SMI springs mag spring v57 no2

Spring 2018

The InTernaTIonal MagazIne of SprIng ManufacTure

a publication of the Spring Manufacturers Institute / Vol. 57, no. 2

Effectively Managing the Sales Function How SMI Members Manage the Sales Pipeline 24 Building a Sales Culture in Your Business 26 Managing the Sales Function: An Interview With Skip Miller 28

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID NEWBURYPORT MA PERMIT NO. 88 4/1/18 9:45 PM

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WE LOVE WIRE. EVEN AT THE TIGHTEST CURVE, WE KEEP YOU IN ONE DIRECTION.

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President’s Message From Steve Kempf

SMI Executive Committee President: Steve Kempf, Lee Spring Vice President: Bert Goering, Precision Coil Spring Secretary/Treasurer: Dan Sceli, Peterson Spring At Large: Gene Huber, Jr., Winamac Coil Spring Past President: Mike Betts, Betts Company Executive Director: Lynne Carr, SMI

SMI Board of Directors

Building on the Past and Growing SMI’s Future I am deeply honored to be stepping in as your new SMI president. I have had the privilege of learning from prior presidents over my years of service on the SMI board and its executive committee. Most immediately, I must acknowledge the work of Mike Betts, who pushed our industry into action, developing the skills of the next generation of springmakers and who reinvigorated the SMI’s technical competence. But I also look to build upon the work of Hap Porter and Steve Moreland, who set us on the path and established the SMI Metal Engineering eXpo and Symposia, the third rendition of which will be held in Pittsburgh in October of 2019.

My goal as president will be to build upon these successes while focusing on delivering value to members by harnessing the strength of the SMI team.

As a member of SMI, I have always felt fortunate that we have such an incredibly dedicated and focused leadership team — our staff and our volunteer board. This team researches and writes the content of Springs magazine and the technical white papers. This team constantly updates and improves the Advanced Spring Design software that so many of us depend upon. This team conceives and orchestrates the annual SMI convention and the biennial SMI Metal Engineering eXpo and Symposia that we so value.

This team swoops in when OSHA pays a surprise visit or, even better, preps you in advance through safety training and audits. This team answers your toughest metallurgical and technical questions and conducts spring failure analysis. This team collects and publishes industry benchmarking statistics so we can better assess our businesses. This team informs us of pertinent regulations and influences the national and international bodies that write them.

Now, as president of SMI, I hope to serve as a channel for the incredible ideas and energy that come from the SMI leadership team as well as the broader SMI membership. I am excited for us to begin this next chapter.

Steve Kempf Lee Spring skempf@leespring.com

John Bagnuolo, MW Industries • Dave Deerwester, The Yost Superior Co. • David Devoe, Plymouth Spring • Joe Devany, Betts Company • Frank Foernbacher, Kern-Liebers USA • Ritchy Froehlich, Ace Wire Spring & Form • Brett Goldberg, International Spring • Agustin Estalayo Ibanez, RPK Mexico SA de CV • Don Lowe, Peterson Spring • Jim Parsons, Myers Spring • Daniel Pierre III, JN Machinery • Hannes Steim, Kern-Liebers USA • Chris and Jeff Wharin, Bohne Spring

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, Art Director, zubekdesign@gmail.com

Springs Magazine Committee Chair, Don Jacobson III, Newcomb Spring • Reb Banas, Stanley Spring & Stamping • Lynne Carr, SMI • Raquel Chole, Dudek & Bock • Ritchy Froehlich, Ace Wire Spring & Form • Bud Funk, Fourslide Products • Brett Goldberg, 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: ©iStockphoto.com/feedough

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Contents 45 24 61

FEATURES 22 Effectively Managing the Sales Function

By Gary McCoy

24 How SMI Members Manage the Sales Pipeline

26 Building a Sales Culture in Your Business

Everyone’s in Sales

By Todd Cohen

28

Managing the Sales Function: An Interview with Skip Miller

52 Opioid Crisis: Why Companies Should Take Note

By Gary McCoy

By Dr. Deborah Happ

5 5 Vulcan Spring Celebrates 50th Anniversary 57 Engineering a Bright Future: Lee Spring at 100

By Gary McCoy

By Gary McCoy

34 Flashback

Heat Treating

By Terry Bartel

4 0 Material Characteristics and How They Originate

By Terry Bartel

45 The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

By Mark E. Battersby

COLUMNS 15 Be Aware Safety Tips

Proving Your Machine “Light Curtains” Work Properly: The OSHA Mandates and Some Best Practices

By Laura Helmrich-Rhodes

19 Dean of Springs

Tensile Strength and Fatigue Life

By Dan Sebastian

4 8 Better Solutions for Testing and Measuring Compression and Extension Springs

By James M. Clinton

DEPARTMENTS 2 President’s Message

Building on the Past and Growing SMI's Future

7 Global Highlights 12 Regional Spring Association Report 61 Springmaker Spotlight

Steve Kempf: SMI's New President Provides Guiding Hand

By Gary McCoy

67 Book Corner 69 CTE News 71 Inside SMI 73 Committee Connection 74 New Products 75 Advertisers’ Index 76 Snapshot

Dave Deerwester, The Yost Superior Co.

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YOUR FAVORITE MACHINES JUST GOT BETTER With the AT Attachment option now available on both CSX and HAX machines, you can start and finish your part on one machine, no matter which one you prefer. There’s no need to move a part off the machine to your secondary department to complete it, so you can widen your scope with a broader range of wire forms and torsion springs completed on just one machine. At RK Trading, we don’t just sell machinery—we service it, support it, and carry an extensive tooling and parts inventory, all in the U.S. Improve production rates and increase profits with: CSX Series with removable AT Attachment (2mm and 3.5mm machines) HAX Series with fixed AT Attachment (2mm and 4mm machines)

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Bending over backwards is just part of our daily routine.

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Global Highlights North America The Wire Association International (WAI), Inc. returns to Nashville, Tennessee, for its biennial Operations Summit & Wire Expo, which will be held in conjunction with its 88th annual convention. All the events are hosted at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. The Summit runs May 14-16; exhibits are open May 15–16, 2018.

Curt Cronin, keynote speaker and former Navy SEAL, is living proof that with the proper preparation and fortitude anything is possible. In the midst of combat, he transformed an offensive unit of Navy SEALs into a defensive presidential protection unit; he also single-handedly created the model for multidisciplinary counterterrorism operations as part of an embassy team in the Middle East.

His presentation entitled, “Tapping into Your Potential: Attempting the Absurd and Achieving the Impossible,” sets the tone for the convention and is open to all registrants.

As of press time, nearly 80 percent of the available booth space has been sold; 125 exhibiting companies will occupy 150 stands. Displays cover more than 80 product types including wire and cable making machinery, supplies and ancillary equipment, and industry services. Wire Expo exhibits are open in The Ryman Convention Hall from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 15 and May 16, respectively.

Production Solutions demonstrations, a popular staple in the exhibit hall, are scheduled Wednesday, May 15. WAI members are invited to attend the WAI Rewards Breakfast and Annual Meeting, also Wednesday. A post-show plant tour of the Nissan Motor Company’s assembly plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, is planned Thursday, May 17.

All event information and registration details are available at www.wireexpo18.com.

Behind the efforts of Gary Schuessler, vice president of manufacturing and Kelley Christy, director of sales and information technology, Diamond Wire Spring Co, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Penn. has announced the upgrade of its quality management system certification to ISO 9001:2015 standard. This accomplishment assures Diamond’s customers that the company focuses on continuous improvement as a leader in the spring industry. In addition to its Pittsburgh location, Diamond has plants in Taylors, South Carolina and Tyler, Texas, plus a catalog division in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania Dan Sceli, President and CEO, Peterson Spring Corp., was elected as chairman of the board of directors for the

Motor & Equ ipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) for the 2018 term. MEMA and its four specia lized divisions comprise a leading international trade association in the fast-changing mobility industry. Sceli serves as the secretary/treasurer of t he SM I execut ive committee.

Dan Sceli

Due to the changing landscape within the West Coast and industrial wire distribution business model, Industrial Steel and Wire closed its California location, effective March 1, 2018.

According to a press release, ISW explained, “Our plan is based on having access to ISW’s extensive network of inventory and intelligently designed use of independent trucks delivering directly to [customers] as if we had the warehouse in California. By reducing our overhead and footprint, we can maximize efficiencies and tap from the nation’s largest selection of wire products from our ISW distribution network hub. We’re confident that this bold move will increase our value and responsiveness to you.”

Tim Nielsen will remain the primary California salesman, and customer service will be handled primarily, but not limited to, Adele Steger and Juan Munoz.

Western Spring Manufacturing has begun operating at their new facility at 13153 Fenway Blvd. N., Hugo, Minnesota, as of Jan. 1, 2018. The new facility is located right around the corner from their previous location. The company’s telephone number and email addresses will remain the same.

Interwire Products (IWP) has announced that, after more than 40 years in the spring manufacturing industry, Jack VandenBerg will retire at the end of April 2018. His career has included various positions within the spring industry (including two terms on the board of the SMI) and industrial wire sales, of which the last 11 years have been with Interwire Products’ Michigan division. VandenBerg has agreed to remain with Interwire on a limited basis to help assure a smooth transition. “Jack has been instrumental in the success of the Kentwood, Michigan division SPRINGS / Spring 2018 / 7

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Global Highlights

and has overseen an unprecedented decade of growth. He will certainly miss many of the relationships built over the years but is looking forward to a new chapter in his life with his wife Mary as they spend time volunteering, traveling and with his family,” said Debbie Cardile, Interwire CEO. Interwire Products has also announced the appointment of Joe Owoc to senior vice president, Midwest region. He will assume all sales and operational responsibilities for the Kentwood, Michigan and Lombard, Illinois distribution facilities. Owoc has been with IWP for over 15 years as the general manager for Lombard and was instrumental

in setting up the Kentwood warehouse as well as IWP’s facility in Queretaro, Mexico. He has served the industry since graduating from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1989. Prior to IWP, Owoc enjoyed a 10-year career with Ulbrich Stainless Steels and Special Metals.

IWP has also announced that Brad Russell is the new general manager of the Cypress, California division. Russell was the original general manager for the Atlanta division that was later moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. Russell has over 35 years of experience in the wire industry, much of that with IWP. He also has mill experience with American Spring Wire and Leggett and Platt. Russell is very familiar with wire production and has been instrumental in helping IWP identify new worldwide mill opportunities.

International

(L to R) Jim Landis 43 yrs, Stephen Wagner 42 yrs, Richard Null 53 yrs, David Shelly Jr 43 yrs making wire

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The Japa n Soc ie t y of Spr i ng Engineers (JSSE) held its semiannual lecture meeting, including a poster session, and a ceremony of JSSE awards at Winc Aichi in Nagoya Nov. 22, 2017.

Eight general lectures and one special topic lecture were presented to 129 attendees in a hall of the Winc Aichi in Nagoya. An opening speech was delivered by Haruhiko Shiba, vice-chairperson of JSSE and managing officer, member of the board of Chuo Spring Co., Ltd. General lectures and presenters included: 1. “Internal friction during restoring process explained from interaction between dislocation and magnetic wall,” by Dr. Shigeo Kotake, associate professor of Mie University.

2. “Effect of oxygen to rust (iron oxide)-based hydrogen generation by using modified TDS by gas-chromatography,” by Dr. Yasuhide Ishiguro of Steel Research Laboratory, JFE Steel Corporation.

3. “Development of High Corrosion Resistance Rust Preventive Oil for Thin Plate Springs after Austempering Treatment,” by Kazutoshi Sakakibara of Togo Seisakusyo Corporation.

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Global Highlights

4. “An Innovative Method for Measuring Young’s Modulus in a Thin Flexible Multi-layered Materials (Own-weight Circular Ring Method),” by Dr. Atsumi Ohtsuki of Meijo University.

5. “Stress Intensity Factors of Surface Cracks in Anisotropic Tension Coil Springs,” by Dr. Yuji Nakasone, professor of Tokyo University of Science.

6. “Influence of ultrasonic-shot peening on fatigue properties of TiNi shape memory alloy wire,” by Dr. Kohei Takeda of Aichi Institute of Technology.

7. “Effects of stress and plastic strain on eddy current response for nondestructive testing of shot-peened metals,” by Yuichi Motoyama of National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

8. “Development of Compact Real-time X-ray Residual Stress Measurement System using SOI Pixel Detector,”

by Dr. Shingo Mitsui of Kanazawa University.

The special topic lecture, “Developing of C-HR and TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture)” was delivered by Hiroyuki Koba, project general manager of Toyota Motor Corporation.

Five technical posters were displayed in another hall.

A brief explanation was given by a representative for each of the posters on the speaker’s platform during the lecture

meeting, followed by a question and answer session at the posters. The top two posters were selected based on the participants’ voting. The first place poster was “Improvement of fracture strength by shot peening for ceramics with a surface defect,” by Nanako Sato of Yokohama National University, et al. The second place poster was “Fatigue Damage Detection in Spring Steel SUP10 using Positron Annihilation Method,” by Hiroyuki Nishikori of faculty of engineering and graduate school of engineering of Gifu University, et al.

The awards ceremony was held prior to the afternoon session of the lecture meeting where the Ronbun-prize, Gijutu-prize and Koseki-prize were given to the winners.

Ronbun-prize, (among papers submitted to JSSE): “Hydrogen Entry into a High Strength Steel with Tribocorrosion in Acidic Solution,” by Kotaro Doi of National Institute for Materials Science and Dr. Eiji Akiyama, professor of Tohoku University.

Gijutu-prize, (among other papers or articles): 1) “Study on Fractographical Feature Extraction for Distinguishing Fracture Surface Morphology,” by Akira Ueno, Taku Miura, Dr. Takayuki Sakakibara and Shingo Miura. 2) “FEM Analyses of Stress Intensity Factors for Surface Cracks in Tension Coil Springs,” by Dr. Yuji Nakasone and Kazunori Muranushi. 3) “Improvement of torsional fatigue limit by shot peening for high strength steel containing

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When you need a quality custom spring with fast turnaround, you can count on Vulcan Spring & Manufacturing Co. sales@vulcanspring.com | Phone: 215-721-1721 | 501 Schoolhouse Road, Telford, PA 18969

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Global Highlights

surface defect,” by Dr. Koji Takahashi, Jun Yasuda, Dr. Hitonobu Koike and Dr. Hideki Okada.

Koseki-prize, (among honorable achievements): Masao Hayakawa (National Institute for Materials Science), Satoru Kondo (Togo Seisakusyo Corporation), Masami Abe (Murata Spring Co., Ltd.), Dr. Takayuki Sakakibara (Chuo Spring Co., Ltd.) and Mamoru Oshida (former secretary of JSSE).

A reception was held after the closing speech delivered

by Dr. Yuji Nakasone, JSSE president and professor of Tokyo University of Science, in another hall. Dr. Masao Hayakawa, vice-chairperson of JSSE and head researcher of National Institute for Materials Science, made an opening speech. This was followed by the guest speech by Masahiko Nakatani, executive director of Japan Spring Manufacturers Association (JSMA.) Kinji Kato, honorary member of JSSE, made a toast to the development of the spring industry and the participants’ good health. This was followed by the guest speeches delivered by the winners of the prizes.

After plenty of mingling and exchanging of information, the reception was over with “iccho-jime,” a vibration consists of a single clap in unison led by Shuzo Ichi, director of JSSE and of Togo Seisakusyo Corporation.

Shakespeare said, “all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players,” and for the Cornwall factory of European Springs & Pressings (ESP), this couldn’t be truer.

Your source for the best in close tolerance strip and edged products.

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strip: cold rolled high carbon/pre-tempered spring steels, coated, low carbon stainless, copper based alloys and aluminum ultra-narrow width, close-tolerance slitting edging: round, square, semi-round, deburred, custom, etc. oscillate (traverse) and ribbon wound coils ISO 9001:2008 Certified 35 years experience for product and service excellence tel. 847.537.2881 toolkinginc.com Wheeling (Chicago), Illinois 60090 USA

The National Theatre in London got help from European Springs & Pressing to help stage "Macbeth."

The National Theatre, world-renowned for creating award-winning theatre productions, is staging Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and approached ESP’s Redruth factory to develop springs that enhanced the sound production of the performance.

Simon Allen, instrument maker and sonic bricolage for “Macbeth” at the National Theatre, says: “We were looking to procure some large tension and compression springs to use as musical instruments, played on stage by two professional musicians. I approached European Springs & Pressings with the need to develop a bespoke solution.

“Built into the infrastructure of the stage set, the springs are struck, bowed and scraped with amplification.

Although there are instances of car springs and extension springs being used for sound effects, bowing springs is a rarity; and with the right specifications we’d achieve a unique sound quality.”

Michael Gibbs, managing director of ESP’s Cornish factory, says: “Our springs and wireforms are used across multiple industries for multiple purposes from automotive to shipping, oil rigs to the medical industry but this really is a first. We’ve had springs featured in the windows of Liberty of London, we’ve been part of art installations and we’ve formed part of the architecture across key landmarks but being used for sound is a whole new world of productivity.

The spring really is the most versatile of products and its engineering is at the heart of so many sectors.”

“Macbeth” is directed by the director of the National Theatre, Rufus Norris. It runs through June 23, playing live in cinemas across the UK on May 10. It will also run in U.S. cinemas on May 17; see fathomevents.com for theatres. n

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©iStockphoto.com/Scott Hirko

Regional Spring Association Report

NESMA: Strong Program of 2018 Events Scheduled

By Jim Mintun, Gibbs Like all orga nizat ions, t he New England Spring & Metalstamping Association (NESMA) has identified the need to develop and attract talented young professionals as our future leaders. Toward that end, the board has completed an outline for a new committee to be filled by these younger members, who would be nominated by their current member companies. The committee’s purpose is to bring new ideas to NESMA and help to plan future events. The new committee will provide an opportunity for professional development, including leadership sk ills t hat would benefit themselves and the industry at large. Current committee chairs, along with other board members, would serve as mentors to help with development. The younger members would design and implement programs and events to target their peers in the spring and metalstamping industry. The committee would also provide a pathway for the development of future NESMA board members. The name of this committee is not yet firm and will be decided on by the board.

