Understanding Spring Failures: Curvature Correction Factors

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Global Competition
also in this issue:
DFARS Specialty Metals Provision
Updated 00
OSHA Targets Industries with
Potential for Amputations 00
Using Curvature Correction
Factors to Prevent Failure 00

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From Dan Sebastian
The Sales and Marketing Cost-Benefit
It is springtime (on the calendar), and we are looking forward
to the return of warm weather and taking on new business
opportunities.
In this issue of Springs, we will be looking at how we can
respond to global competition with sales initiatives and marketing
programs. For many springmakers, sales are either a
necessary evil or something we like to do. In the end, how we
sell is a reflection on how successful we will be. Some will use
outside sales agencies, others will use their own salespeople,
and some will handle it with their office staff. The way we sell is
not as important as the need to keep selling all the time.
The cost of selling is an important part of our expenses. Some customers expect
you to visit them on regular intervals to head off problems and find new ways to service
them. Other customers never want to see salespeople because it is “a waste of their
time.” Then there are customers who think they need to be “wined and dined” in order
to get their business. Whichever kind of customer you have, you should know how much
it costs to keep them happy, and they should pay for it.
Understanding the cost-benefit relationship is critical to your business success.
Many years ago, I was in a meeting with the company president, and during that meeting,
someone from the finance department was complaining about how much money the
sales group was spending. The company president responded, “I hope they spend more.”
Most of us were surprised, but after a closer look, we learned that for every dollar spent
by or for sales, we were getting $20 in business. The president understood his business
and how to grow it.
Marketing is much more difficult to evaluate than sales. What is the cost-benefit
value of product literature, attending a trade show, advertising or a Web site? In today’s
world of global competition, anyone anywhere can create a Web site that makes them
look bigger or more capable than they really are. Customers have developed sophisticated
supply chain management systems that they believe save them money. Add to
this the Internet auctions where suppliers are qualified based solely on the information
they submit through an online form, and you have a real problem for a traditional
spring company.
As you read through the pages of Springs, we hope you will get a better understanding
of how to use sales and marketing to compete in the global market. In addition, this
issue has information on what you have to do to be “DFARS” (Defense Federal Acquisition
Regulations Supplement) compliant. Springs is only part of what SMI can do to help
you meet the global challenge. SMI also has literature, educational programs, surveys, our
annual convention and fall meetings to help you succeed. I hope to see you October 9
and10 in Las Vegas at our 2007 Fall Meeting seminars.
2 SPRINGS April 2007
Dan Sebastian, MW Industries
dsebastian@mw-ind.com
Springs Magazine Staff
Rita Schauer Kaufman CAE, Editor
editor@smihq.org
Lynne Carr, Advertising Sales
info@smihq.org
Sandie Green, Assistant Editor
Ken Boyce CAE, Publisher
Springs Magazine Committee
Chair, Bob Herrmann, Newcomb
Spring of Colorado
Götz Arndt, Wafi os Machinery
Terry Bartel Ph.D., Elgiloy
Specialty Metals
Carol Caldwell, Century Spring
Randy DeFord, Mid-West
Spring & Stamping
Pam Dix
All-Rite Spring Co.
Ritchy Froehlich, Ace Wire
Spring & Form
Tressie Froehlich, Ace Wire
Spring & Form
LuAnn Lanke, Wisconsin Coil Spring
John Schneider, O’Hare Spring
Europe liaison, Richard Schuitema,
Dutch Spring Association
Technical Advisors
Loren Godfrey, Colonial Spring
Luke Zubek PE, SMI Technical Director
Advertising sales - Japan
Ken Myohdai
Sakura International Inc.
22-11 Harimacho
1-Chome, Abeno-ku
Osaka 545-0022 Japan.
Phone: +81-6-6624-3601
Fax: +81-6-6624-3602
E-mail: info@sakurain.co.jp
Advertising sales - Europe
Jennie Franks
Franks & Co.
P.O. Box 33 Moulton
Newmarket, Suff olk,
England CB88SH
Phone: +44-1638-751132
Fax: +44-1638-750933
E-mail: franksco@BTopenworld.com
Advertising sales - Taiwan
Robert Yu
Worldwide Services Co. Ltd.
11F-B, No 540, Sec. 1, Wen Hsin Rd.
Taichung, Taiwan
Phone: +886-4-2325-1784
Fax: +886-4-2325-2967
E-mail: stuart@wwstaiwan.com
Springs (ISSN 0584-9667) is published quarterly
by SMI Business Corp., a subsidiary of the
Spring Manufacturers Institute: 2001 Midwest
Road, Suite 106, Oak Brook, IL 60523; Phone:
(630) 495-8588; Fax: (630) 495-8595; Web site
www.smihq.org. Address all correspondence
and editorial materials to this address.
The editors and publishers of Springs disclaim all
warranties, express or implied, with respect to
advertising and editorial content, and with respect
to all manufacturing errors, defects or omissions
made in connection with advertising or editorial
material submitted for publication.
The editors and publishers of Springs disclaim
all liability for special or consequential damages
resulting from errors, defects or omissions in the
manufacturing of this publication, any submission
of advertising, editorial or other material for
publication in Springs shall constitute an agreement
with and acceptance of such limited liability.
The editors and publishers of Springs assume no
responsibility for the opinions or facts in signed
articles, except to the extent of expressing the view,
by the fact of publication, that the subject treated is
one which merits attention.
Do not reproduce without written permission.
Cover illustration by Getty Images

7
25
34
39
4 SPRINGS April 2007
FEATURES
7 Top 10 Sales Urban Myths
By Paul DiModica, DigitalHatch
9 Defense Department Offers Guidance on Updated DFARS Specialty
Metals Provision
Compliance challenges remain for springmakers and wire suppliers
By Rita S. Kaufman, Editor
25 Words That Sell
Proven words that can motivate prospects to do business with your
company
By Dawn Josephson, Cameo Publications
29 Manufacturing Outlook
Are American manufacturing jobs destined to go the way of the
blacksmith?
By Ray Gardner, Special contributor
34 Preventive Maintenance Tips for Your Inline Conveyor Ovens
Part IV: The Control Panel
By Daniel Pierre III, JN Machinery Corp.
COLUMNS
17 Be Aware: Safety Tips From Jim Wood
OSHA Expands its Amputation Program
27 IST Spring Technology
Cautionary Tales XXXIV
Global Challenges
By Mark Hayes
39 Technically Speaking with Luke Zubek
Understanding Spring Failures: Curvature Correction Factors
41 Checkpoint: Business Tips From Phil Perry
Hola Amigos!
Hispanic Workers Strengthen Operations
45 Spotlight on the Shop Floor
Spring Essentials (for the rest of us) part XI
Quality is More Than Quality Control
By Randy DeFord, Mid-West Spring & Stamping
DEPARTMENTS
2 President’s Message: The Sales and Marketing Cost-Benefi t
19 Global Highlights
47 Inside SMI: SMI 75th Anniversary Event, ASD Software, Regional Programs
51 New Products
55 Advertisers’ Index
55 Sprung
56 Snapshot: Ann Davey, John Evans Sons Inc.

Top 10 Sales Urban Myths
By Paul DiModica
DigitalHatch
As the economy rolls on, sales myths still permeate
product and professional-service sales
forces trying to hit their forecasted goals or sales
quotas.
Like urban myths, many of these business beliefs
just continue to proliferate without identified
authorship or business validity. Often, salespeople
just use the same method of selling that they
always have used. This “auto-selling” approach
makes them feel good because they stay inside of
their comfort zone, but in reality, it reduces their
selling performance because they never change or
adapt their selling process to the need of their selling
environment.
Here are the top 10 sales
myths that are currently in vogue:
Myth 1: Spending a disproportionate
amount of your available
sales cycle selling time with a decision
influencer will increase your
sales success.
The Reality: Hitting sales targets
are a time-management
issue. How many prospects do
I have? Which are qualified?
How many can I talk with or see
in-person in a single day? How
quickly can I move them through
the required sales steps, and
how fast can I get them to take
an action step to buy from me?
These variables all are relevant
in selling.
Decision influencers are
communication liaisons for your business value.
When you present and sell them, you are asking to
have a non-professional salesperson communicate
your business value for you to the decision makers.
When focusing on decision influencers, you are
saying A) you do not have the sales skills to get to
the decision makers or B) you are hoping they will
be able to discuss your business value as well as
you can. Can you sell decision influencers? Yes,
but it is a slow non-preferred process.
Myth 2: Dropping prices will increase sales in the
long-term.
The Reality: Time and time again, every business
segment that has followed a commodity-based pricing
schema has failed. Selling down and by price
is a short-term sales model that cannot sustain
financial integrity. Repeat customers buy value;
single-sale customers buy price.
Myth 3: Business networking is better than cold-calling
for lead generation.
The Reality: This is another urban myth, perpetuated
by those who do not want to cold-call. Sales
reps who will not cold-call are half-cycle salespeople.
Yes, networking can create leads, but just
because you know someone does not mean they
are a buyer today. Networking
is a long-term,
minimum-volume leadgeneration
technique for
salespeople. Cold-calling
is the sales pipeline of
success.
Myth 4: Sales training is
a cost center.
The Reality: Most CEOs
do not spend enough
on sales training. They
believe that it is more
important to invest in
development, engineering
or operations staff training
than sales training. In
fact, sales training is more
important than technical
education and is a true
business profit-center
investment. Without sales, you don’t need development
or operations. CEOs can always subcontract
development, engineering or service delivery work,
but try subcontracting your sales success!
Myth 5: Clients buy products or business services.
The Reality: Clients never buy your products or
business services. Account managers who sell
business services or products usually sell less.
Clients buy pain management and the results your
products or services produce.
SPRINGS April 2007 7

Myth 6: Because you were successful last year, you
should be successful this year.
The Reality: Salespeople often settle into a comfort
zone of “auto selling,” doing the same things year
after year. This repetition implies that all prospects
and customers are the same; they are not individuals,
and they don’t change. To sell more each new
year, become a full-time sales student.
Myth 7: Marketing department responsibilities
should be focused on brochures, Web site communication,
and trade show management.
The Reality: PR is not revenue, marketing is not
revenue, and advertising is not revenue. Revenue
is revenue. The marketing department’s primary
business responsibility should be creating qualified
sales leads for the sales team.
Myth 8: It is the sales management’s responsibility to
close sales deals for you.
The Reality: Sales management’s responsibility
is to help you sell as a salesperson. That means
increasing qualified lead traffic, supervising operational
issues that affect your deals, updating your
sales training skills, and acting as an intermediary
with corporate management. That does not mean
going to every sales presentation or meeting every
prospect in person. Many times, this becomes the
norm instead of the exception because sales management
usually carries the department’s quota
as a whole, and revenue is revenue. Why pursue
sales management if you have to close every deal?
If you’re a professional salesperson, most times you
should not need your manager to close deals.
Myth 9: Question-based sales probing will increase
sales.
The Reality: The fact is, asking detailed questions
of prospects too early in the sales process actually
ends most sales cycles. You cannot cold-call or engage
an executive of a company the first time, start
“pinging” them with probing business questions
and expect them to answer honestly. To achieve
sales success with management, you must first
earn their respect as a business peer, not a vendor.
You must validate your knowledge about industry
pains, so you can earn the right to ask investigative
questions about their business needs when it
is appropriate.
The key to sales success is not using probing
questions too early. Instead, it is acting like a
strategic advisor: You communicate your business
value up front first and then earn the right to ask
probing questions that will be answered honestly.
Myth 10: Relationship selling starts even before
the first sale.
8 SPRINGS April 2007
The Reality: This is the biggest myth of the group
and is totally wrong. Just because prospects take
your phone calls, talk to you at trade shows or let
you buy them dinner does not mean you have a relationship
with them. Prospects must buy something
to have a relationship with you. After prospects buy
from you the first time, they evaluate what you said
their purchase would deliver to them, as far as a
benefit, and then they decide if what you said in
your pre-sales cycle matches what they received in
their post-sales cycle. If it does, then the customer
buys from you a second time…and that’s when the
relationship starts.
Paul DiModica is president of DigitalHatch, a
management-consulting company. DigitalHatch focuses
on value-forward sales and marketing-management
strategies that increase revenues. DiModica
also is the author of the best-selling book, “Value
Forward Selling, How to Sell to Management,” the
new book, “Sales Management Power Strategies;”
and the sales strategy newsletter, “BDM News.”
Previously, he was VP of Strategy for Renaissance
Worldwide, SVP of Sales and Marketing of Impressa
and VP of Sales for Ibertech. DiModica is originally
from Massachusetts.
Readers may contact him by phone at (800) 238-
0062 or Web site at www.pauldimodica.com. �

