Operations Managers Meeting Held in IndianaThe American Wire Producers Association held their annual Fall Operations Managers Meeting in South Bend, Indiana, October 17-18, 2007. Over 95 attendees were there from 25 companies representing 35 different states. Several key topics were presented to the group by a panel of experts. Rich Sarver, President of the Paramount Die Company, served as guest moderator. Thomas Voss, Managing Director of Ernst Koch GmbH, Don Young, Sales agent with GCR Eurodraw SpA, and Marco Dell'Oro, General Manager of Mario Frigerio SpA all served as panel guests. The state of US wire drawing machinery was discussed through a lively discussion by the panel, where such topics as maintaining the use of aged machinery vs. the replacement of new state of the art wire drawing lines and the possible benefits gained through maintenance cost savings, machine utilization and improved drawing speeds were debated. Other topics relating to wire drawing were also discussed including recent technological advancements, machine visions for the future, optimizing wire drawing speeds and the effect of new advancements through better wire drawing lubricants. A second presentation was made by Hubertus Damm, President of Traxit North America, LLC, Thomas Voss, Morgan-Koch Corporation and Marco Dell'Oro, Mario Frigerio SpA. Valuable information was given regarding trade issues in China and other parts of the Asian market. Each presenter shared their valuable insight into doing business in these emerging Asian markets. Various positive aspects as well as challenges to be met were highlighted for those companies looking to expand their business into Asia and especially China. Presentations were followed by a report on new hex chrome rules as set forth by OSHA. Highlights of these new safety guidelines limiting exposure to hexavalent chromium were discussed by Nick Johannes of the Leggett & Platt Wire Group. The attendees then split into 10 groups to discuss four selected topics pertinent to wire drawing. The first topic involved how each company measures important variables that may affect machine utilization and efficiency rates. A second topic centered around what attendees saw as their greatest challenge to doing business. A third involved what sort of industry benchmarks the AWPA should look to undertake that could benefit member companies as a group. (This benchmarking would be similar to the current practice of assembling safety statistics and making them available as industry wide data.) The fourth asked attendees to analyze how Asia is affecting the supply side of member companies. Following the evening dinner, representatives from each discussion table gave a short roundtable report summarizing their group findings. Each group's final report proved very interesting and informative for those in attendance, with some member companies using ideas learned to help improve their operations. The following day's activities included visiting two plant sites. Attendees toured the huge 500,000 square foot Davis Wire Corporation's National Standard plant in Niles, Michigan. Both carbon and stainless steel wire is cold drawn on over 60 wire drawing machines. A wide array of specially drawn products including weld wire is produced in sizes from .006" and up to .312". The highlight of the tour was their advanced Galfan facility, one of the most advanced in the industry, providing high quality galvanized wire products. Later that morning, the Leggett & Platt Group organized a tour of their Merit Steel operations in Kouts, Indiana, south of Valparaiso. Merit's 200,000 square foot facility housed over 20 high speed drawing machines where carbon steel grades are cold drawn into a variety of sizes and usages. This plant boasts an annual capacity of 180,000 tons per year. Several companies took the opportunity to organize their own individual operations meetings following the tour program. All in attendance seemed to be very interested in the entire program with the two plant tours always providing an interesting wrap-up. The AWPA Operations Steering Committee tentatively scheduled the next Operations Managers Meeting for October 16-17, 2007 in Dallas, TX. The AWPA encourages member companies and those expressing an interest in joining the AWPA to participate in exciting events such as those given here. Please contact the American Wire Producers Association - Emily Bardach at 703-299-4434 or visit www.awpa.org for further information. The National Standard facility in Niles, Michigan.
AWPA attendees begin touring the National Standard 500,000 square foot plant.
Leggett & Platt hosts a tour of their Merit Steel Facility in Kouts, Indiana.
 American Wire Producers Association |