The events committee has been productive the past several years and completed a very successful 2017 program. The 2018 program includes NESMA’s popular core events: Casino Night (March 28), Annual Golf Tournament (Sept. 10) and Holiday Party (Dec. 6). Other events have been planned for networking and team building.

A l r e a d y t h i s y e a r, a networking event was held Feb. 28 with the Small Manufacturers Association (SMA) at Kinsmen Brewing Company in Southington, Connecticut.

Over 60 members of both organizations were treated to a brewery tour, fine craft beer, and artisan pizza and paninis.

Discussions included further exploration of joint interests to promote area manufacturing.

A joint breakfast meeting will be held May 30 with the Central Connecticut Chamber Ted White of Commerce to review ways to combat cybercrime. Our guest speaker, a member of the U.S. Groton, Connecticut. New governSecret Service, will detail specific ment contracts with Electric Boat threats to companies who engage may lead to new business opportuniin business transactions using wire ties for member companies to supply funds transfers. He will also present products. An August cruise night several countermeasures companies or motorcycle ride, each to benefit a can take to thwart criminals who have local charity, remain in the planning developed very sophisticated means of stages. In October, a tour of a Connecthacking into company servers using icut winery is also being finalized. the internet.

Please refer to NESMA’s newsletter A leadership empowerment team and website at www.nesma-usa.com building event will be held June 14 for further details. at Empower Leadership Sports and Finally, we would like to recogAdventure Center in Middletown, nize Ted White of Hardware Products Connecticut. Participants will expe- for his dedication and service as a rience a zip line canopy tour, tree NESMA board member. Many regular climbing and rappelling, a map and readers of this magazine have enjoyed compass scavenger hunt all with fun Ted’s articles on our behalf over the and team building in mind. We expect past 10 years. We are grateful for Ted’s the event to be a sold-out success. contributions and will miss his wit We are planning a July tour of and wisdom at our board meetings General Dynamics Elect ric Boat and in this space. and the USS Nautilus Submarine in

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Regional Spring Association Report

WCSMA Holds Tabletop Expo The West Coast Spring Manufacturers Association (WCSMA) held its 2018 Tabletop Expo on Feb. 22 at the Holiday Inn in Buena Park, California. The event is held every two years and brings together the local spring manufacturing and metalforming industry to interact with vendors who supply products, materials, equipment services and technology to their companies.

Enjoy these photos from the Expo.

CASMI Report

By Michael Bandy, Co-Executive Director, CASMI

CASMI Now Accepting Scholarship Applications in Expanded Program The Chicago Association of Spring Manufacturers (CASMI) is proud t o a n n o u n c e t h e 2018 C A S M I College Schola rship Prog ra m to benefit employees and children of the employees of CASMI primary member companies (spring manufacturers). This year the program has been opened to benefit dependents of the employees of associate member companies (suppliers), with four additional designated undergraduate scholarships. Also new in 2018, there is one additional postgraduate scholarship being awarded.

In 2018, CASMI will award 19 $1,500 undergraduate scholarships and two $2,500 scholarships for

postgraduate study (primary members only). Details are available on the organization’s website at www.casmispringworld.org.

CASMI would like to thank Rosemont Exposition Services (RES) for sponsoring the Terry and Jerry Reese postgraduate schola rship in t he amount of $2,500. Also, we’d like to thank the Joseph H. Goldberg Family Foundation and International Spring Co., who provided $4,000 to fund one undergraduate and one postgraduate scholarship in 2018.

All eligible students are encouraged to apply for these awards. To be accepted, applications must be postmarked by May 1, 2018.

Successful CASMI Holiday Event Helps the Needy Approximately 80 CASMI members and their guests attended the organization’s Annual Holiday Event

to celebrate the past year and look forward to 2018. It was held Dec. 14, 2017, at Carlucci in Rosemont, Illinois.

For the third consecutive year, the organization accepted donations from attendees for the Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, a privately funded child care and residential home for abused, homeless and neglected children and children struggling with family issues. CASMI members contributed $840 to support this organization’s mission.

Plans for SpringWorld 2018 in Full Swing With 97 percent of available space spoken for on the trade show floor, companies that are interested in ex h ibit i ng at Spr i ngWorld 2018 shou ld cont ac t C ASM I a s soon as possible. Call 630-359-4273, or em a i l i n fo@ ca sm i-spr i ng world. org. Exhibiting information is also

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Regional Spring Association Report

available on the organization’s website at http://www.casmi-springworld. org/?page=SWExhibiting.

CASMI is now focusing on SpringWorld attendance promotion. In 2018, the association plans to do more direct mail and email marketing, some of it targeted to new lists of potential attendees. The organization is also partnering with the Coil Winding Expo, which overlaps SpringWorld at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, to allow attendees to cross over and attend both events. Additionally, CASMI is once more providing

complimentary marketing materials (stickers, guest passes, postcards) for exhibiting companies to utilize for their own marketing efforts. Details on ordering these materials are available at http://www.casmi-springworld. org/?page=SWExhibiting.

The or ga n izat ion wou ld li ke to t ha n k its generous sponsors, including: • WAFIOS Machinery Corp. – Oktoberfest reception on the trade show floor • Fenn Torin – Lanyards • RK Trading Co. – Tote bags

• Spring Manufacturers Institute – Opening reception, co-sponsored with CASMI Add it iona l i n for m at ion on sponsorship and advertising opportunities are available on the web at http://www.casmi-springworld. or g /?p a ge =SWSp on s or, or c a l l 630-359-4273.

Golf Outing Takes Place in June CASMI will host its annual Golf To u r n a m e n t a t t h e c o m p e t i t i v e Bl o o m i n g d a l e G o l f C l u b, Bloomingdale, Illinois, June 19, 2018.

The course will welcome the average player and will challenge everyone.

The day’s activities begin with registration at 10:30 a.m. A lunch ticket for a hot dog, chips and drink will be provided at registration. You can get your lunch at the Grill Room right away or use it during golf at the Halfway House. The shotgun start of the golf tournament is set at 11:30 a.m.

On the course, you will have three drink tickets to be used at the beverage cart. At 4:30 p.m. there will be a traditional open bar throughout the cocktail hour, with dinner starting at 5:30 p.m.

Start putting together your foursomes to join the competition and for a relaxed networking atmosphere with your industry colleagues.

All CASMI members, SpringWorld 2018 exhibitors, and suppliers who are interested in exhibiting at SpringWorld are encouraged to attend this great industry event. Prizes will be awarded for several “golf competitions,” including prizes for both men and women in Longest Drive, Closest to the Pin, and Longest Putt. There will also be drawings for several door prizes, and each golfer will receive a complimentary golf towel from CASMI with their registration.

Details are available on the CASMI website, www.casmi-springworld.org, or call the office at 630-359-4273. n

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Be Aware Safety Tips

Proving Your Machine “Light Curtains” Work Properly: The OSHA Mandates and Some Best Practices

By Laura Helmrich-Rhodes, CSP, Ed.D.

O

nce again, machine guarding is among the top most frequently cited standards for all general industry.

Many of the questions I get as a safety consultant to this industry focus on machine guarding requirements.

According to Rockford Systems, “Most accidents occur as a result of a reflex action or simply not paying attention to one’s surroundings. Often a machine operator will instinctively reach for something when there is a problem, or they will be focused on a task and enter a hazardous area without thinking about it.” Overcoming reflex actions requires both engineering and administrative controls. This article will provide a basic overview and some detailed information about guarding using Presence Sensing Devices (PSD) and give some resources to use for your factory operations.

There are many moving parts and machines that are specifically named in the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) standards. For example, power presses, conveyors and grinders have separate standards. Those that are not named still require protection under the more general standard, as well as Section (5)(a) (1), the General Duty Clause of the OSHAct. When you purchase a new piece of equipment, assure that all guarding obligations are met. Just because it is sold in the U.S., do not assume that it meets the federal OSHA criteria. Some equipment manufacturers provide “optional” guards or guards that are not suitable for a job shop production environment. That does not relieve the employer of obligation to protect its employees from becoming entangled in the equipment. Conducting a risk assessment of any equipment BEFORE purchase is a wise business practice.

Obviously, the purpose of machine guarding is to protect the machine operator and other employees in the work area from hazards created by ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks. Some examples of popular safe guard techniques are fixed barrier guards, light curtains and two-hand operating devices.

There are very broad, general requirements for machine guards. Guards must be affixed to the machine where possible and secured elsewhere if, for any reason, the attachment to the machine is not possible. The guard cannot create a hazard in itself.

When you purchase a new piece of equipment, assure that all guarding obligations are met.

Just because it is sold in the U.S., do not assume that it meets the federal OSHA criteria.

OSHA has outlined the categories for machine guarding on their eTool website. This has evolved into a very helpful and easy to use website since its inception. The eTool provides detailed help with the standards that have been established to ensure the safety of machine operators and other employees in the work area. This site outlines resources using the framework of the machine-guarding standard: • Machine Guarding • Point of Operation Guarding

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

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• • • • • •

Additional Guarding Barrels, Containers and Drums Exposure of Blades Anchoring Fixed Machinery Eye and Face Protection Lockout/Tagout

Many questions focus on point of operation guarding in the springmaking industry. OSHA requires the following for point of operation guarding: “The point of operation of machines whose operation exposes an employee to injury shall be guarded. The guarding device shall be in conformity with any appropriate standards therefore, or, in the absence of applicable specific standards, shall be so designed and constructed as to prevent the operator from having any part of his body in the danger zone during the operating cycle.”

SMI has commissioned Rockford Machine Guarding in Rockford, Illinois to conduct a machine guarding assessment of both a coiler and a fourslide. Their study used OSHA general requirements and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards in the absence of specific OSHA standards. We are awaiting their formal report.

What are Presence Sensing Devices (PSD)?

Presence Sensing Devices (PSD) are very common in metal shop operations, including springmaking. Some people may refer to these as “light curtains;” however, there is more to employee safeguarding than just the installation of a few photocells.

A PSD must protect the operator by preventing or stopping normal stroking of the press if the operator’s hands are inadvertently placed in the point of operation. The PSD must also be interlocked into the control circuit so that the slide motion will stop the down-stroke from continuing if any part of the operator’s body is within the sensing field at that time. It is important to note that these devices cannot be used on full-revolution presses. Also, additional guards must be added to areas not protected by the PSD (for example, the sides and back of the press).

How to Calculate Safe Distance Presence Sensing Devices are a common form of employee protection on power presses. The OSHA standards for PSD installation and maintenance appear in the power press standard. PSD are now being widely used on other operations including robots, work space isolation and in other work areas such as around fourslides. According to the standards, when installing PSD on presses, they must be installed with the minimum safety distance in mind.

The minimum safety distance is defined as the minimum distance from the light curtain’s plane of light to the closest hazard or danger point where the operator could reach into the hazard. To prevent the operator or helper

from reaching the point of operation before the curtain shuts the machine down, the Safety Distance (Ds) from the sensing field to the point of operation must be greater than the distance determined by the following formula:

Ds = 63 inches/second x Ts where: Ds = minimum safety distance (inches); 63 inches/second = hand speed constant; and Ts = stopping time of the press measured at approximately 90° position of crankshaft rotation (seconds).

This minimum safety distance is based on the stopping ability of the machine and a hand speed constant. This is not as simple as it appears, and more than one source of calculation should be referenced, both OSHA and ANSI. According to the OSHA Machine Guarding eTool, when the minimum safety distance is calculated, several other factors must be considered which are not included in their formula. These factors include the total system response time, the minimum object sensitivity of the presence sensing device, and the hand or object speed. The total system response time includes the stopping time of the machine under worst case conditions, response time of the control system, response time of the presence sensing device (as stated by the manufacturer), the response time of the interface, and, if applicable, additional time allowed for the brake monitor to compensate for variations in normal stopping time. Another factor includes the penetration distance (Dpf), which is based on the light curtain's MOS (minimum object sensitivity). OSHA refers the reader to the ANSI formula for safe distances. (For more information. visit the OSHA Machine Guarding eTool.)

Administrative Controls for PSDs In addition to PSD device considerations at installation, they must also be administratively controlled to assure they remain at the safe distance. Mandatory requirements for PSDs are described in detail in the appendix of the Machine Guarding standard. Machine and operational changes could adversely influence the ability of the PSD to actuate properly. Rockford Machine guarding suggests “Light curtains should be function-tested often using the function-testing checklist at every setup, operator change and shift change, as well as every time after maintenance is performed.” Strict administrative controls to conduct testing, written documentation of testing and adjustment need to be in place and available for OSHA inspectors to review. Although the use of a checklist at all the times listed may seem time consuming, it is certain that the time that will be dedicated to an amputation accident will far exceed these simple administrative tasks.

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Third Party Testing Using Stop Time Device Finally, in addition to the administrative controls discussed, OSHA requires third party testing of PSD using a device to measure stopping times. Rockford Systems, and many other machine guarding companies that specialize in “machine stop time testing” can be found online. These tests must be conducted and documented by an OSHA authorized third-party provider. You can purchase the testing device to conduct the tests.

To assure that your presence sensing devices can protect your employees, you need to take action. Use a stop time device and institute the use of a daily checklist. Sending your maintenance and engineering staff to training seminars on the intricacies of machine guarding is also recommended.

join the best: 16-20 April 2018 Düsseldorf, Germany I www.wire.de

Real Accident Scenario as Reported by OSHA A worker’s hand was caught between the dies of a 125-ton punch press when he reached into the point of operation to push the shelf dividers that he was making through the die opening onto the conveyor belt below the opening. While he was reaching into the die, his foot was still on the pedal and likely accidentally cycled the press. He sustained a crushing injury which resulted in partial amputation of three fingers on his right hand. According to co-workers, the supervisor had been informed that the light curtain was too low, thus not providing protection for the operator. If the light curtain had been adjusted properly the ram would not have descended while the employee’s hand was in the point of operation. n Machine Guarding Resources OSHA Calculations for Safe Stopping Distances for PSD https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/machineguarding/presses/ safetydistance.html

International Wire and Cable Trade Fair

OSHA Machine Guarding eTool https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/machineguarding/ generalrequirements.html OSHA Guidelines for Robotic Safety https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_ table=DIRECTIVES&p_id=1703 OSHA Standards-Go to 1910 Subpart O Machine Guarding https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owasrch.search_form?p_doc_ type=STANDARDS&p_toc_level=1&p_keyvalue=1910 OSHA Appendix Describing PSD Testing Requirements https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/machineguarding/additional_ references.html#compliance

Spring Wire, Cable, Wire Products Making and Machinery

OSHA PSD Sample Inspection Form https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/machineguarding/appendices/ appendix_e.html Stop Time Measurement https://www.rockfordsystems.com/stop-time-measurement-services/

Mesh Welding Machinery

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For show information: Messe Düsseldorf North America 150 North Michigan Avenue _ Suite 2920 _ Chicago, IL 60601 Tel. (312) 781-5180 _ Fax (312) 781-5188 info@mdna.com _ www.mdna.com For hotel and travel arrangements: TTI Travel, Inc. Tel. (866) 674-3476 _ Fax (212) 674-3477

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Fastener Technology

11.08.17 10:14

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Dean of Springs

Tensile Strength and Fatigue Life

By Dan Sebastian

A

standard practice in most spring designs is to use the tensile strength of the material as the fundamental basis to design a spring. There are rules that most spring designers use that establish the maximum allowable torsional stress from the tensile strength; with the knowledge of expected limits, the designer can create a design that best meets the application requirements.

The Advanced Spring Design (ASD) software from SMI can calculate the most efficient spring design knowing these limits and the possible effects of residual stresses, like set-out and shot peening. Many customers would like to have that “most efficient” design to minimize the material used (less material equals lower price). In some cases, the weight savings is very important. The common goal of “efficient design” has driven the use of higher tensile materials and added processes like carbonitriding. All these considerations are important, but when fatigue life is critical to the design, a basic understanding of fracture mechanics is important so you select the best material for the job.

Basic metallurgy teaches us that all material has inherent defects that result from processing. Fracture Mechanics is the study of why, how and at what stress a crack can propagate to failure. There are two measurements in fracture mechanics that give us some understanding of what the best materials for springs in a fatigue application are.

The first is the toughness (which is different than tensile strength) as defined by stress (K1c ) that is required for a “sharp” crack to grow. The second is the “critical” crack size, which refers to how big a “sharp” crack needs to be to start growing. ASTM and other standard organizations have established standard test specimens and the method used in measuring fracture toughness.

It is very difficult to find the K1c value for most material, so we must use the basic knowledge of material behavior to get information on the toughness of a material. Keep in mind that in most cases, higher tensile of the same material (i.e. standard Cr-Si vs high tensile Cr-Si) will result in lower fracture toughness. The critical crack size goes down, which means unless the processing changes, the probability of failure can go up. If we look at the results of a tensile strength test, we can get some very valuable information about the toughness of a material. The area

stress ultimate strength

failure

elastic limit strain hardening

area = toughness

ƒε

Ut = ∫ σ d 0

necking

strain

Ut is the Modulus of Toughness, e is (deformation length –Orginal length) / orginal length, ef is the strain at fracture, & s is the proportional limit.

Results are in kJ/m3 or BTU/ft3

under the tensile strength curve is the toughness of a material; if we have the equation for the curve, we can get the finite value by integrating the equation between the start and failure.

The toughness as indicated by the area calculation is directly related to the fracture toughness (K1c) and is generally inversely proportional to the critical crack size. If the

Dan Sebastian is a former SMI president and currently serves as a technical consultant to the association. He holds a degree in metallurgical engineering from Lehigh University and his industry career spans more than four decades in various technical and management roles. He may be reached by contacting SMI at 630-495-8588.