Defense Department Offers Guidance on
Updated DFARS Specialty
Metals Provision
Compliance challenges remain for springmakers
and wire suppliers
By Rita Kaufman, Editor
The U.S. Department of Defense recently issued
a memorandum and class deviation in
response to newly updated provisions of the Berry
Amendment – the law that requires certain goods
purchased by the DOD to be made in the U.S. or a
“qualifying country.” For the spring industry, this
memo contains some much-needed clarification of
the specialty metals clause.
The Berry Amendment
The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations
Supplement (DFARS) includes the Berry Amendment,
which is intended to ensure an adequate
domestic industrial base and avoid dependence on
foreign suppliers in times of adversity and war.
At issue for springmakers who supply the defense
industry is the Berry Amendment specialty
metals clause, DFARS 252.225-7014, which restricts
where materials used in defense equipment
are made.
The amendment was enacted in 1941, and the
specialty-metals clause was adopted in 1973. In
spring 2001, Congress revisited the Berry Amendment,
largely in response to a controversy involving
the Army’s procurement of black berets from foreign
sources. Later that year, the amendment was
made law, and the government began placing real
emphasis on enforcement. In fact, the specialtymetals
clause became a sticking point in negotiations
over the 2007 defense authorization bill after
several significant Pentagon contractors disclosed
that they did not comply with the law because
some of their suppliers have used foreign-produced
specialty metal.
Subsequently, the FY2007 Defense Authorization
Act moved the specialty-metals clause out of
the Berry Amendment and into a new statutory
provision, Title 10, U.S.C. Section 2533b. The new
law created an exception for certain commercially
available electronic components, granted the DOD
the authority to waive specialty metal requirements
for products manufactured before the date the new
statute was enacted, and established a Strategic
Materials Board to recommend items critical for
national security.
The Specialty Metals Provision
DFARS 252.225-7014 gives the following definition
of “specialty metals”:
Steel –
● With a maximum alloy content exceeding one
or more of the following limits: manganese, 1.65
percent; silicon, 0.60 percent; or copper, 0.60 percent;
or
● Containing more than 0.25 percent of any
of the following elements: aluminum, chromium,
cobalt, columbium, molybdenum, nickel, titanium,
tungsten, or vanadium;
● Metal alloys consisting of nickel, iron-nickel,
and cobalt base alloys containing a total of other alloying
metals (except iron) in excess of 10 percent;
● Titanium and titanium alloys; or
● Zirconium and zirconium base alloys.
It says these specialty metals incorporated in
articles purchased by the DOD must be melted or
produced in the United States or its outlying areas,
or in the following “qualifying countries” (subsection
225.872-1): Australia, Belgium, Canada,
Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Israel,
Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom.
(Austria and Finland may also be qualified on
a purchase-by-purchase basis.)
It further states that the clause does not apply
to specialty metals “incorporated in an article
manufactured in a qualifying country.”
Complying with the Law
The new emphasis on enforcement sent some
springmakers and their suppliers scrambling to
SPRINGS April 2007 9

determine if their products comply. “There was an
unbelievable flood of customers requesting recertification
of their material purchases,” says Terry
Bartel Ph.D., general manager, wire division, Elgiloy
Specialty Metals, Elgin, IL. “Some requests were
for material that was shipped as long ago as 1986.
The resources spent on amending these certifications
have been a tremendous cost to us. Unfortunately,
not all customers were satisfied because
much of this material was not DFARS compliant – a
direct result of customers wanting lower prices and
10 SPRINGS April 2007
not really being concerned that the material came
from a DFARS country (or even aware that the requirement
existed).”
However, the new statutory provision may offer
relief from such material recertification headaches.
In a Dec. 6, 2006 memo with the subject
“Class Deviation – Restriction on Procurement of
Specialty Metals,” Defense Procurement and Acquisition
Policy Director Shay Assad says, “A new onetime
waiver is now established for contracts under
which specialty metals were incorporated into
items produced, manufactured or
assembled in the United States
prior to Nov. 16, 2006, and where
final acceptance by the government
takes place after that date.”
Recognizing that many suppliers
have been “inadvertently
non-compliant” with the specialty
metals provision of the Berry
Amendment, Assad’s memo states,
“the new provision allows for a period
for suppliers at all levels of the
supply chain to become compliant
with section 2533b of Title 10.”
Flowing Down the Supply Chain
In contracts involving the six
major defense programs, the specialty
metals provision applies to
all subcontractors.
“When the government purchases
an end product for one of
the six major defense programs,
components, including all parts
and assemblies at all tiers must be
compliant,” says Assad.
The six major programs are:
aircraft, missile and space systems,
ships, tank and automotive items,
weapon systems, and ammunition.
In the statute, the term “automotive
item” refers to self-propelled
military transport vehicles. It does
not include construction or support
equipment, such as bulldozers,
lifts, loaders or aircraft ground
support equipment.
However, there is a narrow exception
that is triggered only if the
DOD is buying third-tier or lower
parts (not the end item or first- or
second- tier component parts) directly
from the prime contractor.
Contractors providing directly to
the government third-tier or lower

parts of an end item associated with one of the six
major defense programs will no longer need to comply
with the specialty metals provision.
To clarify this exception, Assad offers an example:
If a spare rocket motor were purchased as
a contract line item, that spare rocket motor is a
first-tier component of the missile and would still
be covered, even if purchased separately from the
missile system. If, for example, the rocket motor
contains a power supply (second-tier item), and it
was purchased as a separate item, it would also
be covered by the new specialty metals provision.
12 SPRINGS April 2007
If, however, a third-tier or lower-level assembly or
part, such as the printed circuit board [or a spring]
contained within the rocket motor power supply, is
purchased separately from the missile system (under
a separate contract line item), the restriction
does not apply.
It’s also important to note:
● The specialty metals provision does apply to
“raw stock” of specialty metals purchased either
directly by the DOD or through a contractor.
● The provision does not apply to items, such
as springs, that are third-tier or below parts and
will not be used in one of the six
major defense programs. In that
case, the wire does not necessarily
have to be melted in the U.S. or
a qualifying country.
Sourcing Compliant Material
For springmakers looking for
DFARS-compliant material, the
search can be difficult in certain
cases, but not impossible, say
wire suppliers.
“In my experience, by far the
greatest demand for DFARScompliant
spring wires appears
to be for the more specialty wires,
such as nickel-coated stainless
and nickel-coated 17/7 PH,” says
David Merrills, vice president of
Industrial Steel & Wire in Bristol,
CT. “I’m not sure if all of these
wires are obtainable domestically,
but arguably the highest quality
wires come from Japan or Korea,
both of which are not qualifying
countries.”
“We haven’t had any scenarios
where we haven’t been
able to obtain DFARS-compliant
material,” says Brian E. Burr,
general manager of Sumiden Wire
Products Corp., Dickson, TN.
“However, we have encountered
problems obtaining high-quality
DFARS-compliant material.”
“Since we deal with the more
exotic alloys,” says Bartel, “those
requiring DFARS-compliant material
have seen higher prices
because of the higher priced raw
material. This is not an absolute
truism but does occur more than
we would like. The two alloys that
come to mind for us are X-750

and MP35N. DFARS-compliant sources are higher
priced.”
“It is often easy to find lower priced raw material
that is not DFARS compliant from foreign
sources due to advantageous currency exchange
rates, suspect quality or foreign government subsidies,”
explains Burr.
Another item in the new provision that could
apply to springmakers is a revised domestic nonavailability
exception. A Domestic Non-Availability
Determination (DNAD) may be granted “if compliant
specialty metal cannot be procured as and
when needed in the required form,” says Assad.
“For example, domestic specialty metal may not be
available in the bar stock required to produce fasteners,
or the specialty metal may not be available,
as and when needed, in the forged or milled form
that is required. When considering a DNAD, one of
the factors that should be addressed is whether the
price of a compliant metal is fair and reasonable, in
accordance with FAR 15.402.”
Electronic Component Exception
A new exception for electronic components was
also included in the recent statutory provision.
The exception applies to “commercially available
electronic components whose specialty metal con-
14 SPRINGS April 2007
tent is de minimis in value compared to the overall
value of the lowest level component produced that
contains such specialty metal,” says Assad. “The
Department will use ‘does not exceed 10 percent’
for the de minimis standard for specialty metals
contained in electronic components.” An item can
be an “electronic component” regardless of the tier
of the end product in which it is installed.
To clarify the electronic component exception,
Assad offers the following example:
A contractor is providing an aircraft as the
end product, but purchases radio communication
equipment for the aircraft from a subcontractor.
The subcontractor is the producer of the radio
communication equipment, buying electronic parts
to assemble. The value of the radio communication
equipment’s specialty metal content must be less
than 10 percent of the value of the radio communication
equipment. The individual electronic parts
assembled into the radio communication equipment
are not the electronic components against
which the de minimis value of the specialty metal
must be calculated, because they are not produced
by the subcontractor. It is not necessary to know
the exact value of the specialty metal, only to reasonably
estimate that it is less than 10 percent of
the total value.

Qualifying Country Exception
As mentioned earlier, specialty metals must be
melted in the United States, its outlying areas or in a
qualifying country. However, DFARS 252.225.7014
states that the clause does not apply to specialty
metals “incorporated in an article manufactured in
a qualifying country.” This would seem to create a
loophole for manufacturers in qualifying countries.
As confirmed by the DOD, the following scenarios
are correct interpretations of the specialty metals
provision:
1. A spring manufacturer in a qualifying country
can use wire that was melted in any country
and sell the springs (at any tier) for use in one of
the six major defense programs. (The wire would be
incorporated in an article manufactured in a qualifying
country.)
2. A spring manufacturer in the U.S. must use
wire that was melted in the U.S. or a qualifying
country in order to sell the springs for use in one
of the six major defense programs. Two exceptions
would be if the spring was a third-tier or below part
that was purchased directly by the government (not
as part of an end product), or if the spring would
fall under the electronic component exception.
Springmakers and others who would consider
taking advantage of this loophole should use caution,
however. The DOD, Congress and lobbyists
continue to debate the specialty metals provision,
so new guidelines could be forthcoming.
Ongoing Compliance Issues
Going forward, wire suppliers can include the
country of melt on their test certificates, so tracking
the origin of the material shouldn’t be a problem
in the future.
But what happens to existing material in the
supply chain that was intended for defense contracts?
“It renders some of our stock of wire as
obsolete, as well as stocks of finished springs made
and stocked by our customers,” says Merrills.
Even if that weren’t an issue, suppliers would
still be left with compliance costs.
“The biggest problem we find in conforming to
the Berry Amendment is maintaining and segregating
compliant and noncompliant materials,” says
Burr. “It becomes very costly to maintain two inventories
of products.
“The regulation forces us to have an even larger
supplier base,” says Bartel, “so we can supply those
who require DFARS compliant material and those
who do not. Those who do not require DFARS are
not willing to pay the higher prices for this material,
so we are forced to maintain a dual inventory.
Thus we have more material and increased costs to
operate our business.”
SPRINGS April 2007 15

“As a warehouse and distributor of wire, we do
not know whose wire to stock,” says Merrills. “We
never know who the specific customer will be at
any one time, and certainly we have no idea who
their customer will be (i.e. the military).”
Pros and Cons
Some believe that laws like the specialty metals
provision contradict free trade policies. They say
the presence and degree of competition is the most
effective way to promote efficiency and improve
quality.
“As much as I would like to be able to supply all
of our customers with DFARS (or even better, domestic)
material, I have to believe that we are being
forced into a situation where our competitiveness is
being eroded by the higher prices for DFARS compliant
material.” says Bartel. “I understand the desire
to have implemented such a program, but the world
is growing smaller every day and, whether I or anyone
else likes it, we are truly in a world market.”
On the other hand, some believe that key U.S.
sectors need the protections afforded by the Berry
Amendment. Proponents argue that it is important
in periods of commercial downtime for the specialty
metals industry. Without it, some say, the industry
could go out of business – a scenario that would,
16 SPRINGS April 2007
in turn, deprive the government of strong defense
resources.
“It is our belief the Berry Amendment helps the
U.S. spring market by erecting significant barriers
to importation of low-priced non-DFARS foreignproduced
springs,” says Burr. Another reason the
law should remain in place, he says, is to “ensure
a continuation of domestic-sourced defense materials.”
Regardless of individual philosophies, the
spring industry must comply with the law if it wants
to do business with the DOD. Limited availability of
certain materials, higher prices or longer lead times
may sometimes be encountered. However, there is
one thing that could relieve such pressures, says
Merrills: “This regulation excludes two of this
nation’s largest ‘friendly’ trading partners, Japan
and South Korea. If these two countries were to be
included or classified as ‘qualifying countries,’ then
I don’t believe the spring industry would have any
real issues with DFARS.”
Rita S. Kaufman CAE is the editor of Springs
magazine and communications director of the
Spring Manufacturers Institute. Readers may contact
her by phone at (630) 495-8588 or e-mail at
editor@smihq.org. �

OSHA Expands its
Amputation Program
OSHA has begun targeting industries, including
springmaking, that use any equipment that
could cause amputations. Since 2002, SMI has
been advising its members to make certain that their
power presses (punch presses) are guarded in accordance
to OSHA standards in CFR 1910.217. OSHA
has a special National Emphasis Program (NEP) on
this equipment and has conducted thousands of
inspections to enforce power press guarding. Now
they have expanded the special-emphasis program
to include other types of machinery and equipment.
This new directive applies to any general-industry
workplace where any machinery and equipment
likely to cause amputations is present.
This new directive will target industries associated
with amputations rather than equipment associated
with amputations. OSHA will be concentrating on a
company’s failure to apply proper machine guarding
techniques and control of energy hazards during servicing,
maintenance and setup activities, which are
the primary causes of amputations.
Most companies in the 3400 series of Standard
Industrial Classification (SIC) are included in the NEP
and will be targeted for an enforcement inspection. This
includes SICs 3493, 3495, 3496 and 3499.
Standards that are generally recognized as being
related to amputation hazards and are now included
in the targeting program are:
● 1910.147 – Lockout/Tagout.
● 1910.219 – Power transmission (belt and pulley
guarding).
● 1910.212 – General guarding on all machinery.
● 1910.213 – Woodworking machinery.
● 1910.217 – Mechanical power presses.
In focusing on specific industries, OSHA will
combine its enforcement data for these standards
with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) amputation
numbers and rates.
OSHA’s Top 10 Violations for 2006
OSHA released its top 10 most frequently cited
standards and those with the highest penalty assessments
for 2006. Seven of the top 10 were in general
industry, with three falling under the construction
industry standards. These are the top seven for
general industry:
Be
Aware
Safety Tips
from Jim Wood
1. Hazard Communication 1910.1200.
2. Respiratory Protection 1920.134.
3. Lockout/Tagout 1910.147.
4. Power Industrial Trucks (Forklifts) 1910.178.
5. Electrical, Work Practices 1910.305.
6. Machine Guarding, general 1910.212.
7. Electrical, Systems Design 1910.303.
Highest Penalties for General Industry
1. Machine Guarding, general 1910.212.
2. Lockout/Tagout 1910.147.
3. Process Management, Hazardous Chemicals
1910.119.
4. Power Industrial Trucks (Forklifts) 1910.178.
5. Guarding Floor and Wall openings 1910.23.
6. General Duty Clause 5 (a)(1).
Jim’s Regulatory Tip
Because of the National Emphasis Program
(NEP) on amputations, hundreds if not thousands
of enforcement inspections will be directed toward
the manufacturing sector with an SIC in the 3400
group. If your company falls within this SIC group
or if you have had an amputation accident, be prepared.
Adequate machine guarding is a must, along
with a strong (enforced) Lockout/Tagout program.
OSHA Turned 35
“In 1971, nearly 14,000 people died on the job. In
2005, the number was down to 5,700 people, despite
the fact that twice as many people are working today,
compared to 35 years ago. To put these numbers into
context, if we still had a fatality rate as high as 1971,
more than 23,000 people would have died on the job
last year.” – Edwin Foulke, OSHA Administrator �
Jim Wood is an independent regulations
compliance consultant to SMI. A certified
instructor of the OSHA Out-Reach Program,
Wood conducts seminars, plant Safety
Audits and In-House Safety Training. These
programs help companies create safer work
environments, limit OSHA/Canadian Ministry
of Labor violations and insurance costs,
and prepare for VPP or SHARP certification.
He also offers safety advice and information
by phone at (630) 495-8597 or e-mail at regs@smihq.org.
SPRINGS April 2007 17

