APPLIED PROCESS’S POSTHAVEN

After 36 years in the metals industry I am honored to be elected to the ASM International Board of Trustees.  ASM is the Materials Information Society, home of the much-referenced Materials Handbooks and part-owner of Granta Design, famous for material property bubble charts.  ASM conducts extensive training and the local chapters attract insightful speakers to meetings worldwide.  Applied Process employees have benefitted from training, resource materials, technical networking and leadership opportunities offered by ASM and its chapters.

The ASM Board regularly reviews its strategic plans to align the organization for continued growth.  To that end, for some time the Board has included student members to assure that the input of the next generation of leaders is considered in ASM's strategic plan.  So, it is with great interest that I attended my first strategic planning meeting in Cleveland this past week.  During strategic brainstorming it was apparent that our student members hold social responsibility as a duty separate from their avocation in materials engineering.  I was alarmed by the apparent disconnect.  I can only assume that it is a result of our educational system teaching the children, from a very young age, that you can either do good, or do well.

Our experience is that doing good and doing well are NOT mutually exclusive.  In fact, materials engineering offers the perfect opportunity for engineers to positively affect society and the environment.  Materials engineers work with designers to choose the material/process combination that most efficiently accomplishes the task at hand.  Developments in material science have reduced the mass of our means of transportation, increased the efficiency of our engines and motors, increased the durability of our metals, ceramics and polymers (and the recyclability of all of them), and improved the thermal efficiency of our buildings.  This has led to lower costs for products, lower cost of operation, reduced energy consumption and environmental improvements......all societal advantages.

At Applied Process we are passionate people providing innovative Austempering solutions.  95% of our business comes from replacing one material/process combination with a better, faster, cheaper one.  In each case we have reduced the mass, met or improved the strength or durability and reduced the cost of an application.  In every case we have reduced the energy embodied in the component and provided a solution that is 100% recyclable.  Those innovations are accomplished in clean, safe, good-neighbor facilities that use 15% less process energy than the industry average and employ 100% recycling of all quenchants, process water and consumable fixtures.  Our employees take their technology, community and leadership experiences gained at Applied Process and use their energies in leadership roles with their families, communities, and places of worship.  These are people doing good and doing well.

The engineering and manufacturing communities need to make clear to our future leaders that good engineering and good conscience are not mutually exclusive.  In fact, material science, applied efficiently to human need, is a truly worthy cause.  The people at Applied Process are proud to be part of that journey.       

The Rocky Mountain resevoirs are filling up with melted snow and springtime temperatures are regulating.  At Applied Process business is blooming.  Austempering opportunities abound and the AP crew is carefully tending to the garden.

AP just held its second AP University and 37 eager learners spent three days learning about the process of designing and executing conversions from weldments, forgings and other castings to ductile iron and Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) designs.  Two days of classrom instruction, networking and a visit to the Applied Process Inc. facility in Livonia, Michgian were capped with a visit to the Joyworks LLC ( http://www.joyworksstudio.com/ ) studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Attendees left APU with ideas and the tools needed to consider, assess and implement ductile iron and ADI conversions. They also all left with, now coveted, Hostile Duck Iron wall-mount bottle openers cast at Joyworks.

Meanwhile, like the spring thaw, economic conditions for manufacturers of Durable Goods are starting to warm up after a long winter nap.  Late snows have broken the drought in much of the country, positively affecting those in agriculture and turf care and those who supply equipment to them.  Construction of new homes continues its slow, steady climb, positively affecting employment and producers of the trucks and equipment used in residential construction.

Designers continue to exploit the advantages of ADI: high strength-to-weight ratio, good wear resistance and noise damping, near net shape manufacturing, low embodied energy, recyclability and low product cost.  Like thoughtful gardeners, they plan, they plant, they nuture and see what works.  And when an application works, like that gardener, they plant more.  Experience tells us that once the first ADI design is implemented and meets or exceeds the desired results in application, consideration of other, cost-effective conversions becomes much easier.  The garden is soon colorful, diverse in form and pleasing to the gardener.

Spring has sprung, and Applied Process is working in the garden, growing the pie and planting new ideas and opportunities in anticipation of a beautiful blooming season and a record harvest. Come visit our garden http://www.appliedprocess.com/

Meet us in St. Louie, Louie.  Hmmmm…….Louie Louie: a classic party song….it reminds me of good times.  Every few years, all of us metal casting geeks get together to catch up with one another, learn from each other and share some good times.  This year’s AFS Cast Expo will be held April 6-9, 2013 in St. Louis and a good time will be had by all.   Unlike our “friends” in the Federal Government there will be no hot-tub hijinks, no Star Trek videos or multi-million dollar afterglow parties.  Here, metalcasters (wealth creators) will meet to collectively improve their game; to provide better products faster and more cost effectively than before.  New technologies.  New faces.  New ideas.  WE LOVE METAL CASTINGS!....and we’re all about growing the pie.