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design requires a mission critical fatigue life, it is very important to understand the possible difference in toughness between different material selections. A commonly made mistake is to use the highest tensile strength material possible for design efficiency and/or the perceived safety margin.

The curve to the right shows what can happen to fracture toughness if we use the same material at different tensile strengths (and hardness). The area under the high tensile material is much smaller than the medium tensile material.

In this example, a spring made with the medium tensile material is more robust than the high tensile material if the surface quality is the same. Steel produced can add micro-alloy elements to improve the toughness, but it is very important that you compare the calculated toughness to understand how effective those added alloys really are.

stress high carbon steel strongest

medium carbon steel toughest

low carbon steel most ductile

strain

You can get a close approximation of Modulus with the results from a tensile test. The Ut is close to:

Ut =

( σ0 + Su ) ε 2

ƒ

Where s0 is the proportional limit and e0, Su is the ultimate strength.

In the example above, it is apparent that the area under the ultra-high tensile material is significantly smaller than the regular tensile material. This would infer that a spring made from regular tensile material is a much more robust design than one made of high tensile material. If the steel making process is not altered to have much smaller inherent defects levels, the k1c limits would make the use of high tensile material more dangerous. n

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Plan now to attend SpringWorld® 2018!

Join thousands of your colleagues in Rosemont.

SpringWorld provides a unique opportunity to network with other spring manufacturers and wire formers: • The premiere spring show since 1960.

• A global showcase for suppliers to the spring and wire form industry featuring attendees from 18 countries.

• One-on-one discussions with others who share your concerns offering new insights for your business.

• See the newest technology available to improve your productivity, quality and service.

• Attend free educational seminars offered by exhibitors and industry experts.

We’ll see you at

SpringWorld® 2018 October 3-5 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center Rosemont, IL

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presented by www.casmi-springworld.org

4/5/18 12:36 PM

Effectively Managing the Sales Function

By Gary McCoy

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There are the highs of closing deals,

It could be said that effectively managing sales is often about managing emotions.

along with the lows—the painful moments of sales pitches that fell on deaf ears and deals that never closed.

This issue is not billed as a “be all, end all silver bullet” to make your sales fly higher.

It is intended as an opportunity for each reader to take in a few doses of practical wisdom. Our hope is that you can glean a few nuggets to help improve your company’s sales performance.

We start out our series of articles by

looking at a survey of SMI members regarding their thoughts on sales. Most SMI members report they are satisfied with their current efforts and cite inside sales as one of their top methods for selling to prospects. They also provide insights on why prospects purchase products from their company. See the article on page 24.

Author and speaker Todd Cohen talks about building a sales culture in your business and argues that everyone is in sales. Find out why on page 26.

Skip Miller is a former paperboy and the president of M3 Learning, a sales training company based in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Miller has written many books on sales and has trained thousands of sales professionals during his career. He cites a “natural curiosity” as being the chief attribute of a great salesperson. “They always want to know why.” My interview with Miller can be found on page 28.

Finally, our regular “Book Corner” section provides a review of the book “Amp Up Your Sales” by Andy Paul. The book revolves around three main themes: 1) simplifying your selling, 2) maximizing the value of your selling, and 3) amplifying your sales responsiveness.

Simplicity is a theme that runs throughout this issue and something stated by Paul in the introduction to his book. He quotes the sales manager who assured him when he started his career, “Selling is simple. It’s not easy. But it is simple.”

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A

sales pipeline can be defined as a representation of where prospects are in the purchasing process. Many options come to mind when it comes to prospects, including “not interested,” “need more information” or “ready to buy.”

As veteran sales trainer Skip Miller explains in his interview on page 28, the worst kind of prospects is someone who can’t decide. As Miller points out: “maybes will kill you.”

The pipelines for some SMI members could be described as “empty, overflowing or somewhere in between.” Even if your pipeline is full, that does not always translate to more sales. Having the right prospects in the pipeline is key.

Earlier this year, SMI conducted a survey to look at how members sell their services to prospects and to measure their satisfaction with those activities.

The first question in the survey asked: “How do you sell your services to prospects?” More than 93 percent indicated that they use inside sales (93.48 percent), followed by outside sales (60.87 percent), manufacturers’ reps (58.70 percent) internet sales (45.65 percent), and “other” (at 8.7 percent).

Other activities listed included: trade shows, directory listings and ads, word-of-mouth (as a long-term supplier of springs) and engineering.

Sales Satisfaction is High

How SMI Members Manage the Sales Pipeline

By Gary McCoy

The next question asked for agreement with the statement: “Overall, I am very satisfied with my company’s sales efforts.”

More than three quarters of SMI members said they either “strongly agree” (23.91 percent) or “somewhat agree” (54.5 percent) with the statement.

Those who were neutral about the statement, “neither agree or disagree,” came in at 10.87 percent, while those unhappy with their sales came in at just more than 10 percent, with “somewhat disagree” at 4.35 percent and “strongly disagree” at 6.52 percent.

Getting to the Close

Another agreement statement posed: “Overall, I am satisfied with my company’s conversion rate of sales prospecting to closing.”

It looks like closing skills are high among SMI members. Almost 90 percent provided a favorable or neutral response to the statement with “strongly agree” at 22.22 percent, “agree” at 60 percent and “neither agree or disagree” at 6.67 percent.

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No one answered, “strongly disagree,” and “somewhat disagree” registered in at 11.11 percent.

How do you sell your services to prospects?

Buyer Motivation

In an open-ended question, we asked SMI members: “What do you think motivates buyers to purchase from your company?”

Common themes included price, experience, lead time and service.

One member commented, “We do well with existing customers because we service them well and have an excellent customer base. Getting new customers is difficult because you pretty much have to take it from someone else. We can look for customers in growth mode or customers having problems with current suppliers. If we can get them in our plant we can usually get the sale, when they meet our employees, understand our commitment to quality and see our facility.”

Things like quality, engineering support, problem-solving and technical ability were also deemed as important factors.

“Our position in the marketplace as a global supplier combined with a history of quality and on time delivery,” were cited as important by one respondent. However, the factor of price could not be overlooked, according to this person: “At the end of the day, we need to have the best price, of course.”

One person summed up their experience by citing standard things like quality, delivery and price as being important. “But more so, establishing a partnership and solving problems. They can buy a spring from anyone; but help them solve a problem and you will win the business.”

Best Practices

The final question in the short survey asked: “What has been your most successful practice in the last year to increase sales?”

Answers varied from “competitive pricing” to “good engineering support” to “following up with our current customer base.”

In a departure from other answers, one respondent cited Google AdWords and trade shows.

Here are some more representative answers.

• “We clearly communicate our ability to meet and understand the customer’s requirements.”

• “Work with the customer’s engineering group in the initial design stages.”

• “We created a clear customer experience vision that was communicated throughout our organization. The vision was based on

93.48%

Inside Sales Outside Sales Internet Sales Manufacturers' Reps Other

• • • •

• • •

60.87% 45.65% 58.7%

8.7%

our core beliefs which include delivering a ‘WOW’ experience through service, humility and the ability to embrace change.”

“Sales funnel management.”

“Meeting tough delivery dates and going the extra mile.”

“Being more visible at trade shows and conferences.”

“Identify attractive business opportunities and work with our reps to understand the customer’s needs, wants and emotions, and make sure we are positioned to meet those. It’s still difficult to get new customers and fortunately our biggest increases have come from our customer’s success and continued desire to give us business.”

“Integrity in the quoting process. Quote for manufacturing with realistic expectations for functionality, quality, timeliness, etc.”

“Updating our website and online advertising.”

“Understanding why my customer needs to purchase springs and working with them to meet their expectations.”

One of the best surefire methods of achieving sales growth has always been through wordof-mouth. As one person said: “By providing our customers with good service, we have been fortunate to have them recommend us to others.”

As you can ascertain f rom the answers provided by SMI members, success in selling your company’s services is often not achieved by doing complicated things. It is frequently because of keeping it simple. n

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Building a Sales Culture in Your Business: Everyone’s in Sales

By Todd Cohen

I

f you’re reading this, then you are in sales.

Everyone is part of a sales culture, whether you are in the “C” suite, or a member of the legal or administrative department; whether you own your business or are the receptionist in a Fortune 500 company. A sales culture means that everyone’s in sales. Does this mean that all employees must stop doing what they are doing and make some cold calls? Nope. A sales culture means that each and every employee— regardless of title or tenure—understands that they have a profound impact on a customer’s decision to say “yes.” Put simply, everyone’s in sales because everyone needs to sell themselves well to succeed!

Every single conversation is a bona fide selling moment. Those conversations are the opportunity to make an impression that begins to build or continue a relationship. There is no such thing as a lost conversation or one that does not count.

Every single interaction you have means you have about 7-10 seconds to engage someone in a way that makes them want to know more or continue the conversation. Once this is understood and thought of proactively, you can comprehend that you are constantly selling yourself.

There are two types of sales people: the ones who self-identify as being in sales, and everyone else. These people are the “non-professional

sales person” (NPSP). People are exercising the basics of sales far more often than they think.

From lawyers to the owners of the local fast food restaurant—they are all in sales.

Then there are the people in companies who need to sell something internally. One common example that comes to mind is someone engaged in research and has a great idea that needs funding to make it happen. It has to be sold to the bosses! You’ve all used and heard the term “it has to be sold” or “we need buy in” when referring to something internal to your companies or in your personal lives.

Regardless of how you see yourself, here is the point that needs to be firmly and unequivocally understood. Telling people that they are in sales usually provokes two types of reactions. The first being “Yep, I agree.” The second reaction is “nope, not me—I’m not in sales.” The latter is sometimes said with a slightly confused gaze, but the intent is there. Everyone is exercising the fundamentals of sales far more often than they think.

It is also a fact that some non-professional sales people will vehemently deny this entire concept because in some way there is a fear that being thought of as having to “sell” is not something they have to do. The older guard of the NPSP’s did not have to sell as we think of it today. Business came by referral and word-ofmouth. Oh, the times have changed!

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How Non-Professional Sales People Sell

Sales fundamentals take place in non-sales settings constantly. Conversing, handling objections, networking, building relationships, listening and helping are all selling motions. It cannot be said often enough—when you talk, you sell. It’s the same and synonymous motion. When you speak, people form an impression very quickly and that is a selling activity. So, the NPSP is as much a sales person every day as much as the professional sales person. The only difference is that a professional sales person is getting paid to sell. The NPSP gets what he or she wants by selling him/herself, his/her ideas and passions and as a result, good things happen. Sometimes those good things are monetary, like a raise. Your ability and proactive recognition that you sell all the time leads to good things.

Selling is not something that requires people to stop what they are doing and do something different. It is not a mode change. It is rooted in solid relationship building and by developing trust. In other words, selling is “don’t do anything different, think differently about what you do.” What you do every day impacts and influences people in many ways—and that’s sales! Things do not happen magically in a vacuum. You need to get out there and sell yourself and your ideas, so you can get what you want, need and deserve!

Some great advice is just to relax, be natural and listen to your target “buyer.” If you get too wrapped up in thinking

too much about it, you will have some (big) challenges.

Listen, ask questions and see how you can help. Have your facts ready and make sure they are right. “Facts don’t lie.”

Facts help the selling process for everyone.

Companies with a Sales Culture Do Better

Companies with a sales culture have one indelible quality that defines them: every single person knows their role and not just what their title implies. Selling is a complex process and it is no longer a linear relationship between the sales person and the client. There is not a sale that could happen without the help and input of many people around the organization. Everyone has a systemic role, and everyone does something that helps a customer say “yes.” People thinking “sales, not my job” are people who will keep the company mired in mediocrity because they think that selling is something else that they must do in addition to their job. The point is that their job is sales and what they do is vital to the company engaging and closing more customers. n Todd Cohen, CSP is an accomplished and sought-after speaker, sales culture expert and author of “Everyone’s in Sales” and “Everyone’s in Sales; STOP Apologizing.” Cohen’s dynamic and motivational presentations are based on the foundation that regardless of career path or position, everyone is a salesperson. Since 1984, Cohen has led sales teams to deliver more than $850 million in revenue for leading companies including Xerox and Thomson-Reuters. For more information, visit www.ToddCohen.com.

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Q

By Gary McCoy

W

A

Managing the Sales Function:

An Interview with Skip Miller

hen you want to learn about sales management, it always helps to find someone who’s an expert and has provided training on the subject to hundreds of companies in over 35 countries.

That’s the case with Skip Miller, the president of M3 Learning. Miller says he created the company to “make a salesperson better on each individual call.” M3 Learning’s signature selling methodology, ProActive Selling™, is unique in its high-definition focus on the tactics of selling and proactive sales cycle control.

Miller is also the author of the runaway best-seller, “ProActive Sales Management.” The popular title has been translated into multiple languages worldwide and has become the classic sales training textbook for sales managers, both new and seasoned alike.

Miller is the author of several other books including “Selling Above and Below the Line,” where he offers insight on the timely topic of how to simultaneously sell the technical feature/ function fit, as well as the financial ROI fit of any product or service.

Before starting M3 Learning, Miller was a vice president for Dataquest, a leading high technology market research firm. Miller’s experience in sales, marketing and operational management spans more than 25 years.

I recently interviewed Miller by phone from his office in Saratoga, California, in the heart of the Silicon Valley, to explore the topic of sales.

Here’s an edited transcript of our conversation.

The first thing I learned about Miller is that we shared the childhood experience of being a newspaper carrier.

Q|

How did you get started in sales?

I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and started out delivering newspapers. I didn’t mind the delivery part; I hated wasting Saturdays collecting the money from customers. Later I worked at a sporting goods store during college. I would go out to junior highs and high schools and sell them basketball uniforms and cheerleading uniforms. So that’s how I got into sales.

Af ter college, I got a sales job selling Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems. I later moved to California to work in several different sales roles.

The company I worked for in California was purchased by a company in Connecticut. I didn’t want to transfer all the way back to Connecticut, so I started my own company.

I have been involved in sales since my paper route days and all the way up to even now.

Q|

What are some of the characteristics that make for a great sales representative?

Even though I’m in Silicon Valley and we do quite a bit of training for high-tech firms, we also have trained sales professionals in the HVAC industry, machine tools, manufacturing and many others. So, no matter what the company is, it doesn’t really vary that much in terms of what it means to be a great sales rep.

There’s a couple of key characteristics that make for a great salesperson. And probably at the top of the list is: they have a natural curiosity. They always want to know why.

They ask questions like: “Why do you guys do this or why do you do that?” It’s more of a solutions

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What we find really makes the difference between a salesperson who just wants to sell, make their quota and make money and the real top performers, it is, without a doubt, a natural curiosity. Always curious about the customer and solving the customer’s problems for them. sale. If you’re really thinking about the customer and curious about the customer, then you’re working with them to solve their problems and help them. A natural curiosity is by far at the top of the list.

Drive, motivation, self-motivated, disciplined, hungry... All those are great characteristics.

What we find really makes the difference between a salesperson who just wants to sell, make their quota and make money and the real top performers, it is, without a doubt, a natural curiosity. Always curious about the customer and solving the customer’s problems for them.

Even if your company’s solution isn’t the answer!

That’s a favor and it’ll come back to you some day. What goes around, comes around.

Q|

The theme of this issue of Springs is: “How to Manage the Sales Function.”

How does a top sales performer transition to become a great sales manager?

We see it all the time. You’re a salesperson for a couple of years and you’re good. The company says, “OK, so you’re now the manager. Just teach them what you know and let them be like you, because you’ve got a bunch of good qualities.”

And that doesn’t really work.

The biggest difference we find, and I’ve done many sales management courses and written about the subject in books is: salespeople must be customer-focused, and sales managers must be people-focused. A great sales manager must allow the job to get done through others.

Many sales managers can’t do that. They were a control freak when they were a salesperson and they’re going to be a control freak as a sales manager. It doesn’t work.

Being people-focused, getting things done through others, is the job of the sales manager.

And being customer-focused is the job of the salesperson. The problem is the salesperson has learned so many great customer-focused skills that when they become a manager, they think all they must do is use the skillset they’ve already got.

I equate it to being single and being married.

They’re two different things. The sales manager must learn more about delegation and having a state of trust and confidence in your people to do things.

Rather than taking over sales calls, they must set metrics that are mutually defined, and have the salesperson meet those metrics. The manager must manage the effort to reach those metrics.

That’s the manager’s job.

If they can do that, the sales, revenue and quotas will come in.

Sales managers must focus on those tasks and metrics that need to get done on a daily and weekly basis. They need to stop micromanaging and focus instead on tasks and competencies that must get done by their sales team. When they do that, they end up being a great sales manager.

Q|

It sounds like you emphasize managing the process.

One of my sales book is: “Proactive Selling: Control the Process, Win the Sale.” If the manager can get involved earlier in the sales process, so much the better. We see a lot of late-stage managers who get involved at the last minute and try to push the deal across the finish line.

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But early value is created early in the sale. The problem is managers don’t know what to do to coach their people effectively early in the sales cycle.

A manager typically talks to a sales rep when they’ve got an early prospect and they’ll say, “How’s it going?”

And the rep will say, “Good.” The manager will say, “Need any help?” The rep will say, “No.” The manager will say, “Call me if you need me.” And they think that’s coaching.

A manager really needs to spend time focusing on their salespeople and the early functions of the process: “Have we called on these people? Are they qualified? Do they really understand what we offer? What’s the size of the problem we’re trying to address?”

Managers must make sure the salesperson is really focused on the sale and not just on getting a proposal in the hands of the prospect.

Many times, the prospect gets a proposal too quickly and it’s going to be a “maybe.”

We say: “Yeses are great, noes are great and maybes will kill you.”

If you’ve got 10 deals in your funnel and you close eight, congratulations. If you’ve got 10 deals in your funnel and you lose eight, congratulations. You know you’re doing something wrong and you can fix it.

If you’ve got 10 deals in your funnel and you’ve got eight “maybes,” all they’re going to do is sit in the funnel and take up resources.