Overseas
PCB Piezotronics Inc., a PCB Group Co., Depew,
NY, has established a direct sales office to serve customers
in the United Kingdom, PCB Piezotronics
Ltd. Located in Hitchin, Herts, PCB Piezotronics Ltd.
will provide direct sales and customer support for all
PCB Piezotronics and IMI Sensors product lines. It
will also offer focused specialty product and program
support in the areas of aerospace, defense, test and
measurement, and automotive applications.
PCB Piezotronics designs and manufactures
force, torque, load, strain, pressure, acoustic and
vibration sensors, as well as ICP technology.
Sandvik Tooling in Sandviken, Sweden, has
reached an agreement with the American private
equity company Littlejohn & Co. LLC to acquire
Diamond Innovations Inc., formerly the superabrasives
division of General Electric.
Diamond Innovations develops and produces
synthetic diamond and cubic boron nitride products
for such industrial applications as machining,
grinding and wire drawing. The head office is located
in Worthington, OH, with other offices in Florida,
Ireland and Hong Kong. Sales are equally distributed
between the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Exhibitor kits for wire 2008, International
Trade Fair for Wire and Cable are available. The
international event for the industry will be held in
Düsseldorf, Germany, March 31 to April 4, 2008.
About 1,100 international exhibitors on over 540,000
square feet of exhibit space and 37,000 visitors are
expected to take part. At wire 2008, trade visitors
from around the globe will find the latest machinery
and equipment for wire production and processing,
as well as raw materials.
For an exhibitor kit or visitor information, contact
Messe Düsseldorf North America by phone at
(312) 781-5180 or e-mail at info@mdna.com.
Overseas Events
April 18-20, 2007: 7th Wire and Cable Expo
International Exhibition and Conference, New
Delhi, India, Intech Trade Fairs Pvt., +91-22-
26861040, www.intechtradefairs.com.
June 7-8, 2007: VDFI Annual Convention,
Gelsenkirchen, Germany, VDFI, fax +49 2331
587484, www.vdfi.wsu.de.
June 21-24, 2007: 8 th China Int’l Fasteners
Spring & Equipment Exhibition, Guangzhou,
China, Julang Exhibition Co. Ltd., +86-20-38620782,
www.julang.com.cn.
Sept. 26-29, 2007, 5 th International Mould
& Die Making and Manufacturing Technology
Exhibition for Asia, Guangzhou, China, Business
and Industrial Trade Fairs Ltd., (852) 2865 2633,
www.mould-die.com.
Oct. 16-18, 2007: wire Southeast Asia, Bangkok,
Thailand, Messe Düsseldorf, (312) 781-5180,
www.messe-dusseldorf.de.
Nov. 2, 2007: JSSE 60 th Anniversary International
Symposium, Nagoya, Japan, JSSE,
+81-3-3251-5235, www.soc.nii.ac.jp/jssr.
March 31-April 4, 2008: wire 2008, International
Trade Fair, Düsseldorf, Germany, Messe
Düsseldorf North America, (312) 781-5180,
info@mdna.com.
North America
Wheelabrator Plus in
LaGrange, GA, has announced
that Tim McLaughlin has
joined the company as territory
account manager, with
account responsibility for
Ohio, Kentucky and West
Virginia. He has more than 31
years of experience in abrasive
blast cleaning equipment,
peening applications and abrasives, and retired as
CEO of McLaughlin Inc., Middletown, OH in 2004.
He most recently served as sales manager for Ervin
Industries in Ann Arbor, MI. Wheelabrator provides
surface preparation and finishing solutions.
Furnace Fixers Inc. has moved to larger headquarters
in Streamwood, IL, which will allow the
company to build larger machines and to start
stocking frequently purchased furnaces. The new
address is: 308A Roma Jean Pkwy., Streamwood,
IL 60107; telephone (630) 736-0670; fax (630)
736-0680; e-mail info@furnacefixers.com; Web site
www.furnacefixers.com.
Sandvik Hard Materials has reached an agreement
with Rexam to acquire the beverage can tooling
business in Rexam’s North American Equipment
Manufacturing Division in Chicago, IL. The operation,
including machinery and equipment, will be
transferred to Sandvik Hard Materials’ existing can
tooling plant in Minneapolis, MN.
SPRINGS April 2007 19

John Mitteer, responsible for many innovations
and patented designs in the spring industry, has
formed a new company, Wire Equipment LLC. The
new company will operate out of Portland, OR, with
a sales and service office in Michigan.
Mitteer, a former U.S. Baird employee, will be
joined by several other U.S. Baird expatriates to
provide the latest in imported as well as homegrown
product solutions.
Wire Equipment LLC supplies CNC coilers, CNC
benders, CNC
wire formers,
strip forming
equipment and
custom equipment
with wire
ranges up to
20 mm. These
machines can
offer domestic
controls with off-the-shelf replacement and worldwide
support. Also available is support equipment,
including de-reelers, ovens and gauging systems.
Service retrofits and parts for a variety of machines,
including U.S. Baird, JM Systems, Minyu, Wafios,
OMCG, Torin and Aim, are available. Wire Equipment
is the newly appointed distributor and exclusive sup-
20 SPRINGS April 2007
plier of Minyu products and parts in North America.
New to Minyu is a patented wire-rotate mechanism
for its 1240 machine. Also, specialized control retrofits
are available for existing Minyu machines,
replacing the old controls with worldwide-supported
Parker controls.
Wire Equipment LLC’s phone number is (503)
793-7287, and the fax number is (503) 692-4575.
Tak Enterprises Inc. of Bristol, CT, achieved
several milestones as it completed its 25 th year of
business. Business partnership arrangements were
formalized that allow Tak Enterprises to offer turnkey
system solutions for contact welding, assembly, CNC
wire forming and stamping as part of its ISO 9001:
2000-certified contract production service. Tak also
introduced
a new servo
feed system;
incorporated
Allen
Bradley PLC
hardware in
its standard
feed and cutoff systems; added direct and indirect
sales personnel in California, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana
and Florida; added a new line of medium-duty
wire payoffs; developed an interactive Web site; and
more during its 25 th year. Tak’s partnerships not
only span the country, with companies like Spectral
Systems of California and Wire Equipment LLC of
Oregon, but also cross the ocean to companies like
Stanzbiegetechnik of Austria. Established in 1981
by Thomas A. Kunkler and Rienehart Hermann, Tak
Enterprises has conducted business out of Bristol
since its inception, starting in a 1,000-square-footbuilding
and eventually expanding to its current
30,000-square-foot-facility.
The Chicago Association of Spring Manufacturers
(CASMI) board of directors was elected by a
vote of its membership, and the board subsequently
elected its officers. They are as follows: Dan Bishop,
president; Joe Sirovatka, vice president; Rick Ross,
secretary/treasurer; Stanley J. Banas, immediate
past president and show chairman; Robert Henneberry,
past president/director; Rick Richter, past
president/director; and Dan Pesaresi Jr., director.
All were installed for their two-year terms at the
dinner dance held in February.
The event provided CASMI members and suppliers
an opportunity to get to know CASMI’s new
executive director, Tom Renk.
CASMI’s new contact information is: 1801 N. Mill
St., Suite R, Naperville, IL 60563; phone (630) 369-
3466; fax (630) 369-3773; e-mail tom@casmi.org.

InterWire Products (IWP) has opened a new
30,000-square-foot facility in Fort Mill, SC, to service
the wire markets in Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina
and South Carolina. “We initiated this expansion
in direct response to our growth and success in the
marketplace,” says Frank Cardile Jr., president.
This follows IWP’s recent expansion into Michigan,
with an 80,000-square-foot facility. The two new
facilities, plus the existing locations, give IWP a total
of 430,000 square feet of warehousing throughout
the United States. IWP South Carolina is located
at 4217 Pleasant Rd., Fort Mill, SC 29715, (803)
802-0010.
Newcomb Spring Corp. has announced the
relocation of two of its plants. Newcomb Spring of
Carolina and Resortes Newcomb have expanded to
new, state-of-the-art facilities. Newcomb Spring of
Carolina’s address now is 4128 Barringer Dr., Charlotte
NC 28217. Resortes Newcomb’s new address is
3700 Durazno St., El Paso, TX 79905. The e-mail,
phone and fax numbers for these locations remain
the same.
The Wire Association International (WAI) has
introduced “how-to” production solutions demonstrations
as part of Interwire 2007, May 5-10, 2007
22 SPRINGS April 2007
in Cleveland, OH. Sessions will be held Tuesday, May
7 and repeat on Thursday, May 9. Topics include:
Ferrous Wire Breaks, Nonferrous/Electrical Wire
Breaks, How to Improve System Life, Die Inspection,
Boost Lubricity in Aging Systems, and Cold
Pressure Welding.
JD Norman Industries acquired the assets of
KL Industries in December 2006. The manufacturing
facilities of KL in Addison, IL, and Marion, SC,
will continue operations under JD Norman Metal
Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of JD Norman
Industries.
The addition of the KL Industries facilities
expands JD Norman’s manufacturing capabilities,
including increased fourslide capacity, expanded
tonnage in the press business, and a wider wire
size range in the coiled product segment.
North American Events
May 5-10, 2007: Interwire 2007, Cleveland, OH,
WAI, (203) 453-2777, www.wirenet.org.
May 5-10, 2007: International Fastener Exposition,
Cleveland, OH, co-locating with Interwire 2007,
IFSM (800) 688-1698, e-mail: rzirkle@bsales.com.
May 15-17, 2007: The Successful Measurement
of Dynamic Force, Pressure and Acceleration,

Buffalo, NY, PCB Piezotronics, (800) 828-8840 Ext.
2465, www.pcb.com/events.
May 22-24, 2007: Six Sigma in Sales and
Marketing, Chicago, IL, WCBF, (800) 959-6549,
www.wcbf.com/quality/5074.
Sept. 24-27, 2007: National Manufacturing
Week, co-locating with Assembly
Technology Expo, Quality Expo, Electronics
Assembly Show and Plastec Midwest, Rosemont,
IL, Canon Communications, (310) 445-4200; e-mail
www.canontradeshows.com.
March 8-11, 2008, SMI Annual Convention
and 75th Anniversary Reunion Celebration, Palm
Desert, CA, SMI, (630) 495-8588, www.smihq.org.
Oct. 15-17, 2008: Spring World 2008, Rosemont,
IL, CASMI, (630) 369-3772, www.springworld.org.
__________________________
It is with deep regret that Springs announces the
passing of August “Gus” Kollom, Stanley R. Bilik,
Sr., William J. Bohnen, Margaret “Marge” Mell,
Betty Gwendoline Wallbank and Ronald Arthur
“Ron” Richter.
August “Gus” Kollom was CEO and owner
of Northwest Fourslide Inc. in Sherwood, OR. He
founded the company in 1979 and had been a
long-time member of SMI. He will be missed by his
wife and family, employees, business partners, and
customers.
William J. Bohnen died in November, 2006
after a long illness. He was president and owner of
Guardian Metal Sales Inc. in Morton Grove, IL He
is survived by his wife, Linda; his children Laurie,
Joshua and Leslie (Kevin) Murphy; and his grandson,
William Murphy. His daughter Marcia preceded
him in death. Survivors also include his sisters, Gail
(James) Cummings and Ann (Jay) Mommsen; brothers,
James and Stephen (Jana) Bohnen; and nieces
and nephews.
Margaret “Marge” Mell died December 3, 2006
of a rare brain disease. While she was best known
as the wife of Chicago Alderman, Dick Mell, and
the mother-in-law of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich,
she also was a successful businesswoman
managing the R.F. Mell Spring and Manufacturing
Co. in Chicago, a past member of SMI and CASMI.
She is survived by her husband, Dick; her children,
Patti (Rod) Blagojevich, Deborah Mell and Richard
D. (Angi) Mell; and grandchildren, Amy, Anne and
Justin.
Stanley R. Bilik Sr. died January 6, 2007. He
was a founder of All-Rite Spring Co. in Spring Grove,
IL, and a member of SMI. He is survived by his wife,
Maria; daughters, Gwen Jacobs and Dorothy (Virgil)
Knowland; and sons, Robert (Lori), Edward (Mary)
and Stanley (Natalie) Bilik. He was grandfather of 14,
great-grandfather of 20 and great-great-grandfather
of three. He was brother of Sophie Verba, Edward
(Philomena) Bilik and Walter (Bernice) Bilik. He was
the husband of the late Frances and father of the
late Sharon Bilik.
Betty Gwendoline Wallbank, age 77, died February
11, 2007 after a battle with cancer. Born in
Redditch, Worcestershire, England, she and her
husband, Phil, moved to Canada in 1953 with their
first two sons. In 1954, Phil, with Betty’s assistance,
started a spring manufacturing business near Washington,
Ontario. P.J. Wallbank Manufacturing Co.
has grown to over 100 employees, and Betty was
active in the company until a few weeks before her
death. Members of SMI, Betty and Phil “danced up
a storm” at many conventions. She is survived by
Phil, her husband of 58 years; three sons, Tony
(Linda), Mel (Mariette) and Keith (Lisa); and nine
grandchildren.
Ronald Arthur “Ron” Richter died in February
2007, after a battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
An active member of SMI and CASMI, he was the
president of R-R Spring Corp. in Addison, IL. He is
survived by his wife, Ruth; his sons, Ronald “Rick”
(Wendy) and Randall “Randy” (Bette) Richter; six
grandchildren; his sister, Lynne (John) Legrady;
brother-in-law, Ray (Annette) Thomas; and several
nieces and nephews. �
SPRINGS April 2007 23

