.”

Bazz Houston is now an ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) registered facility.

This designation certifies that Bazz Houston has in place the necessary procedures to comply with the provisions of the Arms Export Control Act (AECE) and gives Bazz Houston the authorization to manufacture and ship military and defense parts.

In business for over 50 years Bazz Houston is a custom metals manufacturer of springs, stampings, wire forms assembly and tooling. In addition it has an excellent in-house engineering department which can assist with any metal forming project from initial design through prototype to finished product. Bazz Houston also offers “Design for Process Capability,” which ensures a quality part at the best possible price.

For more information, visit www.bazz-houston.com.

Alex Rankin, past president of SMI, was inducted into the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign “Engineering at Illinois Hall of Fame.” Rankin was one of

SPRINGS Summer 2012 7

spring coiling machine that he modified to make constant-force springs, one customer and one order.

Six months later, he moved Vulcan into a small factory and expanded with three additional machines. Today, Vulcan occupies a modern 55,000 sq. ft. building.

11 individuals recognized at a ceremony on October 14, 2011.

According to the school, “The Engineering at Illinois Hall of Fame recognizes Illinois engineering alumni, and others affiliated with the college, who have significant achievements in leadership, entrepreneurship, and innovation of great impact to society. Each year the college will honor these remarkable accomplishments by inducting a class of honorees into the Engineering at Illinois Hall of Fame.”

Rankin earned a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1957.

It was noted in the induction program that, “Alexander Rankin embodies the vision, creativity and skills that set Illinois-educated engineers apart.

He designed the automated machines that produce precision constant-force and constant-torque springs and founded his own company to facilitate worldwide distribution.”

Rankin started Vulcan Spring and Manufacturing Co. in his basement in 1967 with one 23-year-old

MW Industries, Inc., a leading U.S. manufacturer of highly engineered specialty springs and fasteners, announced in June that it had completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Hi-Tech Machine.

Hi-Tech, of Concord, N.C., is a precision machining business that serves the medical, aerospace, military/ defense and hand power tool markets. It is planned that Hi-Tech’s equipment and customers will be integrated into MW’s Springmasters Division, based in Greer, S.C., over the next few months. Brad Gryder, owner and president of Hi-Tech, will be joining the Springmasters organization to work on integration of the existing business base and drive growth opportunities that the combined strengths of Springmasters and Hi-Tech represent.

Bill Marcum, CEO of MW Industries, headquartered in Chicago, Ill. commented: “Hi-Tech Machine is an outstanding addition to the MW family. Brad Gryder built a solid base of machining capabilities with first class equipment and customer service. We look forward

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to taking this business to the next level as we combine it with our existing Springmasters Division in the Greenville, South Carolina, area.”

Genstar Capital, a private investment firm, acquired MW in 2011.

“We continue to identify growth oriented companies and to successfully integrate them into our growing platform,” added Marcum. “We have been working to build the company into a leading national competitor and each strategic acquisition has added enhanced product offerings and broadened MW’s geographic reach.”

International

“For us as trade fair organizers, the somewhat euphoric mood in the exhibition halls, the orders made here and the expectation of good post-show business are important indicators that we have the right trade fair date and product range,” stated Joachim Schäfer, managing director of Messe Düsseldorf.

According to a survey, the trade visitors at wire and Tube 2012 rated the two events as excellent and the evaluation of the products and services on exhibit again improved. The survey also identified more firsttime visitors to wire and Tube. wire and Tube will return to Düsseldorf, Germany in spring 2014 and the dates will be announced soon.

For further information on visiting or exhibiting at wire 2014 or Tube 2014, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America, (312) 781-5180, or visit www.mdna.com.

Nobumichi Ono, CEO of Mitsubishi Steel Mfg Co., Ltd., is the new president of the Japanese Spring Manufacturers Association (JSMA) effective May 23, 2012. He takes over from Takehiko Amaki, who is retiring after six years of contributions to JSMA. u

The recent staging of wire 2012, International Wire and Cable Trade Fair, and Tube 2012 International Tube Trade Fair, in Düsseldorf, Germany, closed with record exhibitor numbers and increased visitor participation: about 2,500 companies from around the world presented the latest machinery and products from the wire, cable and tube processing industries to 73,500 trade visitors from 111 countries. This is a visitor increase of 6.3 percent compared to the shows’ last staging in 2010 (69,200 attendees from around 100 nations). Overall, a display area of more than 1.1 million square feet was booked by the exhibitors - a new record compared to the also very successful previous events in 2010 and 2008.

The wire and Tube 2012 exhibitors were pleased with the business results of the events and reported visitors’ high interest in purchasing, as well as many deals concluded and new business contacts acquired.

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Regional Spring Association Report CASMI Holds Annual Golf Outing Beautiful summer weather greeted over 120 golfers who participated in the Chicago Association of Spring Manufacturers, Inc. (CASMI) annual golf outing and dinner at The Highlands of Elgin in Elgin, Ill. on Wednesday, June 6.

Among those in attendance was SMI president Steve Moreland.

CASMI will hold its next monthly dinner on September 13 at the Wellington Restaurant in Arlington Heights, Ill. The September meeting will feature Ross Bernstein, the best-selling author of nearly 50 sports books.

He has appeared on thousands of television and radio programs over his career, including CNN, “CBS This Morning,” and ESPN, as well as on the covers of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today.

As an internationally recognized motivational business speaker, Bernstein uses inspirational sports stories to energize and connect with his audiences, ultimately getting them to think and act more like champions.

For more information on CASMI, visit www.casmispringworld.org or phone (630) 369-3466.

10 SPRINGS Summer 2012

Top: The winning lowest gross team carded an 8 under score of 64 and was composed of (l-to-r): Duane LaMotte, Furnace Fixers; Paul Sawko, R.C. Coil; Barry Collier, P.J. Spring Company; and Sam Kim, P.J. Spring Company.

Above: The second place team, also shot 8 under par, and was composed of (l-to-r): Thomas Hunt, Amstek Metal; Miko Kabeshita, Ark Technologies; and Daniel Pierre III, JN Machinery Corp. Not pictured: Chas Stevens, Amstek Metal.

Right: CASMI president, Rick Ross, Rockford Spring Co., offers his greetings at the CASMI annual golf outing and dinner in June.

WCSMA Holds Spring Fling; Baseball and Golf Events Scheduled T h e We s t C o a s t S p r i n g Manufacturers Association (WCSMA) held its “Spring Fling 2012” at Harrah’s in Laughlin, Nev. from May 18-20. The event included 87 attendees and 29 golfers participated in the golf outing.

The group will make its annual pilgrimage to see the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim play

on Saturday, August 18 against the Tampa Bay Rays. The group will hold a tailgate party before the game in the parking lot of Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Tickets are $18 per person. For information on purchasing tickets, contact Mark Tiedeman at (562) 802-2041 or email: mark@tru-form.com.

The WCSMA will hold its fall golf outing on Tuesday, November 6 at Coyote Hills Country Club. In addition to golf, the group will have a dinner, raffle and entertainment by a local comedian.

For additional information on WCSMA, visit their Facebook page or www.wcsma.us.

NESMA Advocates for Technical Education

by Ted White, Hardware Products

In 2012 NESMA assumed a more political stance than in prior years, with a focus on technical education. NESMA has long been an advocate for technical education.

Its affiliation and contributions to Bristol Technical School are well documented. Its board members also sit on many other boards where education is the focus.

But because of these affiliations, NESMA has become keenly aware of the apparent disconnect between what is needed by the area economy and what the state governments are willing to fund.

Much of the funding is awarded based on how many students go to college rather than how many of them get jobs. This is ironic

because in today’s environment many college graduates are deep in debt but cannot find jobs and many of the manufacturers are in need of technical employees and cannot find any. With the fiscal difficulties many states are having, funding for technical education is actually being reduced when this is the very type of education we currently need.

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As a result, NESMA has taken a more active role in “helping” the state governments reward funding on what is needed rather than what the legislators perceive as being needed. At a recent board meeting a state legislator was present. He told the board that both educators and legislators have no idea what industry needs. They just educate on what they think is needed. If their perception is correct then the education is correct. If their perception is incorrect then the education is incorrect. One such

12 SPRINGS Summer 2012

example of incorrect perceptions is that funding seems to be awarded to programs that help larger companies, rather than smaller ones which need the funding the most.

NESMA’s affiliation with the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce has proved to be very valuable in these pursuits. Even though the organization does not specifically focus on industry, it does have an ear to the ground on many government hearings and programs and is able to pass this information on to NESMA members.

NESMA also hopes to keep this focus alive by having a speaker on this subject at the dinner following next spring’s NESMA Trade Show.

On a related note, NESMA has made its final payment to a program that will administer and award two scholarships per year. This means the scholarships will be handed out each year without NESMA having to make any significant contributions and therefore not be related to temporary fiscal situations. One of this year’s winners sent a very nice note announcing attendance at Worcester Polytechnic Institute to work on a degree in electrical engineering.

With that, NESMA went into its summer mode and began to look to its Golf Outing in September.

Except for committee meetings, the NESMA board does not meet in July and August. The committees do remain active through the summer and the Chamber still coordinates its efforts. The golf outing committee also remains very active because the golf outing occurs shortly after the summer is over on September 10.

The golf outing is also a luncheon, a dinner, a fundraiser and a business meeting, thus a significant opportunity for networking. In addition the SMI will send its president, Steve Moreland, and its general manager, Lynne Carr. But just to show you how no project is perfect, NESMA has once again decided to put me in charge of a keg. Talk about your cat and canary.

For additional information on NESMA, visit www.nesma-usa.com. u

Be Aware

OSHA’s Hazard Communication Program Joins the United Nations Safety Tips

By Jim Wood

Y

ou probably thought your Hazard Communication program, employee training and MSDS file were all up to date. That is no longer the case.

On Monday, March 26, 2012, OSHA published the Hazard Communication final rule in the Federal Register. OSHA modified its Hazard Communication standard (HCS) to conform to the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS).

OSHA has determined that the modifications will significantly reduce costs and burdens while also improving the quality and consistency of information provided to employers and employees regarding chemical hazards and associated protective measures, consistent with the requirements of Executive Order 13563, which calls for assessment and where appropriate, modification and improvement of the existing standard. The agency has concluded that this improved information will enhance the effectiveness of the HCS and ensure that employees are appraised of the chemical hazards to which they may be exposed, and reduce the incidence of chemical related occupational illnesses and injuries.

A minor change we will have to get use to is terminology. The old standard was called “Hazard Communication, Employees Right to Know.” The new standard is “Hazard Communication, Employees Right to Understand.” They have also eliminated the word “material” from the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).

They are now called Safety Data Sheet (SDS).

Jim Wood is an independent regulations compliance consultant to the Spring Manufacturers Institute (SMI). A certified instructor of the OSHA Out-Reach Program, Wood conducts seminars, plant Safety Audits and In-House Safety Trainings. These programs help companies create safer work environments, limit OSHA/Canadian Ministry of Labor violations and insurance costs, and prepare for VPP or SHARP certification. He is also available for safety advice and information by phone at (630) 495-8597 or via e-mail at regs@smihq.org.

OSHA has determined that the modifications will significantly reduce costs and burdens while also improving the quality and consistency of information provided to employers and employees regarding chemical hazards and associated protective measures.

