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 Welcome New Member
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Welcome to FIA Heating Induction Services, Inc.! | |
The Association's newest supplier member, Heating Induction Services, Inc. www.heatinginduction.com is located in Clinton Township, MI where they provide induction heating power systems, material handling equipment, water cooling systems, spare parts and technical services, coil repair services, forging equipment and consulting to the forging industry.
George Haddad, Engineering/Sales, will serve as Official Representative (586-791-3160).
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FIA/FIERF Activities |
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FIA & FIERF Elect New Officers, Directors, Trustees |
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Four new directors have been elected to Forging Industry Association's (FIA) Board of Directors for three-year terms. They are:
Jose Bravo, Vice President Sales, FRISA FORJADOS, S.A. de C.V., Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Dennis Potter, COO, Impact Forge Group of Hephaestus Holdings, Inc. Columbus, IN
Robert Smith, Vice President Sales, Danieli Corporation, Cranberry Township, PA
Arnold Visser, COO, IMT Corporation, Ingersoll, ON, Canada
Kevin Crowley, President & CEO, Forged Products Inc., Houston, TX, was elected President.
Michael A. Kamnikar, Senior V.P., Marketing & Business Development, Ellwood Group, Inc., Ellwood City, PA,was elected Association Vice President for the coming year.
Ken Mathas, President, Cornell Forge Company, Chicago, IL, and Ronald A. Wallis,Technical Director, Wyman-Gordon Forgings, Inc., Houston, TX,were elected to the FIA Executive Committee to serve with Crowley and Kamnikar.
Four trustees have been elected to Forging Industry Educational and Research Foundation's (FIERF) Board of Trustees for three-year terms. They are:
Terry Brown, Director of Business Development, Bluewater Thermal Services
Jeff Jones, Vice President, Girard Engineering, Inc.
Rick Recktenwald, VP and Plant Mgr., Walker Forge, Inc. - Clintonville Plant
Jim Woidke, COO, SIFCO Industries Inc.
Douglas R. Brown, President, Inductoheat, Inc., Madison Heights, MI begins the second of a two-year term as President of the Foundation. President Brown made the following presidential appointments to fill positions on the Board: Brad Ahbe to fill a two-year term and Joe Cipriani to serve a one-year term.
Brad A. Ahbe, President, Canton Drop Forge, Inc., Canton, OH was elected as Vice President for the coming year.
Joseph F. Cipriani, President, Keystone Forging Co., Northumberland, PA and Markus Knoerr, Dir. Advanced Engineering, Hephaestus Holdings, Inc. (HHI), Novi, MI were elected to the FIERF Executive Committee to serve with Brown and Ahbe.
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Anvil Society |
| Thank You to Anvil Society Members | | |
The core support that allows FIERF to pursue goals in research and development and technical education for the benefit of the forging industry comes from companies that have made the decision to partner with the Foundation as Anvil Society Members.
At the Annual Meeting in May, FIA Members that have made that commitment were presented with Anvil Awards. New Anvil Supporters this year are:
Gold Anvil - HHI Forgings, LLC
Silver Anvil - Electralloy, Canton Drop Forge
Bronze Anvil - Bluewater Thermal Services, Forged Products, Inc., Weber Metals, Inc.
The Foundation would also like to thank those companies who have renewed their Anvil Society Memberships by extending those commitments an additional three years. Thanks to Commercial Forged Products and Scot Forge for their continuing support as Gold Anvil Members, Girard Engineering renewing as a Silver Anvil and American Axle & Manufacturing as a Bronze Anvil Society Member. Thank you all for your continuing support of the Foundation's Mission!
Thank you also to Forging Industry Association for providing administrative support to FIERF. Because of this support, every dollar contributed to the Foundation goes directly to research or students, not for overhead or administrative costs.
See the Honor Roll of Contributors for a complete list of FIERF Supporters.
What is the FIERF Anvil Society?
