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November 10, 2010 

H1Welcome New Members 

A1Welcome New Members! 

 

FIA's newest forging producer company member is Edgerton Forge, Inc.  (www.edgertonforge.com).   Located in Edgerton, OH, Edgerton produces impression die forgings for the aerospace, automotive, truck, defense, hardware, tool, off-highway and agriculture markets.  Gordy Miller, Sales Manager, will serve as Official Representative to FIA.  (419.298.2333)

 

Located in Akron, OH, Akron Steel Treating Company (www.akronsteeltreating.com) provides heat treating of metals, including intensive water quenching to the forging industry.  Joe Powell, President, will serve as Official Representative.  (330.773.8211)

 

H2Anvil Society 

A2Alcoa Foundation and Consolidated Industries Join the Bronze Anvil Society

 

Two organizations have already answered the call of FIERF's renewed fundraising focus to become important partners of the Foundation. Alcoa Foundation and Consolidated Industries are the most recent Bronze Anvil Society Members. Because of the support of these and other important partners, FIERF is expanding programs and research projects to benefit the forging industry. 

 

Contact Karen at the Foundation Office ([email protected] or 216.781.5040) to become the next Gold, Silver or Bronze Society Member or view the brochure on the website for complete information on programs, activities and giving options.  Thank you to all who support the Foundation.  See FIERF's Honor Roll of Contributors for a complete list of contributors. 

 

   Anvil
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H3Member Recognition 

A3Celebrating 75 Year Members of FIA

 

The year was 1935.  FDR was President, there were 48 states in the Union and the unemployment rate was 20.1%

These were historic times, and it was also significant for the forging industry.  While it is true that FIA can trace its roots to the American Drop Forging Association that was founded in 1913 and we will be celebrating that momentous anniversary in 2013, it was 75 years ago when a group of Forging Industry Leaders banded together to form an association for the promotion of the commercial drop forging industry, and the Drop Forging Association was born. 

The charter members of that group numbered 39.  Of those original 39, many of which are no longer in existence, there are 6 companies that are not only still in business, but who have been members in good standing since 1935 in the organization that is now known as The Forging Industry Association.  FIA, at the Fall Meeting, took a moment to recognize their historic and ongoing commitment to FIA and to present them with a small token of thanks.  Those companies are:

A Finkl and Sons Company of Chicago, IL ; Brewer-Titchener of Cortland, New York (Cooper Tool part of APEX); Cornell Forge Company of Chicago, IL ; Keystone Forging Company of Northumberland, Pennsylvania; Modern Drop Forge Company of Blue Island, Illinois; Rockford Drop Forge of Rockford, Illinois

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(left to right) Don Jones of Rockford,  Joe Cipriani of Keystone,  Ken Mathas  of Cornell, Mike Pellicane of A Finkl

H4Safety 

A4OSHA Alert - OSHA Issued Notice Requesting Feedback on Changes to Noise Exposure Standards

 

As you may already know, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a notice recently in the Federal Register requesting feedback on changes to noise exposure standards. OSHA is seeking to change its official interpretation of "feasible administrative or engineering controls" for construction and general industry standards.

 

Currently, employers must use feasible administrative or engineering controls to reduce noise to acceptable levels. Personal protective equipment (PPE), such as ear plugs and ear muffs, must be used only as supplements when administrative or engineering controls are not completely effective. However, the Agency has been issuing citations to employers that fail to use engineering and administrative controls only when they cost less than a hearing conservation program or if such equipment is ineffective.

 

Under this new proposal, employers MUST make any "feasible" changes to administrative or engineering controls that are "capable of being done," regardless of the costs. The Agency cites a 1981 Supreme Court ruling upholding the term "feasible" to mean "capable of being done", regardless of costs or benefits. The Agency has stipulated that employers will not be required to make such changes if they can prove the changes would "threaten the employers' ability to remain in business." Additionally, employers will need to make these wide-sweeping changes unless they can prove the capability does not exist to make administrative changes (intermittent use of machinery, time of exposure, etc.) or engineering controls (such environmental changes and noise dampening equipment) to reduce noise exposure.

 

This new proposal clearly states that PPE should only be a supplement to administrative or engineering controls to reduce employees' exposure to noise. The deadline for responding to OSHA with formal comments is December 20, 2010.

 

The FIA Safety & Health Committee, Washington Rapid Response Team, and the Public Policy Committee are working closely with The Laurin Backer Group, FIA's Washington Lobbying Group, to evaluate and respond to OSHA's proposed reinterpretation of the noise exposure standards. FIA will keep its members informed as it moves forward. 

 

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H5FIA Meetings

A5International Forgemasters Exhibition Opportunities Now Open 

 

Both 8 x 10 foot booths and table top displays are now available on a first-come - first served basis for the 18th International Forgemasters Meeting, September 12-15, 2011 in Pittsburgh, PA. This will be a unique opportunity for suppliers to the open die forging industry to display products or services to top executives and technical managers from leading open die forging companies worldwide. Exhibition is open to FIA members and nonmembers, but exhibit personnel must register to attend IFM. For pricing and further information see the Exhibitor Prospectus by clicking here.


