November 2019 Volume 1

PRESIDENT'S NOTE

It's All About the People

Schaumburg. Attendees were impressed with Amada’s thoughtful customer service value proposition embodied in a world class building filled with works of art, marble, high-tech machine tools and plenty of unique meeting spaces, including a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired space complete with his design flare and furniture. Amada makes a popular billet saw for the forging industry, among many other types of metal fabrication machine tools (lasers, press brakes, machining centers). Conference presentations are available to all members on the FIA website. You can find the conference highlights on pg. 10 of this issue. FIA’s 2nd Annual Forging Automation 101 Workshop & Plant Tours sold out again with just under 80 in attendance. Plant tours offered by Trenton Forging Company, Eaton Steel, Gerdau Steel and LASCO all shed light on the state of automation in the forging industry. The event was capped off by an all-star end-user panel featuring Estwing, Klein Tools, Hendrickson, Eaton Steel and Trenton Forging Company. FinalThoughts As I made my member and member prospect visits this summer and fall, I’m aware many in our membership are experiencing a slowdown, especially in energy and agricultural/mining/off-road orders for forgings. The continued threat of unfair trade is on many of your minds. There is no shortage of reporters contacting me for the association’s response to the electric car impact on the state of the forging industry, which to date has not been a significant impact and no one can say with any authority when and if that impact will be significant. I know the forging industry will not be scared off from these market headwinds. The FIA is here to assist our membership with resources including innovative events, trade advice, lobbying support, market surveys and a staff and board of directors that wants to hear from you so we can formulate helpful plans to keep our industry thriving.

The Foundation Issue We’re nothing without our forging people! We are blessed as an industry to have some of the toughest, grittiest and brightest folks around. FIA’s leaders were wise (thank you, Charles H. Smith, Jr. and Gordon Walker) in 1961

to establish a forging foundation to extol and teach the benefits of forging to … well, to people: design engineers making engineering product decisions, university professors influencing our future engineers, and young people entering universities making decisions about their careers—to name a few segments of folks. As the Foundation evolved froma standalone entity into a supporting organization of FIA (in 2000), more forging constituents have been invited to the party, including middle/high school STEM teachers via materials boot camps, students pursuing manufacturing studies at community colleges and trade school students. Scholarships took root, targeted to attract more students into metallurgy and manufacturing—including a scholarship to attract more women into our profession. ( See our cover story article on pg. 3 ) Take a look at our ‘Members Speak’ opinion column (pg.55) from our Board Chair Alex Jennings, president of Specialty Ring Products, to learn about his passion for working with our community colleges and trade schools. Also look for a special announcement of the President’s Challenge as a means to make a stronger impact attracting talent into the forging industry. 150 Year Celebration – Vaughan&Bushnell Mfg. Co. How many industries can even contemplate that headline? How many family businesses have five generations involved in them? It was my lucky day driving through the west-central Illinois cornfields to have an appointment with Plant Manager Mike Havens of Vaughan & Bushnell Mfg. Co. just ahead of the FIA Marketing Conference in Schaumburg, Ill. Mike showed me the new museum coming together in the company’s Bushnell, Ill., headquarters. Enjoy this story and pictures of an iconic hand-tool brand and their place in forging history. ( pg. 40 ) Popular FIA Programs Return! The FIA Marketing Conference is back! Over 50 participants from the industry were treated to some informative presentations in a unique venue. Many of you would be hard-pressed to find an equipment showroom like the Amada Solutions Center in

Sincerely, James R. Warren

President and CEO Forging Industry Association

PUBLISHER James R. Warren jwarren@forging.org CONTRIBUTOR Angela Gibian angela@forging.org Editorial Staff

Board of Directors

Gerald Bornman Joseph Cipriani Robert Dimitrieff Mike Gill Jeff Klingerman

Chelsea Lantto Douglas McIntyre David Mesick John Pale Greg Timmons

OPERATIONS Joseph R. Boni joe@forging.org DESIGN Lorean Crowder lorean@forging.org

CHAIRMAN Alex Jennings VICE CHAIRMAN Kurt Ruppenthal

FIA MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2019 1