All manufacturers are affected by the changes in the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS).

The modification to the standard includes revised criteria for classification of chemical hazards; revised labeling provisions that includes requirements for use of standardized signal words, pictograms, hazard statements, and precautionary statements; a specified format for SDS’s; and requirements for employee training on labels and SDS’s.

Your present written Hazard Communication program will have to be modified to meet the requirements of the new Globally Harmonized System (GHS), and employees must be trained in the new standard.

The new standard took effect on May 25, 2012, but there is an extended transition period as below: December 1, 2013: Train employees on the new label elements and SDS format.

December 1, 2015: Distributors shall not ship containers labeled by the chemical manufacturer or imported unless it has a GHS label.

June 1, 2016: Update alternative workplace labeling and Hazard Communication program as necessary, and provide additional employee training on the program and physical and health hazards within the facility.

Jim’s Regulatory Tip Although we have a fairly long transition period, don’t wait until the last minute to learn more about the new standard. u

SPRINGS Summer 2012 13

14 SPRINGS Summer 2012

Cautionary Tale: Reshoring Spring Technology

By Mark Hayes

R

eshoring is a new word in the Institute of Spring Technology’s vocabulary, but its meaning is quite clear. Many end users of springs have sought to reduce costs by sourcing their springs from low cost countries.

But a proportion of these end users have suffered quality and delivery problems, and now realize that price is not the only criterion to use when selecting spring suppliers. Hence, they now wish to source these springs locally to their manufacturing, whether that be in the U.S., Europe, Japan or any other so-called developed country. The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries, of which China is by far the most important, cannot always reliably supply spring products at the quality and price levels (when all costs are added up by an accountant rather than a buyer) that are required.

“Reshoring of jobs from China won’t happen,” according to Dr. Tim Leunig of the London School of Economics. What he means is that Chinese jobs will not come back to developed countries — and history tells us that this has never happened since the start of the industrial revolution in the U.K. For example, cotton goods for the world were made in the U.K. in the 1800s, then those jobs migrated to Japan, then to India and China, and they’re not coming back to the U.K. any time soon. Chinese jobs may migrate to other low cost countries like India, Bangladesh or even to Africa due to Chinese wage inflation — currently estimated at 20 percent in urban areas with unskilled (migrant) labor rates approaching $2.50/hour. But reshoring of products will happen.

Traditionally, springs have been manufactured at sites relatively close to where they are incorporated into sub-assemblies or finished goods. That enables “Just-In-Time” deliveries of specially designed and Mark Hayes is Technical Advisor to the Institute of Spring Technology (IST) in Sheffield, England. He is also the principal trainer for the spring training courses that the Institute offers globally. Readers are encouraged to contact IST with comments about this cautionary tale, and with subjects that they would like to be addressed in future tales, by email ist@ist.org.uk.

Unless manufacturers in developed countries can be inventive in automating production of labor-intensive springs (such as leaf springs and brake pull-off springs with coned down ends), they will struggle to remain competitive. manufactured springs, with very little risk of disrupting a production line due to parts being delayed in transit.

In the Institute’s opinion, that pattern will continue, and it is the moral of this cautionary tale.

Springs for Chinese cars will be made in China, and the most highly technical springs may be manufactured

by Chinese joint ventures or subsidiaries of spring manufacturers from developed counties. To achieve the highest quality standards, Chinese or Indian springmakers will have to import their raw material.

Wire quality in those countries is adequate — it may meet the specification limits — but in the Institute’s experience, wire produced in Europe, Japan and Korea in particular, is of much better quality, due to a long period of implementing continuous improvement.

Springs that require a high labor content in their manufacture will be made in lower cost countries for straightforward economic reasons. Unless manufacturers in developed countries can be inventive in automating production of labor-intensive springs (such as leaf springs and brake pull-off springs with coned down ends), they will struggle to remain competitive. But for most large volume spring products, automation is key. Springmakers in developed countries will face significant competition in the near future from Chinese springmakers who have expanded their capacity, but who are now finding less growth in their domestic market and so will seek to compete internationally. Reshoring may restore some markets, but beware you don’t lose market share to this new competition as much as you gain from reshoring. That is the second moral of this tale. u

SPRINGS Summer 2012 15

16 SPRINGS Summer 2012

Reshoring:

Bringing Manufacturing Jobs Back to North America

By Raquel Chole

R

eshoring, homeshoring, bringing it back. These are just a few ways to say that it’s time to take manufacturing back from Asia and other “low cost” countries so that North America can rebuild its manufacturing base.

There are movements afoot to do just that. Many would call the Reshoring Initiative championed by Harry Moser the first foray into a national drive towards reviving manufacturing in the U.S. In Canada, a similar challenge has been issued by the Society of Mechanical Engineers of Toronto, called “Take Back Manufacturing.” These are not the only efforts taking place but they have momentum and are making an impact.

As manufacturers were offered government incentives and were rewarded by retailers for relocating their businesses in low-cost countries, the perception of manufacturing as a dirty, low skilled business became prevalent. Vocational schools shifted away from developing shop floor candidates because there was reduced demand for labor, which lead to a dearth of young workers able to enter the workforce with machine shop skills. Young workers were opting for careers outside of the manufacturing arena, which they saw as more elite and respectable, another impetus for vocational education becoming obsolete.

Perception vs. Reality Those in the manufacturing realm understand that the perception does not match the reality. Modern day manufacturing is clean, requires skilled laborers and needs engineering minds to function at the high level industry demands today.

Kurt Witham of Automated Industrial Motion, based in Muskegon, Michigan, recognizes that and feels that American industry needs to sell itself a little better to youth. He concedes that the reason high schools eliminated wood shop and mechanical classes was because kids weren’t interested in pursuing these courses; however, he laments the fact that manufacturing has not been successful in marketing careers to modernday American kids.

SPRINGS Summer 2012 17

Lindner feels North American companies are not well prepared to accommodate a manufacturing boon.

Management wants skilled workers but they don’t want to train them, she says. “No one wants to take social responsibility for workers, which at the most basic level is education.”

“Kids want a job where they work on a computer all day because they think that is a sign of success; they don’t realize that in this age manufacturing is all computerdriven and that manufacturing is highly automated to produce engineered products, so this should be a good match up as a career for them.”

Karin Lindner, owner of Karico Performance Solutions, has the right idea. She once worked for a major automotive Tier 1 company but lost her job when the company restructured. She wrote a book called “How Can We Make Manufacturing Sexy?” to combat the perception that manufacturing is a low level career option. She is on board for the reshoring movement and is looking ahead to see where the workers will come from when business arrives back on North American soil. “We have to bring manufacturing back,” she says, “but we have to be ready.”

F o r L i n d n e r, i t s t a r t s with changing mindsets and developing a skilled workforce that can manage new technologies. The reason most companies sought overseas production was cost. Buyers thought that by saving on labor costs they would revolutionize business, but labor costs were only a portion of the equation. Lindner considers the best way to combat that perception is through educating buyers and management to make good decisions. “If we can do that, we can win on so many levels, but big corporations are consumed by ignorance and they don’t understand.”

She sees that the Chinese understand this well: “China has the drive to succeed but I don’t see that motivation in the U.S. or Canada, with some rare exceptions. The Chinese are proactive; we are reactive.” Reversing this culture is key to taking back manufacturing.

Bringing it Back Lindner cites the issues faced by those who want to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. For a start, she feels North American companies are not well prepared to accommodate a manufacturing boon.

Management wants skilled workers but they don’t want to train them, she says. “No one wants to take social responsibility for workers, which at the most basic level is education.” A third factor, explains Lindner, is the communications gap between management and the workforce: They don’t understand each other’s worlds.

“Most people are frustrated, stressed and negative.

Management in major manufacturing companies is disconnected from what happens on the floor. Either

18 SPRINGS Summer 2012

they don’t see it or it is too much to handle,” she education and train him here in the hope of developing explains. “If company owners and managers would be a new employee,” says Witham.

“Reshoring is an opportunity for the U.S. You are willing to take on the culture we can beat them [the creating value by manufacturing something. It’s not Chinese] on the level of creativity and innovation.”

Witham, like Lindner, sees opportunity knocking like the service industry, which employs people but in the current world climate and would like to roll out doesn’t create lasting wealth,” says Witham. “I’m glad the welcome mat for the re-entry of manufacturing to see reshoring on the rise.” to North America. First, there is opportunity in the escalating complexity of engineered componentry. Spring designs are more complex and require more programmable equipment to achieve repeatable quality.

Related to this, says Witham, is a continuing proliferation of parts that require special processing for assembly, He says it is important to find a new way to automate that T H E process, since these assemblies are much more challenging than a simple bowl feeder setup.

“Rising labor rates in China, plus the fact that North American manufacturing is simply more productive today than it was 10 to 20 years ago, are good reasons T H E for companies to consider coming home,” says Witham. “Our output here is as high or higher than it ever was, despite reduced manpower due to automation.

“I hear all the time that it’s hard to find good workers. I think that is due to a discrepancy between T H E the education process and what manufacturing actually needs because there is no alignment between the two disciplines,” he Hot Roll Bar Products Rod and Wire Products explains. And then Witham returns Rounds Cold-Heading Quality Rounds .250" to 28" Carbon, Alloy, and Stainless Carbon and Alloy .3125" to 1.5625" Hexes .625" to 2.3125" Carbon and Alloy to the perception issue: “A lot of (In-house Processing) Squares .500" to 12" Carbon, Alloy, and Stainless people think manufacturing is a Flats Inquire Carbon, Alloy, and Stainless Heat Treated Bar Products dirty business but that’s not the Rounds A193B7, F1554 GR105, Cold Finished Bar Products .500" to 28" A354BC, A354BD, A449, case anymore. It takes a lot of skill Rounds .3125” to 4” Carbon and Alloy A434BC, A434BD,P110, to do what we do here.”

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SPRINGS Summer 2012 19

Canada Joins the Fight Nigel Southway, chairman of the Society of Mechanical Engineers in Toronto, is very concerned about the decline of manufacturing in Canada due to offshoring. “I’m horrified to see how off balance things have become,” he says. As a result, Southway is leading the call for Canadians to bring business back.

“We’ve got bigger problems than you might think,” says Southway. “The Canadian dollar is inflated due to our oil. We have a different tipping point than the U.S. does because of that. Our dollar is 15 points higher than it should be.” Then, the other issues, like training and skills are the same, whether from the Canadian or American perspective: “If manufacturing did come back tomorrow we would not have the skills to start up.

“We’ve got to restore our educational base,” says Southway. “We have no apprenticeship programs, no training programs to help bring young people into these professions.” Southway’s organization is working with colleges and universities to address the conundrum businesses face: it’s not just about educating engineers; there also has to be a commitment to manufacturing in North America.

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“Industry has forgotten how to improve themselves,” explains Southway. “The leaders have forgotten how to build a supply base and how to integrate with computers. They’ve failed to innovate. If bringing business back is the goal, we will need industry to heal itself before reshoring can take hold.”

Accountants can tell the moguls the truth that will bring business back to North America: there are hidden costs to offshoring because there are many more cost drivers in a global supply chain. Southway insists that if businesses “run the numbers,” they will discover that it is time to rebirth manufacturing in the West. Once manufacturing returns, the resurgence of innovation in product development will be a fast-track benefit.

