Welcome Paulo Products Co.

Congratulations FIA Safety Plaque Award Winners

GROUP I (Up to 80 employees)                                              GROUP II (81 to 175 employees)          

First Place:                                                                             First Place:      

            Arro Forge, Incorporated                                                          ATI Portland Forge- Kentucky   

            Cardinal Forge Company                                                         Ellwood Advanced Components          

            Eagle WI Forge Company                                                        Missouri Forge Incorporated     

            Lakeview Forge Company                     

            Michigan Forge Company

Second Place:                                                                        Second Place: 

           Schaefer Equipment a Wabtec Company                                    Jorgensen Forge Corporation   

Third Place:                                                                            Third Place:      

           Green Bay Drop Forge                                                              Carolina Forge- a MFC Group Company

Improvement:                                                                          Improvement:   

           Keystone Forging Company                                                       Missouri Forge Incorporated     

GROUP III (176 to 325 employees)                                          GROUP IV (Over 326 employees)         

First Place:                                                                              First Place:      

            FRISA Forjados S.A. de C.V. Superalloys Plant                         Scot Forge Company- Spring Grove Division   

Second Place:                                                                         Second Place: 

            BAE Systems, Land & Armaments                                           Weber Metals Incorporated       

Third Place:                                                                             Third Place:      

General Dynamics Ordnance                                                                Sypris Technologies Incorporated-Toluca          

& Tactical Systems Scranton Operations

Improvement:                                                                           Improvement:   

            FRISA Forjados S.A. de C.V. Superalloys Plant                         Weber Metals Incorporated      

We are pleased to announce the 2013 Safety Award Winners. 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         

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.                       

FIA members Tim Clutterbuck, ASW Steel, Marius Saiciuc, Patriot Forge, Arnold Visser, IMT along with FIA/FIERF Staff Carola Sekreter and Karen Lewis met with university professors, researchers and potential funding groups before touring labs and facilities at the McMaster Manufacturing Research and CanmetMATERIALS Institutes in Hamilton Ontario in March.

The group had the opportunity to interact with professors and researchers to hear the types of projects underway and what might be of interest to FIA members to pursue.  Take-aways from the meeting included potential collaborations on die life, material developments and hiring initiatives that can provide funding for internships through the Ontario Centres of Excellence (contact Karen @ 216.781.6260 or Karen@forging.org for more information)

The day concluded with a walk through the Industry Open House at McMaster Automotive Resource Center and a tour of CanmetMATERIALS laboratories.

Thank you to Walker Forge, Inc. for donating forging samples to be used in the nearly 50 ASM Education Foundation sponsored Teacher Materials Camps to be held this summer!

In addition to financial support of the camps, the Forging Foundation also provides each of the 1000 teachers attending the camps a "Forge Your Future" bag filled with information on the forging process and careers in the industry.  Volunteers from the industry are making presentations at camps to educate teachers about metals and manufacturing in their local areas. 

And now thanks to the generosity of Walker Forge, these teachers will not only be able to see a simulation of a forging and a video of a press in operation, they will be able to feel the weight of a forging in their hands as they learn about the process and how to incorporate what they are learning into their school year curriculum.

5,642 Teachers have completed the Materials Camp since the 1^st camp was launched in 2002. Over 85%of teachers camp alumni are now utilizing "hands-on" materials concepts in their chemistry and physics classes. These teachers are convinced that such concepts will benefit students and inspire them to learn science.  Click here to see a video from an actual camp.

For more information about the Forging Foundation's involvement with the Teachers Camps or to make a donation, contact Karen Lewis at 216.781.6260 or foundation@forging.org 

On April 14, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Court issued its opinion in NAM v. SEC.  NAM argued that the SEC Conflict Minerals rule violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) on several grounds, and violated the Constitution on First Amendment grounds.  The Appeals Court disagreed with NAM on the APA issues, that is they upheld the SEC's authority to require due diligence by publicly traded companies and report to the SEC on conflict minerals.  However, the court agreed with NAM that compelling a company to report that its products were "not DRC conflict free" was a violation of the First Amendment.  So what we have now is confusion and it will take some time to sort out the practical impact for covered companies. 

Much will depend on the actions of the SEC in response to the ruling.  The SEC could decide to delay the June 2, 2014 effective date of the rule pending a rework of the reporting requirements. A lot depends on how the SEC interprets the constitutional deficiencies of their rule. A very narrow reading could lead them to conclude that it is simply the magic words "not Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) conflict free" that are the problem.  A broader reading would lead them to conclude that the whole public reporting aspect of the rule is problematic and needs to be revisited through notice and comment rulemaking.  NAM's legal team met with the SEC immediately following the decision urging them to delay the implementation of the rule until further clarity can be provided.

For privately held companies that are not required to report to the SEC by June 2 but have been asked by their customers to provide information on the use of conflict minerals from the DRC, I'm afraid nothing much will change for you in the short run.  You have likely already provided your information to your customers for calendar year 2013.  If you answered that NO conflict minerals from the DRC were in your products, you likely will make a "cleared" list for 2014.  If you answered that you could not determine the source of the conflict minerals in the product for 2013, then 2014 reporting is up in the air until your customers get more information on how the SEC will proceed.  It is possible that if customers have already put in place mechanisms to collect the data (i.e., use of the EICC-GeSI template), they will continue to ask their suppliers to provide the data and only change what they report to the SEC.

We will continue to provide you with information as it becomes available.  In the meantime, please let us know if you have any questions.

Jennifer

Jennifer Baker Reid

President

The Laurin Baker Group, LLC

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The "Theory and Applications of Forging & Die Design" school continues to evolve, reflecting new insights into forging technology and the wide availability of metal flow simulation software.  This four-day school is taught by a team of industry experts and engineering professors who work together to carefully explain principles and practice.  We urge you to join the 2000+ forging employees who have already attended this course.

This will be the only offering of this program in 2014. Class size is limited, (last year's class filled up early, leaving many closed out), please don't wait to register.

Click here to view/print the full program.

For additional information, contact George Layne at: glayne@forging.org, or by phone at 216-781-6260

Complete Information & Registration for 19^th Forgemasters Meeting now Available

The 19th International Forgemasters Meeting (IFM 2014) will be held this September 29-October 3 in Tokyo, Japan. The IFM traditionally brings together hundreds of open die forging and supplier executives representing leading manufacturing companies from across the globe. This extraordinary event will showcase the best in forging technical presentations for the worldwide forging community.

Organized by The Steel Castings and Forgings Association of Japan (JSCFA), the 19th IFM official program has been released and is now available on the JSCFA website http://www.ifm2014.com/index.html. Please note that early bird registration ends June 30, 2014.

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