  Applied Process Inc. is proud to be an active participant in the metal casting industry.  By Austempering castings, we make, what you make BETTER.  This enables engineers and designers to produce products and designs that are superior to those that preceded them: tougher, lighter, stronger, quieter, and more wear resistant.  We help our customers (and their customers) convert from one material/process combination to a better, faster, cheaper one.  It’s what we do……and we do it better than anyone else.  That’s why the owners of AP have launched the Joyworks studio; to take projects from concept to prototypes in weeks.  It’s why AP’s staff has more depth of experience.  It’s why AP has the greatest capacity for Austempering; anywhere.  It’s why we created the Monster Parts™ Division.  It’s why AP’s customers (and their customers) expect nothing less than parts done right every time…..and we deliver on that expectation.   All of this serves one purpose; to grow the pie for high performance castings.

 Sure, we plan to meet some old friends and share a meal or two at the 2013 AFS Cast Expo in St. Louis, but we’re going ‘cause we’re all about GROWING.  Meet us in St. Louie, Louie.  More precisely in BOOTH 1081.  We’ll look forward to seeing you there, and sharing some good times.

Applied Process Inc. was incorporated in 1984 to build on its parent’s cornerstone; Austempering.  Atmosphere Furnace Company, now AFC Holcroft, founded in 1962, was one of the original companies of Atmosphere Group.  In the late 1970’s AFC embarked on a developmental project to improve the quench speed and efficiency of salt quenches.  Eventually  AFC’s Universal Batch Quench Austemper (UBQA) furnace was born.  UBQA technology integrated an atmosphere controlled furnace with a sealed salt quench.  The UBQA’s quench was revolutionary in the application of ambient pressure, water addition and quenchant flow rate to produce a quenching rate that rivaled that of fast oil systems.  This made the processing of larger forgings, weldments and castings a commercial reality.  The original UBQA furnace was a 36 in. x 48 in. x 30 in. (914mm x 1219mm x762mm) with a two ton gross load capability.  Applied Process Inc. was founded to exploit the capabilities of the UBQA furnace and to commercialize the Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) process.

UBQA technology advanced over the next 20 years.  36 in. x 72 in. x 36 in. (914mm x 1829mm x 914mm) UBQAs with 3 ton load capacity followed.  54 in. (1372mm) high units and units with a footprint of 72 in. x 72 in. (1829mm x1829mm) followed…..all with 3-ton load capacity.  Then, over a McDonald’s lunch about ten years ago, the concept of a double-wide, high-capacity UBQA line was conceived.  Finally, in 2012, the Monster Parts™ UBQA came to life.

Built at AFC-Holcroft in Wixom, Michigan, USA, the furnace made its journey to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA for installation in a new, purpose-built shop; the Monster Parts™ Division of AP Westshore.  The journey of the Monster™ from conception to delivery is captured in a video that can be accessed below: 

Today the Monster Parts™ furnace is exceeding all expectations.  Its 84 in. x 96 in. (2134mm x 2438mm) footprint and 10-ton gross load capacity make it the largest integral quench batch furnace on the planet.  What makes it exceptional is its performance and capabilities.  Capable of carburizing or neutral hardening atmospheres and a high-speed quench with a mere 10ºF quench temperature rise when quenching a 10-ton load, the unit is unmatched in its attributes. 

Carbo-Austempering™ of large steel gears, bearings or shafts, Austempering of large steel or ductile iron components for gearboxes, material handling, structural, pump and compressor components, processing of Carbidic ADI (CADI™) wear parts, and Austempered Gray Iron (AGI) components…..the Monster Parts™ line does it all.  It is, hands down, the most capable, precise, efficient, salt-quench furnace on the planet.  How can the Monster™ help you to reduce the cost and/or improve the performance of your large components?  Watch the video and then visit us at www.appliedprocess.com so we can collaborate on a Monster™ success story with you.