Southway sees a long road ahead for the SME initiative. “We haven’t turned the corner yet in terms of taking manufacturing back,” he says. “We’ll begin to see a turn in 2013 and 2014 but we’ll be in real trouble in the short term, at least in 2015, because we will be paying the penalty for allowing our capabilities to go overseas and we will need time to rebuild.”

Restocking the Workforce A key component of any discussion of that rebuilding process will be replacing an aging workforce with skilled youth. For Chris Wharin, an owner and administrator of Bohne Spring, this is one of the factors that keeps him awake at night: How can manufacturers meet the challenge of staffing when vocational schools have given up on training students to explore these careers? “There are no well defined programs for springmakers in Canada,” he says.

There may be time available to develop these programs, from Wharin’s perspective. “I hear buyers say they want to reshore but I haven’t actually seen much reshoring: What left is still gone,” he asserts. “I don’t think buyers look at the whole cost of producing overseas.” If they did, reshoring might be more of a priority.

Wharin sees reshoring as a long term, slow process.

He says that with the exodus of manufacturing to Asia, it’s not just the components that were sourced, it was the assemblies, so naturally the small widgets used in the process were sent “over there” for the life of the program.

Jeff Thulin, quality and production manager for Dendoff Springs Ltd, has seen some benefits of the reshoring movement: “A little of our business that was sourced overseas has come back,” he says.

Fortunately for Dendoff, their customer base has stayed relatively stable. “A lot of what we do is heavier [hot wound] parts and I don’t see that exiting.”

Part of the stability factor for Dendoff is that they have not specialized in any certain market. They have

a finger in every pie, so to speak. “We’re big in the forestry and in the mining industries, rather than being heavy in cars or trucks. We have a lot of business in related industries, though: We are in locomotives and in snowplows, plus we have a good presence in the oil and gas industry,” which is fundamental and elemental to Canadian industry.

A strong suit for Dendoff has been the production staff. “Our employee base has been very stable. We’ve been able to retain our skilled workforce. If we expand, we don’t typically have trouble finding anyone because companies in this region are slowing down more than they are hiring,” says Thulin. “We look for young people with basic skills and then bring them into our fold.”

That is significant for a company like Dendoff because of the isolation from other spring companies due to geographic factors. “You can’t find experienced springmakers in this market,” says Thulin. “They have to be created.”

Geography colors all that Dendoff does. “We source all of our raw materials from Chicago, ship them to the West coast of Canada, make parts and then ship them across two countries again to their destination.

It sounds ridiculous, but somehow it works because there are not too many companies in this product line.”

Scott Meyer of Anchor Danly has seen the dark side of sending business overseas, but for him the main challenge comes with sourcing raw material. He says, “We see less wire and rod production, which results in longer lead times. In our case, it was that suppliers were abandoning certain niches that impacted us.”

In particular, suppliers who once provided small wire sizes closed up shop and left Anchor Danly scrambling to find new material sources. “Our market is die springs. I don’t think they moved the supply chain offshore; I think they just decided not to produce any more.”

The state of the economy over the past few years has taken a toll, according to Meyer. Some of his customers closed up shop; some distributors went out of business, which, in turn, had a negative influence on Anchor Danly business.

Beyond impacting sales adversely, the downturn left a void in the workforce development area. Meyer has a wish list of skills he would like to see on resumes: blueprint reading, measuring, and general technical skills. These are limited resources in the labor pool. Meyer is hiring at the lower end of the spring business. “Given our geography, if a potential worker was employed by a spring company previously it was probably us, whereas if they worked for a springmaker in a market like Chicago or California, they’ve got some diverse experience.”

Accountants can tell the moguls the truth that will bring business back to North America: there are hidden costs to offshoring because there are many more cost drivers in a global supply chain. Southway insists that if businesses “run the numbers,” they will discover that it is time to rebirth manufacturing in the West.

Once manufacturing returns, the resurgence of innovation in product development will be a fast-track benefit.

SPRINGS Summer 2012 21

Engineering and Innovating a Niche Not all companies are impacted adversely by the exodus of business to Asia. Kerry Cannon saw some key advantages, once he shifted his paradigm. He owns Cannon Spring and Cannon Racecraft, both of which serve a specialty market. Although he saw some of his sales morph from U.S. dollars into Chinese yuans, he was able to carve out a niche that relied on engineering and innovation to save his business.

“Oil and gas is half of Cannon Spring’s business,” says Cannon. Cannon Racecraft is focused on specialty components for motorcycles and race cars.

Cannon has found success by focusing on unique materials, like Inconel, chrome silicon and 17-7 stainless steel. “Manufacturers can get generic springs from China but for the complex stuff they have to rely on an innovative company,” says Cannon.

Cannon has pride in ownership. “Most of our employees are trained by me. If I wanted someone trained, I’d have to go to Chicago or California or to another springmaking center to find them.” Cannon is pleased to call his team true artisans. “A lot of CNCs

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22 SPRINGS Summer 2012

make great springs but rely on long setup times. I have a guy who operates a lathe and in 20 minutes can set up a spring from scratch that will take hours to do on a CNC. There’s still a place for a company like mine with employees who can do that.

“A few times, I’ve had customers exit the U.S.,” says Cannon. One time, he helped a potential customer develop a part and then the production was sourced to China. It was a defining moment for Cannon. “For the future, I’ll just let him wait for those cheaper parts to arrive from China,” he says, with a chuckle. “Things change pretty fast. I’ve seen a medical part sourced overseas that took so long to get here that the next revision level was in play before the original part could get here.”

Cannon, like Meyer, Thulin and Wharin, sees the future of reshoring tied to a skilled, educated labor force. They are ready to welcome manufacturing back to North America and understand that the new workforce will be developed through their dedication to the task, one worker at a time. u

Online resources for finding out more: Reshore Now - http://www.reshorenow.org— Many would call this site the beginning of the reshoring movement. Especially valuable is the Total Cost of Ownership Estimator, a free tool for estimating all cost and risk factors into one cost for simpler, more objective decision-making regarding sourcing overseas versus sourcing in the U.S. Reshore America - www.reshoreamerica.com —Currently updating their website but a good resource.

Society of Manufacturing Engineers Toronto: Take Back Manufacturing - www.sme-tbm.org — A look at the concept from the Canadian point of view. This site has a good collection of articles and videos.

Reshoring Manufacturing - http://reshoringmfg.com/ — This site is a repository of articles, blog posts and happenings related to reshoring manufacturing, homeshoring, onshoring, backshoring, insourcing and repatriating manufacturing.

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2012–06

10 Students Named SMI Scholarship Recipients for 2012–2013

H

elping young people achieve their dream of a college education, the Spring Manufacturers Institute (SMI) Regional Scholarship Program has awarded 10 students with scholarships for the 2012-2013 academic year.

Recipients of the program are chosen from the nine regions represented by SMI member companies and one is chosen from at-large to receive the International Spring Scholarship.

Each student receives a $2,000 scholarship.

The at-large scholarship is sponsored by Joe Goldberg and International Spring Company of Morton Grove, Ill. This was the first year the International Spring Scholarship was awarded.

The first recipient is Zach Masserant of Novi, Mich.

Scholarship America administers the program for the SMI Regional Scholarship Program, which is now in its second year. A total of 99 applications were received this year.

“We are excited to award scholarships to the sons and daughters of SMI employees, in this second year of our program,” said SMI president Steve Moreland. “We congratulate each of our recipients and wish them the best in their pursuit of higher education.”

The recipients for the 2012-2013 academic year are:

Kortnie Cotter Hometown: Saint Marys, Pa. Parents: John and Marsha Cotter Attending: Mercyhurst University, Erie, Pa. Major: Education SMI Member and Region: Penn Elkco Spring Company, Pennsylvania-Ohio

Xiaomi Du Hometown: Cheshire, Ct. Parents: Jianghong Lei and Yanming Lei Attending: Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. Major: Biological and Biomedical Sciences SMI Member and Region: Acme-Monaco Corporation, Northeast

Haley Huang Hometown: Marietta, Ga. Parents: Pao and Wen Hui Huang Attending: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. Major: Biomedical Engineering SMI Member and Region: Hickory Springs, Southeast

Kearsten Rodgers-Johansen Hometown: Mississauga, Ontario Parents: Kenn Johansen and Ann Rodgers Attending: RCC College of Technology, Toronto, Ontario Major: Performing Arts SMI Member and Region: Newcomb Spring, Canada

Susan Keenan Hometown: Kintnersville, Pa. Parents: Susan and James Keenan Attending: Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Wash.

Major: Primate Behavior SMI Member and Region: Vulcan Spring & Mfg. Co., MidAtlantic

24 SPRINGS Summer 2012

Thanks “I wanted to send you my sincerest gratitude for the receipt of my SMI scholarship. These funds will drastically help me in my quest for knowledge in the fields of early childhood education, special education and applied behavior analysis. A smile lit up my face the moment I began reading my congratulatory letter; my parents are thrilled as well.

Thank you, again.”

– Kortnie Cotter

Emily Lenczowski Hometown: Chicago, Ill. Parents: Zak and Ewa Lenczowski Attending: Loyola University Chicago (Ill.) Major: Biology/Pre-Med SMI Member and Region: Dudek & Bock Spring Company, Chicago

“I would like to thank you for selecting me to receive this amazing scholarship from SMI. This is truly a blessing and a huge part of making my dreams possible. It will help me obtain an awesome education at a great school, Fresno Pacific University. And it is an honor to receive an award from the amazing SMI organization and its scholarship program, it will alleviate some financial burden of my college education and encourages me to continue to pursue my long term dreams.”

– Emily Marr

Heidi Lewis Hometown: Thornton, Colo.

Parents: Deb Turner and Dale Lewis Attending: Metropolitan State College of Denver (Colo.)

Major: Criminal Justice SMI Member and Region: Newcomb Spring, Southwest

Emily Marr Hometown: Fresno, Calif.

Parents: John and Donna Marr Attending: Fresno (Calif.) Pacific University Major: Liberal Studies SMI Member and Region: Betts Spring Company, West

“Thank you so much for the SMI Regional award!

I am ecstatic about winning this, and the money will help my family a lot. Thank you!”

– Xiaomi Du

Kelsey Masserant Hometown: Novi, Mich.

Parents: Tim and Connie Masserant Attending: Hope College, Holland, Mich.

Major: Special Education LD SMI Member and Region: Peterson Spring, Michigan

“Thank you so much for your generous scholarship.

I am very honored for this recognition. It will be very helpful in supporting me as I earn my master’s degree in primate behavior at Central Washington University.”

– Susan Keenan

Zach Masserant Hometown: Novi, Mich.

Parents: Tim and Connie Masserant Attending: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Major: Pre-Med SMI Member and Region: Peterson Spring, International Spring Scholarship

©iStockphoto.com/Les Cunliffe

“Thank you for your consideration and generosity in awarding me with the Spring Manufacturers Institute Scholarship. This award will help me finance my way through the long, but well worth journey to become a doctor at the University of Michigan. I thank you for honoring me with this prestigious scholarship.”