The Anvil Society is a way to recognize very important partners of the Foundation. Organizations, foundations and individuals who pledge support of $2,500 or more per year for a minimum of three years are designated as Anvil Society Members.
Gold Members - Pledging $10,000 or more per year for 3 or more years;
Silver Members - Pledging $5,000 - $9,999 per year for 3 or more years;
Bronze Members - Pledging $2,500 - $4,999 per year for 3 or more years.
Contact Karen Lewis (216.781.6260 or karen@forging.org) for more information for giving options.
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Forge Fair |
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Forge Fair 2010 - The Year of the Volcano | | |
Forge Fair 2010, by all accounts was a great success. The number of exhibits, attendees, and presentations surpassed expectations, and was on par with Forge Fair 2006, one of FIA's most well attended and well received Forge Fairs. The only setback was the eruption of a volcano in Iceland, which brought travel from Europe to an absolute stand still for several days, stranding several of our attendees and exhibiting personnel offshore.
(Click here) for Forge Fair at a Glance.
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Training |
| NEW Non-Ferrous Metallurgy Workshop - Mark Your Calendars. | |  "Non-Ferrous Metallurgy for the Non Metallurgist" is coming to the LA area on August 19/20 and Cleveland area on September 16/17 and includes a plant tour either at Weber Metals, Inc. or Rotek, Inc. It is recommended for Product and Manufacturing Engineers, Quality Engineers, Sales and Purchasing Professionals, as well as your Suppliers & Customers. Brochures and registration forms will be mailed out Mid June and posted on the FIA website www.forging.org under upcoming events. Member Price: $475; Non-Members: $675. |
| Selling Forgings to Uncle Sam Seminar - FREE | |
June 9th from 11:00am-12:00pm EST Location: Virtual (GoToMeeting)
Click here for more information.
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Member Opportunities |
| Surplus Materials List | | |
FIA members, do you have surplus forging stock that you would like to sell or trade? Or are you looking for surplus forging stock to purchase? FIA would like to advertise your surplus material on the FIA Website. This service is offered to FIA member companies at no charge.
Companies looking to advertise their surplus materials, please send your list, including contact information, in Word, Excel or PDF, to George Layne at: glayne@forging.org.
Companies looking to purchase surplus materials please visit: http://forging.org/members/docs/surplus_mat.cfm
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Annual Meeting of Members |
| Optimism Fuels a Successful 2010 FIA Annual Meeting | | |
With an improving economy as the foundation, the 2010 FIA Annual Meeting was rated as "one of the best" by many of the 170 attendees. Held May 15-18 at the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island in Amelia Island, Florida, FIA members enjoyed perfect weather and a Margaretville-style casual outdoor opening dinner party Saturday night. After a welcome from FIA President Rick Creed, Sunday's business session opened strong, with a look at a true life and death situation as told by Captain Scott O'Grady - shot down behind enemy lines in 1995. Sunday's joint session continued with quick look at an improving economy and lessons learned as reviewed by Dr. Ken Mayland. The day's sessions wrapped up with a dual presentation by the Laurin Baker Group on FIA's Washington activities, including the introduction of Forging PAC - the forging industry's new Political Action Committee.
Monday opened with the Safety Awards, presented to companies showing excellent and/or much improved plant safety records in 2009. Executives from the Association of Indian Forging Industry followed with a review of the state of the Indian forging industry - as video-conferenced in live from Pune, India. Recognition of new FIERF Anvil Society winners followed as presented by FIERF President Doug Brown. FIA's new Technical Director, Carola Sekreter, then gave a brief overview of some of the collaborative technical projects currently in the works. The FIA Official Business session followed, with members approving a $1.6 million budget and a slate of four new Board members (see separate article elsewhere in this publication for names). Executive Roundtables closed the business portion of the meeting Monday. Special thanks to roundtable chairs Ken Mathas, Cornell; Sharon Haverstock, Scot; Jose Bravo, FRISA; and Pat Burke, TECT Power for moderating the roundtables.