You can also visit our friends at Gear Technology and read more in their February newsletter:

http://www.geartechnology.com/newsletter/0213.htm  

In the Austempering business we are constantly amazed how limited the engineering community’s general knowledge of material/process selection really is.  Often, engineers make material selection based on the incumbent products or the guy with the most voluminous editorial or advertising material.  Or they can be pushed to lower density materials believing what they've heard, that low density = lightweight = green.  Ladies and gentlemen, The Stuff Matters.  I can’t blame the engineers.  Everybody’s being asked to do more with less and every engineer is expected to know everything about everything and they just can’t. 

So we found it mildly amusing when Ford announced a few months back (Automotive News August 2012) that they intend to reduce the mass of the US’ #1 selling vehicle, the Ford F-150, by 750 lb. (340kg).  The mass reduction will be accomplished by converting steel and iron components to aluminum in:

-The cargo box

-The tailgate

-The hood

-The chassis

-The suspension.

The mass reduction is expected to 1) increase the fuel efficiency of the vehicle by 8% and, 2) increase the cost of the vehicle by $3,000.  Hmmmm.  If one drives their F-150 10,000 miles (16,130 km) per year and gasoline sells for $3.50/gallon, this modification will pay for itself in 10 years.  In other words, it will be like buying $3,000 worth of gasoline IN ADVANCE.  (That energy is embodied in the aluminum that is substituted for ferrous alloys that require much less energy to extract from the earth).  It sounds green……a lighter vehicle, 8% better “fuel efficiency”…..but is it, really?  You decide.

To help engineers and buyers make better material/process decisions, Applied Process Inc. recently held its inaugural “AP University” in Livonia and Ann Arbor, Michigan.  31 attendees representing 16 companies participated in a 3-day seminar focusing on engineering conversions.  They learned how to design a casting, the metallurgy of ductile iron and Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI), solidification and 3-D modeling, machining and all aspects of converting steel and aluminum castings, forgings and weldments to ductile iron and ADI castings.  For the capstone events the attendees toured Applied Process’ Livonia facility and participated in mold making and a ductile iron pour at Joyworks Studio in Ann Arbor…..each taking home a rather snazzy looking Hostile Duck Iron, wall-mount bottle opener.

The AP University attendees asked great questions and learned much.  One attendee, an engineer with a purchasing function, working for a Tier One supplier summed it up the best: “There were things that I did not think would be (candidates) for the Austempering process…..so I would not have considered it before.  Moving forward, I can apply this knowledge to more new applications”.  THAT is the point of AP University.  Oh, by the way, one of the AP University attendees was a Ford engineer.  We hope he’s working on the F-150.

AP University could not have happened without the hard  work of Vasko Popovski, Kathy Hayrynen, Justin Lefevre, Henry Frear, Chad Kelsey, Ryan Breneman, Cindy Duman and the teams at Applied Process, AP Tech, Magmasoft and Communica.  Thanks to the lot of ya. We're growin' the pie here at Applied Process.

It is election season and here in the US we’re all about picking the right person for the job.  One group has a vision of a fixed-size pie and work hard to adjust the size of the pieces and distribute them.  Some, and we include Applied Process in this lot, envision a growing pie with enough for all, where less attention is paid to the individual pieces and more attention is paid to building a bigger pie.  You have a clear choice this November.  Exercise it.

So, speaking of picking the right person for the job, with this blog I am pleased to announce that AP’s COO, John Wagner, will add the title President to his business card.  John, a former Marine, with a sheepskin from the University of Wisconsin and decades of heat treat experience will  now lead the heat treat industry’s A-Team (or should I say AP Team?).  I will support John and his team as Chairman (and executive middle-linebacker).  We’re loaded for bear, having expanded our capacity by 50% in the past 18 months we’re all about growing the pie for Austempering.

 Some heat treaters are great vendors.  They wait patiently to take orders for existing business and compete aggressively to continually increase their share of the existing business.  At AP we grow the pie.  If you’ve got a six-piece steel weldment, we’ll help you convert it to a one-piece ADI casting.  If those fat aluminum structural components are costing you a bundle, perhaps we can replace them at equal weight with thin-walled ADI castings.  Troubles with imported ground-engaging parts.  We might be able to help you convert to CADI™.  Are you being torqued off with your carburized or induction hardened shafts?  Perhaps we can solve your long nightmare with Carbo-Austempering™.  Are you paying an arm and a leg to hog large parts out of steel bar stock?  Perhaps our Monster Parts™ furnace will allow us to replace that machining nightmare with a near net shape ADI casting.  We get paid to heat treat people’s parts.  But what we really do for a living is help our customers to replace one material/process combination with a better, faster, cheaper one.

 John Wagner and the AP A-Team stand ready to help you grow the pie.  Check ‘em out……and remember to vote for pie growth, not redistribution.