W e
Words That Sell
Proven words that can motivate prospects to do business with your company
all know the English language contains
hundreds of thousands of words. But did
you know that only 21 of them can easily sell
your clients? Yes, it’s true. When you know what
these proven words are and how to use them to
your company’s benefit, you’ll save both time and
money when selling to prospects. In fact, once you
master the use of these 21 words, your business
will quickly get the results it deserves. (Hint: this
paragraph contains 10 of the 21 words. Did you
spot them all?)
What’s in a Word?
The exact words you use in your company’s
marketing materials can make the difference between
success and failure.
Choose the right words,
and your prospects will
find you and your company
irresistible. Choose the
wrong words, and you’ll
spend most of your time
convincing prospects to
do business with you. Why
waste your time selling
prospects on your products
or services when you
can let strategically written
marketing pieces do
the work for you? When it
comes to writing marketing
pieces, your word choices
do matter. Following are
the top 10 of the 21 words
that sell. Use them wisely,
and watch your marketing response rates soar.
The Top 10 Words that Sell
1. You/your - “You” is the most powerful word in
the English language. It’s more powerful than the
word “money;” it’s more powerful than the word
“sex.” Prospects want to feel as if you’re talking to
them directly, and the word “you” accomplishes
just that. So instead of writing, “Our clients report
increased productivity as a result of using
the Widget 2100,” write, “You will experience increased
productivity as a result of using the Widget
2100.” Keep every sentence in your prospect’s
perspective.
By Dawn Josephson, Cameo Publications
2. Money - Ask people what they wish they had
more of, and chances are they’ll say “money.” People
love to save money just as much as they love to
earn it. So if a benefit of your product or service is
that it saves people money or helps them earn more
money, state it along with a monetary figure people
can grasp. For example: “Using the Widget 2100
saves you money – over $5,000 per year!”
3. Health/healthy - The second thing people
wish they had more of is good health. People want
products and services that are going to either improve
their health or not negatively impact it. For
example: “Vitamin X improves your health and well
being by… or “Pesticide Y has no known health implications,”
or “Product Z is part of a healthy diet.”
4. Guarantee/guaranteed
- By nature, most
people are not risk takers.
They want assurance
that they’re not wasting
their money, and that your
product or service can live
up to its claims. By giving
some sort of guarantee,
you put prospects at ease
and make them trust you.
For example: “We’re so
confident the Widget 2100
will work for you that we
offer a full money-back
guarantee.”
5. Easy/easily - Between
40+ hour workweeks and
increasing demands at
home, people want things
that are easy. They don’t want products or services
that are going to make their lives more difficult. So
always state how easy your company makes things.
For example: “The Widget 2100 makes it easy for
you to…” Or, “With the Widget 2100, you can easily
remove spots from your carpet once and for all.”
6. Free - Everyone loves getting something for
nothing. That’s why the word “free” continues to be
one of the top selling words of all time. Realize that
the free offer doesn’t have to have a high monetary
value, just a high perceived value. Some freebies
that work include: “Free consultation,” “Free estimate,”
“Free report,” “Free shipping” and “Buy one
get one free.”
SPRINGS April 2007 25

7. Yes - Face it, you love being told “yes,” don’t
you? “Yes” means you have permission, you were
right, or you can get what you want. “Yes” is one
of the most pleasing words to the human ear. So
tell your prospects “yes” often. For example, in
your marketing materials, you can ask a series of
positive yes/no questions, and then write, “If you
answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then the
Widget 2100 is what you’ve been searching for.”
8. Quick/quickly - In today’s microwave age society,
people want things quickly. They don’t want
to wait weeks or even days for the results you promote.
They want to know they’ll see a quick return
for their investment now. So while the perception
of quick results may vary from person to person,
as long as you know that your product or service is
quicker than something else, state it. For example:
“Lose weight quickly,” “Make money quickly,” and
“Quick and tasty meals from your own kitchen.”
9. Benefit - Most written marketing pieces do
state the benefit of the product or service; however,
they neglect to actually use the word “benefit.”
When people read the word “benefit,” they subconsciously
perk up. They know they’re about to learn
something that will impact their lives, so they want
to know more. For example, “As an added benefit to
this product, you get (state the benefit).”
26 SPRINGS April 2007
10. Person’s name - People love to hear the
sound of their own name and they love to read their
name in print. That’s why so many souvenir shops
sell personalized items – from magnets to coffee
mugs. Including the prospect’s name in a marketing
piece, especially in the middle of the sentence,
boosts attention levels. For example, “As you can
see, Steve, the Widget 2100 makes perfect sense
for your needs.”
The Remaining 11
The other eleven words that sell are:
1. Love
2. Results
3. Safe/safely
4. Proven
5. Fun
6. New
7. Save
8. Now
9. How-to
10. Solution
11. More
While synonyms to these 21 words are acceptable,
synonyms are not as powerful as the actual
word itself. So in order to not appear redundant
in your marketing piece, use the appropriate word
wisely, and don’t overdo it. As your marketing writing
prowess increases, consider combining words
that sell in the same sentence. For example, maybe
your product works “quickly, safely, and easily.”
Or, perhaps your service makes cooking “easy and
fun.” Or, are your “proven results guaranteed?”
You get the idea. Since short marketing pieces are
more powerful than long ones, make sure every
sentence packs a punch.
When you use these 21 words in every marketing
piece, you quickly increase your prospect’s
interest in what you write, which ultimately leads
to more money for you. So master the use of these
proven words now. Doing so, dear reader, gives you
the easy solution to low marketing response rates
you’ve been waiting for.
Can you do it? Yes! And you’re going to love the
results. Guaranteed!
Dawn Josephson is the president and founder
of Cameo Publications, an editorial and publishing
services firm. She helps professionals transform
their ideas into written material. She is the author
of Putting It On Paper: The Ground Rules for
Creating Promotional Pieces that Sell Books (ISBN
0-9744966-1-8). Readers may contact her via e-mail
at dawn@cameopublications.com or phone at (843)
785-3770. �

Cautionary Tale XXXIV
Global Challenges
By Mark Hayes
The global marketplace is not a level playing field.
There are significant factors that distort markets.
We all understand and accept that labor rates are
vastly different across the spring manufacturing
countries of the world. So, will all spring manufacturing
become concentrated in low-labor-cost
countries? The answer to this question must give
cause for concern unless you are in China, India,
Eastern Europe or parts of the Far East, where costs
are low and growth can exceed 20% per annum.
Whereas the spring trade is
very buoyant in these parts of
the world, it is not yet impossibly
bad in the U.S., Europe and
Japan, but will it continue? Are
springmaking jobs safe?
I recently gave a talk to the
UK Fasteners Industry about
hydrogen embrittlement, a topic I may well revisit one
day in this column. However, one of the other speakers
at the seminar described the way the fastener
industry in the UK had been decimated, with 84%
of all fasteners being imported today. Contrast this
with the spring industry, not dissimilar in makeup
to the fastener business, and you find that less than
16% of the UK requirement for springs is imported.
So why this massive difference between industries?
First, it has to be stated that the UK market has as
level a playing field as anywhere in the world, and it is
a moderately high-wage economy with a strong currency.
There are no industrial or energy subsidies, no
import/export tariffs with Europe, and low tariffs with
the rest of the world, so why has the fastener industry
been lost to market forces but not springmaking?
Mark Hayes is the Senior Metallurgist
at the Institute of Spring Technology
(IST) in Sheffield, England. Hayes manages
IST’s spring failure analysis service,
and all metallurgical aspects of advice
given by the Institute. He also gives the
majority of the spring training courses
that IST offers globally.
Readers are encouraged to contact
him with comments about this Cautionary
Tale, and with suggested subjects for future Tales, by phone at
(011) 44 114 252 7984 (direct dial), fax at (011) 44 114 2527997 or
e-mail at m.hayes@ist.org.uk.
If the end user moves his manufacturing
to a low-cost country, the
springs will likely be locally sourced.
Is there a defense to this?
Spring
Technology
The answer, IST believes, lies with the fact that
the overwhelming majority of fasteners can be bought
from stock. Consequently, the Taiwanese fastener
industry makes a magnificent range of stock fasteners,
and has captured the world market by piling them
high and selling them cheap. Springs from stock, on
the other hand, are seldom exactly right; almost all
springs have to be specifically made to the end user’s
precise requirements. It is this simple fact that has
preserved the UK spring industry and, doubtless, the
spring industries of the U.S.,
Japan and Europe. When you
are making something precise
to your customer’s requirements,
the buyer won’t be able
to find an equivalent (cheaper)
stock item. The buyer might
receive a cheaper offer from
your competitor up the road, however, and this
keeps all springmakers competitive.
On the other hand, if the end user moves his
manufacturing to a low-cost country, the springs will
likely be locally sourced. Is there a defense to this?
Probably not, unless your company investigates
the possibilities of strategic partnerships, joint ventures,
mergers and setting up new factories in the
country to which your customer(s) have decamped.
All these strategies could preserve your market and
put you in line to take advantage of the growth in the
country to which your customer has moved.
IST is a very small company offering global
services, such as fatigue testing, failure analysis,
information about spring materials and performance,
and CAD programs. We are in the process of adopting
the business strategy described here by appointing
Zhou Wei to be our agent in China, Derek Saynor to
be our agent in the U.S. for services not already covered
by NIMSCO, and Amit Banerjee to be our newest
employee in India. This gives us global coverage for
a small company that has to retain good awareness
of world trends.
Maybe your company also needs a strategic partner
in China, India, Latvia, Malaysia or wherever.
The point of this Cautionary Tale is that the spring
market has become global, and you need a strategy
to flourish in it. �
SPRINGS April 2007 27

Workplace Safety
Have a Question?
SMI is Here to Help
Contact the experts at the Spring Manufacturers Institute
for assistance with your Workplace Safety and Technical problems
Jim Wood, independent regulations compliance consultant to SMI,
can assist you with all your workplace safety concerns.
From written safety manuals and employee training to machine
guarding and lockout/tagout, Jim can help you create a safer
workplace that complies with federal OSHA, state standards and
Canadian Ministry of Labor regulations.
A certified instructor of the OSHA Out-Reach Program, Jim has
Jim Wood
worked with SMI and the spring industry for over 10 years, answering
questions, conducting on-site Safety Audits, providing custom In-House Safety Training,
and presenting educational seminars. He has practical experience in plant safety,
having served as manufacturing engineering and safety director for 13 years, and vice
president of operations for a major manufacturer for 17 years.
Contact Jim with your safety questions by phone at (630) 495-8597 or e-mail at regs@smihq.org.
Technical
Luke Zubek PE, SMI technical director, can help you solve your
technical problems.
Whether you need assistance with a spring design, material selection
and properties, or spring processing, Luke is the expert to call.
In addition to technical advice, Luke provides failure analysis services
and conducts educational seminars. He holds a master’s of materials
and metallurgical engineering degree from the Illinois Institute of
Luke Zubek
Technology and a bachelor’s in metallurgical engineering from the
University of Illinois at Chicago. Before joining the SMI staff, Luke was a metallurgical
engineer at a major steel producer for 10 years.
Contact Luke with your technical questions by phone at (630) 495-8588 or e-mail at technical@smihq.org.
28 SPRINGS April 2007

All of mankind benefited from the advent of the automobile, but the poor blacksmith was, of course,
made obsolete. Thus certain inevitabilities are present in a dynamic economy, and though it may
sound noble to protect the figurative blacksmith, at what cost would such protection come? Daily the
media proclaims manufacturing’s miserable lot, oftentimes in contradiction. “Manufacturing jobs heading
overseas,” in one newspaper, while on the radio, “Job openings resulting from workers leaving the
manufacturing field.” What is the reality concerning our manufacturing and fabricating industries? Since
obsolescence and change are part and parcel of business, how business deals with these intrinsic factors
then is paramount. In other words, where are today’s blacksmiths, what industry or practice is the art of
blacksmithing, and what will remain?
Manufacturing Employment
The typical manufacturer in America today is not the behemoth of yesteryear, employing half of a
small town’s population. It is a small company working out of a one-level building in a nondescript industrial
area. It produces orders from 50 to 50,000, meaning orders that can be filled in an hour to perhaps
six months.
In the manufacture of auto parts, 89% of the manufacturing firms employ 26% of that particular
industry. That means that the older, larger manufacturing firms still employ thousands, but the vast majority
of automotive parts companies employ 250 people or less. [1] Even among old-line manufacturing
giants, industry is lean and getting leaner. The New Yorker recently reported that General Motors is making
more automobiles today than it did in the early 1960s while employing about a third as many people.
Elsewhere it’s the same story. According to steel-industry consultant, Michael Locker, “We are making as
much steel as we made 30 years ago with 25% of the work force.” [2]
While the total employment for all industry sectors in the U.S. is projected to increase
by almost 15% over the 2004–14 period, manufacturing is predicted to
decrease 5.4%. [3] On the surface this looks glum, and while it is true, there
are many facts hidden between the lines of statistics. Employment in the
automotive parts industry is looking at a projected 6% growth over the
same time period. [4] Aerospace parts and products manufacturing
employment is looking at an estimated 8% growth. [5] Machinery
manufacturing employment, however, is expected to decrease
13%. [6] It should be noted, though, this last group mentioned
has seven subcategories and is a rather large classification,
even by government standards. Such divisions need
to be looked at more closely for each company or individual’s
informational needs. For example, employment in mechanical
engineering is expected to slow in the machinery industry,
while growing on average overall. [7]
The Importance of Business Strategy
As for the noble blacksmiths, their history up to their professional
extinction coincides perfectly with the birth of our modern
economy. One of the main ingredients to the industrial revolution
Manufacturing Outlook
Are American manufacturing jobs destined
to go the way of the blacksmith?
By Ray Gardner
Special contributor
SPRINGS April 2007 29

