Metalforming Matters

Way back in 2009, before cars were driving themselves and quinoa was a word you had to know, Michael Bleau, writing for MetalForming magazine , noted that despite the importance of company websites, most “industrial manufacturers lag behind in having professionally produced sites.” Today, most metalformers have caught up in the web-design department: A quick company search turns up sleek websites with strong colors and evident corporate branding. Yet problems remain, namely in what metalformers feel they’re getting out of their websites.  According to the Precision Metalforming Association’s (PMA) 2017 Sales & Marketing Report , 86 percent of surveyed companies present their manufacturing capabilities through their website and 70 percent want their website to generate RFQ leads. Yet 42 percent of them say their company website is “just okay” when it comes to helping to develop new business. Eleven percent say their website is “poor” or “very poor.”    Th...

Roy Hardy President, Precision Metalforming Association  With a pedigree steeped in engineering, manufacturing and our industry’s workpiece metals of choice, Roy Hardy assumed the leadership position at PMA as its new president on May 15, 2017. He succeeds Bill Gaskin, who retired at the end of May after 40 years of service to the metalforming industry. A self-described third-generation metals man–his grandfather worked in a ductile iron foundry for 35 years and his father’s career was spent as a metallurgist at Huntington Alloys–Hardy has had a lifelong fascination with this type of work. “As a kid on plant tours where my dad worked, I watched metal being poured, twisted, bended, recycled to be used again…I’ve always wanted to be a metals guy,” he says. Graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical Engineering, Hardy worked his way through nearly every link of the metal-parts supply chain, then owned a company supplying ...

Guest Blogger: Kathy Kiernan Senior Vice President & Managing Partner, APPI Energy Retail electricity prices are largely driven by natural gas prices . Even though your system operator (PJM, ERCOT, MISO, NEPOOL) is procuring power from a variety of sources—hydroelectric, wind, solar, nuclear, coal, gas—the way system operators pay generating plants is based on the last fuel used to meet demand, which is almost always natural gas. Therefore, the amount you pay per kWh is determined primarily by the current price of natural gas in your region.  Retail electricity prices tend to follow trends in natural gas prices. Gas prices, however, are significantly more volatile than electricity prices. For example, when we see gas prices fluctuate by as much as 70% in a single month, corresponding electricity prices will generally move in the same direction, but by only around 10%. The change in electricity prices will also typically lag behind gas prices by a couple of weeks...

PMA President, Bill Gaskin, shares his memories and experiences as PMA celebrates our 75 th anniversary. Q: How long have you been at PMA? A: I am closing in on 40 years. Jon Jenson, who was president of American Metal Stamping Association (AMSA) from December 1975 through August 2000, hired me in February 1977 with an official “start date” of March 1, 1977.  (See below for more on this)  Q: What is your current role? Have you held any other positions at PMA previously? A: My current role includes being President of three separate, but related entities: (1) Precision Metalforming Association, which is a 501 (c) (6) not-for-profit trade association (2) PMA Educational Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit charitable organization supporting training and education·         (3) PMA Services, Inc., a for-profit company (owned equally by PMA and PMAEF) engaged primarily in publishing and management of other associations, such as Wo...

Guest Blogger: Pat Saul General Manager, RPS Quality Solutions Inc Today the Die Industry faces multiple challenges. Die shops encounter high demands in both cost and time and must deal with continuously shifting technologies.   New Materials, Drastic Designs and Late Form Changes, combined with Aggressive Prototype and Quotation Timelines -- all of these create significant issues for Sheet Metal Die Design and Development which are always on the critical path of automotive vehicle programs. Die Suppliers often contend with pressure to deliver Die Designs and Builds to very tightly compressed timelines.  There are frequently delays in receiving quote packages and product data from the customer, while required delivery dates do not change, which results in reduced turnaround times. Die Suppliers have had to find creative and effective ways to adjust and be successful delivering on time quality dies that produce quality parts.  Pat Saul, General Manager...

Guest Blog: Mike Justice President, UPA Technology Forming good parts is a demanding and difficult task, mainly because of the many variables that can interrupt the process. Stamping problems can be due to several areas including problems with dies, substrates, press issues as well as incorrect amounts of lubricant. Quickly evaluating and eliminating the possible causes of stamping problems speeds up correction at the press where downtime often is measured by minutes/month. Quantifying lubricant thickness quickly and accurately can determine or eliminate whether lubricant issues are the cause of forming issues. But, measuring lubricant thickness has not been easy and has been the cause of much discussion and dissension.   Stampers, processors and mills are routinely tasked with accurately measuring oil-films ranging between 7-120 Milligrams per square foot (mg/ft2) in order to meet specification for making good parts.  As a thickness instead of a weight, this equat...

Guest Blog: Laurie Harbour President and CEO, Harbour Results, Inc.  In 2016 the U.S. manufacturing industry was relatively stable with overall production slightly up from previous years. Specifically, the automotive tool and die industry was predicted to be busy with forecasted tooling spend on the rise. However, taking a closer look, the year proved to be a bit more challenging. Data collected through the Harbour Results’ Harbour IQ pulse survey (a business intelligence tool for performance, financial, operational, trend and market data), which was completed by more than 100 tool shops globally in the second quarter of 2016, has shown that capacity reached a low of 81 percent among die shops in late 2015 and early 2016, but was expected to rebound to 78 and 86 percent respectively by year end. So what caused the slow down? Program delays —on average, just over 20 percent of vehicle launches were delayed in 2015 and 2016.  Work on hold —in early 2016, 18 percent...