– Zach Masserant

SPRINGS Summer 2012 25

Postage images: ©iStockphoto.com/Michelle Bennett, ©iStockphoto.com/Nicolae Popovici

26 SPRINGS Summer 2012

Dispatch from Düsseldorf

By Scott Rankin (Editor’s note: For over a decade, SMI immediate past president Scott Rankin has attended wire, International Wire and Cable Trade Fair, and Tube, International Tube Trade Fair — which are held in Düsseldorf every two years. Here are Scott’s thoughts on the 2012 fairs held this past March.)

A

nother beautiful day in Düsseldorf. To me that’s a phrase that never gets old. The sun shined every day and the temperature was perfect for the wire and Tube shows in Düsseldorf, Germany from March 26-30, 2012.

My goal this year was to spend as much time as I could outside, walking from building to building. But the scene inside was hard to leave. Maybe it was just my imagination, but everything seemed bigger and taller this year. There were more people and booths from many different countries.

I spent an afternoon in the China pavilion and found more products than I had seen in the past. The North American pavilions, one for wire and one for tube, were buzzing with activity. The big machine booths were as active as I have ever seen. This is the sixth time I have attended these shows and it still amazes me about how big they are and the variety of equipment presented. Each spring machine maker had something new to show and it was hard to figure out which one was more impressive.

I found many different ways to solve most spring problems and machines were running faster with higher quality computer programs that allowed more versatility. So the challenge was to find the best solution which then becomes the cutting edge of springmaking technology.

Every trip to Düsseldorf requires a tour of the various booths to find the best beer or wine and, of course, German food. While this was not my priority, I did my best to make everyone feel they fed me as needed. I didn’t want to offend the host country!

This year I spent more time on the tube side of the show. This allowed me to walk outside and enjoy the sun but also to see a different way to bend metal.

This is the sixth time I have attended these shows and it still amazes me about how big they are and the variety of equipment presented. Each spring machine maker had something new to show and it was hard to figure out which one was more impressive.

SPRINGS Summer 2012 27

Even though it was all for tubes it still gave me some new ideas.

My other pleasure from this trip was to introduce the new president of the SMI, Steve Moreland, and his wife,

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Sandy, to European Spring Federation (ESF) members and to give Steve his first glimpse of these massive trade shows. It was fun to see his face as we entered the show and he said: “Wow, this is huge!” I told him there are 13 more halls to get through. He was like a kid in a candy store moving from one booth to the next.

One of the highlights for every wire and tube show in Düsseldorf is the ESF dinner held on Wednesday night at a beautiful German restaurant on the Rhine River. About 100 spring makers and suppliers attended this year. It is a great event because you get to share a wonderful meal with people that do what you do, from all parts of the world. My table had people from Germany, Korea, Japan and the United States. What a fun and sometimes challenging conversation. Luckily all of them spoke English, which was very nice of them, but also showed that I need to learn another language.

(But that is a whole different article.)

So I returned to the U.S. with so many new ideas. Do I now know the newest ways to solve my springmaking needs? Do I have the best possible equipment? Will my customers appreciate my new ideas and knowledge? I don’t know yet. But I do have some ideas that are going to keep me up at night.

It’s only two more years before I get to do this again.

I can’t wait!

Scott Rankin is the president of Vulcan Spring and Manufacturing Co. in Telford, Pa., and the immediate past president of SMI. He may be reached by email at scott@vulcanspring.com.

SPRINGS Summer 2012 29

30 SPRINGS Summer 2012 ©iStockphoto.com/zokara

The Potential of Potential

By John A. Passante

T

he time has come to admit that I am a huge fan of both Dr. Seuss and Charlie Brown. So there, the word is out. However, I suspect that I am not alone. In fact we can all learn a great deal about human potential and the human condition from the good Dr. Seuss and our loveable friend, Charlie Brown.

Charlie Brown’s friend, Linus, proclaimed these words of wisdom: “There’s no heavier burden than a great potential.” The challenge lies in utilizing the potential.

Today, there are over seven billion people in the world, and growing, but there is only one you. In the words of Dr. Seuss, “Today you are you, this is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.”

You are a good man (person), Charlie Brown.

The key is to seize this great opportunity to discover your potential and to deploy your uniqueness. How cool is this: you are one of a kind, specially made.

Coming to grips with our potential requires reflection, which believe it or not is an action. Indeed, a powerful action. It invokes the power within us to ponder what really matters to us, who we really are, what we really want, what inspires us, and what our life’s goals are. Potential involves the pursuit of meaning and purposeful work. It is not the meaning of life; it is making one’s life meaningful. Or as Dr. Seuss said, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.”

When we hone our potential (the sweet spot), we are on the road to contentment, well-being and happiness.

It costs nothing to dream and everything not to.

It takes time. Einstein said, “There is more to life than increasing speed.” We get our best ideas when we are not doing; we think in the shower, walking, playing and running. Frankly, most of us do not have enough time to think.

Potential encompasses both personal power and growth. It is the inherent ability, energy, or capacity for development.

Our potential is like a genie in a bottle — we have to let it out.

You can do it, because no one else can. You must do it, because there is only one you — with your skills, dreams and opportunities.

“Today is your day, your mountain is waiting so… get on your journey,” says Dr. Seuss.

Remember the Charlie Brown Christmas tree?

He saw the beauty and goodness in it. Our positive attributes (potential) lie in wait, like the tree on a lot, hoping we will notice it. We see what we want to see in life. I encourage you to see your potential. Affirming it builds spirit, confidence and lets our light shine.

Reveal your authenticity, and strive to know yourself. You are worth it.

How is this for inspiring words? “You have brains in your head, You have feet in your shoes, You can steer yourself in any direction you choose,” stated Dr. Seuss. We all have the power to honor our potential,

SPRINGS Summer 2012 31

Potential involves the pursuit of meaning and purposeful work. It is not the meaning of life; it is making one’s life meaningful.

as well as our dreams! Potential is all about building a better you!

“Powerful thinking creates a powerful energy in your life, but it starts with a powerful heartset which creates a powerful mindset,” said Doug Firebaugh.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we did not have to wait for a business challenge (or a personal problem) to unharness the power of our true potential? Indeed, we all have choices and will access it. Imagine the joy and satisfaction we could gain.

“Our aspirations are our possibilities,” explained Robert Browning.

Dr. Seuss has shown us the value of dreaming large dreams in technical 3D. Why settle for the ordinary?

Discover your motivation and let it drive your potential.

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As Dr. Seuss said, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter won’t mind.” u John Passante is the president and CEO of Brenton Productions, a company that has produced automotive how-to television since 1992. Brenton provides automotive enthusiasts, as well as trade professionals, with performance, accessory and how-to information on their two weekly television series; Two Guys Garage and Truck U. He’s also president and CEO of The Organizational Development Group Inc. He is an executive coach, recruiter and frequent speaker. He has a keen interest in leadership and brings over 30 years of experience to bear upon the subject. He has worked in many areas--from manufacturing, distribution, sales and marketing, human resources and administration--for notable companies such as Delphi and CARQUEST. You can reach Passante at 401-252-9430, or e-mail: passante@brentontv.com.

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Flashback

Stockbyte/Punchstock

Outsourcing Update

By John Guzik Williams Mullen Strategies (Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the April 2004 issue of Springs during the height of the outsourcing movement.)

A

re the U.S. government, state governments and other groups working for or against the offshoring of jobs to countries with low labor costs? Let’s take a look at what’s currently on the table.

The fervor surrounding outsourcing for the past few years quickly shifted to an uproar when in February 2004, Gregory Mankiw, the U.S. president’s chief economic advisor, called outsourcing “a new way of doing international trade.” Since then, an influx of anti-outsourcing legislation has arisen on both the Federal and State level.

Background Data shows that in 2000 the total number of U.S. jobs outsourced was 102,000, and in 2004 the number is approaching 300,000. By 2015, it is predicted that the number of jobs outsourced will grow to 3.3 million. This trend has been fueled in part by the large discrepancies in wages between the U.S. and other countries. For example, in the U.S. a telephone operator earns an average wage of $12.57 per hour, while at the same job in India a person earns less than $1 per hour.

These differences can even be seen in fields such as Financial Analysis/Research, where in the U.S. a person averages a wage of $35 per hour, while in India the average is merely $6 per hour. The same trends

SPRINGS Summer 2012 35

can be seen for salaried workers as well. A computer programmer in the U.S. earns, on average, $60,000 to $80,000 a year. In countries such as Poland and Hungry, computer programmers are compensated, on average, $4,800 to $8,000 annually.

While the issue of outsourcing reaches far beyond low wage wars, the subsequent focus on wages and job losses that arose due to the increasing effect of outsourcing has had an impact on the U.S. manufacturing sector.

Effects occurring due to emerging markets and the relocation of supply chains do attribute to outsourcing; however, reliable data with the ability to quantify these effects is currently unavailable. The same lack of data is also true in the scope of the increasing cost of raw materials in the U.S., which is also cited as a reason for the increasing amount of outsourcing taking place.

Bush Administration The Bush administration’s comments support outsourcing. Time and time again, President Bush and members of the administration, such as Secretary of Treasury John Snow, Secretary of Commerce Don Evans and Gregory Mankiw, chairman of President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors, have championed outsourcing as a means for the U.S. economy to become more competitive and efficient.

Editorials in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and USA Today, have taken a wide range of views.

Most of them are against outsourcing, yet with one common thread: The U.S. cannot, as a reaction to outsourcing, become an isolationist economy.

The administration is fearful of enacting antioutsourcing measures that may bring U.S. economic isolationism and/or international backlash.

U.S. Congress Both chambers of Congress have taken up the issue of outsourcing. Bills have been introduced that focus on call centers, federal contract requirements and federal grants/funding. However, no broad measures have passed in either the House of Representatives or the Senate to entirely ban outsourcing.

House of Representatives • Rep. Jim Walsh (R-NY) has introduced legislation (HR 3134) that would require federal contractors to have at least 50 percent of their work force in the U.S. • Rep. Maxine Waters (D-NY) has introduced legislation (HR 3911) that would prohibit companies that have outsourced jobs offshore during the past five years from receiving federal grants, federal contracts, federal loan guarantees and other federal funding.

• Rep. Ted Strickland (D-OH) has introduced HR 3816, the “Call Center Consumer’s Right to Know Act.” This legislation would require each employee in the call center to disclose the physical location of such employee at the beginning of each telephone call. It would also subject companies to Federal Trade Commission civil fines for failure to comply.

• Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has introduced legislation (HR 3820) to prohibit outsourced federal contracts from being performed outside the U.S.

Senate In 2003, Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY) and Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), offered a provision adding to legislation funding the Department of Treasury and the Postal Service, preventing these agencies from contracting out jobs performed by government

36 SPRINGS Summer 2012

employees to private sector companies that perform these services outside the U.S. This fairly limited provision was included in the Omnibus Spending bill passed by Congress and signed by the president.

Other legislation introduced, but not passed, by the Senate includes the following: • Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) has introduced S 2094, which would prohibit outsourced federal contracts from being performed outside the U.S. • Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) introduced S 1873, which would require each employee in the call center to disclose the physical location of such employee at the beginning of each telephone call.

State Level On May 17, 2004, Tennessee became the first state to enact an anti-outsourcing law. The new law directs state procurement officials to give preference in bids for such services to contractors employing workers only in the United States. The bill (HB 2340) passed the state Senate overwhelmingly, 29-1.