The best thing a manager can do is focus early in the process. Help the salesperson qualify his prospects and help them quantify the problem. When all that good work is done in the early stages, it can bring the sale to a rapid close at the end.

Q|

The readers of our magazine manufacture springs, wireforms and light stampings. A lot of their sales efforts involve inside and outside sales, but they also use manufacturers’ reps. How should a company deal with a mixed sales force?

As far as the manufacturers’ reps go, they don’t call them independent reps for nothing, do they?

They are definitely independent.

A common management tool is managing the weekly metrics. It doesn’t matter if it’s a channel rep, or a partner or an inside or outside sales rep. We call them frequencies and competencies. Revenue equals frequencies and competencies. Revenue is a reactive measure. Frequencies and competencies are the control knobs to help drive revenue.

What would be goals for the inside reps? “Forty calls a day to new customers and three to present customers, every day this week.”

Outside reps? “Five calls to new customers, 10 calls to current customers and try to get at least $50,000 in renewal business by the end of the week, every week.”

Partners: “Bring us five presentations to new clients every week for the next five weeks.”

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As a sales manager you must understand the question: What are the competencies my sales reps need to get there?

Ask your reps: “Do you want to know how to improve your prospecting skills? Do you want to learn how to control the sale better? Do you want to improve your negotiating skills? Do you want to improve your closing skills?”

So as a manager, I look at my channels, be it inside, outside or direct. I’m going to focus on the frequencies and the competencies that we agree with. We’re going to measure every week to make sure that if we do those frequencies, competencies, the revenue or the results will happen.

Rather than, “I’m going to go on six calls this week and bring home two orders,” I appreciate that, but there’s nothing there to inspect, manage, coach and leverage. You’re making calls and you’re the hamster in a cage running as fast as you can, and now you want to run faster. That is not leverageable.

Q|

What are the greatest challenges facing today’s sales professionals?

To get in front of prospects and break through the noise.

Q|

How would you define the noise?

Everybody’s got Twitter, and Facebook, emails, voicemails, personal emails and personal voicemails, administrators and gatekeepers. If you’re going to start prospecting and you really want to get ahold of people,

“Yeses are great, noes are great and maybes will kill you.” you must cut through a lot of noise and chatter and distractions, because there’s a lot out there right now.

There’s no clear answer on breaking through the noise, but there are ways to increase your odds. The No. 1 way to get through to new prospects is referrals.

If I’m trying to get ahold of Bob, and I know John, and Bob knows John, I’m going to mention John’s name. I’m going to try to have John give me an introduction.

With LinkedIn and all these different social media tools, I’m going to try to find somebody who knows the prospect I’m trying to reach.

I would imagine in the spring manufacturing business, the vice president of manufacturing of company A probably knows the vice president of manufacturing at company B. So, a referral is by far the No. 1 way to get in the door.

I would challenge your readers: “If you’re a salesperson and in the past month you closed five deals, did you bother 217112 Syntech Casmi Ad 1_4 Page_26233 J&R Casmi Ad 1_4 Page 5/31/

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The great managers are proactive. “Hey guys, over the next three months we’ve really got to prospect the heck out of it. What do you think we should set as a goal?” And those goals are quantifiable. They’re objective. writing a thank you note to those people? And by the way, in the thank you note, did you ask for a referral?

The note could go something like this: “Dear John and Mary, I had a great time and I want to thank you for having faith in our company. Our job is to make sure you get your springs and that your order is done completely, as you asked. Hey, by the way, if you happen to know somebody that has the same general problems that you do and is looking for solutions, could you forward their email on to me? I’d really appreciate that.”

I mean people love to help people, so even in a thank you note you can always prospect and use referrals to get in the door.

Q|

You wrote “Selling Above and Below the Line.”

What does that mean?

It’s a great question. Sales people are always looking for the value proposition. What’s the problem we’re trying to solve? I’ve determined that there’s two. There’s one below the line and one above the line.

The below the line problem is typically the user-buyer, the person who’s responsible for the item that’s going to be bought. I’m the guy with the budget, and I’m responsible, so if the service is bad, or the springs break, or the company’s not responsive when we have a problem, that’s my problem.

The physical buyer, the one who says, “Listen, we’ve got a 5-million-dollar order here, and if I buy these springs, I can save 20 percent. Well let’s go. I don’t care if it’s springs from company A, or B or C. I really don’t. I don’t care if the printer’s a Brother, an IBM or a Canon. I don’t care.”

But the below the line person does.

If you’re going after a pretty good-sized sale, you want to win the technical buyer. You must also have an early conversation with the COO, CFO, head of purchasing, head of manufacturing, head of engineering, to say, “What are the problems in your new product lines? And if we can

make a dent in helping you solve some of those problems, what’s that worth to you?”

So, we believe there’s two value propositions for every deal, one below the line, the user, the seeds and speeds, and one above the line, saying, “If I buy your stuff, can I save time, make money or mitigate risk?”

Q|

Can you give me an example?

A good example would be, I sell a batch of springs to the ABC company, and the below the line guy goes, “Listen. I’m getting 10 percent stronger springs for the same money, so I’m sure these things aren’t going to break.

I can see I won’t have to work weekends to solve problems like my other manufacturer did.”

The above the line guy says, “We’re going to take on this new product line, and we want to be less than 10 percent on returns and rejections. If I buy your stuff, I can see where I won’t have that 10 percent—the revenue problem—that’s going to save me money. And I really don’t care what color the spring is, I really don’t care. I’ve got Bob, my guy down in manufacturing, who’s covering that for me.” Always do the value proposition for every deal.

Q|

Anything else you would like to add?

The thing we see with any sales manager is subjective versus objective. Proactive versus reactive.

Way too often we see managers being subjective. “Come on guys. We’ve got to get more calls. We’ve got to do more of this and stop doing all that other stuff.” And we see them being reactive. “Well based on the last six months, I mean look at what we just did last month.”

The great managers are proactive. “Hey guys, over the next three months we’ve really got to prospect the heck out of it. What do you think we should set as a goal?” And those goals are quantifiable. They’re objective.

The best managers don’t micromanage. They don’t take over things. They’re really managing to the frequencies and competencies we discussed. They know that if they do a good job of blocking and tackling, they’ll win the game. n To reach Skip Miller and M3 Learning, visit m3learning.com, email: info@ m3learning.com or phone 866-462-5763.

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Flashback

Heat Treating

By Terry Bartel

I

n the metals industry, as in the creation of nearly any product, there are numerous steps from the raw material to a finished product. For our purposes here, a spring that will be used as the raw product in producing someone else’s finished product. Being involved in the supply of raw materials to the spring industry, I am frequently asked for assistance and recommendations for virtually all the various mechanical and physical properties of the many different metals that are typically used to produce springs. The second most asked question always seem to involve the heat treatment of the metal used to produce the spring.

In many cases, when the spring producer is working from either a print or customer specification, the heat treatment may be specified either on these documents or other referenced specifications. However, this is not always the case. Many times, the final heat treatments, if any, are left to the spring producer, who must then decide what is required to meet the customer’s expectations. This is when a better understanding of what the term “heat treatment” actually means can help simplify one’s efforts.

The intent of this paper is to briefly explore what happens to the mechanical properties of the metals used to produce springs when specific heat treatments are used. No attempt is made to go into a rigorous metallurgical explanation of what happens to the metal – such explanations would be of little interest or value to most people. Rather, a variety of charts and graphs are used to show what has happened to the mechanical properties of the metal when an appropriate heat treatment has been used. In addition, the data presented here covers only a very minute portion of that available for each of the various materials.

Definitions The term “heat treatment” is, in and of itself, only a very generic term. It covers all other specific methods, similar to the way a tent or tarpaulin covers a crowd of very distinctly different people during a rainstorm. We will concentrate only on those forms of heat treatment that are most commonly used in the spring industry — annealing,

(Editor’s note: In this issue of Flashback, we reprint an article by Terry Bartel that first appeared in the October 2007 issue of Springs. Bartel wrote this article on heat treating when he was part of Elgiloy Specialty Metals. He is now with Charter Steel and has provided us with a new article on “Material Characteristics and How They Originate” which appears on page 40.

We hope you enjoy both articles.)

stress relieving and aging. There are many other terms that fit under the heat treatment umbrella, but these three are the ones most commonly encountered. Even within these three one can find further sub-classifications, most of which will only add confusion. By way of introduction, the following definitions may be applied (all definitions are taken from the “ASM Materials Engineering Dictionary”): Heat Treatment: Heating and cooling a solid metal or alloy in such a way as to obtain desired conditions or properties. Heating for the sole purpose of hot working is excluded from the meaning of this definition.1 Annealing (metals): A generic term denoting a treatment consisting of heating to and holding at a suitable temperature followed by cooling at a suitable rate, used primarily to soften metallic materials, but also to simultaneously produce desired changes in other properties or in microstructure…2 Stress Relieving: Heating to a suitable temperature, holding long enough to reduce residual stresses, and then cooling slowly enough to minimize the development of new residual stresses.3 Aging (heat treatment): A change in the properties of certain metals and alloys that occurs at ambient or moderately elevated temperatures after hot working or a heat treatment (quench aging in ferrous alloys, natural or artificial aging in ferrous and nonferrous alloys) or after a cold working operation (strain aging). The change in properties is often, but not always, due to a phase change (precipitation), but never involves a change in chemical composition of the metal or alloy.4 To simplify explanations, I group aging and precipitation hardening into a single category. Most typically, these two terms are used interchangeably; however, like heat treatment, aging is again an all-encompassing term.

I will cover each of these heat treatments in the order presented above. Each of these is usually used independently on the finished product. However, as in all of life, there are exceptions to this statement but not to be pursued today. In presenting the data, I have tried to take examples

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Fig 1: Annealing study on 0.500" X-750 wire showing the affect of annealing temperature upon Rockwell hardness and ASTM grain size.

X-750 Annealing Study

86.0

8.0

85.0

Hardness (HRB)

83.0

6.0

82.0 Grain Size

81.0

5.0

Hardness

80.0

4.0

79.0 78.0

ASTM Grain Size

7.0

84.0

3.0

77.0 76.0 1850

1900

1950

2000

2050

2100

2.0 2150

Annealing Temperature (F)

Fig. 1. Annealing study on 0.500" X-750 wire showing the affect of annealing temperture upon Rockwell hardness and ASTM grain size.

of typical materials that the springmaker may use on a regular basis – that is, some of the more common materials.

The following facts should be stated regarding the information that is presented: • Every data point represents an average of 3 to 5 individual tests on material in the same condition. Statistical information for data spread is not included for brevity, but is rarely very broad.

• All data presented is “real-world,” taken from actual materials produced for sale. The exception is the data presented for annealing. This information was generated to support the development of processing practices.

• Where “trend lines” are presented, these lines have been calculated using third-order polynomials.

Other methods may be appropriate, but I have found this method to be the best for my purposes.

• All tensile data was obtained using an Instron model 4204 tensile tester. Testing methods were based upon ASTM A370 and E8. Although immaterial, the gauge length used for all samples was 2-inches (the gauge length affects only any reported elongation values, and none are presented in this paper).

Testing was performed using strain-rate control.

Crosshead separation should produce virtually identical conclusions. The measurement technique employed for material certification is usually based upon the requirements of the end user.

Annealing As defined above, the heat treatment process of annealing is typically used to soften a metal so that subsequent operations may take place. As a metals producer, the

annealing operation is very important, as we usually go through a series of cold working and annealing cycles so that we can provide our customers with a product that has the desired mechanical property characteristics. For spring wire, the final product is usually in the highly cold worked state commonly known as the “spring tempered” condition, although material in the annealed condition is not uncommon. Strip product is quite often sold in the annealed condition and subsequently aged to increase the strength; however, cold worked strip is also prevalent.

A springmaker may anneal the metal (or purchase it already annealed) so that it can be worked more easily due to the relatively low tensile strength of the material.

The material may be processed in the cold worked condition and then annealed as part of the overall heat-treating process as is required by some of the AMS and ASTM specifications. With some exceptions, annealed material that is subsequently aged does not attain the higher tensile properties possible with that which has been cold worked and then aged.

Regardless of the reason employed, the annealing process softens the metal by recrystallization. In simplest of terms, the material returns to a softened state that allows further cold working, if required. Some of the parameters that are important in annealing are: temperature, time and cooling method. Figure 1 and Table 1 show how some of these factors interact.

Figure 1 presents data that was obtained from 0.500” diameter X-750 that had been cold worked and required annealing to make the material soft so that additional cold working could be performed. The material had a grain structure that was elongated in the drawing direction and had a hardness of approximately 35 HRC. Since the

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Table 1: Study showing the effect of varying the annealing time and quenching method on the hardness and grain size of a 0.135” diameter Elgiloy wire.

Time (minutes)

Hardness - HB

ASTM Grain Size

W.Q.

A.C.

F.C.

W.Q.

A.C.

F.C.

1

95.1

92.9

90.4

7.5

7.0

6.0

5

90.5

88.5

87.7

5.5

6.0

4.5

30

87.7

84.6

89.1

4.5

4.5

3.5

60

89.1

84.3

86.6

4.0

3.5

3.0

grains were elongated, a grain size determination is not applicable. The annealing study was performed at a variety of temperatures with the annealing time held constant at 15 minutes (at temperature). The resulting Rockwell B and grain size are presented in the plotted data. Using this data, the choice of annealing temperature is made to yield the combination of properties required by the customer.

Table 1 presents data showing the affect that other variables have upon the hardness of the annealed product.

In this case, the material is 0.135” diameter Elgiloy ® that has been annealed at a constant temperature of 2100ºF but with variable time at temperature and employing different cooling (quenching) methods.

Again, the metals producer will use such information to help establish processing practices to yield the material

W.Q. = Water Quench A.C. = Air Cool F.C. = Furnace Cool

characteristics desired by the customer. Such information can also be useful to the spring manufacturer when they find themselves in a situation where they must soften a material in order to perform subsequent forming work. In such cases, close work with the metals supplier is very necessary so that a material is not rendered useless.

Stress Relieving Stress relieving is one of the two most common heattreating operations that a spring manufacturer is likely to encounter; the other is the aging treatment to be discussed next. Stress relieving does exactly as the name implies, it relieves the stresses that occur as a result of the spring forming operation. It also returns the material to the strength levels prior to the forming operation, and

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Fig. 2: Stress relieving study of 0.080" Hard Drawn MB carbon steel. Time at temperature set at one hour while the is varied. used to smooth data.

Hardtemperature Drawn MB Carbon SteelTrend Stressline Relief Study Temperature Varied

250 240

Strength - ksi

230 220 210 200 190 180 170

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Stress Relief Temperature - F Fig. 2. Stress relieving study of 0.080" Hard Drawn MB carbon steel. Time at temperature set at one hour while the temperature is varied. Trend line used to smooth data.

Fig. 3: Stress relief study of 0.080" Hard Drawn MB carbon steel wire where temperatures was held constant theMB time varied from 2 to Relief 120 minutes.

Hard and Drawn Carbon Steel Stress Study Time Varied

250.0

Strength - ksi

245.0

240.0

235.0

350 F

230.0

225.0

450 F

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Stress Relief Time - minutes Fig. 3. Stress relief study of 0.080" Hard Drawn MB carbon steel wire where temperatures was held constant and the time varied from 2 to 120 minutes.

Fig 4: Stress relief study of 0.080" Music Wire. Time fixed at one hour and temperature varied.

Music Wire Stress Relief Study Temperature Varied

340

320

Strength - ksi

300 Tensile with Trend Line 280

260

can actually increase the strength to levels greater than originally supplied. Studies have shown that the interstitial elements pin the point and line defects in the atomic structure of the metal, resulting in an increase in the mechanical strength. As in the annealing heat treatment, there are variables that affect the final outcome – most typically, the temperature and time employed. These two parameters are the most potent in their effect on the final properties.

Figures 2 – 5 are plots of stress relieving studies for three of the most commonly used spring materials – hard drawn MB, music wire and T-302 stainless steel. The type of data presented here for these materials is available for nearly all materials. If not, quick examination of the data presented shows t hat, alt hough slightly time consuming, the generation of such data is not an excessively complex undertaking.

Figures 2 and 3 are for 0.080” diameter hard drawn MB carbon steel. In Figure 2, a trend line has been superimposed on the data. Such practice helps not only to smooth the data, but it also gives a very nice presentation of the data so that one can easily determine the point of optimum properties.

A quick check of any of the spring manuals will show that the recommended stress relieving temperatures fall within those predicted by the data in Fig. 2. In fact, this is exactly how the original recommendations for stress relieving were developed. Figure 3 takes the process one step further, the refinement of the time required to complete the process of stress relieving. In this case, the experiment used two defined temperatures (350ºF and 450ºF) but varied the time at these temperatures from 2 – 120 minutes.

From Fig. 3, one can easily determine that the bulk of the stress relieving has taken place once the part has been exposed at temperature for a minimum of 20 – 30 minutes.

240

220

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Stress Relief Temperature - F

800

900

Fig 4. Stress relief study of 0.080" Music Wire. Time fixed at one hour and temperature varied.

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The definition of aging previously presented quite clearly states that this process results in a change in material properties, but not chemical composition. This statement is true but applies only to the bulk chemical analysis of the material. In fact, what occurs is the precipitation of an additional phase (or phases) that do have different chemical compositions. As I had stated, aging covers a multitude of processes, none of which I am going to go into in detail, as the truly important part of aging is that it typically increases the strength of the material. For many of the spring alloys, this occurs by a combination of both cold working and subsequent aging. The resulting material that has very high tensile and yield strengths compared to the starting product (again, remember t hat t here a re always exceptions to the rule).

300.0

Strength – ksi

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Stress Relief Temperature – F

Fig. 6: Aging study of 0.078" 17-7PH in Condition C. Various aging times superimposed upon the temperature curves to show optimum property development. Trend lines used to smooth data.

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Strength – ksi

Aging

Fig. 5: Stress relief study of 0.076" diameter T-302 stainless steel. Both temperature and time varied. Trend lines used to smooth data.

