Page 48 - MetalForming-Nov-2018-issue

MetalForming
different work centers and areas, espe- cially when variety and turnover of parts is high. We recently had a rental unit in our facility for several months. Right now, we’re treading water, but next year we expect to have the right application for collaborative robots.
tance to committed
employees, while
reaching out to
local school dis-
tricts to make administrators
aware of employ-
ment opportuni-
ties. This takes
involvement. For
example, we’re involved with assisting local students with their robotic teams. Finding bright young people and get- ting them interested in manufacturing must be a priority industrywide.
Cosgrove: Chicago’s Manufacturing Renaissance Group, for which I served as a committee co-chair, is driving manufacturing in three area high schools, where they connect students with local companies. Currently, 180 high-school students receive technical training as part of a feeder system for manufacturers. I started my career on the shop floor as a press-brake operator and worked my way up. Students need to know that there are good career opportunities in manufacturing.
Hopp: Just finding reliable workers can be a challenge. When we have employees who want to work and learn, we invest heavily in them with formal and on-the-job training. For example, one of our toolmakers demonstrated that he wanted to expand his knowledge and have more influence on the success of our company. This tenacity was appreciated and he now is our press- room manager. Next year we’re enrolling him in the PMA Management Devel- opment Academy (www.pma.org/mda). Another young man, hired to cut tubes as a temporary employee, would find his manager after completing a task and ask, “What can I do now?” After a series of promotions over two years, he is our secondary process lead man.
Arndt: Programs such as PMA’s MET- ALFORM EDU (www.pma.org/metal- formedu) help us to gain training for our new employees, freeing up my engineering resources, supervisors and floor leads from spending large amounts of time mentoring.
Steininger: Effective mentoring may
Clay: We’re working with a couple of collaborative robots, and this will receive a lot more focus in the next few years. We’re also transitioning to laser welding and expanding our validation- testing capabil- ities. We’ve always invested heavily in research and development, and we’ll con- tinue to do so
as opportunities present themselves. Adler: We will continue embracing automation, both in terms of product capability and quality inspection, with one of our goals being to achieve 100- percent automatic inspection of parts, where, using vision systems, cameras and lasers, we’re able to inspect every key feature of the parts we produce. It’s a matter of integrating existing inspection technology so that parts are handled automatically and presented to the inspection equipment, quickly and accurately. Our goal is to be there
within the next five years.
MetalForming: What are your com- pany’s greatest nontechnology chal- lenges, and what are you doing about them?
Adler: Ongoing challenges include improving uptime via predictive main- tenance and in-depth troubleshooting protocol, and finding the time to cross- train our very busy employees.
Clay: Attracting the right people is a great challenge. Four-year colleges aren’t producing the employees we need, namely skilled tradespeople. It’s important for companies to aggres- sively offer training and tuition assis-
not always be job-related. We’re addressing people not showing up for work through an outside pilot program that provides financial coaching. If an employee’s financial house is in order, and he or she has a manageable budg- et, insurance, etc., then there’s a greater chance that we’ll have a more produc- tive and focused worker, rather than one worried about paying for braces or a car.
MetalForming Also Primed for the Future
As metalformers and fabricators prepare to face coming challenges, expect MetalForming to continue reporting on these challenges and pre- senting solutions.
“We recognize that metalformers today perform a wide range of tasks to turn sheetmetal into finished products, including stamping, cutting, bending and welding,” explains MetalForming publisher/editorial director Brad Kuvin. “To succeed, they need consistent, accurate information on these tech- nologies, and others, and on best prac- tices for implementing them. And, they also must stay current with information technology such as ERP and MIS soft- ware, and on automation solutions. All of these have become critical areas of focus for MetalForming magazine as our editorial mission has evolved over the years.
“Looking forward,” he continues, “we’ll strive to stay ahead of the curve in covering technology areas such as automation, robotics, additive manu- facturing and Industry 4.0/IIOT, ensur- ing we continue to be the leading provider of information that helps our readers do their jobs better, each and every day.” MF
Kevin Clay, vice president of sales and business development, Pridgeon & Clay, Inc.
46 MetalForming/November 2018
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