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| Good News: America Addresses Manufacturing Challenges |
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A Letter from Warren Young, CEO
Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute recently reported that an estimated 600,000 skilled positions in advanced manufacturing are going unfilled. Few would view this reality as anything but a threat to American Manufacturing. There is good news to report, however. America has now awakened to the seriousness of this situation and many different groups are starting to address it. Once a major obstacle to the health of America’s livelihood is visible and recognized as critical, the energy and resolve by its citizens to address it can accomplish great things.
It is encouraging to see what is happening in the Chicago area. The absolute necessity of enlarging the availability of a skilled workforce has been embraced and many different entities are engaging in ways to deal with the two main facets of the problem: attracting people to careers in manufacturing and providing them with the skills needed to fill available positions. Many of our high schools, community colleges, trade associations, and other training institutions are enhancing their curriculums in manufacturing and offering certification credentials to students preparing for careers in manufacturing. Manufacturers are collaborating with these training institutions to identify the appropriate skills required to meet their needs. Manufacturers are also committing to hire interns during their training period with the opportunity to place them in jobs once the interns complete training. More than 20 Chicago and Illinois area community colleges are now collaborating to seek government grants to enlarge their facilities and establish programs to address the workforce training requirements for the future. Discussions have also begun about how to focus resources to provide more sophisticated equipment in training facilities and ensure that it is shared and utilized more efficiently.
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| Case Study: Resolving Material Problems Brings Win-Win-Win Benefits |
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CUSTOMER CHALLENGE:
An OEM customer experienced leaks during its in-plant testing of its transmission assemblies prior to shipment. The customer discovered that although the part causing the leak was made to their print, the part was leaking due to small cracks in the machined casting. Finding a problem at that late stage in the manufacturing process was very costly and disruptive to their shipment schedules. The customer was faced with a challenge to resolve the issue for a number of reasons: the casting for the part was made from patterns they owned, it was part of a mature design used for many years, and there was limited insight into the cause of the problem and a resolution.
BEYOND PRECISION SOLUTION:
Upon learning of the leaks, Acme addressed the problem that was caused by the raw material and explored solutions not only to stop the leaking, but also to prevent the excessive porosity that was encountered during the machining of the castings. Both of those casting issues caused so much fallout for the casting supplier that they considered refusing to continue making the castings. Acme proposed changing non-functional aspects of the part design that would eliminate the casting cracks as well as the metal flow turbulence causing the porosity, and then collaborated with the customer and the supplier to make the changes in the casting pattern.
ACME INDUSTRIES’ VALUE:
The changes to the casting eliminated the test failures for the customer which prevented delivery disruptions and costly assembly tear downs. The waste of bad castings from cracks and porosity was eliminated which was a great help to both the casting supplier and to Acme. The end result was a happy customer, an engaged supplier, reduced costs and improved delivery for all three parties in the supply chain.
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| Guy Cassidy Assumes Position of President |
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 Effective May 1, 2012, Guy Cassidy assumed the position of President of Acme Industries. In this role, he will continue to report to Warren Young, CEO, and have direct responsibility for all functions of the company. Reporting directly to Guy will be Fred Young, VP of Operations, Bob Clifford, VP of Sales & Marketing, Bill White, CFO, and Pat Roy, Director of Human Resources.
Guy joined Acme Industries in July 2011 as Chief Operating Officer. He has helped lead several important initiatives for Acme such as Business Excellence, Strategic Planning, and a more formalized Product Launch Process. Guy is a seasoned executive, having led four different industrial product and service companies, ranging in size from $30 to $200 million. He has a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California-Davis and an MBA from USC. Guy has three children and lives with his wife, Elodie, in the Chicago area. |
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| Acme Industries News Update |
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Following are exciting highlights from our April 30 fiscal year end.
Beyond Precision solutions:
- Acme significantly increased its capacity to help meet the needs of its growing oil and gas customer base.
- Several other suppliers awarded new business to Acme to solve quality and delivery issues they were having with other suppliers.
- Acme worked with three customers to introduce new products and improve the design and performance of existing products.
Expanded manufacturing space:
Acme increased its manufacturing space by 40% by adding a satellite facility and now has 212,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space to accommodate customer needs.
Additional equipment capacity, size, and capability:
Acme Industries added new equipment that increases the capacity available to serve its customers, the size of parts it can machine and the capability it can provide customers. Acme now has vertical lathes that turn parts up to 96" in diameter, which is a 35% increase in size capability. Acme also added large horizontal and vertical milling capacity. Increased productivity and flexibility was added with a 4 axis lathe. To increase the level of quality services that can be provided, a laser scanner was also purchased and is being used to insure that incoming raw material meets the customers' dimensional requirements.
Increased capability of organization:
Acme Industries added to its human resources with additions in general management, engineering, quality assurance, supply chain and skilled machinists.
Stay tuned for further news updates as additional new equipment and capabilities are already underway to add to Acme Industries' Beyond Precision offerings in its new fiscal year. |
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| © 2012 Acme Industries |
| www.acmeind.com |
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