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.
“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.”
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.
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- 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.”
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.
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 investigate, 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.
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 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.”