There are currently 35 other states with proposed legislation to restrict outsourcing. The majority of these state-based bills focus on prohibiting the work performed on state contracts, coming from overseas and/or from non-U.S. citizens, and call center restrictions. A few examples include:

Michigan • Legislation has been introduced in Michigan (HB 4940) to require that departments and all state agencies shall not enter into a contract for the purchase of services unless the contract shows that only citizens of the United States, legal resident aliens, and individuals with valid visas shall perform the services under that contract or any subcontract under thereof.

Indiana • Legislation introduced in the state Senate (S. 0004) provides that a contract for services entered into by a state agency must specify that only citizens of the United States and individuals authorized to work in the U.S. may be employed in the performance of services under the contract or any subcontract.

• Another bill has been introduced in the state House (HR 1101) to require that contracts for services entered into by a state agency must specify that only citizens of the United States and individuals authorized to work in the United States may be employed in the performance of services under the contract or any subcontract.

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Outside Players Other groups and organizations have also begun to voice their position on outsourcing. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has come out as an advocate in support of outsourcing. The Chamber believes that outsourcing will lead to a more competitive U.S. economy and, in the future, more jobs for U.S. workers. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) follows the same line as The Chamber of Commerce. NFIB believes that outsourcing provides a way for small businesses to survive, especially in a slow economy.

Through outsourcing, these small businesses are able to benefit from low-cost IT services, which drastically reduce their total overhead costs.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and its members are split. While the larger multinational members of NAM wish to promote outsourcing as an efficient cost-cutting mechanism, the smaller companies believe that outsourcing is detrimental because it is forcing many of them out of business due to their inability to compete.

The same goes for many technology-based organizations, like the American Electronics Association (AEA). AEA is fighting against outsourcing since nearly all of its members are at risk. However, the AEA does not support restrictive trade legislation, which may trigger international economic backlash, as a means to offset outsourcing.

Editorials in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and USA Today, have taken a wide range of views. Most of them are against outsourcing, yet with one common thread: The U.S. cannot, as a reaction to outsourcing, become an isolationist economy. Though no editorial has offered any solution, they are all in fear as to the side effects of any anti-outsourcing measures. u John Guzik is vice president of Williams Mullen Strategies, a government relations firm in Washington, D.C., representing manufacturing. Readers may contact him by phone at (202) 2938144 or visit www.williamsmullen.com/wms. Research associate Jeff Mrowka also contributed to this article.

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SPRINGS Summer 2012 23

Photodisc/Punchstock

Are You Committing the Seven Deadly Sins of Business Transformation?

By Mohan Nair

40 SPRINGS Summer 2012

E

very day millions of Americans arrive at work filled with low-level dread and resignation. Since the recession hit (or perhaps before), they’ve been overloaded, overstressed, and overwhelmed. The typical workday is a marathon of rushing from one task after another, with few breaks between these bursts of effort, and even fewer words of thanks from equally frantic managers and coworkers. By the time they drag themselves to the finish line at 5 (or 6 or 7 or even later), they’re completely drained and wondering how they’ll ever do it all again tomorrow.

Too many employees these days are running on empty—and no matter how great their work ethic or their fear of unemployment, at some point the pace becomes unsustainable.

The problem is not that employees don’t want to work hard. It’s that they have nothing to believe in.

When people are motivated by a cause, they’ll work without stopping and without loss of energy. Their dedication to the cause will fuel them. The problem is too many companies aren’t animated by a cause at all—and their employees just live for the end of the day and for Friday.

I am a fervent believer in the power of, well, believing in something. If your company isn’t giving employees

a cause—if the organization exists solely to create revenue, in other words—employees won’t be partners.

They’ll be foot soldiers. And when you fail to meet your employees’ needs, they’ll fail to meet yours.

You need to give employees a “power source” through servant leadership, cause-focused strategies, and authenticity. That cause, which bears little resemblance to the corporate-speak mumbo-jumbo in the typical mission statement, should spark enthusiasm in consumers and dedication in employees. It should be an inspiring ideology that is intrinsically linked to the company’s value proposition and competency.

Think Apple. Think Disney. Think Google.

It’s this cause—this ideology—that powers strategic business transformation. And because our world is changing so rapidly, businesses have to transform themselves over and over again in order to keep up or lead markets.

It used to be that markets reformed every several years with new ideas on what customers' interests are. But now markets and customers are transforming because they encounter more unknown unknowns, those changes that they never anticipated and started to notice only after they happened. Companies that want to survive and grow must find the insight to know what their customers value and are willing to pay for continuously.

Winning companies transform themselves in order to transform the customers they serve. They don’t manipulate markets nor do they just add another feature or capability to their arsenal. In fact, they don’t think of their capabilities as arsenals because they don’t see battles; they see opportunities to transform, not destroy.

If you’re ready to transform into an innovative, cause-driven, employee-and-customer -inspiring organization, here are seven sins waiting to trip you up:

from truth, so leaders cannot ‘fake it.’ They have to be able to feel the plights of customers and people in our society. The fuel that drives our new economy fills the containers that bring purpose to profits.

Sin #2: Driving without a cause. Most companies have mission statements—as well as vision statements, value statements, and other official website/employee handbook fodder. Yet many employees don’t believe in them and never use them. What they need is a cause, and that’s altogether different. Once organizations know why they exist, to whom they want transformation to happen and why, they gain the audacity and authenticity to drive strategic business transformation.

Don’t confuse ‘cause’ with ‘mission.’ A cause is a lasting theme, an architecture that supports the transformation of the greater environment. It has personal, rather than organizational, implications. Missions are given to groups marching in lockstep; causes are taken up by creative individuals. A mission is a bounded, purposeful action.

Missions impose the will of managers on employees, whereas causes are grounded in the latent, unexpressed will of the overall organization.

Discovering a cause greater than any one employee and greater than the whole propels organizations beyond the speed of lofty, purposeless, or narcissistic goals.

Sin #1: Ignoring the new principles of business transformation. Many companies that fail focus on the outward manipulation of markets and customers driven from the “ego” of the organization. Unfortunately for them, today’s markets are sensitive to purposeless wealth creation. No amount of end-of-the-year donations to needy organizations can make up for a lack of purpose and value. Mission and money must go hand in hand.

If you think of making money without thinking of the greater contributions to society, you will neither attract the right people nor make money in the long run. This is because people themselves are changing.

Finding meaning at work powers the twenty-first century employee population. This population knows insincerity

SPRINGS Summer 2012 41

Don’t confuse ‘cause’ with ‘mission.’ A cause is a lasting theme, an architecture that supports the transformation of the greater environment. It has personal, rather than organizational, implications.

Missions are given to groups marching in lockstep; causes are taken up by creative individuals. A mission is a bounded, purposeful action.

Missions impose the will of managers on employees, whereas causes are grounded in the latent, unexpressed will of the overall organization.

Whole Foods is an example of a cause-driven company.

The company’s co-founder and co-CEO John Mackey was quoted in the Harvard Business Review: “I think Whole Foods’ highest purpose is a heroic one: to try to change and improve our world. That is what animates me personally. That is what animates the company.”

Sin #3: Missing market momentum. Traditionally, products seek customers, customers form markets, and markets move with momentum. In transformation principle, momentum is identified before anything else, customers and prospects respond to momentum, then products respond to serve these prospects to move with purposeful intent. Momentum is a unique way to view the market. Companies that don’t understand it will miss the drivers that indicate where momentum is going.

Momentum drivers often lead “old” customers to consider their options in a whole new way. Being able to predict these changes of mind and heart, even before the customers themselves do, allows companies to get in first with products destined to be hot sellers.

The most telling experience occurred recently when I was watching a sunset. A person nearby stated, “I wish I had my phone” when he was thinking of taking a photograph of the sunset. These customers would have rejected the idea of a phone and camera combined in the past. This is transformation at its best.

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Sin #4: Ignoring the two orders of value. If you assume that rational and emotional value propositions are all you need to consider, think again. There’s also a “higher order” value proposition: the symbolic. Customers symbolically attach to the product or the company that sells the product. They come to identify with the purpose of the product and what it represents.

Organizations that are able to transfer and connect market momentum into value to the customers that emerge from a transformation will gain market share and be very successful.

Take Trader Joe’s, for instance. The company has convinced its customers to bring bags that they bought from Trader Joe’s to collect their own groceries. It has successfully tapped into “green” market momentum.

The customers of Trader Joe’s are participating at both levels in acting to save paper or plastic and to recycle bags every time they visit. This has huge economic value because the company saves on the cost of bags, but the consumers do not see it that way. Consumers see themselves aligning with the grand vision of a better world without excess, and they believe that Trader Joe’s is conforming to their world view authentically.

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Sin #5: Overlooking transformational servant leadership. The new organization is a workspace with

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no walls. Leadership styles of the past cannot conform to the unbounded workspace commanded by remote employees, portable tablets, portable computers, and worldwide internetworks. Hierarchical management techniques and paradigms are breaking down. You may try to bend the iron bars of the hierarchical

organization to make it “look” better—but if you aren’t practicing true servant leadership, you won’t be able to attract the talent it takes to compete in the transforming marketplace.

What is transformational servant leadership? While the concept is maddeningly difficult to pin down, it contains several basic truths: • It’s based on service rather than hierarchical controls. Leaders believe in something greater than themselves.

• There are no sharply defined leaders and followers. Leaders lead when it’s appropriate and follow when it’s appropriate.

• Organizations are populated by project-centered self-leaders who partner with one another when needed.

• Leaders strive for dramatic inner change, reengineering, and self-identification with corporate goals. In other words, it is about personal change creating group change that triggers corporate change—and not the other way around.

Servant leaders are powered by a desire to serve others, and they forget themselves, and this is the source of their undying energy and success. They do not come to this easily but through self-doubt, suffering, ridicule, and even pain. Yet they are among us, and we should realize that we cannot judge anyone in our organization to be inadequate, of not having ideas to transform the world around them. Our purpose is to nurture and to find the goose that lays the golden eggs rather than be in the business of ideas. Be in the business of nurturing people with ideas, and the ideas will flow.

Sin #6: Mistaking capability for strategic competency.

Capabilities are what you can do for customers.

Competence is the unique recipe of your capabilities and what you can do better than others consistently as far as your customers perceive. You can always gain a new capability: just learn how to do it yourself, hire someone who knows how to do it, or partner with another organization to fill that void. Stopping there, instead of understanding your competencies and using them to formulate your strategy, is the sin. It keeps you from being able to create value that people want and for which they are willing to pay.

Being good at one key capability is not sufficient— unless, that is, it is nonreplicable. Winning, using competencies, involves: • Creating brand awareness among your customers and prospects who feel an alignment between the organization and their values.

• Defining communicable cause/purpose that is about a transformed customer and experience with that customer.

• Combining key ingredients that reflect a valued recipe that creates a strong, enduring, and authentic “aftertaste” to the customer who keeps returning because of it.

• Creating a structure that drives social networked feedback interactively with an approachable organizational structure.

Trader Joe’s has gained loyal customers because they are capable in selling you good produce and groceries. But they are competent in driving their belief systems about conservation, their shopping experience, and their community spirit. Many other stores have the same ingredients (capabilities) as Trader Joe’s. What they don’t have is the recipe (competency).