was the specialization and division of labor. The
smithy, however, did everything: fabrication of pots
and pans for the local townsfolk, shoeing of horses,
repair work of all kinds on wagons and carriages,
and fabrication of tools and farm implements. All
the while, the world around him specialized at a
breathtaking rate. Smithies would steadily lose
business to the factory that made nothing but pots
and pans. They would lose out as men like John
Deere, himself a blacksmith, specialized in making
just one thing. Although the art of the farrier will,
of course, always be a hand craft, even today, au-
30 SPRINGS April 2007
tomobiles have certainly made the horse and buggy
obsolete as practical transportation.
Foresight or Obsolescence
Using history as a guide, then, the goal for
manufacturing professionals is to figure out whether
or not they’re fulfilling the pattern of economic
obsolescence. The business owner that insists
on staying with the forge, figuratively speaking,
will eventually lose out to the new business with
state-of-the-art extrusion capabilities. There are
still machine shops in existence that operate with
one expert machinist and two or
three junior operators, making
precision parts, mostly on old
manual equipment, for such big
names as Boeing and Raytheon.
However, these shops live and die
on single contracts – orders for
close-tolerance parts produced
150 at a time. While there is still
a place for such shops, their situations
are unique and cannot be
relied upon as a practical business
plan.
Along the lines of such small
enterprises, a full 83% of the
aerospace parts industry is made
up of establishments that employ
99 workers or less. [8] It may not
be a business plan to model a
wide variety of ventures on, but
the 40-something-year-old welder
who leaves Boeing to become a
small supplier to his old company
is still a viable player in the American
manufacturing scene. Then
there’s the man in his mid-20s
with no college but good mathematical
skills. He starts as an assembler
in an aerospace machine
shop, moves up to a low-level machinist
position, takes a few CAD
classes at the community college,
and within 10 years is the No. 2
man in the local operation of a
small but national firm.
Point being is that manufacturing
is alive and well, if the
focus is fixed in the right place.
Crises and bad tidings make the
news, but the newsmakers sacrifice
real content in order to create
their needed drama. The machinery
and chemical manufacturing
sectors are looking sickly at
projected losses of jobs at 13%

and 14% respectively. [9] There’s the drama that
normally makes bold print in the newspaper. The
rest of the story, though, says output in chemical
manufacturing is expected to grow, so there would
seem to be opportunities for high-level skills and in
the professional ranks. The outlook is different in
the pharmaceutical industry, however. (Although
this group actually has a very small percentage
of the type of production workers that one would
normally associate with manufacturing, there are
assembly lines, factories and large-scale processes
at work here.) Unlike the machinery and chemical
sectors, pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing
is actually predicted to increase its wage and
salary employment by 26%. [10] With this presence
of typical manufacturing processes, the sector offers
opportunity for manufacturing professionals
from the highest skilled to the lowest skilled.
Taking the Right Risks
One Midwestern factory whose business was
the manufacture of automotive gas caps was able
to take a process involving nearly 70 people over the
course of two shifts, and condense the procedure
so that seven low-skilled people could accomplish
the same amount of work. This particular example
was in the mid-1980s when foreign competition
was seemingly tolling the death knell for American
manufacturing. A small team of engineers with an
idea for automating the existing process went to the
now-retired chief financial officer for the go-ahead
approval. The new process would incorporate CNC
machinery to replace the layers of manual labor,
but would come with a very large price tag. Fear
of the unknown and untried loomed, and the CFO
could have shot the idea down in its earliest stages.
Instead, he took it upon himself to learn as much
as possible from the engineers to better assess the
viability of the plan.
The next hurdle was dealing with the workers’
union. According to the CFO, “No one wanted to
cut jobs; it would’ve been nice if we could have just
kept on going, just like normal, but foreign competitors
had already made our choices inevitable if we
were to survive.” The new CNC process would effectively
make the existing jobs obsolete, and what
labor was still required was of a lower skill level and
would have to be for proportionately lower pay. The
decision was made to save the company by building
a new plant in a right-to-work state. Since the new
machinery would require either a temporary closing
of the existing factory or at least limited production,
the new plant was built to accommodate
the CNC machinery. Over time, as the new factory
came online, production was slowly moved to the
new facility, thus giving the work force at the old
plant as much lead time as possible to adjust to the
new scenario. In this example, there were blacksmith-like
positions eliminated, but the company
survived, and it survived without moving overseas.
Looking Ahead
The displaced workers couldn’t have been expected
to foresee what was coming; such things
are largely beyond the scope of the average laborer.
Should there have been someone looking out for
such developments in regards to the workers’ welfare?
That’s not a question that can be definitively
answered in this article. What can be done in such
scenarios for the good of the company and the individual
laborer is for someone to be responsible for
an ongoing assessment of current trends in business
and technology. It could be something as simple
as knowing which machine manufacturer offers
the more reliable product support, or knowing the
best area to locate a new plant. This kind of thinking
benefits the employees in that the business will
be more profitable and the company will be less
likely to over-hire for positions that won’t survive
the foreseeable technological advances.
In the case of the above example, the CFO was
very new in his position. “Here I was in my mid-
30s, new on the job. The head engineer had retired
just after we got this thing into the idea phase, and
I and another young man, an engineer, were just
SPRINGS April 2007 31

32 SPRINGS April 2007
going ahead not sure what the results would be.
It was a little, well, nerve-wracking.” He was confronted
with a decision that would cost millions of
dollars, put people out of work, require the physical
relocation of an entire manufacturing process,
and all of it hinged on an experimental machine.
It would have been easy for him to evade such
responsibility by simply deeming the project “too
risky.” Perhaps being new worked to his advantage.
Not being deeply entrenched in any old ways of doing
things, he was – to abuse a cliché – already
working outside of the box.
Know Your Market
All of this sounds obvious when presented as
hindsight, but it illustrates the need for a kind of
situational awareness in the marketplace. If business
really were this obvious, then most blacksmiths
would have merged into that many more
factories. John Deere was a blacksmith who came
near to failure more than once, and yet this plow
maker is today a household name. Had Deere been
able, perhaps he would have hired a competent
consultant who would have produced for him multiple
spreadsheets showing that Vermont and the
surrounding areas were in a blacksmithing glut; too
much supply and too little demand to warrant yet
another shop. The consultant could have informed
him of the rapidly expanding Western frontier, that
there was an area west of Chicago that was wide
open, full of farmers and very few blacksmiths.
Maybe the same consultant would have informed
him sometime later that blacksmiths were on the
short road to obsolescence, and that he should
begin looking for a way to specialize. Maybe or
perhaps. What did happen, of course, is that Deere
was able to clearly see the obstacles before him
such as others did not.
So America is no longer the king of the cheapest
manufactured goods. And the blacksmith, in
a professional sense, is no longer with us. If the
media of a century ago had the capabilities of
today’s media, the demise of the blacksmith would
no doubt have been broadcast as the demise of
America. The Luddites had placed the same obituary
a century before that, as more and more people
gave up the threadbare life of small farming for the
regular paycheck of the urban factory. As of this
writing, and according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, unemployment is at 4.6%, the lowest in
five years. Wages have risen 4% in the past year,
which is higher than the 3.3% average annual
wage growth of the last 25 years. And the Labor
Department has just revised upwards the employment
numbers for the 12 months through March
2006 by 810,000 jobs.

Fortunately for springmakers, it looks as if the
world will always need their goods. The downside
is that springmakers have a very broad spectrum
of spring-using industries on which to fix their
focus. Furthermore, springs typically being one of
the cheaper components of the end-product, location
of the spring manufacturers’ facilities can play
as much if not more of a role than price alone. Not
to mention that cheap labor resides overseas, and
they have ample supply of cheap springs, as well.
What should a springmaker do? Focus on domestic
end-product facilities? Attempt to play both
markets? This will depend on the individual company,
of course, and what specialties are involved.
Perhaps nurturing a base of domestic clients with
needs of specialized springs, while seeking out opportunities
for distributive partnerships overseas
would be an option.
Global positioning also requires an in-depth
look at local requirements for many different countries,
especially where environmental regulations
are concerned. The consuming public is not as hot
for green products as the producers of green services
would have those consumers believe. Nevertheless,
the wave of environmental regulations cannot
be avoided, and this is one more aspect of global
commerce on which to focus. Perhaps opportunities
can be found where larger, better established
springmakers are having trouble adjusting to local
environmental regulations. A smaller, more flexible
manufacturer might be able to ramp up production
of the newly required product.
Then there is the highly coveted but rarely
found niche market. Many of the well-known American
manufacturers have found a way to do more
than survive with domestic labor; they’ve managed
to become icons. Viking Range Corp. has opened
three plants in Greenwood, MS, since 1989, with
a fourth in the works. When one thinks of motorcycles,
the name “Harley Davidson” comes quickly
to mind. Small aircraft? Cessna Aircraft, of course.
These names are seemingly synonymous with their
actual product category and are American-made.
As The Wall Street Journal proclaimed, “Rumors of
the death of U.S. manufacturing have been greatly
exaggerated.” [11]
Positioning a manufacturing company for
future success will require research which, of
course, requires capable people to sift through the
limitless amount of information available. Smaller
companies might consider making such research
part of the job description for an estimator or sales
professional. Some might be better served with a
competent consultant who could develop quarterly
economic reports specifically for the manufacturer’s
target clientele. Regardless of how it is accom-
plished, though, the research must be done. John
Deere the blacksmith became John Deere the icon
through a series of tough decisions made possible
by Deere’s foresight while so many other blacksmiths
could not see beyond their own anvils.
References
1. http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs012.htm
2. The New Yorker magazine; August 28, 2006
3. http://www.bls.gov/iag/manufacturing.htm
4. http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs012.htm
5. http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs006.htm
6. http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs052.htm
7. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm
8. http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs006.htm
9. http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs008.htm
10. http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs009.htm
11. The Wall Street Journal; Tuesday, October
24, 2006. Marketplace
Ray Gardner, after eight years in the aerospace
industry, obtained his licenses as a financial professional
and eventually moved on to teach high
school mathematics. His writing has appeared in
the Arizona Republic as well as Springs magazine.
Readers may contact him by phone at (602)
399-0534 or by email at raygardner@cox.net. �
SPRINGS April 2007 33

T he
first three articles in this series focused on
the Insulated Box, the Conveyor System and
the Heating Mechanism. My final article looks at
the Control Panel, which has evolved dramatically
over the years as electronic equipment has
improved.
The earliest conveyor ovens merely had an on/
off switch, an analog temperature controller and
a belt-speed control
switch. To this day,
these are the basic
functions needed to
perform an adequate
heat-treatment process.
However, the
control panels of
today offer a huge
JN Conveyor oven built in 1982.
array of functions.
Some are merely
useful to make an
operator’s task easier, but others are necessary
new functions that help meet regulations and other
requirements for precision spring manufacturing.
Preventive Maintenance Tips for
Your Inline Conveyor Ovens
Belt Controls
One of the first new functions added to conveyor
ovens was a belt-reversing switch. The main
purpose of this switch is to reverse out of a jam-up.
(Note: The conveyor belts are not designed to operate
in the reverse direction for a long period of time.)
There are two types of
belt reverse switches,
and when replacing a
switch, it is important
to know which one you
need. Until the last five
years, most ovens were
controlled by DC motors.
In order to avoid damaging
the motor, a hesitation
switch should be
used. A hesitation switch
forces the motor to come
to a stop before it goes
in the reverse direction. Three types of belt-speed controllers.
34 SPRINGS April 2007
Part IV: The Control Panel
By Daniel Pierre III, JN Machinery Corp.
Oven control panel.
The switch itself stops momentarily at the stop
position before allowing it to be set in reverse. It is
also useful to protect against accidentally hitting
the switch. The other kind of switch will allow you
to instantly go from forward to reverse. Although
this type of switch is cheaper, it is dangerous to use
on ovens with DC motors.
The vast majority of belt-speed controllers
are three-wire potentiometers connected to a DC
motor controller. The potentiometers are usually
one-turn, slow-to-fast type dials. While these controllers
can serve most needs, it is very hard, if not
impossible, to repeat a speed. The slightest touch
to the dial can cause a 30-second change in belt
speed. Also, once you
have painstakingly determined
that “dial position
No. 2” yields a fourminute
cycle, the next
time you set the dial to
“No. 2,” you may have a
3:45 cycle. These types of
dials do not have much
repeatability. A one-turn
dial can be replaced by
a 10-turn dial. Ten-turn
dials have 10 times the
precision, and they usually
have a lock-down

to prevent accidental changes in speed by touching
the dial. The best part is the dial settings are
repeatable. Recent ovens can come equipped with
digital speed controllers. The advantage of such a
controller is the display shows the exact cycle time
in minutes and seconds, which greatly speeds up
setup time and meets ISO 9000 compliance. Some
digital speed controllers display the Hertz output of
the motor and provide a table to convert Hertz to
minutes. These are not as accurate as a true digital
speed controller because they are measuring voltage
and not measuring actual shaft rotation.
Circuit Breakers
Circuit breakers on some oven makers’ models
act as an On/Off switch. Their specific purpose is
to protect the other electronic components from
power surges. If
broken or damaged,
they will have to be
replaced. Some circuit
breakers can
operate on various
voltages, such as
220V, 480V and any
voltage between. The
important factor in
selecting the correct
breaker is to make
Circuit breaker with power tag.
sure the amperage rating is at least 10 percent over
the maximum amperage draw of your oven. Almost
every oven maker will affix a power tag near the
circuit breaker to let you know the recommended
amperage for that oven. Also, every breaker will
have its rated amperage clearly marked on the face
or side of the breaker itself.
Oven Timers
A fairly new function that has just about become
standard on most ovens is a timer. Timers
can be analog or digital, and you can swap one
for another if you want. Analog timers usually give
you control in two-hour increments, and they are
useful only if the current time has been accurately
set. Also, analog timers usually only give you one
day’s worth of programming. On the other hand, a
digital timer gives you control down to the minute,
and there are almost unlimited programming capabilities.
For example, you can set the oven to turn
itself on every morning, Monday-Friday, at 7:30
a.m. so it can be hot and ready at 8:00 a.m. when
a coiler starts running. Likewise, you can program
a midday shutdown. For instance, if a plant meeting
is scheduled right after lunch, you can have the
oven off while you are away, and up and running
when you return.
A similar
function seen
on many ovens
is a delay
shutdown.
Although you
can set a timer
to turn an Analog (left) and digital (right) timers.
oven off, the
delay shutdown has the long-term life of the oven
in mind. Ovens with a delay shutdown allow you to
flip the oven control switch to “off” and walk away
from the oven. The oven will instantly cut power
to the heating elements, but it lets the fan motor
and belt continue for a set period of time. (There is
a dial that lets users specify the amount of time).
After the delay time has elapsed, the oven will shut
down and remain in standby mode.
The purpose of the delay shutdown function is
to allow the heat chamber to cool before stopping.
If you were to suddenly stop the whole oven, the
portion of the belt that remains inside the chamber
will essentially “cook,” and you will degrade the
belt. When an oven is in standby mode, it draws
only enough power to light up the temperature
controller display (and the digital speed controller
display, if there is one). It’s akin to a VCR or TV
light remaining on for the remote control.
SPRINGS April 2007 35