At Monday evening's Annual Dinner/Dance outgoing FIA President Rick Creed and First Lady Susan, Weber Metals, introduced incoming President Kevin Crowley, Forged Products, to the membership.
Tuesday's business session opened with a look at current world events as presented by Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania Governor and the first Secretary of Homeland Security under President Bush. The meeting concluded with executive training expert, Neil Witmer, discussing how to staff a management team that operates confidently and thinks strategically.
Executive photos, award winners and many of the slides from speakers mentioned above may be viewed under the Members Only portion of the FIA website. FIA Members please (click here) to view.
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Safety |
| FIA Safety & Health Committee - Your Safety Resource | | |
Do you have a forging specific safety question, but don't know who to ask? Contact me at glayne@forging.org with your question. I will recopy your question, and send it, anonymously, to the FIA Safety Committee for their thoughts. With the many, many years of experience comprised on the Committee, we usually receive several alternative solutions for the same question.
Note: The only person that will know who is asking the question, will be FIA staff, the identity of your company will be held in strick confidence, unless you clearly state otherwise.
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| 2009 FIA Safety Award Winners | | |
GROUP I (Up to 80 employees)
First Place:
Arro Forge, Inc.
Illinois Forge Company - DeKalb Forge
HHI Impact Forge Group - Precision Plant
Brass Aluminum Forging Enterprises LLC
Solmet Technologies, Inc.
Schaefer Equipment - A Wabtec Company
Second Place: McInnes
Rolled Rings
Third Place:
Scot Forge Co. - Franklin Park
Improvement:
Composite Forgings, Ltd.
GROUP II (81 to 175 employees)
First Place:
TECT Power - Cleveland
Second Place:
Trinity Forge, Inc.
Third Place:
Dixie Industries - Columbus McKinnon
Improvement:
International Crankshaft, Inc.
GROUP III (176 to 325 employees)
First Place:
ATI Portland Forge - Portland, IN
Second Place:
Lehigh Heavy Forge Corporation
Third Place:
Wiseco Performance Products
Improvement:
Bonney Forge Corp. - Mt. Union
GROUP IV (Over 326 employees)
First Place:
FRISA Forjados, S.A. De C.V.
Second Place:
Scot Forge Co. - Spring Grove
Improvement:
Scot Forge Co. - Spring Grove
AWARDS CRITERIA
Awards are given in each of the four groups established according to average annual employment as follows:
I. Up to 80 employees III. 176 to 325 employees
II. 81 to 175 employees IV. Over 326 employees
First, second and third place Safety Awards are given in each group for companies having the lowest Recordable Cases Incidence Rate provided that the DART Incidence Rate falls below the group average. In the event that Recordable Incidence Rates are equal, the lower DART Incidence Rate will determine the award.
Improvement Awards are given in each group for the company experiencing the greatest improvement in the DART Incidence Rate. This award is determined by percentage of improvement by DART Incidence Rate compared with the last three years average.
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| Heat Stress Tip Sheet | |
It is that time of year again. So protect yourself and keep an eye out for others. With the temperatures rising to levels usually seen in mid- to late-summer we all need to be aware of Heat Related Illnesses.
This is the fifth in a series of Safety Tip Sheets addressing common hazards found within the forging industry. These Tip Sheets are designed to bring awareness, and provide practical information on methods for reducing these injuries.
(Click here) to view/print Tip Sheet.
Visit Page: http://forging.org/safetytipsheets.cfm for additional Safety Tip Sheets.
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| 2009 Injury and Illness Survey Reports the Safest Year in FIA Records | |
With the record number of 88% of eligible companies participating, the 2009 Injury and Illness Survey and Report indicates the forging industry's 2009 DART Incidence Rate, (Days Away, job Restricted duty, or Transfer) at a record low 3.77 a 27% reduction from 2008.