Sin #7: Expecting flawless execution without a performance platform. It is critical to find the talent ahead of time, find the capabilities of the future ahead of time, and to ensure that your operating capability anticipates rather than responds to a transformed market. What if Amazon couldn’t ship its products

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Customers symbolically attach to the product or the company that sells the product. They come to identify with the purpose of the product and what it stands for. Organizations that are able to transfer and connect market momentum into value to the customers that emerge from a transformation will gain market share and be very successful.

on time and accurately? Customers would go to the competition, of course. And yet, it’s common for companies to do more and more—to implement greater and greater change—without a context for employees and customers to frame improvement initiatives.

There are two categories of performance management corporations must master: human (inspiring, organizing work, people performance and incentives) and corporate (analytics, systems and methods around the financial, operational, customer and strategic outcomes and outputs). To execute well in the second category a company must have capabilities in four areas: monitoring, measurement, management, and direction setting. As if that weren’t complicated enough, companies must be able to strike a careful balance between surviving today and investing in tomorrow.

I call this balancing act ‘building the plane while flying the plane.’ You have only one plane, but if you just kept flying it you would eventually encounter a storm that you would not survive. If you stopped and built the plane of the future, you would lose the battles you currently face. So you must build a new plane while flying the plane into battle.

It’s tough to determine how much to invest in the now and how much to invest in the future—especially since the future is a transformed environment.

Prioritizing is part science and part art. The ability to make these decisions is where leaders truly earn their keep.

This is all deeply complicated stuff, to be sure. But it is possible for corporate leaders to transform (themselves, their organizations, and their customers), to make money, to keep their collective soul, and to give the people who do the work a real reason to come to work.

I challenge today’s businesses to choose to transform. Develop a strategy that reflects your beliefs and let others, both employees and customers, choose to take up your cause. Transformation is never easy, but it is almost always worth the blood, sweat, and tears that come with it. u Mohan Nair is chief innovation officer of a health plan in the northwest/mountain region. As adjunct professor of business with the Kellogg School of Management, Nair teaches executive courses in supply-chain management and cost and performance management.

He is the author of “Strategic Business Transformation: The 7 Deadly Sins to Overcome” which is available at bookstores nationwide, from major online booksellers, and direct from the publisher by calling 800-225-5945. In Canada, call 800-567-4797. He has also authored two books on cost and performance management.

44 SPRINGS Summer 2012

SPRINGS Summer 2012 45

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46 SPRINGS Summer 2012

_

Springmaker Spotlight

Tammy Owens (left) and LaDawna Wessling serve as Sound Spring's second generation management team.

Working Knowledge Anchors Second Generation Springmakers A Profile of Sound Spring, Inc., Kent, Wash.

By Gary McCoy

W

orking two jobs to support his wife and three little girls, Al Kerns had a “great idea” to start his own spring company. The journey began for Kerns and his wife, Pat, in 1978, when they set out from the Seattle area to their home state of Idaho to drop off their daughters, Allison, 12, LaDawna, 11 and Tammy, 8, with grandparents. Al and Pat continued on to Chicago in their new Ford Fairmont station wagon to pick up a coiling machine and a kick press.

Soon they were back home in Washington, and Al started making springs in his garage on a handshake agreement with a customer. So began Sound Spring over three decades ago.

“I think that most of what makes great ideas work is hidden in little seeds of ideas,” wrote Allison Kerns Lindley in a 2010 Springs magazine article, “Unusual Users of Springs and Spring Technology,” about the family spring business started by her father.

“People from all walks of life, particularly farmers for years have been ‘making do’ with metal scrap and bale wire.

That’s how I imagine my dad grew up in the Idaho panhandle.

Like many people, he headed toward the Seattle area of Washington State in the late 1960’s lured by the potential of

SPRINGS Summer 2012 47

finding work in the shadow of the big aerospace and other manufacturing and technology companies.”

Fast forward to today: The business has been passed along to the next generation, with Al and Pat’s daughters, LaDawna Wessling and Tammy Owens, now steering the ship at Sound Spring. The oldest Kerns daughter, Allison Kerns Lindley, lives in Idaho, where her husband is a pastor, and is not involved in the dayto-day operations of the company. She still helps with networking for Sound Spring and occasionally writes business proposal letters.

Wessling serves as the general manager of Sound Spring, taking care of all customer estimates and imparting her deep knowledge of the parts made by the company. Owens is more of the behind-thescenes spokesperson for Sound Spring and has served in various roles over the years. Wessling usually introduces her as “my sister, my right arm.” Currently, she is focused on the financials, and the duties of CFO without the title.

“My sisters and I grew up knowing the business from the ground up,” said Owens. “We have quite a bit of working knowledge.”

She acknowledges that family and business can sometimes be hard to reconcile.

48 SPRINGS Summer 2012

One of the best family memories for the Kerns’ sisters is their Dad using the family oven to stress relieve springs.

“Pizza never tasted the same again after you’ve done that,” said Owens with a chuckle. “Mom got a new stove out of the deal!”

“They always say it’s hard for family members to work together and run a company,” explained Owens, “yet my sister and I, we’re doing it.”

Without bragging, she added: “And we’re doing it pretty well.”

Making the Transition The transition of leadership started at Sound Spring a few years ago, but accelerated in February 2012 when Kerns was diagnosed with leukemia. Now in remission, doctors tell him he has a 50/50 chance of survival.

Back in 2005, Kerns semi-retired from the company, choosing to work only three days a week. In 2008 he cut back to one day a week and last year Owens said her father was gearing up for a full retirement from the company.

“That’s happened (full retirement) now through circumstances,” explained Owens. “Because it was a slow transition, there was no major upheaval.”

Kerns is now away from the day-to-day operations of the business and as a result he’s not as knowledgeable about the newer machines the company owns.

“He is still a resource to all of us for ideas, common sense, and a wealth of knowledge we can draw from, but since he’s had the leukemia he’s said to employees: ‘What does LaDawna say?’ or ‘Have you talked to Tammy?’”

Due to the transition and the confidence he has in his two daughters, Kerns will often say to employees: “Talk to them (Wessling and Owens), they know what they’re doing.”

When Kerns setup operations in the family garage, his daughters got paid a penny per piece to help out.

Owens recalls it being a “Tom Sawyer kind of thing.”

“Dad, would say: ‘Hey, girls I need your help,’ and we would go out to the garage and help kick-out, or hand coil parts.”

One of the best family memories for the Kerns’ sisters is their Dad using the family oven to stress relieve springs.

“Pizza never tasted the same again after you’ve done that,” said Owens with a chuckle. “Mom got a new stove out of the deal!”

Sound Spring founders Al and Pat Kerns.

Another fond memory came in the early ‘80s when Sound Spring made springs for the infamous “deeliebobbers.”

The toy was described by Kerns Lindley as “a plastic headband with two six-inch long, tightly wound coils with Styrofoam glittery shapes attached on the ends.

These were all the rage at county fairs and New Year’s Eve parties.”

The company also made springs for model train enthusiasts, sports equipment, outdoor gear applications, baby-jogger strollers, yo-yo’s, and space phones that made noise when you swung them ‘round and round.’

Kerns came to the Seattle area from Idaho with hopes of becoming a pilot. As oftentimes happens, a dream sometimes goes in a different direction and Kerns ended up in the spring industry. His introduction to the industry happened when he took a job with

Renton Coil. It’s there that he learned machining techniques, especially with coiling machines.

“The man who had taught dad on the machines ended up coming to work for us, after he officially retired,” said Owens. “Dad understood a lot (about machines), but this man had a lot of experience, a wealth of knowledge for ‘dialing in’ tight tolerances, a know how that allowed us to train and teach newer machinists.”

Though Kerns never became a pilot, ironically Sound Spring ended up doing work in the aerospace industry for Boeing and Boeing suppliers.

“We did a lot of work for Boeing in the ‘80s, but we got away from it because the expense and overhead to implement the quality standards were more than we could handle,” said Owens. She said the decision to cut back on work as a direct supplier to Boeing, though risky at the time, ended up being a good decision.

SPRINGS Summer 2012 49

“It allowed us to give service and support to all our customers,” explained Owens, “and not just overengineer everything to one standard.” They now are in their third year of ISO 9001-2008 Quality System and, Owens says, “We maintain a quality focus that enables us to manufacture product to each customer’s requirement, regardless of their industry.”

Sound Spring is working with Boeing again, but the primary focus of their business continues to be making springs, wireforms and small metal parts for medical, toys, sporting goods and aerospace.

The company currently has 11 employees, after reaching a high water mark of over 50 in the early ‘80s.

When the company moved to its present location in Kent, Wash. (from nearby Everett), they got a larger facility and new machines that didn’t require as many employees.

Instead of having to eliminate employees, Owens said many left the company through natural attrition.

She admits that they’ve gotten “leaner, and leaner, and leaner” over the years.

Owens said their largest customer is a local company in the high-tech laser industry. “The owner wanted to buy local, so we got a chance to bid on the business,” she explained.

Winning this business has helped the company be better-rounded in their customer base.

Pioneers As women running a spring company, Owens and Wessling do see themselves as trailblazers. They say relating to men can be difficult sometimes because they are often perceived as maternal.

Owens said she and Wessling are fortunate that they were taught to care for people by their parents.

“We take care of our employees and they take care of us,” she explained.

Because they are trailblazers, Owens and Wessling issued a challenge: “Check back with us in 10 years to see how we’re doing.”

Having grown up in the business, both Wessling and Owens like making springs and wireforms. “We enjoy the challenge and we expect them every day,” admitted Owens. “We expect things to both be great and fall apart on a daily basis. I guess that’s the nature of the beast.”

According to Owens, Wessling is constantly preaching: “customer service, customer service, customer service.” While Owens is prone to say: “Expect things not to go as expected, whether it’s parts or people. We may get upset, but we don’t shut down.”

Sound Spring has customers that go all the way back to company’s start. Some are business relationships that originally started with a handshake agreement made by Kerns. Both Wessling and Owens

50 SPRINGS Summer 2012

Owens admits that she and Wessling have had to overcome the things “that families do that happen within a family-run company.” She said the key has been to assign responsibilities and allow each person to have the final say in the area in which they are responsible. believe customer service has helped them keep longterm customers and hold on to more recent ones.

“When we get new customers they stay with us,” said Owens.

Owens candidly admitted that like everyone else, Sound Spring has made mistakes in manufacturing products for customers. She says they are committed to fixing the problem and not letting customers down.

“Making a bad product won’t let customers down,” said Owens. “Giving them no support will.”

When asked about what they don’t like about the spring business, Wessling said it’s “the grease, the grime and the dust. You never get away from it whatever you do.”

Plus, the smell is always a challenge.

“I always say: ‘Springs are cooking again,’” said Owens who has grudgingly gotten used to the odor.

Challenges When assessing the challenges that Sound Spring faces, Owens quickly points to the areas of talent and technology.

“We hunger and thirst for springmakers, people who are knowledgeable about our industry,” said Owens.

“Passing that skill along is not ingrained from one position to another and it’s quickly lost.”

Owens said Sound Spring can usually find people with CNC machine experience, but few people who know how to make springs. She said springmaking is not necessarily a dying art; it simply means if a company has someone with those skills they will try their hardest to hang on to them.

The other challenge Sound Spring has faced is in the area of technology.