Temperature Controls
The temperature controller is the main player
in the control panel. The temperature controllers
available today are a far cry from the large analog
controllers that existed on early conveyor ovens.
However, they function the same as they always
have. As long as the thermocouple sends a signal
to the temperature controller that the oven is below
temperature, the temperature controller connected
to a contactor will allow
electricity to feed the heating
elements.
The good news if you’re
an oven owner with an old
temperature controller is
that you can upgrade to a
new model. You may need
a conversion faceplate
to cover the difference in
controller size, however.
Today’s temperature
controllers have so many
functions that you would
never use them all (especially in the way conveyor
oven operators in springmaking companies need to
use them). It is not worth the extra money to buy a
fancy temperature controller if you aren’t going to
36 SPRINGS April 2007
The temperature controller
connected to a contactor
allows electricity to feed
the heating elements.
use the advanced functions. If you have a specific
application or need a particular function, your oven
supplier should be able to assist you with retrofitting
a different temperature controller on your
oven.
A very simple item often found on control panels
is a green or red light to indicate whether the
oven is operating in the temperature range you
have selected. These lights obtain signals from the
temperature controller, and most temperature controllers
can be programmed to provide the signal
either way (red when out of control, or green when
in control). If your temperature controller is new
enough, you can even add a red or green light to
your oven if you don’t have one at all.
Heating-Element Wiring
Another part of a control panel that we haven’t
covered yet is the wiring for the heating elements.
One end of the wires is connected to the elements
themselves, but the other end terminates in the
control panel. (In some ovens, the control panel is
separate from the electrical panel, in which case
the element wires usually terminate inside the electrical
panel). The vast majority of conveyor ovens
used in North America are wired for 240VAC operation.
If you buy a used oven or move an oven to
another plant that operates at 480VAC, it is easy to
convert the wiring if the number of elements is an
even number and divisible by three (six, 12, 18, 24,
etc…elements). The 240V elements can be wired in
pairs for 480V operation. The net change in wiring
from 240V to 480V is a subtraction of wires; usually
half the wires can merely be pulled out. Unfortunately,
it is not so easy to convert a 480V oven
to 240V. In this case you have to add wires, and
it is not easy to snake new wires back through an
oven’s shell. Often, you will have to temporarily remove
the top of the oven as well as some insulation.
Although it is possible to change element wires
yourself, you have to make sure other components
in the oven are also changed.
Here is a list of the components often needing a
change when converting voltage:
1. Transformers: These usually require only a
jumper, and the tops of most transformers show a
schematic on which wires to move.
2. Fan Motors: If these run at 110V, then no
change is required. If they run at 230V, the electrical
box on the fan motor will also have a schematic
showing which wires need to be changed.
3. Fan Relays (if present in the first place): These
may need to be replaced with relays that have the
correct trip amperage.

4. Elements: These usually do not need to be
changed, but they will have to be wired differently.
5. Circuit Breaker: Increasing the power from
240V to 480V means using a breaker with approximately
half the amps.
6. Power Tags: Once an oven has been converted
to a new voltage, a new tag should be affixed to let
other users know the new power requirements for
the oven.
Most oven suppliers have supplied their ovens
in all the known voltages, so they can assist you
with a power conversion, too.
A temperature chart recorder
can be connected to the
control panel and mounted
to the oven, as shown above
and right.
New Control Panel Functions
What is on the horizon for control panels? With
the advance of Programmable Logic Controllers
(PLCs) and the somewhat lower costs for them,
the choices for functions are virtually unlimited.
The majority of new functions on conveyor ovens
come from the individual needs requested by
springmakers. For example, a lot of springs need
proof that they reached a certain temperature during
heat-treatment. Control panels can be fitted
with temperature chart recorders for this purpose.
Some temperature controllers can directly save
temperature data, too, allowing users to connect
a computer to the ovens and manage the data that
way. It is also possible to get an oven to talk to
a coiler to know when to shut down. So, instead
of programming a shut-down time based on your
guess of when the coiler will be finished, the coiler
can directly signal the oven that no more springs
are coming, and the oven will enter its cool-down,
shut-down mode. Another area where conveyor ovens
are evolving is assisting with automatic prod-
uct handling. Conveyor belts do not have to move
in a slow constant speed; they can be programmed
to start and stop in quick succession so objects can
be placed onto or picked off of the belts.
This concludes my series of four articles on
preventive maintenance of inline conveyor ovens.
The vast majority of old, beat-up ovens can often be
restored with upgrades to components or, at times,
replacement of part of the oven itself. Giving your
oven a proper health check every few years will ensure
that you get maximum life out of it. Some of
the very first conveyor ovens put on the market in
the U.S. are still in operation, and their longevity of
service is specifically due to the great maintenance
that has been performed on them by their owners.
If you have any questions on this or the previous
three articles, please contact me or anyone at
JN Machinery Corp.
Daniel Pierre III is president
of JN Machinery Corp.
in Bensenville, IL. Readers
may contact him by e-mail at
daniel@jnmachinery.com or
phone at (630) 860-2646. �
SPRINGS April 2007 37

Understanding Spring
Failures: Curvature
Correction Factors
For the past three years, SMI has been examining
spring failures and making recommendations
for preventing recurrence. One issue that comes up
repeatedly is the location of the fracture origin on
compression springs. I hear comments like, “They
are all breaking at the same spot, right at the inner
diameter,” and “There must be something wrong with
the wire, or the tooling marks are abnormal at the
ID.” Sometimes there is something “wrong” with the
wire, and occasionally tooling marks that tear the
wire surface can be the culprit. However, in reality,
it is perfectly normal for a compression spring to
initiate fracture at the ID.
The mechanics behind the stress distribution in
compression springs show that there are two causes
for the inner-diameter stress concentration: direct
shear stress and wire curvature.
The principle stress on a compression spring
results from the torsional shear stresses that act on
the spring. This rotational stress is shown in Figure
1, below.
Figure 1: Torsional force on a helical compression spring.
Luke Zubek PE is the technical director of the Spring Manufacturers
Institute, providing technical education and assistance,
and failure analysis services to the spring
industry. He was a metallurgical engineer
for a major steel producer for 10
years. He holds a master’s of materials
and metallurgical engineering degree
from the Illinois Institute of Technology
and a bachelor’s in metallurgical engineering
from the University of Illinois
at Chicago. Readers may contact Zubek
by phone at (630) 495-8588 or e-mail at
technical@smihq.org.
The maximum stress in
straight wire due to torsion is:
The distribution of this
stress across the wire is at a
maximum at the surface. The
torsional stress is in the direction
of the applied force at the
inner diameter and opposite to
the applied force at the outer
diameter, as seen in Figure 2,
right.
Accompanying the torsional
stress is a less significant
operational stress, which is the
result of direct shear and can
be assumed uniform across the
wire, as seen in Figure 3, right.
This transverse shear stress
does not account for the curvature
of the wire.
The direct-shear component
can be approximated by dividing
the applied force by the wire
cross-sectional area:
Technically
Speaking
with Luke Zubek
Figure 2: Torsional
shear stress distribution
in a straight
wire cross section.
Figure 3: Direct
shear stress distribution
across the
wire cross section
in a compression
spring.
When this stress is added to the torsional
shear stress, the total stress at the inner diameter
becomes:
Where C is the spring index and C = D/d.
The (1 + 0.5/C ) correction constant is sometimes
referred to as the “Kw 2 correction factor,” which can
be used on springs that have had the set removed.
The magnitude of this correction factor can be seen
graphically in Figure 6, page 40. It should be noted
that there are many correction factors available and
that A.M. Wahl equates the direct shear component
to 4.92P/�d 2.
SPRINGS April 2007 39

Figure 4: The total stress on the wire cross section showing
the highest stresses at the inner diameter (ID).
When the two stress components are added, the
stresses at the spring inner diameter are greater due
to the direction of the applied stresses, as seen in
Figure 4, above.
Because the
effects of curvature
in springs
are of far greater
importance
than direct
shear, A.M.
Wahl created a
curvature correction
factor,
Kw1, that is
based on the
40 SPRINGS April 2007
Figure 5: Effects of curvature in
springs.
fact that a spring behaves like a curved bar
under torsion. In Figure 5, bottom left, it
can be seen that as AA' and BB' are rotated
relative to each other, the resulting shear
stresses at A'B' will be greater than at AB.
This effect increases with increasing curvature
or decreasing spring index, as shown in
Figure 6, below.
Figure 6: Stress correction factors for round helical compression
and extension springs.
Therefore, the maximum stress at the spring
inner diameter accounting for curvature is expressed
as follows:
where
The Wahl correction factor, Kw1, not only takes
into account the spring curvature, but also includes
the direct-shear component of the applied stress.
This factor is commonly used for springs in fatigue
applications.
As would be expected, the stresses at the outer
diameter of the spring are in the opposite direction
and less than nominal. The total stress at the outer
diameter can be calculated by multiplying the torsional
stress by the following term:
Understanding the stress distribution in a
compression or extension spring can help explain
the orientation of the point of fracture initiation.
Overstressed compression springs normally initiate
fracture near the inner diameter because of the
direct shear stresses and spring curvature. Of much
greater concern is the spring fracture that does not
originate at the inner diameter. More often, this type
of fracture is the result of operational abuse or material
deficiencies.

Hola Amigos!
Hispanic Workers Strengthen Operations
Hispanic workers have long been a staple in the
spring industry. Today, though, two forces are
combining to heighten the profile of this critical labor
component: an increasingly tight talent market and
an increasingly bilingual customer base.
In a low-unemployment environment, springmakers
face the same need for workers as other
industries. “Many employers now find they can’t hire
a sufficient number of capable people, or they can’t
get anyone at all,” reports Tom Maloney, a human
resources educator specializing in the Hispanic work
force at Cornell University’s Department of Applied
Economics and Management. The only solution for
many, according to Maloney, is to look for workers
from Mexico as well as El Salvador, Guatemala and
other Central American countries.
At Keats Southwest, an El Paso, TX, manufacturer
with 50 employees, some 80 percent of the
work force is Hispanic. In contrast with some other
manufacturers, nearly all of the company’s Hispanic
workers are long-time residents of the local area
rather than temporary workers from Mexico. Part of
the reason is company history: When Keats entered
the market in 1994, the metal stamping and spring
industry was new to the area. Unemployment was
higher than what was normal throughout much of
the rest of the country. Company president Matt
Keats found the Hispanic workers “very eager to
learn” from the company’s in-house training. The
result was a loyal, local work force.
The favorable Keats experience is not unique.
Interest in Hispanic workers has only grown as
they’ve proven themselves capable and enthusiastic.
“Hispanic workers have a positive attitude and
a strong work ethic,” says Maloney.
Phillip M. Perry is an award-winning
journalist specializing in the fields of business
management and law. Over the past
20 years, his byline has appeared more than
3,000 times in publications such as World
Trade, Business, Corporate Risk Management,
Human Resource Executive and The Legal
Times of Washington. Readers may contact
him by fax at (212) 226-5580 or e-mail at
phil@pmperry.com.
Checkpoint
Business Tips
From Phil Perry
Meeting Customer Demand
Hispanic workers help employers serve Spanish-speaking
customers. This is the case at Keats
Southwest, which came into existence when its
Chicago parent, Keats Manufacturing, recognized
the potential of selling to “maquilas” (short for
“maquiladoras,” factories operating in Mexico under
preferential tariff programs established by the U.S.
and Mexico). “Hispanic workers are especially valuable
in our sales and customer service departments,
where the ability to speak Spanish is a huge help,”
says Keats. “Our maquila customers feel more comfortable
dealing with company reps who understand
their language.”
At Vulcan Spring & Mfg. Co., Telford, PA, a contingent
of workers from Columbia are a big help to
sales efforts. “We sell to Mexico and Spain,” points
out company president Scott Rankin. “Some of
our Spanish-speaking people worked their way up
through the factory and now have positions in the
office where they handle overseas calls from individuals
who speak the same language. And the great
thing is that our Spanish-speaking employees are
very knowledgeable about our products since they
did just about every job in the factory.”
Hispanics Increase
The role of the Hispanic worker will only continue
to grow in importance. With some 40 million residents
accounting for 14 percent of the population,
Latinos now comprise the largest and fastest growing
minority group in the United States according to the
Pew Hispanic Center, based in Washington, D.C.
Latinos are expected to account for half the growth
of the U.S. labor force between now and 2020.
Diversity does not come without cost. In many
cases, organizations hiring more Hispanics are
confronted with a new round of communications
problems. “Taking steps to overcome the language
barrier shows respect and helps your business function
better,” advises Maloney. A growing number
of managers are learning some rudimentary Spanish,
such as phrases useful in a work setting. And
employers may need to hire Spanish interpreters to
foster understanding during complex discussions.
SPRINGS April 2007 41