290.0 285.0 280.0 275.0 270.0 265.0 260.0 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100

Aging Temperature – F

Fig. 7: Aging study of 0.057" A-286. Time and temperature varied to show development of optimum properties for a variety of aging parameters.

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Tensile Strength – ksi

Figure 4 is for 0.080" diameter music wire that has been stress relieved for one hour over a wide temperature range. The trend line clearly defines the optimum properties for this material. Performing tests with constant temperature while the time was varied yields the same conclusion as for hard drawn MB carbon steel—that the bulk of the stress relieving has taken place by the time the material has been exposed at temperature for 30 minutes.

Figure 5 is for 0.076" diameter T-302 stainless steel, the third alloy that is very commonly used for spring applications. In this case, all the time (10, 30 and 60 minutes) data has been included on the temperature plot. This method is beneficial in that we can readily define the optimum temperature (for maximum properties). It also lets us see visually that by the time the spring has been exposed at temperature for 30 minutes, that the majority of the stress relieving has taken place.

This method merely combines all the data on one plot and allows more immediate visualization of what is occurring.

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Figures 6 and 7 are presented for 0.078" 17-7Ph and 0.057" A-286, respectively. Figure 6 is the superposition of the aging time onto the aging temperature plot similar to that shown for the T-302 stainless. In the case of 17-7PH in Condition C, all governing specifications require that the material be aged at 900ºF for one hour. I have included this plot of a time – temperature study to show exactly how this particular set of parameters was established. Examination of the data clearly shows that one hour at 900ºF provides the optimum tensile strength for this material.

Once exceeded, the properties begin to decrease; in fact, they do so quite rapidly.

Figure 7 presents data for 0.057" diameter A-286 in the same manner as Figure 6 does for 17-7PH. Many times, A-286 is used in the annealed or slightly cold worked condition. In this case, the A-286 has been cold worked to a somewhat moderate spring temper condition and then aged. Unlike 17-7, there is no specification that defines what the spring temper condition is for A-286 (this may be arguable as there are some AMS specifications that clearly dictate how the material is to be processed; however, these specifications are not typically employed in the normal course of spring manufacturing). This condition is either loosely defined by the material supplier or by customer specification. This plot is somewhat of a compendium of what I have experienced over the years as to how many people age spring tempered A-286. The typical temperature

range is 1100ºF to approximately 1250ºF for time ranging from 60 minutes to 960 minutes (16 hours). In this study, both temperature and time have been expanded to provide a more complete picture of the aging process.

Concluding Remarks The information presented here is by no means exhaustive.

Each set of data is relatively well represented statistically by virtue of the number of repetitive tests that were performed. However, to have a far better picture of what really occurs, such data should be generated using multiple heats over a period of time. Such techniques are how specification requirements come into existence in the first place.

To some, this information may seem to be somewhat academic as there are already “standards” and “rules” governing many of the materials presented. Although this is true, the number of inquiries that I receive every month belies the fact that this information is readily available or even fully understood.

I have attempted to tweak people’s curiosities as to where this information comes from, how it is generated and how it can be used. If one were to take this a step further, the question that could (and should) be asked is “How does this truly affect the performance of the springs that I produce?”

Acknowledgments I would like to thank Gibbs Wire and Steel for providing the hard-drawn MB and music wire materials used in this study. Elgiloy Specialty Metals supplied the balance of the materials used in this presentation. Also, a special thanks to Glenn Aquino for performing all the mechanical property testing. Elgiloy is the registered trademark of Elgiloy Specialty Metals. n

References: 1 “ASM

Materials Engineering Dictionary,” edited by J.R. Davis & Associates (ASM International, 1992), p. 202.

2 Ibidem, p. 19.

3 Ibidem, p. 455.

4 Ibidem, p. 10.

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Material Characteristics and How They Originate

By Terry Bartel, Charter Steel

P

Figure 1: T-302 Cold Working Curves 302 Stainless Tensile Strength Predicitons

Tensile Strength (ksi)

revious a r t icles in Springs (references 1, 2, 3 and 4 below) 300 have dealt with such topics as 280 material selection, some specific manufacturing processes and mate260 rial properties; specifically, how the 240 optimum properties were derived using various heat-treating meth220 ods (e.g., stress-relieving or ageing).

200 As a continuation, the information presented here is intended to show 180 how some of these properties are 160 developed and, in combination with the earlier papers, provide a better 140 understanding of the amount of effort 120 that goes into developing the data 100 used in everyday spring design.

0 5 10 Webster’s II New College Dictionary defines a spring as: “An elastic device, as a coil of wire that regains its original shape after being compressed or extended.5” This is a simplistic, yet effective, description of a spring and how it functions. Without the ability to return to its original shape, a spring would essentially be useless and nothing more than a piece of material (most commonly a metal) that would be a spacer at best. How does a material develop the “spring” characteristic so that it can function as described in the above definition? Without delving into the microscopic (or even atomic) changes that take place, a basic understanding of how the “springiness” comes about can be illustrated with a few relatively simple examples.

The processes below are applicable to all spring materials whether they are wire, shaped wire, strip or some other geometry – the basic process is the same for all materials.

To varying degrees, most metals demonstrate the ability to spring back when distorted from their original shape.

We have all experienced this phenomenon when we bend paperclips or pieces of wire that have been heavily coldworked. The paperclip will return to its original shape, providing we do not bend it too far (preferably only sufficient to hold a few pieces of paper together). Bend it too far and the paperclip becomes distorted – although it will spring back a little. The cold-drawn wire can be bent rather extensively and still return to its original shape. But, it

0.218" Rod

15

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30

35

40

45

0.125"" Anneal

50

55

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0.030" Anneal

65

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Cold Reduction - Percent Figure 1: T-302 cold-working curves.

too, can be bent too far and become distorted. So how can this spring back characteristic be developed in a material?

Metals harden when they are cold-worked; for spring materials, this usually means drawing through a series of dies (wire – round or shaped) or by rolling (strip and relatively simple shapes). Without getting into the mechanisms or mathematics of the processes, the strength of the material increases as the amount of cold-working increases. Please note that this discussion is aimed at spring materials that develop specific properties through cold-working, which will be further enhanced through subsequent stress relieving or aging processes. There is another class of materials that develops its spring properties through the quench and tempering operations, but it is not covered in this discussion. However, those materials do behave in the same manner when cold-worked, which frequently occurs to attain the correct product size for the application. There are many alloys that are supplied either as cold-drawn or in the quenched and tempered condition (the latter are typically plain or alloyed carbon steels).

Figure 1 shows a set of three curves for cold-worked T-302 stainless steel. The data presented is for the same material heat which has been subjected to a series of

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T-304 Stainless Tensile & 0.2% Yield Strength Curves 250.0

Figure 2: T-304 Stainless Tensile & 0.2% Yield Strength Curves T-304 Stainless Tensile & 0.2% Yield Strength Curves

250.0 UTS

0.2% Yield

200.0

Tensile / 0.2% Yield Strength (ksi) Tensile / 0.2% Yield Strength (ksi)

cold-drawing steps and annealing cycles (material from each colddrawing sequence was annealed and subsequently cold-drawn).

The following observations may be made: • Each curve represents a unique material starting size in the annealed condition.

• The tensile strength increases with increasing cold reduction.

• The curves for each diameter are morphologically the same.

• The tensile strengths increase with decreasing starting diameter (i.e., the 0.030” starting material has higher strengths than does the 0.218” rod).

UTS

0.2% Yield

200.0

150.0 150.0

100.0 100.0 50.0 50.0 0.0 0.0

0.0 0.0

With minor variations, the basic characteristics displayed by the T-302 stainless in this example is essentially identical for all materials whether they are plain or alloyed carbon steels, stainless steels or one of the more exotics. The author has a series of plots for plain carbon steel that range from 0.10 percent to 0.90 percent carbon that mimic the above data except that each curve is for a given carbon content and not a unique heat-treating size.

The fact that the tensile strengths increase for decreasing annealing size seems counterintuitive. Students are taught that when you anneal a metal, it basically “resets” back to the original condition prior to being cold-worked.

This is “essentially” correct in concept but leads to the belief that an annealed material will return to the same properties as the original material. As the plots in Figure 2 show, this is apparently not totally correct. Some reasons that this is not correct are: • In general, the as-received condition of the hot-rolled rod is not totally uniform and will typically have a larger starting grain size. This results in a lower starting tensile strength.

• After being cold-worked, especially to the higher percentages shown in Fig.1, annealing a material at

35.0

50.0

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50.0Work Percent Cold

70.0

65.0

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Percent Cold Workcurve.

Fig. 2: T-304 cold-working Fig. 2: T-304 cold-working curve.

essentially the same temperature and relative time will result in a refinement of the grain size. This results in a more uniform microstructure than is typical for the original rod. A smaller grain size typically means a slightly higher tensile strength.

This process continues as the material is subjected to a series of cold-working/annealing cycles, but generally to a lesser extent with each cycle as shown by the differences in the curve spacing in Fig. 1 (the strength differential is greater between the 0.218”/0.125” material than that of the 0.125”/0.030” material).

• This effect can be reduced by modifying the basic annealing parameters (e.g., temperature and time).

Increasing either of these two parameters can lead to a larger grain size which reduces the beginning tensile strength.

The property that is really the driving force behind the springiness of a material is the yield strength, typically express as 0.2 percent offset yield strength. The shape of the yield strength curve closely follows that of the tensile strength. Figure 2 shows the tensile strength and 0.2 percent yield strength curves for a T-304 stainless steel.

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Stress

Although the proportional limit Figure 3: Basic Stress=Strain Curve is the point at which most materials will begin to take a permanent set when exceeded, this point is difficult Tangent Point to define as it is the tangent point on (Proportional Limit) the stress-strain curve. As a result, a point called the “yield point” was defined. Figure 3 shows a representa0.2% Offset Yield tive stress-strain curve and depicts the proportional limit and 0.2 percent offset yield strength. The intersecting point for the yield strength is far easier to determine than the tangential point for the proportional limit.

Although other percentage offset values are occasionally used, a 0.2 percent offset is most common and does not vary greatly from the proportional limit.

Strain When subjected to a stress that exceeds the value of the yield strength (red line in Fig. 2) for a given coldwork percentage, a material will not fully “spring back” to — a situation that is not generally desired in a spring, nor its original shape and suffers some permanent deformation one for which it was designed.

Concluding Remarks

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The aim of this paper was to provide both a basic understanding of how mechanical properties of a spring material are developed and to possibly create an interest in further topics of this nature. In combination with the previously cited papers, it shows the amount and hours of work that are required to fully develop a thorough understanding of the mechanical properties of a spring material; especially when one knows that each data point typically represents anywhere from 3, 5 or even more individual tests (e.g., 500 tensile tests were performed to generate the T-302 tensile data shown in Fig.2). Nor does it account for other properties that may be of interest to a spring designer/ user such as ductility, corrosion and/or temperature resistance, hardness (wear resistance) and fatigue properties, to mention only a few. n 1 “Special

Report: Before the Coiler,” Terry Bartel, Springs, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Oct. 1987), p.19.

2 “Music Wire: A Note Above,” Terry L. Bartel and R. Steven Smith, Springs, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Winter 1996), p. 39.

3 “High Performance Alloys,” Terry Bartel, Springs, Vol. 42, No. 2 (April 2003), p. 27.

4 “Heat Treating,” Terry Bartel, Springs, Vol. 46, No. 4 (Oct. 2007), p. 13.

5“Webster’s II New College Dictionary,” (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001), p.1069.

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Construction will be complete in Q1 2017 and production will start in Q2.

With the completion of this plant in Mexico, SG will have six wire producing facilities around the world: Garphyttan Sweden, South Bend USA, Suzhou China, Leeds England (KTS), San Jose Iturbide Mexico, and the Suzuki Metals plant in Narashino, Japan.

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©iStockphoto.com/DNY59

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

By Mark E. Battersby

A

re you ready for tax “reform?” Thanks to the recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the tax rate for incorporated spring manufacturers and suppliers has been reduced from the former top rate of 35 percent to 21 percent for the 2018 tax year and thereafter. Keep in mind, however, that unlike the temporary tax cuts for individuals, the business tax cuts are, for the most part, permanent.

Unfortunately, while regular C-corporations will now be taxed at the new 21 percent tax rate, the majority of small businesses operating as pass-through entities will face new personal tax rates that, in many cases, will be higher than the corporate tax rate.

Pass-Through Businesses Pass-through businesses such as partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs), S-corporations and sole proprietorships pass their income to their owners who pay tax at their individual rate. To level the playing field, the

TCJA contained a 20 percent deduction that applies to the first $315,000 of income (half that for single taxpayers) earned by spring manufacturers operating as a passthrough business.

All springmakers under the income thresholds can take advantage of the 20 percent deduction for pass-through income. For pass-through income above this level, the new law also provides a pass-through income reduction of 20 percent, but only for “business profits,” reducing the owners top effective marginal tax rate to no more than 29.6 percent.

Yes, the TCJA placed limits on who can qualify for the pass-through deduction, along with strong safeguards to ensure that so-called “wage income” does not receive the lower marginal tax rates for business income. The 20 percent deduction applies only to business income above the threshhold that has been reduced by the amount of “reasonable compensation” paid to the owner.

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Unfortunately, what our lawmakers meant by “reasonable” compensation has not yet been defined.

The Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax Lawmakers long ago created a unique, parallel tax system with a 20 percent tax rate that limited tax benefits to prevent large-scale tax avoidance. Under this system, incorporated businesses were required to calculate both their ordinary tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), paying whichever was higher. Fortunately, the corporate AMT has been repealed, lowering taxes and eliminating the confusion and uncertainty that surrounded it in the past.

Cost Recovery -– Increased Expensing Unlike in earlier years when a spring manufacturer was required to claim depreciation, spreading the recovery of their equipment costs over several years, today many businesses will be able to fully and immediately deduct 100 percent of the cost of certain equipment. What’s more, this provision has been made retroactive to Sept. 27, 2017.

Of course, the faster write-off of equipment costs is only temporary. It is at the 100 percent level for expenditures between Sept. 27, 2017 and Jan. 1, 2023. After 2023 and before 2025, the amount deductible drops to 60 percent, with a further decrease to 40 percent in 2025 and to 20 percent in 2026. On Jan. 1, 2027, the equipment cost writeoff disappears.

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Section 179 Despite the narrowing of differences between bonus depreciation and the tax law’s Section 179, first-year expensing, with both offering 100 percent write-offs for new and used property, Section 179 remains an attractive and improved option. The immediate write-off or “expensing” of capital assets is appealing because, unlike so-called “bonus” depreciation, the use of equipment doesn’t have to begin with the spring manufacturing business.

Section 179 allows up to $1 million (up from $500,000 in 2017) of expenditures for business equipment and property to be treated as an expense and immediately deducted rather than depreciated. The ceiling after which the Section 179 expensing allowance must be reduced, dollar-for-dollar, has also been increased from $2 million to $2.5 million.

Interest Expenses In the past, with a few exceptions, our tax laws allowed a spring manufacturer or supplier to deduct interest expense. In an attempt to “level the playing field” between businesses that capitalize through equity and those that borrow, the TCJA has capped the interest expense deduction to 30 percent of the adjusted taxable income of the spring manufacturing business.

While net interest expense in excess of 30 percent of the operation’s adjusted taxable income is now “disallowed,” a special rule applies to pass-through entities that requires the 30 percent determination be applied at the entity level rather than at the tax filer level — in other words, at the partnership level instead of the partner level or the shareholder level rather than the S-corporation level.

To protect the ability of small businesses to write off the interest on loans that help them start or expand a business, hire workers and increase paychecks, other exceptions exist under the TCJA. Limited to small businesses, genrally those with gross receipts that have not exceeded a $25 million threshold for a three-year period, they also deserve attention.

R&D Costs Often labeled “Research and Experimental” expenditures, the frequently overlooked and often misunderstood Research & Development (R&D) Tax Credit was originally designed to encourage businesses to develop cutting edge “Made in America” products and services. It has now been preserved. Generally, “specified research and experimental expenditures” means, at least according to our lawmakers, research or experimental expenditures which are paid or incurred by a business.

The TCJA extended the tax credit for increased R&D expenditures but, for the most part, a spring manufacturer's R&D expenditures are usually charged to the operation’s capital account and amortized ratably over a five-year period.

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Unlike in earlier years when a spring manufacturer was required to claim depreciation, spreading the recovery of their equipment costs over several years, today many businesses will be able to fully and immediately deduct 100 percent of the cost of certain equipment. What’s more, this provision has been made retroactive to Sept. 27, 2017.

Accounting Methods and Simplification Simplifying the method of accounting that can be used by spring manufacturers or businesses will help ease their accounting burdens. Having the option of using the cash method of accounting for any businesses with income of less than $25 million, with or without inventories, is a solid option to have.

Spring manufacturers and businesses with average annual gross income of less than $25 million may now use the easier cash-basis method of accounting. The former $5 million threshold for corporations and partnerships with a corporate partner has been increased to $25 million. The requirement that a business satisfy the $25 million ceiling for all prior years has been repealed. The average gross receipts test has also been indexed to inflation.

As already mentioned, under the TCJA, businesses with average gross receipts of $25 million or less will be permitted to use the cash method of accounting, even if the operation has inventories. Under the cash method of accounting, the business may treat inventory as non-incidental materials and supplies. Also, a spring manufacturer or supplier with inventories that uses the cash method of accounting will be able to account for its inventories using the accounting method used on its financial statements or its books and records. Qualifying manufacturers and businesses will also be exempt from the onerous Uniform Capitalization (UNICAP) rules.

Like-Kind Exchanges, Swaps and Trade-Ins The tax law’s Section 1031 that governs like-kind exchanges currently allow spring manufacturers to defer the tax bill on the built-in gains in property by exchanging it for similar property. Although more a strategy for deferring a tax bill when business assets are sold or

otherwise disposed of, with multiple exchanges, gains can be deferred for decades and ultimately escape taxation entirely.