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A6Fall Meeting Agenda Successfully Covers Manufacturing Spectrum

 

About 90 FIA CEO's and senior level managers and executives attended the FIA Fall meeting October 19-20 at The Wyndham Hotel & Conference Center in Peachtree City, GA. Attendee comments and evaluations pointed toward a very successful roster of presentations.

 

FIA President Kevin Crowley, Forged Products, Inc.,opened the meeting and introduced  economist Larry Chimerine who discussed the current economic and business situation in North America and major foreign markets. Jennifer Baker-Reid of the FIA public policy advisory firm The Laurin Baker Group, provided an update on the midterm elections and likely impact on FIA members. The last speaker of the day was Dr. Stefan Witt, VP of Euroforge and Managing Director of SONA BLW - Germany, who shared a look at the current state of the European forging industry. The business day wrapped up with the always popular roundtables on General Business and Open Die/Rolled Ring Business. Thanks to John Cain, Scot Forge; Ken Mathas

Cornell Forge; and Simon Ormerod,Ajax Rolled Ring and Machine for serving as chairmen. A chance to relax and catch up with other FIA members followed at reception and dinner that evening  which also honored several companies marking 75 years of continuous FIA membership (see article elsewhere in this publication).

 

Business sessions continued on Tuesday with an outlook on one of the industry's biggest markets - oil & gas -- as presented by Allen Brooks, consultant and advisor to many oil and gas producing companies. An update on FIA Strategic Initiatives followed with a look at FIA benchmarking programs presented by Mike Kamnikar, Ellwood Group Inc.; a review of Asia Forge 2010; Public Policy Committee recent activities to support members presented by Committee Chair Hud Smith, Sifco; a new FIA software program allowing members to update their own profiles and registrations; an update on industry research activities presented by FIERF President Doug Brown of Inductoheat; and a successful collaborative effort among members to solve coal dust issues in ring rolling presented by Tim Hunter, McInnes Rolled Rings.

 

The meeting closed on a high note with a very successful presentation on high performance leadership as presented by Shawn Ishler of Bartell & Bartell - experts in organizational and leadership technologies.

 

For more information on many of the above presentations, FIA Members please Click Here to view PDF slides.

 

 

 

A7Forging Market Forecast; FIA Fall Meeting PowerPoint Slides Posted on Web

FIA Members are encouraged to review the latest forging market forecast as reported by Global Insight - FIA's economic forecast firm. Over 100 slides of data on the top forging customer markets are presented, and include information on raw material availability and energy demand and pricing. The presentation can be accessed by FIA members by clicking here.

 PowerPoint slides from most speakers at the FIA Fall Meeting are also available for FIA Member viewing. Topics include the 2010 midterm election; European forging trends; oil & gas market outlook; high performance leadership and a look at many of FIA's new strategic initiatives. Members click here to view.

 

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H6Member Opportunities 

A8New Brochure Highlights Benefits of FIA Membership

 

FIA has developed and will soon unveil a new membership development brochure package highlighting the six strategic initiatives that we as an organization have been working toward as part of our mission to increase members' global competitiveness:

 

  Advocating for the forging industry in public policy and regulation;

  Benchmarking against others in the industry;

  Driving demand for North American produced forgings;

  Networking within the association and on a global scale;

  Developing and disseminating technology; and

  Providing world class training & education for our employees and our customers.

 

FIA's official contact at each member company will receive a brochure in the mail in the coming weeks.  Please share the information within your company as well as with non-members that would benefit from FIA participation.

 

The brochure will also be mailed to non-member forging producers to reinforce the myriad of valuable programs and activities available to encourage their membership to grow the strength and representation of FIA.  Contact Karen ([email protected], 261.781.6260) for more information or to refer a non-member.


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A9New Logos Available for Your Catalogs, Brochures and Website

 

Many FIA Members include the FIA logo on their websites and printed materials to show their support of the North American forging industry.   Contact the FIA Office - [email protected]

 - to receive updated FIA logos in electric or print formats.

FIA Mem Logo

 

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H7FDMC Activities 

A10FDMC Provided Instruction to U. S. Air Force on Forging Design and Acquisition

 

The FDMC provided in depth instruction to United States Air Force personnel on Forging Design and Acquisition at Hill Air Force Base and Warner Robins Air Force Base in October 2010

 

At Hill Air Force Base where a variety of aircraft are maintained including the famed A-10 "Warthog", 32 personnel received an in-depth 2 day seminar on Forging Design and Acquisition.  The instructors included Jon Tirpak, Prabir Chaudhury, John Walters and Chris Bergner.  The seminar covered a host of topics including Flash, Draft, Parting Lines, Mechanical Testing, Inspection, Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing.   FDMC will repeat the seminar in 2011 as part of long term support of the Defense Logistics Agency and its support of the Air Force Base in Utah.

 

Similarly, a compressed version of the same seminar was offered at Warner Robins AFB in Georgia.  Prabir Chaudhury and Chris Bergner of the FORGE-IT Team led this event  which reached provided technical details to 51 civilian and military personnel at this base which supports C-5 aircraft.  As part of these seminars, the National Forging Tooling Database is featured to illustrate how forging supply chain managers can locate forging dies for legacy weapon systems which still require forgings from US forges.  There are over 1500 engineers at Warner Robins AFB making this an ideal location for outreach to forging supply chains supporting the US Air Force.