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Technology |
| Industry Collaborative Work Groups | | |
Click here to see what FIA Member companies jointly work on. If you would like to get involved or you have an idea for creating a new project group, please contact Carola@forging.org.
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University Scholarships & Grants |
| Undergraduate and Graduate Fellowship Projects Awarded | | |
The FIERF Board of Trustees awarded four new university research projects at its May Meeting. The purpose of these projects is twofold - to provide university students with experiential training with the forging process and to produce meaningful academic research to benefit the forging industry.
If you are interested to learn more about these projects, please contact Technical Director Carola Sekreter (216.781.6260 or carola@forging.org).
Effect of Surface Roughness on Hot Forging Surfaces, Marquette University - will investigate the effect and influence of surface texture (roughness and lay) on metal flow.
Advanced Tonnage Signal Analysis for Forging Process Monitoring and Quality Improvement, University of Michigan - will develop effective tonnage analysis methods to expand the diagnostic capability of using tonnage signals for quality improvement and defect detection.
Influence of Reheating Rate and Holding Temperature on the Interaction of V, Al and N in Air-Cooled Forging Steels, Colorado School of Mines - will assess the impact of aluminum content on the properties and microstructure of commercial vanadium micro-alloyed steels used in air-cooled applications. Particular attention will be given to characterizing the interaction of aluminum and nitrogen during the reheat cycle for forging and evaluate the influence of the aluminum on vanadium carbonitride precipitation during subsequent air cooling.
Predicting the Depth of Decarburization in Forgings, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - will develop semi-empirical algorithm suitable for predicting the depth of decarburization in forging alloys as a function of time, temperature and oxygen exposure.
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| Fifteen New Finkl Scholarships Awarded | |
The fifteen Charles W. Finkl Scholarships awarded in May brings the number of university engineering students that have benefited from these grants to more than100 since the program was first initiated in 2004. This year's recipients come from computer, mechanical, materials and metallurgical departments at twelve universities. Many have direct ties to the forging industry through relatives or by interning at forging producer or supplier member companies. Click here for a complete list of Scholarship recipients.
Established in memory of Charles W. Finkl's passion for both education and the forging industry, these students will receive $2000 in their junior year and an additional $2000 in their senior year toward the cost of their educations.
Past recipients of scholarships have gone on to graduate school, work for forging material suppliers, forging companies, NASA, the US Navy and in the oil and automotive industries.
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| Academic Year is Coming to an End - Projects Nearing Completion | |
Click here to see what projects are nearing completion. If you wish to receive a final report on any of these, please contact Karen@forging.org
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Benchmarking |
| FIA 2009 Profit Report Released | |
FIA's just released Annual Profit Report shows 2009 total sales dollars declined to 2005 levels.
The 2009 Annual Profit Report details a five year comparison. Forging Industry Cost of Goods Sold, Gross Profit, Profit from Regular Operations, Profits Before/After Tax and Net Worth all improved from 2004 reported figures.
Industry Cost of Goods Sold for 2009, which rose from 77.3% in 2008 to 82.6%, is still below the 83.6% reported in 2004. Gross Profit on Sales at 17.4% for 2009 declined from 22.7% in 2008, but improved from the 16.4% reported 5 years ago in 2004.
Profit from Regular Operations at 10.0%, was below the 15.8% reported a year ago, and rose over the 8.5% reported in 2004. As documented in FIA's Annual Orders and Shipments Reports, net sales are also down for 2009, recorded at $7,942B compared to $10,151B in 2008, and above the $6,416B recorded in 2004.
To see these figures as well as a complete breakdown of industry profits by forging process, companies must participate in the reporting process. All data is kept in strictest confidence. Remember, this forging specific service is not otherwise available from any other source. All forging company members are encouraged to take part in FIA's Orders and Shipments Report and Annual Profit Report programs. Both reports are free to participants. Call Diane or Mary Ann at the FIA office at 216-781-6260 (diane@forging.org; maryann@forging.org) for more information about these programs and how to get started.
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