“Growing technologically has been a big challenge for us and we continue to look forward to the future and how we can do it better and not just be another job shop,” Owens explained.

She said Sound Spring doesn’t want to be viewed as a “mom and pop” operation. She said while they want to

be known for personal service and specialization, they also want customers to know they offer professionalism.

In their effort to focus on the future, the company recently invested in new ERP and phone VOIP systems, purchased four new wire formers, and upgraded their office furniture.

To help improve their own personal skills and to network with other springmakers, Wessling and Owens have recently become active in SMI. “LaDawna and I have been trying to connect with SMI members so we can network more, and also share and gain information,” Owens explained. “That’s been one of our newest adventures, trying not to be so alone.

Because our industry is so unique, I’m sure many share the same struggles and have the same needs.”

She believes sharing information among springmakers is not a hindrance, but a benefit. Owens believes trade secrets are fine; she and Wessling only want to know how another spring company completed a process. And she candidly admits, “There’s so much we don’t know.”

Owens said being on the West Coast, where there are not as many springmakers, has caused them sometimes to feel isolated. As a result, she said they are looking forward to building relationships through SMI.

All in the Family For many years, Wessling and Owens were busy raising their families and not involved in the business.

They both got valuable experience outside of Sound Spring, Wessling in early childhood education and Owens as an office manager. Both came back to the company in 2003.

Kerns Lindley has three sons and one daughter, Wessling has three sons who are 19, 18 and 13, and Owens has a 19 year old son, a 17 year old daughter, a 15 year old son and a baby who was born on January 26, 2012.

Beyond immediate family, Owens says cousins and other family members have worked in the business.

Owens admits that she and Wessling have had to overcome the things “that families do that happen within a family-run company.” She said the key has been to assign responsibilities and allow each person to have the final say in the area in which they are responsible.

Most of the time, they try not to move forward with decisions unless they are both in agreement.

Owens said backing each other up has been a key to their successfully working together.

“Whether we agree or not, if LaDawna’s trying to correct an employee, I back her up, and vice-versa. We have to do what is best for the company, not necessarily what is best for the individual.”

With their “working knowledge” of the business, Owens said her and Wessling are trying to keep the things that worked in the past for Sound Spring, but do it in a new way.

“Even though you embrace new technology, you still have to maintain quality and customer care,” said Owens.

They both want Sound Spring to remain committed to the values that Al Kerns brought to the company over 30 years ago. Primarily, they are involved in a “people business.”

Owens and Wessling believe that keeping Sound Spring as a people business is an important legacy to pass on to the next generation.

“No matter how big we get,” said Owens, “we always have to remember that.” u

SPRINGS Summer 2012 51

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Inside SMI

SMI President Addresses ESF Meeting in Düsseldorf SMI president Steve Moreland and immediate past president Scott Rankin participated in the European Spring Federation (ESF) International Spring Makers Meeting during wire 2012 in Düsseldorf, Germany. According to Horst Dieter Dannert, ESF’s general secretary, more than 100 experts in springs from 18 different nations participated in the March 28 meeting.

Moreland was one of the featured speakers and gave a speech on the condition of the U.S. spring market. Presentations were made by representatives of Europe, Japan and Korea on the state of the spring market in their respective regions.

In addition, “Mechanical Engineering Industry Worldwide” was presented by Anke Uhlig, market research manager of the VDMA – Ger man Engineering Federation. There was also an update from the team of ISO/TC 227 - Springs currently working on new international standards

for cold formed and hot formed springs.

“At the end there was a fine ESF international dinner with more than 120 guests from 14 different nations enjoying a warm evening at the bank of the Rhine River and later interesting talks until late at night,” said Dannert.

All speeches have been put on the ESF homepage and can be downloaded at www.esf-springs.org.

SMI Scholarship Program to Expand

inauguation dinner at the 2012 SMI Annual Meeting in San Antonio with a special toast and announced the establishment of the scholarship.

Bud Peterson was a past president of SMI. Callaghan, former CFO of MW Industries, has established the Callaghan-Hart Scholarship in honor of his beloved parents Ed and Rita Callaghan. “This was an opportunity for me to give back to the industry that has been so good to me,” said Callaghan.

Through the generous contributions of Pete Peterson and Jim Callaghan, two additional scholarships will be added for the 2012-2013 SMI Scholarship Program. A total of 12 scholarships will be awarded next year.

Peterson has established the Bud Peterson Scholarship to honor his late father, who passed away last year. Peterson honored his father during the presidential

SPRINGS Summer 2012 53

Celebrating 50 Years of Springs This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first issue of Springs magazine. To help celebrate, SMI reprinted the first issue of the magazine from May 1962. Every member company was sent a copy of this special commerative edition.

In addition to reprinting the first issue, the Fall 2012 issue of Springs is dedicated to celebrating the 50th anniversary of the magazine.

Additional copies of the May 1962 issue are available at a price of $10 per copy. To order, contact SMI at 630-495-8588. u

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SMI Mourns Passing of Members It is with deep regret that Springs announces the passing of the following members.

Herbert A. (Bert) Keats, 86, passed away on March 30, 2012 following complications from surgery. Keats was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara, and is survived by his children, Wade (Christine), Matthew (Beth) and Paula (Steve Horwath), grandchildren Bradley, Todd, Dean and Brian, and his brother, Glenn.

After graduating from Highland Park High School, Keats entered the Navy V12 collegiate program, and attended Notre Dame, Michigan University, and Northwestern University, where he graduated in 1947. He was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

After working at various manufacturing firms, Keats founded Keats Manufacturing Co. with his brother Glenn in 1958 as a three-person storefront operation. Today the company remains family-owned and a leader in the metal stamping industry with three locations: Wheeling, Ill., El Paso, Texas, and Oakland Park, Fla., and over 150 employees.

Keats enjoyed coaching his sons’ ice hockey teams, founded the New Trier Hockey Club, and helped to raise bonds to build the Winnetka Ice Arena. He was active at Exmoor Country Club on their tennis and paddle teams and he could often be found playing gin rummy on the weekend.

Keats was a great supporter of Chicago area charities, including the Hadley School for the Blind, the Winnetka Community House, Chicago Botanic Garden, and his beloved Northwestern University.

Philip John Wallbank, 92, passed on March 31, 2012 in Cambridge, Ontario. He is survived by his sisters, Monica Thompson and Norah Griffin, and his brother, Bill. He is also survived by his sons Tony (Linda), Mel (Mariette), Keith (Lisa) and numerous grandchildren, step-grandchildren, great-grandchildren and step greatgrandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Betty, in 2007.

Wallbank grew up in the industrial town of Redditch near Birmingham, England, famous for the manufacture of needles, fishing hooks and springs.

He finished school in 1933 during the Depression and became an apprentice springmaker at the age of 14. He lost his first week’s pay for making too much scrap and was instilled with a tremendous work ethic from his youth in the old brick factories full of whirling overhead pulleys and noisy production machines.

At the outbreak of WWII in 1939, Wallbank was in the British Army reserves. He was called up several times to serve but was sent back as a skilled tradesman to make precision springs for the war effort. His last call up landed him in India at the end of the war in 1945.

In 1948 he married Betty, and in 1953 they immigrated to Canada by ship with their sons Anthony, 4, and Melvyn, 18 months, to work at Premier Spring in Ayr, Ontario. A year later Wallbank was laid-off and started his own spring business, P.J. Wallbank Mfg., in the basement of a rented farm house near Plattsville, Ontario. His brother Bill (Betty) immigrated and helped grow the business.

Through the decades following, the company grew with Wallbank working seven days a week and most evenings.

All three sons joined the business, with Mel starting a spring company in Port Huron, Michigan in 1982. Wallbank worked in machine design and building for over 74 years, finally retiring in 2007. Wallbank enjoyed dancing with Betty and traveled to many locations throughout the world and back to his family in England. He was a tough boss with a strong work ethic. He loved his family and his work.

Hohman grew up in Irwin, Pa., and in high school he attained the rank of Eagle Scout and developed a passion for sports, especially golf, which he played throughout his life. The son of a Pennsylvania steel worker, he left home following high school to attend the University of Houston. While working his way through college he realized his talents clearly were in sales and marketing. During the ensuing years he maintained a career in industrial sales for a number of successful Houston companies until he felt ready to pursue his dreams of becoming an entrepreneur.

In 1979, Hohman became a partner in a spring manufacturing business which grew to become Coiling Technologies, Inc., where he worked alongside his sons for the remainder of his life. During that time he saw his dream grow from a small local spring company to a leader in the industrial spring business with sales in the U.S. and abroad.

George will be remembered as fiercely competitive both in business and on the golf course and as a man who lived the American dream to the fullest!

Manuel C. Tavares, 66, of Westerly, R.I., passed away at home on March 31, 2012. He was born in Portugal and is survived by wife, Olivia, daughter, Emilia (James) Provensal, son, Robert (Jessie), and daughter, Christina (Jeffry) Nichols and five grandchildren.

Tavares was vice president of Rowley Spring and Stamping Inc., where he worked for 50 years. He was an active member of Bristol (Conn.) Chamber of Commerce and other civic organizations.

George M. Hohman Jr. died peacefully in his sleep at home on May 21, 2012, following a long and courageous battle with prostate cancer.

He is survived by his wife Mary Hohman, sons Roger, Steve and Christopher “Kipper” Hohman, Shane Cormier and their wives Kimberly, Laura and Jennifer Hohman, and Amy Cormier, several grandchildren and a great-grandson.

SPRINGS Summer 2012 55

New Products HTC’s XM Series of Spring Machines, CL Line of Coilers HTC has introduced the XM series of spring machines that provide total camless operation in a spring former.

The machine incorporates the standard 8 slide configuration that is widely known by springmakers, but still offers totally camless operation for ease of setup. By using this 8 slide configuration, previously made tooling and tooling designs can be used without the constraints of 360 degrees of cam rotation. The camless operation offers easier setups, faster running speeds, and more room around the quill area for forming larger parts. Another advantage of this system comes when setting the same part up a second time, as the exact slide positions are now part of the program.

The HTC-XM series offers other advancements such as a stronger quill holder, multi radius servo winder, new tool holders, and touch screen programming.

The first in this series is the HTC-20XM with other models to follow. The HTC20XM has a wire range of 0.6-2.0mm (0.024-0.078) and comes standard with 11 axes that can be expanded to 15 axes.

HTC is also introducing the new CL line of 5 axes spring coilers with the addition of the 80CL and 60CL. The new HTC-CL series features all new graphic software with program generation and the addition of a fifth axes. The coiling system has also been redesigned to eliminate the need to remove the slides when switching the machine from right hand to left hand coiling direction. In the past with older designs of CNC coilers, it could take an hour or more to switch from right hand to left hand coiling; now this change can be made in 10 to 15 minutes.

With the addition of the graphic software, entering simple data like the OD, wire size, type of pitch tool, number of coils and free length, the new software will produce the program. After making the first spring and checking the actual dimensions according to the dimensions entered, the user can enter the amount of correction needed and the software will create a corrected program. In the past it

56 SPRINGS Summer 2012

may have taken 20 to 30 springs to get all the dimensions correct. Today, these same adjustments can be made in four to five springs.