Keep it Legal
As recent headlines attest, employers must follow the law when
hiring Hispanic workers. “Every employer must ensure that all of their
workers are legally authorized to work in the United States,” says
attorney Sara Goldsmith Schwartz, founder and president of Schwartz
Hannum PC, a law firm based in Andover, MA, that defends business
clients in employment-related litigation.
The best way to assure valid work authorization, says Schwartz, is
to complete and maintain the required I-9 forms for every individual
hired. The I-9 form requires that the employer maintain evidence that
each employee is eligible to work in the United States. This recordkeeping
is subject to audit by the Department of Homeland Security.
Unfortunately, says Schwartz, the path to I-9 compliance is
strewn with pitfalls when documentation is inadequate, expired or
false.” Employers have to do more than just glance at the documents,”
advises Schwartz. “They need to appear to be legitimate and current.”
The risk of not doing so is severe: “There are major penalties and
problems for businesses which employ illegal aliens.”
The employer also needs to take note of any expiration dates on
supporting documents, such as visas, and then enter a tickler at the
appropriate date to make sure those documents are renewed.
Information about the federal law regarding immigration and
the hiring of foreign workers can be found at the U.S. Department
of Labor Web site, at workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/foreign. Specific
information about the I-9 form can be found at the U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services website at www.uscis.gov. �
42 SPRINGS April 2007
It’s important to assure the presence
of supervisors with knowledge of
Spanish. “While most of the Hispanic
people here do have a knowledge of
English, it does help to have managers
who can train them in their own
language,” notes Rankin. “If you don’t
have that, you don’t get the work
force.”
In the quality-control department
at Keats, inspectors are often more
comfortable communicating in Spanish
because the bilingual employees
are more fluent in that language.
For their part, Hispanic workers
need to increase their mastery of
English. “Only 53 percent of Hispanics
say they speak English well,” reports
Myelita Melton, president of Speakeasy
Communications, Mooresville, NC, a
training organization specializing in
occupational Spanish programs. One
solution is formal training in VESL,
or “Vocational English as a Second
Language.”
Vulcan encourages the Hispanic
workers to improve their command
of English. “We reimburse expenses

when our Hispanic workers attend schools to learn
English,” says Rankin. “Many of the employees do
take advantage of the offer.”
Of course, notes Rankin, improving language
skills can help employees in the larger job market.
“We know that for some employees this is a stepping
stone for other employment, but that’s okay: If we
can help someone out that’s what we’re here for.”
Formal instruction is not the only solution.
Employers can encourage on-the-job language
instruction. “You don’t have to be a qualified instructor
to teach something,” advises Donna Poisl of
Gastonia, NC, an author of guidebooks
for immigrants. “You can
start on an informal basis, during
lunch breaks for example.” Poisl
suggests that each day employees
knowledgeable in English teach a
few words to their Hispanic colleagues;
those knowledgeable in
Spanish can reciprocate.
Communicate Safety
The language barrier becomes
particularly dangerous when
it increases the risk of injury.
“Employers need to communicate
good safety practices to employees
who may not be proficient in
English,” warns attorney Sara
Goldsmith Schwartz, president of
Schwartz Hannum, Andover, MA,
a law firm that defends business
clients and nonprofit organizations
in employment-related litigation.
Failure to provide adequate
instruction can lead to fatalities
and costly litigation for negligence
if someone gets hurt on the job.
Provide safety manuals in the
employees’ native languages,
advises Schwartz. “Hire an expert
to assure the accurate translation
of your safety manual.”
Not all employers have been
successful in this risky area. “The
injury rate is very high for Hispanic
employees, and we suspect
it has to do with the language
barrier,” reports Carlos Conejo,
president of Multicultural Associates,
Thousand Oaks, CA, a
consulting organization specializing
in the Hispanic work force.
Conejo recommends employers
make sure all workers can read
and understand safety words
encountered in signs such as “Danger, High Voltage”
or “Keep Hands Away.”
Here to Stay
As these comments suggest, in many cases
employers will need to develop new skills to meet
the challenge of a changing work force. The alternative
is unacceptable, for no employer can turn a
profit with a dysfunctional organization that fails
to meet customer expectations. Donna Poisl puts it
this way: “I don’t think this country would work if
the Hispanic employees went away.” �
SPRINGS April 2007 43

Spring Essentials (for the rest of us) part XI
Quality is More
Than Quality Control
By Randy DeFord, Mid-West Spring & Stamping
In the last two decades, there is no doubt that
America has made huge strides in integrating
quality-control techniques into the workplace. The
whole idea of a quality system is to provide a structured
way of verifying the compliance of anything
coming off our machines.
It’s the job of engineers to sift, filter and sort
out all the design data and create shopfloor documentation
to provide specifications for the shop
employee to manufacture the spring. It’s the job
of Quality Control to develop systems of measuring
the dimensional and load call-outs to meet the
customer’s needs.
However, nothing totally takes the place of a quality
mind set – the understanding that doing it wrong
is not even an option. There are many things that
can go wrong during the manufacturing process, but
for those who actually care about their work, those
events are greatly reduced. Here are some things you
can do to be sure your work is top-notch:
1. Measure your material dimensions. I
learned this the hard way. As a coiler, I depended
on the wire handler to bring me the right material.
It’s pretty easy to blame the wire guy when you coil a
batch of springs from the wrong size material. I had
this happen in an era when I was less enlightened.
When it finally got through my thick head that my
error caused no pain to the wire handler, yet I had
to completely do the work all over again, the light
started to go on. Nobody helped me; I flipped that
switch myself. I started checking the material tags
and measuring the material (which takes a whole
30 seconds) to verify I had the right stuff before
I started my setup. This simple step eliminated
countless hours of possible useless setup (all time
equates to cost) and potentially bad parts (scrap
Randy DeFord is the engineering manager
at Mid-West Spring & Stamping in
Mentone, IN.
He has 30-plus years in the spring
industry, and believes that educating both
customers and associates is the key to great
customer service.
Readers may contact him by e-mail at
rdeford@mwspring.com or by phone at
(574) 353-7611.
Spotlight
on the
Shop Floor
cost). It also saved me the aggravation of having to
do the work over.
I started questioning my thinking. Why did I
not care? Why would I want to be lazy and risk the
chance of doing it all over again? Most importantly,
what perception does the customer get of my work?
Isn’t it better to continually produce a good product,
and help secure that job and that location for years
and decades to come?
2. Keep your work area clean. Sounds crazy?
Not really! Organized people get better results. If you
have a work area that has a place for everything, it
defines efficiency. If you know where your tools are,
know where your gears and slides are stored, and
have everything stored properly, the time saved over
weeks and months will be worth it. That means you
can actually get another 20 or 30 jobs a year out
that door.
Also, keep your machines clean and lubricated.
Everything wears, but lubricated bearings and shafts
will far outlast that neglected grease gun.
3. Ask your support people for support. The
very function of Engineering is to interpret and
negotiate the customer’s needs into a repetitively
manufacturable product. This means having clear
specifications and standards, as well as determining
if changes can be made when that wire size isn’t
quite what it should be or if a material substitution
is needed. Engineers need to lend you a hand, and
you need to knock on their door.
This also holds true for management’s onus
of providing capable equipment and maintenance.
Machines that have loose bearings and fittings, or
worn gears and guides cannot make good springs.
Make those issues known to your foreman or supervisor
so plans can be made to repair machines that
can’t produce parts to the specifications that are
handed you.
A shop floor is very much like an outside service
vendor. The front office takes the order, Engineering
produces the paperwork, and then the order is
handed off to another facility to make the product
– in this case, the shop floor. You need to be sure
you have two critical, drop-dead things in place: the
proper, readable instructions to produce the job (that
SPRINGS April 2007 45

46 SPRINGS April 2007
includes blueprints) and the machinery capable of
doing the job right, time, after time, after time.
4. Play well with others. “Teamwork” is an easy
word to throw around, but it’s really a hard concept
to master. If it were easy, everybody would have it
down. It requires everyone to clearly understand
their function and how that function helps someone
else do a better job. The best quality attribute is a
state of mind that says, “I will do the best I can with
what I have.” All humans have differences, prejudices
and belief systems. Those differences should
make us more interesting, not push us apart as
cooperative agents for change. Culture is always a
factor in the workplace, but if you’re going to keep
your eye on a ball, make sure it’s the customer’s.
Care about what you’re doing. Make it a personal
commitment to be good at what you do in spite of
your circumstances. Change starts with a minimum
of one person deciding it’s time to do something
better, for all the right reasons, and quality is the
result. Be that person!
Many people complain about being strapped
with quality standards. If you set your own personal
standards, quality control isn’t a threat because you
understand it’s there to do things right the first
time, not hold you accountable for poor workmanship
… because there is no accountability for that,
if you care. �

Every family has its colorful characters, and SMI
is no exception. Just a year from now (March of
2008), SMI will celebrate its 75th anniversary with
a Family Reunion at its convention to be hosted at
Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert, CA.
All SMI’s colorful characters from current and
past memberships are invited.
Park Blatchford, SMI past
president and chair of the 75th
anniversary event task force,
said, “Many people contributed
to SMI’s growth and success, and
we want as many of them as possible
to join in the celebration.”
The convention will mark the
future as well as the past. SMI
will inaugurate Reb Banas as its
31st president as part of the closing-night gala.
Program plans are being created now for the
event, which is scheduled for March 10, 2008.
With an overall theme of Family Reunion, the SMI
convention week will probably start with a casual
opening party scheduled mid-afternoon, with games,
contests and the typical mid-summer barbecue. In
other words, a Family Reunion.
A group picture of all attendees is planned.
“We may have as many as three and four generations
of springmakers attending our party,” Park
continued. “Our task force members want to make it
a memorable event that will be fun and allow plenty
of time for our generations to meet and greet, as well
as starting us on the path to celebrate our 100th
anniversary, in just a few more years.”
“Desert Springs Resort is a perfect site for the
event,” explains Steve Moreland, Convention Planning
Committee chair and president of Automatic
Spring Products in Grand Haven, MI. “It’s California-relaxed
so we can kick back and enjoy the
party; yet it can be formal and spectacular for our
inauguration.”
with Ken Boyce
Family Reunion Theme for 75th Anniversary
Ken Boyce is the executive vice president of
the Spring Manufacturers Institute.
He brings more than 20 years of association
management experience to the institute
and has achieved the Certified Association
Executive (CAE) designation of the American
Society of Association Executives.
Readers may contact him by phone at (630)
495-8588 or fax at (630) 495-8595.
Blatchford has assembled a task force from virtually
every segment of SMI membership. “We want
to make sure that input comes from several different
sources so everyone gets to enjoy the celebration.”
Besides Park Blatchford, SMI past president,
the task force members include: Ann Davey of
John Evans’ Sons, Bob Kupczak of Jackson Spring,
Jerry Jacques of NIMSCO, Linda
Froehlich of Ace Wire Spring,
Dave Weber of A.V. Weber, Dan
Sebastian of MW Industries, Bud
Funk of Fourslide Spring Products
and Alex Rankin of Vulcan
Spring, plus staff members Ken
Boyce and Rita Kaufman.
“The Executive Committee
and board have already set aside
some funds to subsidize part of the celebration,”
adds Dan Sebastian, SMI president. “Installing a
new president and officers is always a big deal,”
he continues, “but celebrating such a milestone
anniversary is a one-time thing and very worthy of
participation and observance.”
More details will be provided during the year
leading up to SMI’s 75th anniversary celebration.
Regional Programs Continue
by Popular Demand
Based on the success of four regional seminars
in 2006, SMI will again take its act on the road and
conduct seminars in four more regions this year.
Initially, SMI is planning to offer seminars in
these regions: Southeast, Southwest, West Coast
and New England. Both Southern locations will
be held in spring, while SMI anticipates that the
remaining programs will be held in early fall.
Luke Zubek, SMI technical director, will speak
at each meeting, outlining the process whereby
springmakers can use failure analysis studies to
their best advantage. Springmakers will also have
ample time to meet and converse with other spring
manufacturers in their region.
SMI has scheduled the Southwest Region’s
“Evening with SMI, Friends and Neighbors” for
Wednesday, April 18, 2007. It will be held at the
Holiday Inn Intercontinental in Houston, TX. For
information, call Lynne Carr, SMI member services,
(630) 495-8588.
SPRINGS April 2007 47

SMI Welcomes New Members
Pontotoc Spring, Division of Mercer Spring &
Wire
Location: Pontotoc, MS
Primary Contact: Allen Roye, general manager
Phone: (662) 489-784
Web site: www.pontotocspring.com
Manufacturer of stampings and
hot-wound springs.
Rem Manufacturing Ltd.
Location: Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada
Primary Contact: Bob Sonntag, general manager
Phone: (306) 773-0644
Web site: www.rementerprisesinc.com
“Rem Enterprises,
Inc. is a
family-owned
business founded
in 1966 by Frank
and Helen Rempel.
Rem first manufactured
springs
and wireforms in
1981. Last summer, Rem built a branch plant in
Shenandoah, IA, adding capacity to Rem’s 60,000-
48 SPRINGS April 2007
square-foot Canadian facility. Rem specializes in
supplying farm equipment and other OEM customers.
Wire size ranges from 0.125˝ to 0.625˝ cold-formed
products, including short- and long-run wireforms,
single and double torsion springs, and extension and
compression springs.
“Rem’s Delta Flexible Harrow is also a market
leader, and is exported, along with the rest of Rem’s
farm equipment lines, to Europe, Australia and other
countries.”
Zapp Precision Strip Inc.
Location: Dartmouth, MA
Primary Contact: Byron Ress, general manager
Phone: (508) 998-6300
Web site: www.zapp.com
“Zapp Precision Strip Inc. is a premier producer of
specialty strip products. The Dartmouth facility has
cold rolling capability up to 42˝ wide and as thin as
0.0015˝.
“Our East Coast Service Center will be opening this
summer. It will have the capability to supply narrow
slit and edged stainless steel and high performance
alloys.”
2007 SMI Board of Directors
President, Dan Sebastian,
MW Industries
Vice President, Reb Banas, Stanley
Spring & Stamping
Secretary Treasurer, Scott
Rankin, Vulcan Spring &
Manufacturing
Immediate Past President, David
Weber, A.V. Weber
Executive Committee At-Large,
Steve Moreland, Automatic
Spring Products
Executive Vice President, Ken
Boyce, SMI
Directors
Tom Armstrong, Duer/
Carolina Coil
Dennis Backhaus, Spiros
Industries
Ron Banas, Stanley Spring &
Stamping
Terry Bartel, Elgiloy Specialty
Metals
Mike Betts, Betts Spring
Tim Bianco, Iowa Spring
Dan Bishop, Automatic Spring
Coiling
Russ Bryer, Spring Team
Jerry Burris, Associated Spring
Jay Dunwell, Wolverine Coil
Spring
Linda Froehlich, Ace Wire Spring
& Form
Bud Funk Jr., Fourslide Spring &
Stamping
Bert Goering, Precision Coil
Spring
Kevin Grace, SEI MetalTek
Greg Heitz, Exacto Spring
Bob Herrmann, Newcomb Spring
Frank Mauro, Bauman Springs
USA
Curt Nicolio, Sandvik Materials
Technology
Rick Richter, R-R Spring
Chris Wharin, Bohne Spring
Industries
Ted White, Hardware
Products