Under t he TCJA, like-k ind exchanges have been limited to so-called “real” property (but not for real property held primarily for sale). The re-defined like-kind exchanges limits Section 1031 to exchanges of like-kind “real” property, thus ensuring real estate investors will maintain their ability to defer capital gains realized on the sale of property.

NOLs One of the main benefits of net operating losses (NOLs) was the fact that they could be carried back to more prosperous years, creating a refund of taxes paid in those earlier years to provide an immediate infusion of badly-needed cash. Today, the NOL deduction has been severely limited. The write-off is now limited to only 80 percent of the operation’s taxable income and only in special cases will a NOL carryback be permitted. Fortunately, there is no limit on how far forward NOLs may be carried.

International Section 199, the deduction for so-called “domestic production activities,” has been repealed, while the TCJA is already having a significant impact on spring manufacturers engaged in international trade.

According to our lawmakers, the TCJA modernizes our international tax systems to make it easier and far less costly for U.S. businesses to bring home foreign earnings.

The international provisions of the JCTA also prevent U.S. jobs, headquarters and research from moving overseas by eliminating incentives.

More, Oh, So Much More Obviously, there are many more changes contained in the massive Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The new law doubles the estate tax exemptions amount, at least until 2026, meaning the so-called “death tax” will apply to fewer estates. S-corporations attempting to convert to regular C-corporations face new rules; and partnerships will no longer automatically terminate upon the death or exit of a partner.

All in all, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act appears to favor businesses over individuals with longer-lived tax savings.

Unfortunately, with few exceptions, the potential savings won’t be seen by many spring manufacturers until the tax bill for 2018 comes due. n

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Better Solutions for Testing and Measuring Compression and Extension Springs

By James M. Clinton, Product Manager for Force and Material Test Products, The L.S. Starrett Co.

T

he design, manufacture and use of springs can be traced back in time to the Bronze Age. Spring design is a science based on complex arithmetic calculations combined with material science. Springs are used in everyday consumer devices including cellular phones and computers; they are used widely in industrial applications, including automotive and aerospace; they are used in precision medical devices, where a spring, having a diameter of .0036 inch (about equal to the size of a human hair), is used in catheters and endoscopic instruments.

While the wheel is often considered one of the most important inventions ever, the spring is equally important.

Spring design is constantly evolving and requires more advanced testing and tolerancing. Determining a spring’s characteristics and validating its performance is critical to ensuring that the spring will perform to its specification over its intended life-cycle for the application for which it was designed.

This article will introduce the latest measurement technology designed to ensure accurate, precise, repeatable and reliable testing of helical compression and extension springs.

Hooke’s Law One of the basic principles of a spring is to withstand a force while having the ability to compress or extend and then return to its original position or shape. Robert Hooke, a 17th century British physicist, determined that the extension of a spring is in direct proportion with the load applied to it. Hooke’s Law, named after Mr. Hooke, is often used in spring design.

The most commonly encountered form of Hooke’s law is probably the spring equation, which relates the force exerted by a spring to the distance it is stretched

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©iStockphoto.com/ivanastar

or compressed by a spring constant, k, measured in force per length.

Equation: F = -kx where x is the displacement of the spring’s end from its equilibrium position (a distance, in SI units: meters); F is the restoring force exerted by the spring on that end (in SI units: N or kg m/s2); and k is a constant called the rate or spring constant (in SI units: N/m or kg/s2).

Hooke’s law only holds for some materials under certain loading conditions. Helical springs are examples of a product/material that, in most cases, correspond and perform according to Hooke’s Law.

Spring Testing Spring test methods, such as load and free length testing for a compression spring, are useful to analyze a nd improve t he springma k ing processes. Selecting the appropriate test method is dependent largely on the spring’s intended application, the test purpose, the ultimate spring design and the instrumentation used for testing. Spring performance testing commonly uses load/rate testing where the spring’s load and length are measured at 20 percent and 80 percent of either the spring’s rated load or length. It is generally agreed that the measuring system used to determine the load/rate analysis be at least accurate to +/-0.5% of fullscale. The precision should be less than 0.1 times the load tolerance for the spring being measured. If the system is used to determine the length at various load limits, the measurements should be compensated for deflection of the load application and the measurement system, as well as the spring when under applied loads. The precision of the height measurement must be less than 0.1 times the deflection tolerance or the load tolerance divided by the spring rate, whichever is less.

Extension springs also use a load/ rate method similar to compression springs but in the extension direction. Another attribute for an extension spring is to measure a property called initial tension.

Initial tension is the load required to cause coil separation between all active coils.

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For best results, high volume force measurement solutions for compression or extension springs will: • Offer a range of load capacities • Be supplied with strokes up to 40 inches (1016mm) with adjustable speeds from 0.001 inch to 50 inches (0.02 to 1270mm) • Offer high accuracy digital encoders with an outstanding resolution of better than 0.0001-inch standard • Ensure rigidity via a stable granite base and cast aluminum columns combined with softwarecontrolled deflection compensation and linear error correction • Use interchangeable, low profile load sensors with a measurement accuracy of better than 0.05 percent full-scale • Have optimized sensors to ensure correct axial alignment and to compensate for off-center loading due to buckling, non-parallel surface conditions, squareness conditions, etc.

• Include software specifically designed for spring testing and measurement

Force Software Having unique templates for performing testing and measurement on compression springs and another for extension springs is useful. Each template allows the operator to perform sophisticated spring measurements using fill-in-the-blank forms complete with radio buttons that help the operator select the measurement functions necessary for their intended application. Test setup can be performed in seconds. Each template consists of four sections that the operator can use to setup their individual test: pre-test, test, data and post-test sections.

The pre-test section provides the operator with options that occur prior to the testing operation, including global settings, prompting, preconditioning and exceptions.

Test Section Each template is unique to the spring type. The compression template’s test section lets the user measure the spring’s height and perform either a single or two-point limit test. When the single point test is used, the default result is the spring constant. When a two-point test is used, the default result is the spring rate. During setup, the user can specify the single point based on a load limit or length limit. When the two-point method is used, the user can specify two limits, which may be either a load or a length.

The test speed is also specified. The extension template is like the compression template; however, instead of the option to measure height, the extension template has the option to measure initial tension.

Data Section The data section is where the user selects and formats results. Additionally, the data section is used to apply a

tolerance specification for the spring so that “pass” and “fail” status can be measured and reported.

Post Test Section The post-test section provides the operator with options that occur once the test is completed. Post-test options include the ability to return the crosshead to the home position once the test is completed and export raw data points via a USB port to an external device or network location. It will also export results (data) for a run and specify a runs limit for later recall.

Test Builder Software Some spring testing solutions have advanced application options. For example, an advanced test builder application lets the user create a test setup without the use of a template.

Instead, the user creates a test using stage movements and other stage types, including holds, cycles, etc. The test builder provides flexibility to construct multiple stage test setups with the ability to report a significant number of more advanced test results. A spring test can be created using either the compression or extension template and then converting the test setup to the test builder application, allowing more flexibility and advanced testing features to be used.

Test Fixtures for Spring Testing Compression springs can also be tested using platens.

Springs that may have non-parallel surfaces may benefit from self-adjusting platens. Specialized test fixtures can be used that secure the spring during testing. These fixtures are generally customized based on the spring’s inside diameter. Hooks are used for extension springs.

Display Views Displaying measurement and test results is another consideration for force testing systems.

Display views can include a data view showing numerical and textual results for a specific run. A batch/summary view will display the results for all runs within a batch in a tabular/spreadsheet-style. A graph view displays graph lines based on the sampling rate and a statistics view calculates statistical results for user-selected results.

Conclusion Today’s spring force testing systems are highly accurate instruments for determining quality and performance characteristics for compression and extension springs.

These systems are easy-to-use and can be applied on the production floor or in the laboratory. n James M. Clinton earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. He has been with Starrett for over six years starting as a technical support specialist. Clinton is now the product manager for force and material test products. He can be reached at 978-249-3551. For more information on Starrett, visit www.starrett.com.

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By Dr. Deborah Happ

L

ike abuse of alcohol or illicit drugs, the nation’s growing opioid epidemic is presenting workplace challenges. It has been called the worst drug crisis in American history, reaching every corner of society, including workplaces both large and small. This epidemic involves the use of prescription opioid (pain) medications and illicit drugs, including heroin and illegally manufactured fentanyl.

A survey recently released by the National Safety Council reveals that more than 70 percent of workplaces are feeling the negative effects of opioid abuse. Nearly 40

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Opioid Crisis: Why Companies Should Take Note

percent of employers said employees are missing work due to abuse of painkillers, with roughly the same percent reporting employee abuse of the drugs on the job.

Despite the prevalence of substance use and addiction in businesses across the country, only a small percentage of those with opioid or other substance use disorders ask for help or receive it. And that’s costing employers around $10 billion annually from absenteeism, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

Here are four ways you can address opioid dependence and substance addiction in your workplace:

1

Create a non-stigmatizing workplace. One way to

influence more people to seek help is to convince them that getting treatment is the smartest thing to do. By talking about addiction like any other disease, you silence the stigma and allow people to realize it’s all right to ask for help. It’s equally critical that owners and managers send the message that your workplace is a safe place, and that you’re here to help.

2

Equip staff to recognize the signs of addiction.

It’s important that management and staff be trained on the early signs of opioid and substance

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addiction—irritability, poor concentration and declining performance—so they can intervene before the situation deteriorates. Train managers to address performance issues, because that often opens the dialog to talk about sensitive matters. By showing genuine concern, you gain the trust of your employees, which allows you to guide them to the care they need.

3

Offer support to employees and family members. Just

as you would with an employee who has a medical condition, such as cancer or heart disease, offer non-judgmental support to employees with a substance use disorder. Remember, employees who have family members struggling with substance addiction suffer at work too. Those who are affected by a loved one’s addiction can have increased absenteeism, lack of focus and health problems related to stress. If you don’t already have one, consider providing an employee assistance program (EAP) for your employees. EAP services can be an effective first step for employees and their dependents to initiate support for nonmedical prescription drug problems and can offer counseling and referral services, conduct substance abuse evaluations or connect an employee to a qualified substance abuse professional. The best thing about an EAP is that it costs the employee nothing and is completely confidential.

4

Help employees access treatment. Ensure that your

employees have access to quality treatment for substance addiction. Consult with your health plan provider about a comprehensive plan that covers inpatient and outpatient services. Employees with opioid addiction can often benefit from medication-assisted treatment (MAT), which reduces the cravings for opioids and allows employees to work while in treatment. Finally, it’s important to remember that employees struggling with opioid misuse or substance addiction are not weak or morally corrupt. Drug addiction is a disease and needs to be treated and talked about like any other disease—with compassion and quality care. Opioid misuse impacts much more than workplace performance: Overdoses killed more than 64,000 Americans in 2016, up 21 percent over 2015, according to federal officials.

By taking action and implementing these strategies, you create a safe work environment in which employees feel supported and can do their best work. There’s nothing more important than sending a message to your employees that you care about their health and well-being. n Dr. Deborah Happ is a senior vice president for New Directions Behavioral Health in Kansas City.

She can be reached at 816-994-1404 or email: dhapp@ndbh.com. For more information, visit www.ndbh.com.

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Vulcan Spring Celebrates 50th Anniversary

I

n 2017, Vulcan Spring and Manufacturing Co., a leading designer and manufacturer of flat steel springs and related assemblies for diverse global markets, celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Vulcan Spring and Manufacturing was founded in August 1967, and for half a century has manufactured the highest quality constant force springs and related products for many diverse industries.

“Constant force springs are made from flat steel and are unique in the world of springs,” states Scott Rankin, president. “Our company is focused on designing and producing products that allow our customers to succeed.

Our job is to make your ideas a reality, solve the issues that you have, and make your product a huge success.”

Alex Rankin, a former SMI president and the founder of the company, began Vulcan Spring in the basement of his home and it has grown to a 75,000 square foot facility located in Telford, Pennsylvania.

“We sell to companies around the world and create products that are used by most people every day, whether they realize it or not,” added Scott Rankin, who is also a former SMI president.

The company employs about 75 people who specialize in making springs for electric motors, solar panels,

automobiles, store displays, toys, medical equipment and many other products.

“We have manufactured more than 6,000 individual products for more than 2,000 customers,” Scott Rankin says. “Our experience and computerized manufacturing equipment allow us to deliver the shortest time to market in the industry. Here in Telford, our goal is to ensure that every Vulcan team member and their family live a comfortable, productive life.”

Vulcan developed PULLBOX® product security devices, plastic scrolls for informational displays, counterbalances for beverage truck doors, and variable force springs that push products on store shelves. More than 40 years ago, the first commercial application of a Vulcan spring was used to power the speech mechanism in the “Talking G.I. Joe” doll. Today, Vulcan springs are employed in a wide range of applications where exceptional design, high quality materials and superior manufacturing techniques are required to meet customer needs.

“Our commitment to rapid response, product development, quality and value makes us the leading force in our industry and the preferred supplier to each of our clients. We look forward to the next 50 years,” Scott Rankin concluded. n

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Jose Pimentel has worked at Lee Spring in Brooklyn for more than 23 years and is in charge of header finish.

Engineering a Bright Future: Lee Spring at 100 | By Gary McCoy

B

rooklyn, the most populous borough of New York City, is where Lee Spring began operations in 1918.

Over the last century, the company has been housed at many locations throughout Brooklyn, and since 2008 it has called the historic Brooklyn Army Terminal home.

Ironically, Brooklyn Army Terminal, like Lee Spring, is also celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2018 (see more in sidebar next page).

“We’re celebrating 100 years, and that’s only possible because of the great people that have been here in the halls of Lee Spring for the last century,” said Steve Kempf, CEO of Lee Spring. “Many I never knew, and some that I’ve heard stories about, and now lots that I am good friends with today. It makes coming to work every day a total pleasure.

And the same holds true for the industry at large.”

Lee Spring was founded by Robert Lee Johannsen on Union Street in Brooklyn. The company manufactures and distributes mechanical springs, wireforms, stampings and fourslide parts worldwide. The company is well-known for its Lee Spring Catalog, which was first published in 1963 with 1,300 products. Lee Spring now has more than 25,000 products available in its print and online catalog.

The company was a Brooklyn only company until the ‘60s when they opened a facility in Connecticut. In the ‘80s they opened a manufacturing plant in Greensboro, North Carolina and are now truly a worldwide entity, with six locations across the U.S. and additional facilities in the UK, Mexico, China, India and Germany.

Kempf considers Lee Spring a global company with local service, working with customers wherever they are located.

“A lot of our customers are multinational companies that know and trust Lee Spring; so, we are in these various locations to support them,” explained Kempf. “Wherever our customers go, we’re there to be with and support them.”

He emphasizes that a vast majority of the products they make overseas stay in their local market.

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Felix De La Rosa is a coiler at Lee Spring in Brooklyn and has been with the company for nearly 22 years.

Being the Conductor

Kempf has been leading Lee Spring for more than a decade now. When he first arrived at the company he believed making springs was similar to the work he had done making IMAX films at Giant Screen Films.

“I looked at it as [being] a guy who manufactures films.

I take a reel of raw film stock, you take a reel of raw wire.

I run it through a camera, you run it through a coiling machine. I then slice it up into little components in the editing room, you slice it up into little springs. I run it through a developing processor, you run it through your oven. In the end, I’ve got a film and you’ve got springs.”

Kempf says the most important thing, whether making films or springs, is to make sure it is made to the highest quality, in the most efficient manner.

“That’s the way I approached making our films, and it’s the way I’ve approached making our springs,” explained Kempf. “It’s a trite little analogy, but it holds true in my heart.”

Kempf sees his role with Lee Spring as being a “conductor.” He said it’s all about listening to employees and pointing them in the right direction, “as well as fueling their energy and channeling their knowledge toward an overall vision for the company and making sure that we’re all working toward the same end goals.”

He considers his role “less about telling people what to do. Rather I try to garner a consensus, from a lot of smart people, to help us decide where we want to go and then let people do their thing.”

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Celebrating Lee's Birthday

Since Lee Spring is scattered throughout the world, Kempf says it is not practical to gather every company employee in one room to pop the cork and hold a large party to celebrate the occasion. Instead, Kempf will be traveling later this year to every Lee Spring location to hold various celebrations.

A larger party is also planned at the company’s worldwide headquarters in Brooklyn that about 100 employees call home.

“We’ll bring it back home (Brooklyn) for the biggest celebration,” explained Kempf. “It’s largely about celebrating our employees who are the foundation and bedrock of our company.”

Not to be forgotten, Kempf said they will also celebrate their suppliers and customers.

“Our records don’t go back to 1918 to know who our customers were back then, but I do have records that go back 50 years and we have a lot of the same customers today that we had 50 years ago,” said Kempf. “So, I have to give a lot of thanks to our customers for the longevity of Lee Spring and the success that we’ve had.”

Let the celebration begin! n

©iStockphoto.com/demerzel21

Kempf pauses and finishes his thought, “Which they do best.”

Lee Spring is primarily an engineering company, according to Kempf. “It’s engineering driven from the ground up, and we have very skilled engineers that can help the engineers at our customers’ companies to develop and design the springs they need to go inside of the device they’re building.”

Kempf admits it’s been a challenge over the last decade or so because some people look more at price and not at value.

“What we’re trying to build as a team at Lee Spring is a value proposition where people value the quality of the product we produce as well as the support, engineering and otherwise, that we provide to them.”

To bolster its engineering support, Lee Spring recently launched an R&D division out of Santa Fe Springs, California.

“We are there in the product development phase for a lot of new products. New products are developing all the time that require springs to function properly and function well,” explained Kempf. “We are lucky enough to be in an industry where our product is a necessity and as long as we listen to our customers and what they want out of those springs, we’ll be along for the ride as the industry grows.”

Lee Spring is also noted for its experienced and long tenured employees, of which Kempf is very proud.

