The Applied Process family of companies just concluded a record fiscal year. It didn’t happen by accident. It took the focus, energy and commitment of our employees and licensees worldwide. Excuse me for waxing sentimental, but I’m certain that we’ve got the best team ON THE PLANET.
Now, if you think I’m just blowing smoke, consider this. During a recent in-person customer survey the quality executive at a major international axle and suspension company stated “it is clear from the efforts that the folks at AP have made that they are focused on being a value-minded supplier”. You couldn’t phrase it any better. The customer has high praise for our AP Livonia team and makes no bones about sharing it. That is not just a satisfied customer. That is a loyal customer, and AP works 24-7 to continually earn that loyalty.
Recently, Henry Frear, one of our Sales Engineers, teamed up with one of AP’s foundry customers and engaged a prospective component supplier. They defined a serious life problem with the incumbent consumables used in certain large recycling machines. Henry saw the opportunity to help this customer solve this problem and he ran with it. He consulted with the customer on the part design and the target material/process combinations. Henry returned to his alma mater, University of Wisconsin- Platteville, and with the help of students Joe Gray and Philip Aliota, they modeled, machined and finished a multiple cavity pattern and produced 200lb chemically bonded sand molds. With the assistance of the AP Tech R&D crew, the molds were poured in alloyed ductile iron at the Joyworks studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The parts were then cut off, cleaned and sent to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Faced with a testing deadline, the AP Westshore team got the numerous iterations of parts Austempered and shipped to the test site on the west coast.
As I write this blog the parts are on test. The customer explained to us that the regular life of those parts is 3 days. The parts currently on test will soon enter their third week of testing. The customer also indicated that the superiority of this new Austempered product could have them (happily) increasing their production plan by over 10 times……so much so that he questions if the casting supplier will be able to manage the volumes. (That’s the kind of problem that particular foundry would LOVE to manage). AP’s Technical Sales Group Leader, Vasko Popovski described this as “a total team effort”.
Each of these stories is unique, but together they form the character of Applied Process. We are passionate people providing innovative Austempering solutions…….and, BOY, am I proud of our team.