The addition of the fifth axes gives greater flexibility for springs that need the added support that a second pitch tool can offer. Now the horizontal pitch can move at the same time as the vertical pitch and still control them independently. The fifth axes can be used for special operations with the vertical slide and still allow for the use of the horizontal pitch tool separately.

For more information on the HTC XM series of machines or the HTC CL series of 5 axes spring coilers, contact Tim Weber or Dan Bagwell, Forming Systems Inc., at info@formingsystemsinc.com or 269-679-3557.

Gibbs Wire & Steel Company Launches New Website

construction, electronics, public utilities, transportation and white/durable goods.

The gloves have excellent abrasion resistance for long life. They may be laundered and re-used without any loss in cut protection. Minimal shrinkage and excellent recovery also extend product wear life.

HyFlex 11-644 work gloves are available in a broad range of sizes, 6-12 (XS-XXXL), to fit all workers. For more information, call Michele Davis at Ansell, 732-3452141 or email mdavis@ansell.com.

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Gibbs Wire & Steel Co. announced the launch of its new website, www.gibbswire. com. Gibbs incorporates a network of metal service centers, strategically located throughout the U.S., Mexico and Canada, and is an ISO 9001:2008 certified distributor and custom processor of steel wire and strip. The new website will enable metals buyers’ quick access to tools and technical information to help in the purchasing process. The following are a few of the website’s new features.

“Finished Cuts in Stock” is a dailyupdated list of finished coil stock that can be purchased at a discount and shipped same day.

The “Technical Tool Box” has several tools including coil conversion calculators and a toll processing calculator which provides information on which of Gibbs location can slit, edge, or oscillate material depending on a customer’s specific requirements.

The toolbox also includes historical nickel information and technical bulletins for all Gibbs Wire & Steel stock items.

Finally, the website includes a posting of the current monthly Gibbs Nickel/Chromium Surcharges, and interested individuals may sign up for the “Gibbs Wire” newsletter via the homepage. The Gibbs website will continue to evolve as customers’ needs and market trends are monitored.

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The product provides a sure grip in light oil and dry applications to increase worker assurance in almost any environment.

Tear-resistant HyFlex 11-644 gloves are recommended for handling metal components in final and sub-assembly areas, glass handling and installation, forming, machining and bending small parts, small part stamping and wiring.

They are applicable for a range of industries, from aerospace and automotive to

Ansell Launches its New HyFlex® 11-644 Gloves with Ansell Cut Protection Technology™ Ansell’s new HyFlex® 11-644 gloves with Ansell Cut Protection Technology™ combine a proprietary blend of High Performance Polyethylene (HPPE) engineered yarn with a gray polyurethane palm coating to provide ANSI Level 2 cut protection and Level 5 abrasion protection. Ansell Cut Protection Technology also ensures a high level of dexterity and flexibility and promotes longer wear.

“HyFlex 11-644 gloves are an effective way for safety professionals to reduce injury expenses without sacrificing quality or productivity,” said Laura Proctor, senior marketing manager, HyFlex/Industrial Gloves, Ansell Protective Products. “We designed the work gloves for tactility, precision and a lightweight ergonomic fit so employees want to wear them - especially when handling small, sharp parts.”

New HyFlex 11-644 gloves are soft and cool to the skin for all day comfort and mold

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Hammerhead Industries Offers Free “Safety Engineer’s Guide to Tool and Instrument Tethering”

Hammerhead Industries, manufacturer of Gear Keeper tethers and retractable lanyards, has produced the new 12-page “Safety Engineer’s Guide to Tool and Instrument Tethering” to help safety professionals choose tethers that increase site safety without impeding productivity. Injury, damage and lost work hours resulting from untethered tools

falling from aloft cost U.S. industry about $6 billion a year. This type of accident is almost completely preventable by using a relatively inexpensive tethering device.

The guide’s “Select the Right Tether in Four Easy Steps” chart is designed as a quick reference that will aid safety professionals when selecting appropriate tethers for tools up to 25 pounds. Also covered in the guide are workplace considerations such as: tethers for working in confined quarters or climbing; tethers that allow for quick interchangeability of tools; when is it mandatory

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to anchor the tether to a structure instead of a person; choosing tethers that reduce worker’s fatigue and what safety engineers need to know about load-testing and built-in safety margins for tethers.

The “Industrial Tool Tether” section includes an X/Y chart that helps safety engineers quickly match tether and lanyard model numbers to tool weight and usage.

With over 3,000 tethering configurations available, the guide highlights many of Gear Keeper’s most popular tethers and lanyards.

For safety engineers concerned with the safety and protection of hand-held instruments such as bar code readers, the “Instrumentation Tether” section covers a range of tethering options. Among the unique tether configurations described is a shoulder strap tether that offers an exclusive “Instrument Slide” feature that permits instrument movement on the strap without the strap moving on the worker’s body.

Tips on how to tether other workplace objects such as hard hats, security cards, cell phones and micro-tools are also covered in the guide. Information is included about tethering seemingly “untetherable” tools and how to create custom tethers for unique applications.

According to John Salentine, vice president of Hammerhead Industries, “the new Safety Engineer’s Guide to Tool and Instrument Tethering is the first document of its kind. It is a major step forward in helping safety engineers properly tether tools and instruments.” Salentine added, “This information will make every repair, maintenance or manufacturing project safer and more efficient.”

To obtain your free copy of the new Safety Engineer’s Guide to Tool and Instrument Tethering, go to GearKeeper.com/guide. u

Advertiser’s Index A & D Trading (440) 563-5227. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Admiral Steel (800) 323-7055. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Alloy Wire International (866) 482-5569. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 CASMI (630) 369-3466. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Century Spring, Division of MW Industries (800) 237-5225. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Diamond Wire Spring Co. (800) 424-0500. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Dispense Works (815) 363-3524. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Elgiloy Specialty Metals (847) 695-1900. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Forming Systems Inc. (877) 594-4300. . inside front cover, back cover Gibbs Wire & Steel Co. Inc. (800) 800-4422 inside back cover Gibraltar Corporation (847) 769-2099. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Industrial Steel & Wire (800) 767-0408. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

InterWire Products Inc. (914) 273-6633. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 JN Machinery (224) 699-9161. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Kiswire (201) 461-8895. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Kreher Steel (800) 323-0745. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Lapham-Hickey Steel (800) 323-8443. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Larson Systems (877) 780-2131. . . . . . . . . . . 36, 48 Mapes Piano String Co. (423) 543-3195. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 NIMSCO (563) 391-0400 . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 44 North American Spring Tool (800) 759-6278 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Precision Steel Warehouse (800) 323-0740. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Proto Manufacturing (800) 965-8378. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Radcliff Wire (860) 583-1305. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 RK Trading (847) 640-9371. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Visit SMI at Spring World Booth #521 October 3-5, 2012 Simplex Rapid (563) 391-0400. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Spring Manufacturers Institute (630) 495-8588 . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 33 Suzuki Garphyttan (574) 232-8800. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Tool King (800) 338-1318. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Ulbrich Stainless Steels (203) 239-4481. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 United Wire Co. (800) 840-9481. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Vulcan Spring & Manufacturing Co. (215) 721-1721. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 WAFIOS (203) 481-5555. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Zapp Precision Strip (203) 386-0038. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Join SMI at our next annual meeting!

Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain, Marana, Arizona, April 5–9, 2013.

SPRINGS Summer 2012 59

Snapshot Christopher Fazio Diamond Wire Spring Company Company name, city and country: Diamond Wire Spring Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Brief history of your company: Celebrating 70 years, Diamond is made up of three manufacturing facilities and a catalog division.

Diamond manufactures compression, extension, torsion, and die springs, and wire forms. Currently second and third generation family members work together within the operation.

Job title: General Manager, Pittsburgh plant

Birthplace: Greensburg, Pa. Current home: Pittsburgh.

Family: Wife, Haylan, son, Dane, daughter, Ashlyn, and Munson, the cat.

What I like most about being in the industry: The friendliness within the industry, but also the variety of our products and satisfaction that comes from watching a talented springmaker create a finished product from raw material.

Favorite food: Seafood.

Favorite books/author: Most recent read, “Unbroken,” by Laura Hillenbrand.

Favorite song/musician: I listen to a bit of everything, from Mozart to Brad Paisley to the Foo Fighters.

Hobbies: Fishing and hunting, however time has not allowed for much hunting lately.

Christopher Fazio with wife, Haylan, son Dane, and daughter Ashlyn.

A really great evening to me is: Grilling while in the company of friends and family, good wine and great weather.

The one thing I can’t stand is: Pessimism.

My most outstanding quality is: Patience.

People who knew me in school thought I was: A volleyball player with a 40” vertical.

I knew I was an “adult” when: My

Favorite places: Austria, but also

children were born.

being on a sunny beach or lakeshore.

If I weren’t working at Diamond Wire, I would like to: Operate a dude

Best times of my life: Anytime I am with family.

60 SPRINGS Summer 2012

ranch in the mountains of Montana.

The most difficult business decision I ever had to make was: I believe this has yet to come.

Role model: My dad, Frank, for his commitment to life, family and the business. And my grandfather, Bill Karcher, who was a hero to me.

I would like to be remembered in the spring industry for: Being a reliable and positive team member.

But people will probably remember me for: Following in the footsteps of knowledgeable and experienced second generation family members who have provided a great foundation to build upon.

Inside Back Cover

This butterfly’s wing is only .0012” thick.

We can slit strip .0005” thick.

At Gibbs when we offer “extra finishing capabilities” we’re not talking about trimming, cutting and burnishing. We mean incredibly specialized capabilities, like the ability to slit any strip material down to a remarkably thin .0005” thick… and package it so it is functional, practical and usable.

responsiveness, knowledgeable and reliable people, leading edge technology, innovation and capabilities, the lowest total cost and a commitment to customer service well beyond traditional expectations. That’s why so many leading companies have chosen to partner with us.

Since 1956 Gibbs Wire and Steel has represented a combination of excellent quality product, unmatched

The People You Can Rely On For Wire And Strip

Connecticut

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Indiana

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Texas

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California

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Nor th Carolina

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Ontario

INTRODUCES: 20XM 11-15 AXES SPRING FORMER

FEATURES

▪ 11-15 independent synchronized servo axes.

▪ Rotating quill & wire.

▪ Precision ball screw main slide for OD & Forming accuracy.

▪ Toolings/Servo Motor direct drive for speed & stability.

▪ Single and Multi-radii servo winders.

▪ Feed roller pressure gauges.

▪ On-screen diagnostics with alarm, status, and corrective action.

▪ Touchscreen interface.

▪ Wire range: 0.6mm - 2.0mm

HTC 20XM

CL SERIES 5 AXES COILERS FEATURES

▪ Wire range: 2.2mm - 6.0mm OR 3.0mm - 8.0mm ▪ Totally cam-less operation.

▪ Rotating and straight cutoff capability standard.

▪ Mandrel in-out movement.

▪ Fast right hand to left hand coiling conversion.

▪ Feed roller pressure gauges. exchange ▪ Electronics cabin heat exchanger.

▪ O.D. control standard.

▪ Programmable air valves for flexibility.

▪ On-screen diagnostics.

HTC 80CL

www.formingsystemsinc.com www.spring-testers.com

COILERS – FORMERS – BENDERS – GRINDERS – OVENS – TESTERS – VISION SYSTEMS