Lee Spring was among 13 businesses and nonprofits based in New York City that recently received “Age Smart Employer Awards” through the program that was developed by the Columbia Aging Center at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The awards support a rising number of role-model employers like Lee Spring who are hiring, retaining and supporting workers over 50.

Brooklyn Army Terminal: Elvis and More Brooklyn Army Terminal, formerly referred to as the “U.S. Army Military Ocean Terminal” or the “Brooklyn Army Base,” served as the largest military supply base in the U.S. through World War II. Today, Brooklyn Army Terminal is a fully functioning commercial/industrial complex that houses dozens of corporate tenants in a wide array of industries, including Lee Spring since 2008.

“It’s fortuitous that both our company and the building we reside in are celebrating our 100th year this year; we’re very proud of that,” said Steve Kempf, CEO of Lee Spring.

Brooklyn Army Terminal was most heavily trafficked during World War II, during which more than 20,000 military and civilian personnel were employed there. Arguably the most famous soldier to deploy from Brooklyn Army Terminal was Elvis Presley. He greeted fans and dozens of photojournalists in September 1958 when he shipped off from Brooklyn to Germany.

The Brooklyn Army Terminal remained active through the early 1970s with both military and civilian tenants. New York City purchased Brooklyn Army Terminal from the federal government in 1981 with the intention of repurposing the structure for manufacturing and industrial use.

A few years back the Lee Spring balcony at the Terminal was used to film a scene for an Under Armour Super Bowl commercial “The New Prototype.” More recently, the company welcomed a film crew to shoot a scene from the same balcony for the movie “Going in Style.” The 2017 comedy film is about a trio of retirees who plan to rob a bank after their pensions are eliminated. It starred Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin.

Background information for this story on the history of the Terminal was obtained from the Brooklyn Army Terminal website at www. bklynarmyterminal.com/building-information/ history.

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Springmaker Spotlight

Steve Kempf: SMI's New President Provides Guiding Hand

By Gary McCoy, Managing Editor

T

o know Steve Kempf, the new president of SMI and the CEO of Lee Spring in Brooklyn, New York, is to understand a profound experience that shaped him as a teenager. The youngest of three brothers who grew up in Chicago’s north shore suburb of Wilmette, Kempf has very fond memories of his childhood. Among other things, he was active athletically between ice hockey, skiing and tennis.

When Kempf was a sophomore at New Trier High School, his father announced to the family an opportunity to move to Los Angeles to open a new west coast office. Kempf wasn’t fond of the idea and started applying to boarding schools, eventually being accepted at Exeter in New Hampshire.

When the L.A. moving plans fell through, Kempf believed attending Exeter was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up even though he would leave behind many good friends at New Trier. He finished his last two years of high school on the East Coast and was exposed to the “Harkness method” at Exeter—a teaching and learning method involving students seated in a large, oval configuration to discuss ideas in an encouraging, open-minded environment with only occasional or minimal teacher intervention. Exeter describes it as being all “about collaboration and respect, where every voice carries equal weight, even when you don’t agree.”

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Exeter’s Harkness method was established in 1930 with a gift from Edward Harkness. Harkness was a man who believed learning should be a democratic affair, and his intention was that what happens at the table be a “real revolution.”

Kempf describes the Harkness way as the “guiding hand versus the heavy hand.” His Exeter education and exposure to the Harkness method is a leadership style that has left a lasting impression upon Kempf. It informs the way he leads Lee Spring, and one that SMI members will note as he assumes his new duties as the president of SMI for the next two years.

From Harvard to Wall Street While at Exeter, Kempf was exposed to the merits of an Ivy League education and enrolled as an undergraduate student at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1988. He graduated with a degree in economics in 1992 and went straight to New York City to work as a financial analyst for Salomon Brothers. He worked in investment banking and was involved in mergers and acquisitions with a focus on the telecommunications industry.

Kempf moved to Hong Kong for his third and final year with Salomon Brothers, where he focused on raising money for telecommunications companies in Asia.

His time included forays into India and the Philippines.

“I traveled extensively throughout Asia and really came to love that part of the world and the people there,” said Kempf.

In the middle of his year in Hong Kong, Kempf decided to apply to business schools and ended up back at Harvard in 1995 to enroll in a joint program between the business and law schools to earn a JD/MBA degree.

Even though his father was an attorney, Kempf had no interest in becoming a lawyer. He remembers long conversations with his father on why he wanted to leave behind the banking world to attend graduate school.

“I said to my father, ‘I really want to make something. I don’t really think it’s in my heart to be in a service industry.’”

Even though he had been involved in big deals that were headlines in the Wall Street Journal, Kempf said, “I felt like a month later, when the paper yellowed and there wasn’t much left of it, I didn’t feel like I was building anything.”

Between his father and colleagues at Salomon Brothers, Kempf said they all felt that a law school education was a good thing because of the great training and analytical rigor it provided.

Nurturing an Entrepreneurial Bug Kempf said his Harvard graduate school training helped nurture his entrepreneurial mindset that started back in Wilmette with his brothers mowing lawns and stenciling house numbers on his neighbors’ curbs for money.

Another entrepreneurial foray was inspired by David Letterman’s Top Ten lists. The Kempf brothers came up with an idea to start a T-shirt business that initially made

Even though he had been involved in big deals that were headlines in the Wall Street Journal, Kempf said, “I felt like a month later, when the paper yellowed and there wasn’t much left of it, I didn’t feel like I was building anything.”

fun of their beloved Cubs. The brothers produced a T-shirt that said, “Late Night at Comiskey” (home of the Chicago White Sox) on the front and the “Top Ten Reasons Why Cubs Fans are Losers” on the back.

They filled their hockey bags with an initial order of 300 shirts, took their hockey sticks and put coat hangers on the end of them. They stood outside of Comiskey Park on a Friday night, and within 40 minutes of game time their inventory of shirts was sold out. They went back the next weekend with 1,000 shirts and sold out their inventory

by Saturday night.

A business was born and with the higher volume of orders, the price of the shirts went down and profits went up. They expanded to sell shirts for Bears fans at Soldier Field and Cubs fans at Wrigley Field. “We had a very good high school job,” said Kempf with a chuckle.

While involved in the four-year JD/MBA program at Harvard, Kempf had three summers to try out different things. He spent his first summer working at a Chicago area telecommunications firm. The next summer he went to Colorado and worked at a venture capital firm that had its roots in the telecommunications industry.

“I enjoyed being in Colorado and probably would have continued with that but for the fact that my oldest brother Don was tired of being a consultant, like I had been tired of being in banking,” explained Kempf. “We started talking about starting a company.”

It just so happened that Steve’s other brother, Charlie, was holding his birthday celebration that summer at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.

While sitting at the museum’s IMAX theater, Don leaned over to Charlie and said, “Could you imagine Michael Jordan on that screen?”

Kempf said out of that comment was born the idea that the brothers needed to create an IMAX film about Michael Jordan.

Giant Screen Films Is Born “The idea was just, well, here’s something we could create, it’d be fun,” recalled Kempf. “We thought we’d see if we could make a film, be done with it and sell it off to a distributor.”

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Being entrepreneurial, business-minded people, the Kempf brothers did a ton of research on the industry, attended IMAX conferences and ultimately came to enjoy and like the people in the industry.

“Through a long process of getting the connections to Michael Jordan, we ended up successfully making the film, but we also enjoyed the process, not just making one film.

We said: ‘This could be a career.’”

A documentary that follows Michael Jordan’s basketball career, stint in baseball, and his last championship season with the Chicago Bulls in 1998, “Michael Jordan to the Max” premiered in 2000.

Kempf and his brother Don decided to distribute the film themselves, and ultimately “Giant Screen Films” was born.

Giant Screen Films just celebrated its 20 th anniversary in 2017 and is recognized as a pioneer and leader in the large-format film industry. Don continues to run the company from its headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, with a mission to “deliver inspirational and family-friendly films that entertain and educate.”

Kempf was a co-founder and co-president of the company for eight years with Don before embarking on his career at Lee Spring. Kempf continues as a strategic adviser to Giant Screen Films, but he is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of the company.

Regarding his current involvement, Kempf said, “I attend the annual convention for IMAX and the big events here and there, where I can have the glory, but none of the hard work.”

As for Kempf’s brother Charlie, he is not involved in the film business. “As a financial trader, Charlie also caught the entrepreneurial bug but enjoyed the service world.

He stuck with finance and built a very successful trading business in high yield bonds,” said Kempf.

Entering the World of Springs Kempf’s path to the spring world came through his wife, Mary Dixie Carter, whose father, Arthur Carter, was the owner of Lee Spring. Kempf and Mary Dixie met during their first week as freshmen at Harvard in September 1988, started dating in February 1989 and were married in 2003.

A whole article could be written about the interesting life of Arthur Carter, a “Renaissance man” who is an investment banker, publisher and artist. Carter owned a company called Utilities and Industries, of which Lee Spring was a subsidiary. Over the years, Carter sold off many of the companies to pay down the debt he had used to acquire them. Carter had repeatedly asked Kempf to help him run the companies, but for many years the answer was “no.”

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The Kempf family (l-to-r): Henry, Mary Dixie, Eleanor and Steve.

At Home in Brooklyn Steve Kempf and his wife Mary Dixie, a writer, live near Prospect Park, a 526-acre public park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. They are the parents of Eleanor, 7 and Henry, 5.

Kempf said his children are more important than the time he dedicates to running Lee Spring.

Kempf is quick to let employees know they are a family at Lee Spring. “But their true, nuclear family is the most important thing, and the company makes sure they know that we understand and support that. We’re very supportive when family issues come up.”

Kempf said his children complain when he travels, which is a frequent

occurrence. “Unlike 10 years ago when I used to extend my trips to explore other things to make the company grow, I’m now in and out and back to my kids as quickly as possible.”

Kempf continues to remain active in the sports he played growing up. He plays outdoor hockey in the wintertime in two different leagues at Prospect Park and at Central Park in Manhattan. He also bikes to work in the summertime.

“I’m also active in the wintertime, skiing and teaching my kids how to skate and ski,” Kempf explained.

He said both hockey and skiing are very therapeutic activities. “When I’m

out on the ice or out on the slopes, nothing frees my mind more,” said Kempf.

Kempf also continues to root on his favorite sports teams back in Chicago.

A lifelong Cubs fan and optimist by nature, Kempf said he was always one of those guys who permanently said, “next year.”

Next year finally came in 2016, when the Chicago Cubs won their first world championship in 108 years.

“My brother and I were at game 7 of the World Series in Cleveland,” said Kempf. “It was one of those moments I wouldn’t trade for anything.”

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“The attraction of the spring industry to me and what also gives me optimism about its future is that springs are vital and critical, even if a small and often overlooked component of so many things that we rely upon in our lives,” said Kempf. “That’s both what excites me about being in the spring industry, and what makes me confident that there’s a vibrant future ahead of us.”

When Kempf started Giant Screen Films with his brother, he had deferred finishing his final year of the JD/MBA program at Harvard. His time of deferral could no longer be extended, so Kempf returned to Harvard in the fall of 2001, and Mary Dixie joined him in Boston for his final year of the program. The two decided to get married and to continue living together in the same city, so they traveled to New York City after Kempf’s graduation from Harvard.

“I was commuting back and forth to Chicago from New York, and that’s when it became a little more enticing to be at a company here in New York rather than going back and forth to Chicago,” explained Kempf.

Kempf said both he and Mary Dixie were very hesitant about his going into the family business. But when the gentleman who had been running Arthur Carter’s companies decided to retire, Carter made one last pitch for Kempf to join him. Kempf still wasn’t convinced but agreed to help his father-in-law sell off the five remaining operating companies Carter owned. In the process of liquidating the companies, however, the spring industry caught Kempf’s fancy.

What was it about the spring industry that hooked him?

Kempf said that when he was in the IMAX film business, a lot of people would say, “Wow, what a great thing.

You guys have your own company, and you’re in the movie business. That must be so incredibly exciting.”

“My response was often, “Yeah, I really enjoy being an entrepreneur and running my own company. If I’m making something, I’m happy to be making films. But making something is what really drives me. So, it could be any widget in the world.”

Kempf said when he came to Lee Spring, he initially spent one a day a week at the Brooklyn-based company.

He said he started understanding springs, what they go in and how they drive so much of the world underneath it all. He said he suddenly realized that “this was that widget that I had spoken about.”

It was Kempf’s opportunity “to make something” that he told his father many years earlier.

Kempf approached his father-in-law and said, “Maybe rather than selling the spring business, we can arrange a

Pictured (l-to-r): Steve Kempf, CEO and Al Mangels, president. Mangels will celebrate 25 years at Lee Spring in October. Ralph Mascolo, who was not present for the photo, is Lee Spring’s executive vice president and has been with the company for 28 years.

loan to take some of your risk off the table and I can stay on to manage the business as your partner.” They did just that.

Kempf and Carter have a monthly lunch meeting to talk about how things are going at Lee Spring.

At a recent lunch, Carter said to Kempf, “I can’t believe this. We couldn’t have been better partners.”

Kempf wholeheartedly agrees. “We really have been extremely complementary and have gotten along famously well in what can sometimes be a tricky situation. It’s been a real rewarding experience for both of us.”

Kempf started working with Carter in 2004 and by the time 2006 rolled around, all the other companies were sold off and Kempf was full time at Lee Spring.

Reengaging with the Spring Industry One of Kempf’s first priorities upon taking the helm at Lee Spring was to become more involved in the spring industry.

Kempf called up SMI’s president at the time, Dan Sebastian, and said he wanted to re-engage Lee Spring in the industry.

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“I didn’t know much about SMI,” confessed Kempf.

“Lee Spring was one of the founding members of SMI 85 years ago, when we were just a 15-year-old young company.”

Sebastian was excited to have one of the founding members involved again.

“We’re a real company who’s a real part of the industry and we would like to do our part,” Kempf explained to Sebastian.

Kempf started attending SMI meetings, and eventually joined the SMI board and executive committee.

He will become the organization’s 36th president at the 2018 SMI Annual Meeting in Napa, California.

Building Upon as Strong Foundation Kempf says he doesn’t necessarily have a bold vision for SMI as much as building upon the shoulders of those who went before such as Sebastian, Reb Banas, Scott Rankin, Steve Moreland, Hap Porter and, most recently, Mike Betts.

“I really like the direction that the organization has been going and my plan is to continue and strengthen that direction, rather than make any major changes,” said Kempf. He said the strategic plan SMI developed more than four years ago brought about the introduction of the SMI Metal Engineering eXpo and a renewed commitment to provide SMI members with technical knowledge.

“Under Mike’s direction, we’ve been looking to hire someone with a technical background to help SMI members,” said Kempf. “I’d like to do that and really build up and strengthen our technical capabilities, so we can support our members in better ways. I feel like we’ve been doing a good job of it already, it’s just taking things to the next level.”

Kempf also understands the challenges ahead. “I recognize that there’s been a strain with some of the regional organizations and the national organization, but since SMI serves the entire North American spring industry, it’s our responsibility to pull everyone together.”

“As a member of several of those regional associations and the incoming president of the North American association,” said Kempf, “one of my goals is to strengthen the bond and the cooperation among those associations to better the North American spring industry, which is the ultimate mission of SMI.” A Vibrant Future Kempf is optimistic about the state of the spring industry.

“The attraction of the spring industry to me and what also gives me optimism about its future is that springs are vital and critical, even if a small and often overlooked component of so many things that we rely upon in our lives,” said Kempf. “That’s both what excites me about being in the spring industry, and what makes me confident that there’s a vibrant future ahead of us.”

Kempf is also upbeat about manufacturing generally in the United States and around the world.

“[The Harkness] method is not so much to call out from the front of the pack, it’s to gather the pack around in a circle and decide where to go and chart the best path toward that. I believe we have a great team to do that.”

“I’m optimistic that manufacturing in the United States is being recognized as creating value and being a necessary component of a strong economy,” said Kempf.

At less than 15 years, Kempf is a relative newcomer to the industry and admits he’s “learned a lot and is still learning.”

He enjoys the industry because of the daily business and design challenges. “Every day has new challenges; it’s something that the previous day didn’t foretell, so it makes it exciting and interesting.”

Kempf says he’s learning constantly, and the reason why he wants to build upon the shoulders of those who came before him at SMI is because of what he’s learned already and what he will learn going forward.

“That’s what’s great about SMI’s executive structure with the past presidents. They’re all there for guidance, and I know that with the past presidents I can pick up the phone and they’ll answer happily and give me counsel.”

Kempf appreciates the incredible support system within the spring industry for continuous learning, “not to mention the great executive committee of Dan Sceli, Gene Huber, Jr., Bert Goering and Mike Betts. it’s really a great team and there’s a lot to learn.”

Kempf harkens back to the Harkness method he learned as a teenager. “That method is not so much to call out from the front of the pack, it’s to gather the pack around in a circle and decide where to go and chart the best path toward that. I believe we have a great team to do that.”

Plus, Kempf says SMI is fortunate to have a strong support system with the capacity to do great things because of the SMI staff, led by Lynne Carr. He reiterates again the need to continue strengthening the organization “which is in an enviable, strong position right now.”

Kempf says with a laugh, “If it’s fixed, don’t break it!

I’m going to strengthen it (SMI), rather than try and really change it.”

The Harkness method has been described as a place “where you explore ideas as a group, developing the courage to speak, the compassion to listen and the empathy to understand.”

SMI members who get to know Kempf and perhaps sit with him at the table should be ready, as Harkness predicted, for a “real revolution.” n

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Book Corner ©iStockphoto.com/kertlis

Amp Up Your Sales

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mp Up Your Sales: Powerful Strategies Fast-paced and increasingly crowded That Move Customers to Make Fast, is the type of marketplace today’s sales Favorable Decisions” by Andy Paul is a professionals face, where meaningsimple to follow book that is well written and provides a no-nonsense approach to the subject ful product differentiation has all of sales. He has organized the book into easy but disappeared. This book takes a to follow sections with many valuable insights meaningful approach to help sellers set and stories.