ASD Design Software Enhancements
in the Works
Currently on the drawing board is a vast
enhancement of the Advanced Spring Design software.
We anticipate release of the product in the
coming year.
Those current users of the ASD6.9 will be entitled
to as many free downloads as the number of
licenses they maintain on the present version.
ASD7 will offer new
design models, including
those for constant-force
extension springs, springs
in parallel, springs in
series, hollow round torsion
bars and curve fitting
the tensile strength vs. the
wire size.
The forthcoming ASD
software enhancements
will also provide improved
help features and many
other functions that simplify
the design process and user interface.
Sharing Information, Expertise
SMI is accepting non-commercial papers for
presentation at the Fall Business Meeting, Oct 9-
10, 2007 at the Green Valley Ranch in Las Vegas.
Of particular interest are topics including plating,
grinding and alternative materials.
Please submit a 100-word abstract to Lynne
Carr in the SMI Office, fax 630-495-8595 or
email at info@smihq.org.
Modifications and improvements are being developed
by UTS, software developer; with Luke Zubek,
SMI Technical Director; Dick Carter of American
Coil Spring; Loren Godfrey; and the SMI Technical
Committee, chaired by Bert Goering of Precision
Coil Spring.
SMI ‘To Do’ List
Everyone knows that half the projects under consideration
never work out. Nonetheless, you have
to research and investi-
gate, because sometimes
there’s a gem hidden in
the detail, which you’ll
only find through hard
work and planning.
In no particular order,
here is part of the current
“to do” list for SMI:
1. Investigate and
negotiate health care program
for springmakers.
Project well underway,
but too early to predict
outcome; especially with pending legislation stalled
in Congress, navigating the labyrinth of ERISA regulations
and constantly escalating health care costs.
SPRINGS April 2007 49

2. Regional seminars: Successful in 2006 when
SMI conducted four seminars. On the calendar for
2007 are projected programs in Houston, Tampa,
California/Arizona and Connecticut.
3. Development of family reunion 75th anniversary
celebration in 2008.
4. Release of Spring Design software (ADS7)
planned for this year.
5. Fall meeting development, with tabletop and
two educational tracks covering technical and business
topics.
Spring Business Good, not Great
If “all’s well that ends well,” then the spring
industry’s hopes for a solid and prosperous 2007
appear to be feasible, as indicated by results of SMI’s
fourth quarter 2006 Key Business Trends Survey.
In total, 126 of SMI’s 327 members participated in
the study.
“In general, 2006 was a good, but not great,
year,” explains Russ Bryer, SMI benchmarking
chair and general manager at The Spring Team in
Austinburg, OH.
The fourth quarter started slowly, but with a
rush of December orders, virtually a third of the
reporting springmaking companies indicated an
50 SPRINGS April 2007
increased level of activity and a significant increase
over the same period in 2005.
“China continues to be a worry, although we
are seeing some return of the business to domestic
suppliers,” says Ken Boyce, SMI executive vice president.
“The troubling problems of the domestic auto
builders are also dampening prospects, while springmakers
with little or no automotive business seem
to be happier with their annual results.” �
Mouse around
the SMI Web site
for the latest
information,
products and
resources for the
spring industry.
I want
cheeze!
www.smihq.org
When it comes to the spring industry,
we’re the Big Cheese

A
Admiral Steel
(800) 323-7055 / 26
Alloy Wire International
(866) 482-5569 / 50
Ank Inc.
++886-2-29076581 / 52
Anchor Abrasives
(708) 444-4300 / 12
C
Central Wire
(888) 267-3761 / 38
Chicago Association of
Spring Manufacturers Inc.
(630) 369-3772 / 44
D
Diamond Wire Spring Co.
(800) 424-0500 / 23
E
Elgiloy Specialty Metals
(847) 695-1900 / 22
F
Fenn
(860) 594-4300 / 10
Forming Systems Inc.
(877) 727-3676
/ inside front cover
G
Gibbs Wire & Steel Co. Inc.
(800) 800-4422
/ inside back cover
Gibraltar Corp.
(847) 769-2099 / 15
H
Haldex Garphyttan
(888) 947-3778 / 11
Sprung
I
Industrial Steel & Wire Co.
(800) 767-0408 / 5
Instron
(800) 564-8378 / 48
InterWire Products Inc.
(914) 273-6633 / 1
J
JN Machinery Corporation
(630) 860-2646 / 42
Japan Society of Spring
Engineers
++81 3 3251 5235 / 46
K
Kiswire Trading Inc.
(201) 461-8895 / 18
L
Larson Systems
(877) 780-2131 / 54
M
Maguire Machinery
(609) 266-0200 / 6
The Mapes Piano String Co.
(423) 543-3195
/ outside back cover
Mount Joy Wire Corp.
(800) 321-2305 / 30
N
NIMSCO
(563) 391-0400 / 14, 36
Northeast Steel Corp.
(800) 822-1278 / 46
Norwalk Innovation
(800) 688-2645 / 16
P
Precision Steel Warehouse
(800) 323-0740 / 43
Proto Manufacturing Ltd.
(800) 965-8378 / 8
Pyromaître Inc.
(800) 231-7976 / 32
R
Radcliff Wire
(860) 583-1305 / 40
RK Trading
(847) 640-9771
/ 20, 31, 33, 35, 37
S
Shinko Machinery Co., Ltd.
++ 81 6 6794 6610 / 3
Simplex Rapid
(563) 391-0400 / 13
Spring Manufacturers Institute
(630) 495-8588 / 28, 50, 53
T
Tool King
(800) 338-1318 / 49
V
Vulcan Spring &
Manufacturing Co.
(215) 721-1721 / 49
W
Witels Albert
(410) 228-8383 / 20
Wire Association
International
(203) 453-2777 / 24
SPRINGS April 2007 55

Ann Davey
John Evans' Sons Inc.
Occupation: John Evans’
Sons Inc., Lansdale, PA, Board
of Directors Member.
Industry affiliations: Spring
Manufacturers Institute
Women’s Committee chairperson.
Birthplace: Detroit, MI;
raised in Ann Arbor, MI.
Current home: Blue Bell,
PA.
Family: Husband, Allan; children,
Sam (37), Matt (32), Bill
(30), Bert (30) and Kim (27).
What I like most about
being a springmaker:
Making something useful.
Favorite food: Lobster, scallops
and nuts.
Favorite authors: Nelson
DeMille, John Irving and
David Baldacci.
The Davey family celebrates Christmas. Standing (from left): Bert, Jennifer
(Matt’s fiancee), Matt, Bill, Janina (Bill’s wife), Barbara Anne (Sam’s wife), Sam,
Kim and Brendan (Kim’s husband). Seated (from left): Sara (9), Sammy (1), Allan,
Patrick (6), Will (6), Sadie (1), Ann and Caroline (4). Not shown: Teddy, born
January 24, 2007.
Favorite music: All the music from the ’60s and ’70s (rock ’n’ roll and Motown).
Hobbies: Golf, skiing, traveling.
Favorite places: Aspen, CO, and Whidbey Island, WA.
Best times of my life: Time spent with our family.
A really great evening to me is: Dinner out with Allan and watching “24” with friends.
The things I can’t stand are: Negative political ads and dishonesty.
My most outstanding qualities are: Commitment to family and friends.
People who knew me in school thought I was: Always friendly.
I knew I was an “adult” when: We had five teenagers in the house to raise at the same time.
If I weren’t working at John Evans' Sons, I would like to: Be a travel consultant.
The most difficult business decision I ever had to make was: Dropping school and a teaching career to be a
future stay-at-home mother.
I wonder what would have happened if: We were not in a family business.
Role models: My mother-in-law.
I would like to be remembered in the spring industry for: Helping to maintain relationships among the families
in the SMI membership.
But people will probably remember me for: The answers I’ve given to these questions and my crazy curly hair.
56 SPRINGS April 2007

Washable, Wireless Computer Keyboards
Unotron Inc. has introduced the IP66 and
NEMA4X certified washable wireless computer
keyboards. Featuring
Unotron’s SpillSeal
patented technology,
this product allows for
complete up-and-down
finger motion that mirrors
natural typing;
endures repeated spills,
dirt and cleansing; and
eliminates the need to
frequently replace keyboards.
The user can
spray or wipe down the wireless keyboard with disinfectants,
or fully submerse it in water or cleaning
solutions, and still maintain the touch-and-feel of
a traditional keyboard for optimal typing ease and
performance. The keyboards are compatible with
all PCs, including desktops, laptops, workstations
and servers. Additional software is not required. For
information, contact Unotron Inc. by phone at (800)
469-7440 or Web site at www.unotron.com.
Testing Systems
Instron Corp. has designed a compression-only
300KN machine for testing large springs used on
locomotives. This machine can be used to load test
the springs, ensuring they are satisfactory to reinstall
during rebuild of locomotives. It is designed
for spring diameters up to 13.75 in. (350 mm) and
loads that can reach 67,000 lbf. (300 kN).
The company has
also updated its materials
testing accessories
catalog. The 450-page
catalog details a range of
accessories to enhance
testing systems, including
grips, extensometers,
fixtures, environmental
chambers, load cells,
software and alignment
systems.
In addition, Instron
offers Extend Upgrade
System packages for
Instron and other hydraulic load frames. Developed
for high-capacity tension, compression, bend
and shear testing, hydraulic testing systems can be
updated with the addition of Partner software, featuring
data collection, result calculation, networking
and online help; and real-time system status electronics.
For information, contact Instron by phone
at (800) 564-8378 or Web site at pr.instron.com.
Control and Safety Base Module
Fortress Interlocks has introduced an AS-interface
(AS-i) control and safety base module for its
eGard system, enabling
eGard to be simply connected
to an “AS-i Safety
at Work” control network
in minutes. EGard is a
modular system that can
control access to hazardous
machinery, via gate
switch and trapped key
technology, and includes
simple machine or access
controls, such as push
buttons, e-stops and
lamps. The AS-i base has two addresses: one for
connecting the safety circuits and one for connecting
the control I/O. AS-i is a cable network system
that allows machinery safety technology to operate in
parallel with standard machine controls on a single
network with a common communication protocol.
The AS-i base module features an LED status
indicator and an AS-i standard four-pin M 12 quickconnect
fitting for connecting dual safety circuits
and up to four inputs and outputs. For information,
contact Fortress Interlocks by phone at (859) 578-
2390 or e-mail at sales@fortressinterlocks.com.
Stainless Steel Worktables
Eagle MHC offers custom-configured stainless
steel worktables for use in industrial and commercial
environments.
The tables are designed
to maximize functionality
and flexibility in labs,
manufacturing, assembly
and material-handling
operations. Worktables
are available in a several grades: 16-guage type 430
stainless steel tops, 16-guage type 304 stainless steel
construction or 14-guage type 304 stainless steel.
Worktables also feature Eagle’s patented uni-lok
leg/gusset design – a two-point welding system that
eliminates leg wobble, providing strength and stability.
Customers can specify height and dimensions
based on their work area layout and the available
space. Other options include under-shelves, cutout
sections, tray dividers and sliding drawers. For
information, contact Eagle MHC by phone at (800)
637-5100 or Web site at www.eaglegrp.com.
SPRINGS April 2007 51

Cross-Border Shipping
DHL, a global express delivery and logistics company,
has announced a program for cross-border
shipping in North America. The DHL North America
Trade Lane initiative will speed and expedite crossborder
shipments, saving time and money for U.S.,
Canadian and Mexican companies.
The program includes: enhancements to DHL’s
facilities, fleet and other infrastructure, including
new International Gateways and expanded Border
Operating Centers (BOCs); and additional bilingual
customer service representatives to help customers
navigate the regulatory aspects of cross-border
shipping. The DHL BOCs will feature advanced technology
inspection equipment, fast-track customs
clearance systems, and specially trained staff. For
information, contact DHL by phone at (954) 888-
7114 or Web site at www.dhl.com.
SMI members in the DHL discount program can
call (800) 647-3061, ext. 6576.
Preservation Line
Wheelabrator has designed an Autoblast Preservation
Line for Delta Steel, a provider of large sheets
of steel for the ship building industry. This line
removes contaminants, such as rust and scale; profiles
steel surfaces; and applies a weldable zinc-based
52 SPRINGS April 2007
primer coat of
paint for corrosion
protection
prior to storage
or subsequent
manufacturing
operations.
The AutoblastPreservation
Line
allows Delta
Steel to clean and paint stocked materials per each
customer’s requirements while also distributing steel
products to customers in a time-sensitive manner,
often within hours of placing an order.
For information, visit Wheelabrator’s Web site
at www.wheelabratorgroup.com or e-mail info@
wheelabratorgroup.com.
Online Six Sigma Certification
Kaplan University has introduced an online Six
Sigma Certificate program for working professionals
interested in leading complex process improvements.
Six Sigma methodologies are designed to improve
productivity and generate tangible savings.
The Six Sigma Certificate is a self-study program
that can be completed in six months for the Green

Belt level, and 12 months for the advanced Black
Belt level. The curriculum includes learning how to
define project goals, measure existing performance,
and analyze defects to eliminate them from business
processes. For information, visit the Kaplan University
Web site at www.kaplanuniversitynews.com.
Tempered Steel
Tempered steel available from Blue Blade Steel
is designed to provide consistent, bendable, pliable
materials that prevent product failure resulting from
deformation, stress-cracking and brittleness. The
computer-controlled hardening and tempering process
enables Blue Blade Steel to selectively modify
the internal steel structure to produce material
with specialized performance characteristics. Blue
Blade Steel’s process is designed to provide material
uniformity, consistency and lot-to-lot repeatability.
Pre-tempered high carbon and alloy strip steel is
offered in scaleless blue, polished blue, polished
bright and polished straw finishes. For information,
contact Blue Blade Steel by phone at (908) 272-2620
or e-mail at BBSales@bluebladesteel.com.
On-Site Dimensional Inspection Services
GKS Inspection Services Inc., a division of Laser
Design Inc., is expanding its area of on-site laser-
54 SPRINGS April 2007
scanning and dimensional-measurement service
coverage to the Toledo market. GKS’ metrologists,
along with a portable Faro Platinum arm and a touch
or laser probe, can complete a variety of inspection
and reverse-engineering projects at the customer
site. The GKS Toledo staff can rapidly respond to
local customer requests, thereby eliminating travel
expenses, shipping charges and delays. For information,
contact GKS Inspection Services Inc. by phone
at (734) 582-9600 or e-mail at info@gks3d.com.
You’re in the News
• Global Highlights • New Products
• Perspectives – Letters to the Editor
Of all the departments you fi nd in Springs, these are
the most special, for they depend on you. As reader
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you take the time to read and respond. So as you read
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the time to let us and your colleagues know about you.
Submit news about people, plants, events,
new products and letters to Springs by e-mail at
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