Amp Up Your Sales revolves around three themselves apart in the eyes of buyers. main themes: 1) simplifying your selling, 2) maximizing the value of your selling, and 3) amplifying your sales responsiveness. salespeople must understand in order to simplify their selling.

“At the beginning of my sales career, one of my first sales Part two focuses on responsiveness that Paul says is “the single managers assured me, ‘Selling is simple. It’s not easy. But it is simple,’” explained Paul in the book’s introduction. “Well, sales most important sales skill that you must master and integrate into your selling.” Part three is focused on how to maximize the should be simple. But usually it isn’t.” value you deliver to the customer through your selling.

In part one of the book, “Simplifying Your Selling,” Paul In the final sections of the book (parts four through eight), introduces readers to the core concepts of selling that Paul uses the building blocks of the first three parts “to provide simple, easily implemented sales strategies that create tangible sales differentiation and that will help make your selling memorable to the customer.”

Fast-paced and increasingly crowded is the type of marketplace today’s sales professionals face, where meaningful product differentiation has all but disappeared. This book takes a meaningful approach to help sellers set themselves apart in the eyes of buyers.

Toward the end of the book in Chapter 39, Paul lays out what he calls the most important sales call. “The most important sales call you make during the course of a sale is the • For all applications with ranges from first call after you receive their order and before the product .003”–.750” wire diameter. is shipped or the service delivered.” He goes on to outline • Extensive inventory ready to ship why that call is so important and why many sales professionwith over 1.5 million parts in stock, als avoid it—fearing the customer will change their mind and including die springs. cancel. Paul argues that “the most important sales call” can • Custom design work with quick delivery. play a vital role in reducing, if not eliminating, buyer’s remorse.

• Most estimates returned As a communications professional, I appreciated the time within 24 hours. he spent in part seven (chapters 34–37) helping teach sales www.diamondwire.com professionals how to master stories that sell. Having a strong 1-800-816-5613 “sales story” with a customer and issue-oriented focus is critical, he says.

Convenient locations throughout the US – Northeast, Southeast and Southwest.

Whether you are a novice sales professional or a seasoned pro, everyone will benefit from Paul’s easy to follow strategies. n

100% in ade M

rica

Ame

STOCK & CUSTOM PRECISION SPRINGS FOR INDUSTRY

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

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Global CTE News Highlights

Forty-Nine States Enact 241 Policies to Support Career Technical Education

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ast year saw a significant expansion of state Career Technical Education (CTE) policy, with 49 states and the District of Columbia enacting 241 CTE-related laws, executive orders, boards of education actions and budget provisions, far exceeding the number of policy actions in 2016. In January 2018, Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) released their fifth annual report, “State Policies Impacting CTE: 2017 Year in Review,” summarizing these policy activities, and identifying major themes and trends in CTE policymaking in 2017.

This report, the only one of its kind that provides an overview of all CTE-related laws, regulations and state

and we look forward to supporting states as they continue their work to ensure CTE is meeting the needs of employers and learners in every community across the nation.”

“This report is evidence that in every corner of the country, policymakers are acknowledging the critical role that CTE plays in preparing students for career success,” said LeAnn Wilson, ACTE executive director. “Together, with policymakers at every level of government, we can further strengthen the CTE ecosystem and redouble our efforts to ensure every student has the opportunity to achieve the career of his or her dreams.”

The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) is the nation’s largest not-for-profit association committed to the advancement of educat ion t h at prepares youth and adults for successful careers. ACTE represents the community of CTE professionals, including educators, administrators, researchers, school counselors, guidance and career development professionals and others at all levels of e du c at ion . AC T E i s committed to excellence in providing advocacy, public awareness and access to resources, professional development and leadership opportunities.

Advance CTE: State Leaders Connecting Learning to Work is the longest-standing national nonprofit that represents state directors and state leaders responsible for secondary, postsecondary and adult Career Technical Education (CTE) across all 50 states and U.S. territories. Established in 1920, Advance CTE supports visionary state leadership, cultivates best practices and speaks with a collective voice on national policy to promote academic and technical excellence that ensures a career-ready workforce.

For more information, visit www.acteonline.org or www.careertech.org. n

“This report is evidence that in every corner of the country, policymakers are acknowledging the critical role that CTE plays in preparing students for career success.” actions, identifies funding as the top policy category for 2017, as it has been in each year’s publication, with 44 states passing funding-related provisions. This was followed by data, reporting and/or accountability (42); industryrecognized credentials (39); dual/concurrent enrollment, articulation and early college (38); and industry partnerships/work-based learning (36). The significant increase in policy actions was influenced by implementation of the “Every Student Succeeds Act.” “State leaders have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to quality CTE programs of study that prepare learners for a lifetime of career success,” said Kimberly Green, Advance CTE executive director. “Their dedication and efforts have resulted in significant investments in CTE,

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is pleased to announce our next event

October 1 – 3, 2019 Pittsburgh Convention Center Pittsburgh, PA

Save the Date!

Registration begins Spring 2019 Learn more at metalengineeringexpo.org

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Inside SMI ©iStockphoto.com/seraficus

SMI Hires Two New Technical Experts

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o bolster its technical assistance, SMI has retained two technical experts as consultants, C. Richard (Rick) Gordon and Gary VanBuren. They are available to help both members and nonmembers.

As the SMI Technical Director, Gordon will respond to members’ metallurgical questions, such as those on fatigue life, corrosion problems and material related problems. He will manage and oversee processes for meeting members’ needs regarding failure analysis, to include sourcing reputable testing labs throughout North America, forwarding member requests to the appropriate lab, and reporting results and recommendations.

Gordon will also represent SMI at international standards symposia; collaborate in standards development and updating; explore research opportunities; contribute whitepapers; assist the chair of the SMI Technical Committee, particularly in the planning and execution of the bi-annual SMI Metal Engineering eXpo; and highlight SMI capabilities/expertise to grants and research organizations.

Gordon has had a career as a technical service metallurgist, most recently at Gerdau Ameristeel in Texas and New Jersey. Before that he held quality and engineering positions at National-Standard Company, Baoan International Investment Co. Ltd., and United States Steel Corporation.

Gordon’s graduate study was at the University of Pittsburgh, and he completed his masters and undergraduate

degrees in metallurgical and materials engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is a member of ASTM, ASM International (chairman of the Notre Dame Chapter), Wire Association International, TMS, and the Metallurgical Society of AIME. VanBuren, a longtime SMI member, is SMI’s new Technical Advisor. He will be available to assist members with design and problem-solving issues, including spring design and technical consultation; respond to technical emails and phone calls; assist in upgrading Advanced Spring Design software; and assist the SMI Technical Committee, particularly in defining speakers and topics for the bi-annual SMI Metal Engineering eXpo and developing spring design classes and seminars.

VanBuren is an engineering manager with a 23-year background in the spring industry, most of those at Spring Team, Inc. in Austinburg, Ohio. He has served on the SMI Technical Committee for approximately 15 years. He has extensive experience in compression, extension and torsion spring design as well as customer service. VanBuren holds degrees in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering from Kent State University.

Gordon can be reached at c.richard.gordon@gmail.com, or 574-514-9367. VanBuren can be reached at gvanburen2@ gmail.com, or 440-206-6129.

New Residual Stress Study Available The results of a new SMI study, “Microha rdness Residual St ress Study: Effect of Stress Relieving Temperature on Tensile Strength, Residual Stress and Microhardness,” were revealed to the spring industry at the 2017 SMI Metal Engineering eXpo in Hartford, Connecticut by the study’s author, Dan Sebastian.

The study details the effects of stress relieving on mechanical springs made from four wire sizes and three different indexes of Cr-Si ASTM 401.

Measurements were made using X-ray diffraction and microhardness. The

preponderance of data clearly establishes a direct relationship between microhardness and residual stress.

The use of microhardness provides an alternate method to document the effects of stress relieving.

Photo Credit A photo in the last issue of Springs on page 73 about the Magic Wheelchair project that Dina and Scott Sanchez participated in should have been credited to the Chicago Zoological Society.

Springs regrets the omission. n

Ever y SM I member compa ny received a complimenta ry copy.

Additional copies can be purchased at the SMI website, www.smihq.org.

The cost per copy is $400 for members and $1,000 for non-members.

New Members SMI is pleased to announce its newest member. Please join us in welcoming this new company.

Scherdel Sales & Technology Muskegon, Michigan

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thanks the following sponsors for their support of our Annual Meeting Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsor

Bronze Sponsor

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Committee Connection ©iStockphoto.com/Studio-Pro

Dream It. Do It. Program Continues to Move Forward

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n 2017, SMI announced a new partnership to reach the next generation of spring manufacturing workers by joining The Manufacturing Institute’s (MI) Dream It. Do It. initiative. The Dream It. Do It. program is designed to help raise awareness of careers in manufacturing.

In January, the Dream It. Do It. ambassadors held a conference call, led by the group’s champion, Jim Parsons of Myers Spring. The committee reinforced the vision for the SMI sponsored program: “By using the resources and branding of the Dream It. Do It. program, SMI will provide a cost-effective solution for its members in reaching the future workforce for the spring manufacturing sector.”

The committee outlined two goals for the coming year:

1. SMI will document a doubling of participation in Manufacturing Day to 50 members.

2. SMI will create a starter kit for members to use get involved in Manufacturing Day. The committee is looking to develop several elements as part of SMI’s Dream It. Do It. program: • An online library of co-branded print, web, and social media materials, showcasing manufacturing for youth, parents and teachers • Access to a toolkit of best practices, including establishing internship programs, holding impactful plant tours, and partnering on youth summer camps

M What is the M-List?

The M-List represents national institutions that have been recognized as “Manufacturers Endorsed.” These institutions include community colleges, technical schools, high schools, and four-year colleges and universities that deliver high-quality manufacturing training programs. The measure of quality is set by the manufacturing industry, in that schools on the M-List have technical programs that align to industry certifications in areas such as production, welding, and machining.

The M-List is both a marker of excellence and a commitment to a cause. It was launched to recognize outstanding manufacturing education and training programs and to guide additional schools in developing rigorous and relevant technical education pathways. The M-List benefits manufacturers, skilled workers, students and career changers looking to upgrade their skills, and site selection agents looking for a region with a commitment to manufacturing skills.

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• Connection to state and regional education and youth-serving partners for champions • Support to SMI in packaging materials for its “road shows” and conferences • List of certifications from the M-List (see sidebar below) and how they apply to springmaking • Ambassadors for other regions of the country that are matched geographically The big goal for 2018, says Parsons, is for 50 SMI members to participate in Manufacturing Day in October.

“Increasing participation in Manufacturing Day will take the collective effort of everyone who is part of the committee,” said Parsons. “With about 20 ambassadors, we all need to encourage two to three other springmakers to host an event this year. We will do mass promotion as well to all SMI members, but the personal, oneon-one contact will help make this happen.”

This past year, 26 SMI member companies reported their participation in Manufacturing Day. For more information on Dream It. Do It., visit http://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/Image/ Dream-It-Do-It/Dream-It-Do-It.aspx n

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New Products

The L.S. Starrett Company has introduced what it describes as “a comprehensive line of innovative, entry level computer-based force testing solutions for applications ranging from load limit and distance testing to break limit, time average, cyclic count and duration testing, constant hold and more.” Optimized for production and quality control testing, the versatile, innovative architecture of the L1 system is designed for reliable, fast, repeatable and easy operation.

The Starrett L1 line of force solutions consists of systems for computercontrolled force measurement, digital force gages, Starrett FMM digital force tester motorized test stands, manual test stands and load cell sensors. “We are excited to offer the most advanced, innovative and easy-to-use line of testing solutions available,” said Emerson Leme, head of metrology equipment division at Starrett. “Users across many industries and applications will be impressed with the features, flexibility and modern design of the L1 force measurement platform, which is unprecedented in the industry.”

Starrett L1 systems are easy-to-use, computer-controlled testing systems designed for high-volume, in-situ production testing. They are easy to setup, operate and maintain. Six models are available in standard and extended travels with testing capacities of 110 lbf, 330 lbf and 550 lbf. All L1 Systems feature a small footprint and are ideal for lean manufacturing applications. Simple, fill-in-the-blank templates let users create, perform, measure and analyze their test in seconds and perform limit testing, break testing, constant hold testing, cycle testing and more. Touch screen control simplifies operation and the high-resolution display shows results

©iStockphoto.com/hüseyin harmandaglı, morkeman, PeskyMonkey

Starrett Launches Line of Force Measurement Solutions

in tabular and graphical formats. Tolerances can be applied for immediate pass/fail indication. Raw data and results can be exported to Excel for reporting and statistical analysis. Load measurement accuracy is better than 0.1 percent while distance position accuracy is better than 20 microns.

To view a video and request a brochure, go to http://www.starrett.com/force.

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New Products

Automatic Name Tag Feeder/Marker The redesigned Tag Master 3 from KwikMark Inc. uses dot peen technology to permanently mark industrial components. The automatic feeder/marker was developed to eliminate the problematic tag feeding issues of escaping tags from the bottom of the magazine. The tags are transferred from the top to eliminate the jamming; scratching and other problems associated with bottom feed “coin changer” type escapements. This also means thickness tolerance; sharp edges, etc. are no longer issues. It is available with the print queue driver, allowing multiple users to download job menus, variables and quantities.

For more information, visit www. kwikmark.com or call KwikMark Inc. at 815-363-8268. n

Advertiser's Index A & D Trading (440) 563-5227. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /11 Acquisition Asset Mgmt (312) 613-5259. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /20 Admiral Steel (800) 323-7055. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /42 Alloy Wire International (866) 482-5569. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /33 CASMI (630) 369-3466 . . . . . . . . . . . . . /21 Central Wire (800) 435-8317. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /63 Diamond Wire Spring Co. (800) 424-0500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . /67 Dispense Works (815) 363-3524. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /30 Fenn/Torin (860) 594-4300. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /44 Forming Systems Inc. (877) 594-4300. . inside front cover, back cover Gibbs Wire (800) 800-4422. . . inside back cover Gibraltar Corporation (847) 769-2099. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /68 Industrial Steel & Wire (800) 767-0408. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . /6

Interwire Products Inc. (914) 273-6633. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . /1 JN Machinery (224) 699-9161. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /46 John Evans’ Sons (215) 368-7700. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /58 Jowitt & Rodgers/Syntech (704) 525-8030. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /31 Kiswire (201) 461-8895. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /56 Maguire Machinery (609) 266-0200. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /60 Mapes Piano String Co. (423) 543-3195. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /31 Mount Joy Wire (717) 653-1461. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . /8 NIMSCO (563) 391-0400. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /39 North American Spring Tool (860) 583-1693 . . . . . . . . . . . . . /36 Proto Manufacturing (800) 965-8378. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /36 Radcliff Wire (860) 583-1305. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /27 RK Trading (847) 640-9371. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . /5

Simplex Rapid (563) 391-0400. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /51 Spring Manufacturers Institute (630) 495-8588 . . . . . . . . . . /70, 72 Starrett Starrett.com/springs. . . . . . . . . . . /49 Suzuki Garphyttan (574) 232-8800. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /43 Tool King (847) 537-2881. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /10 Ulbrich Stainless Steels (203) 239-4481. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . /9 United Wire (800) 840-9481. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /54 Vinston (847) 972-1098. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /14 Vulcan Spring & Manufacturing Co. (215) 721-1721. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . /9 WAFIOS (203) 481-5555. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . /3 Wire Düsseldorf (312) 781-5180. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /17 Zapp Precision Strip (203) 386-0038. . . . . . . . . . . . . . /18

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Snapshot ©iStockphoto.com/Tryfonov Ievgenii, nicholas belton

Dave Deerwester Yost Superior Co., Name: Dave Deerwester Company name, city and country: The Yost Superior Co., Springfield, Ohio.

Brief history of your company: Founded in 1902 as the Yost Gearless Motor Company; it became The Yost Superior Co. in 1924. Bert F. Downey was one of the shareholders, and he became majority owner by the time of his death in 1954. His son-in-law, L.V. Barnes, became president and CEO, followed by his son, Bert Barnes, in 1977.

Job title: CEO, owner.

Birthplace: South Charleston, Ohio.

Current home: Springfield, Ohio.

The Deerwester family (l-to-r): Caleb, Elise, Sara, Sharon and Dave.

Family (spouse, children, pets, etc.): Wife, Sharon and children: Caleb, 19; Elise, 16; and Sara, 13.

Best times of my life: Spending a day on the lake with my wife, family and friends.

The most difficult business decision I ever had to make was: Anything that had a negative effect on our people.

What I like most about being in the industry: There are springs everywhere in everyday life and it’s great to discover them, make them and sell them!

A really great evening to me is: Cooking a dinner at home together with my family.

Role model: My father and Bert Barnes.

Favorite food: Anything my wife makes.

Favorite books/author: "The Lord of the Rings," J.R.R. Tolkien.

Favorite song/musician: “Don’t Stop Believin,’” by Journey and “Amazing Grace,” by John Newton.

Hobbies: Boating, golfing and working around the house.

Favorite place: Norris Lake, Tennessee.

The one thing I can’t stand is: Wasting time.

My most outstanding quality is: Optimism; looking for the good in people.

I would like to be remembered in the spring industry for: Successfully transitioning Yost from the founder’s family to a new family-owned business.

But people will probably remember me for: Just trying to do the right thing.

People who knew me in school thought I was: A geek (that’s cool now, right?).

I knew I was an “adult” when: I got married.

If I weren’t working at The Yost Superior Co. I would like to: Be an architect.

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The InTernaTIonal MagazIne of SprIng ManufacTure

Spring 2018

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a publication of the Spring Manufacturers Institute / Vol. 57, no. 2

Effectively Managing the Sales Function How SMI Members Manage the Sales Pipeline 24 Building a Sales Culture in Your Business 26 Managing the Sales Function: An Interview With Skip Miller 28

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