The Applied Process group of companies is a commercial heat treating company specializing in the Austempering process.  We get paid to heat treat people’s parts, but what we really do for a living is help customers convert from one material/process combination to a better, faster, cheaper one.  Our laser-like focus on the Austempering process has lead us to healthy market growth in North America and a world-wide network of customers and licensees.  It’s easy for a business owner to get so tied up within his/her own business as to lose sight of its performance relative to the rest of the industry.  So when external benchmark information is available I am a hungry consumer of it.

 Applied Process has been a member of the Metal Treating Institute (MTI) since its incorporation in 1984.  The MTI is a network of heat treaters and suppliers to the industry that work together to advance the business and science of heat treatment.  MTI heat treat members are the best in the industry.  Amongst the activities of the MTI are certain (anonymous) benchmarking activities that allow participating heat treat members to compare things like sales and costs in their business to the industry.  So it is with great interest that we were just able to review MTI’s 2012’s Operational Cost Survey (covering calendar year 2011).

 My mother always told me not to be prideful, but I have to say that the operational performance of the AP team simply ROCKS.  Here are some of the highlights:

 -AP people deliver nearly twice the sales per employee as the MTI industry average.

-Due to our manpower efficiency, self-insuring and proper management, our health care plan costs us 28% less than the industry average.

-Our attention to safety and a safe workplace has driven down our workers compensation premium to one-quarter of the industry average (and lost-time accidents are scarce).

-The AP Team’s relentless pursuit of efficiency (year in and year out) has resulted in AP’s energy consumption being 37% LESS than the industry average....with more improvements in store.

-Our commitment to preventive and predictive maintenance allows us to keep our maintenance costs down to about half of the industry average and keeps our equipment running reliably.

-AP’s quality bests the industry average by AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE.  (We speak in single-digit PPM….most of the heat treating industry doesn’t).

Applied Process’ policy is to deliver the highest quality Austempering services available ANYWHERE, on time and at competitive prices.  We continually strive to live up to that policy.  The AP Team, working with our customers, has built us into a heat treat industry leader and the leading supplier of Austempering services on the planet.  Many thanks go to our team and our customers.  We will continue our relentless drive for excellence.  I’m REALLY proud of our team.  I hope my mom will forgive me.

Since Applied Process is involved in the heat treatment of manufactured goods, our business is a good barometer of US Industrial Production.  When people need more stuff Austempered, US Industrial Production is rising.  When people need less stuff Austempered US Industrial production is usually flat or falling.  In spite of what you hear or read in the news, US Industrial Production is rising (as it has been for 2-1/2 years) and should continue to do so for a while. 

In some sectors, production is still rising briskly.  Who would have thought in 2010 that by 2012 US ductile iron casting production would be UP by 50% and Chinese ductile iron production would be DOWN by 50%?  In fact, US manufacturers are facing a shortage of ductile iron castings as US ductile iron foundries are running at near capacity while a glut of Chinese iron foundry capacity is resulting in downsizing, business closures and government bailouts of state-run metal casting enterprises there.

A long awaited recovery in US construction activity is finally emerging which should help shore up overall industrial production as other sectors of industry are peaking in production.  HD Truck production is headed for a +250,000 unit year with HD trailer production at record levels.  AG equipment production may set another record.  US light vehicle sales are inching, once again, towards 16 million units.  Meanwhile the low value of the dollar versus the Euro, the Japanese Yen and the Chinese Yuan make imports more expensive and exported US goods more attractive to foreign buyers.

And…..don’t look now…..but US manufacturing workers remain the most productive on the planet.  According to the United Nations Bureau of Labor statistics, the average value-added for a US manufacturing worker is five times that of a Chinese worker, four times that of a Mexican worker, two times that of a German worker, 1.5 times that of a Korean worker and 1.3 times that of a Japanese worker.  Couple that with our new-found sources of domestic energy and the US is well-positioned to be the number one economy in the world for the foreseeable future.

As this is all going on, US manufacturers are looking for ways to reduce the mass and cost of their products.  Nissan recently reported that of the mpg gains on their 2013 US-produced models, 15% of the gain was attributed to mass reduction coming from material/process substitution.  Ford has indicated the desire to reduce the mass of their class-leading F-150 by 750 lbs. (340kg) by 2025, expecting most of that weight-loss to come from material/process substitutions.  HD truck trailer manufacturers are looking for “every pound” they can get, as every pound reduced in trailer weight is one more pound that their customers can add in paid-for shipped goods.

Applied Process offers an array of high strength-to-weight ratio options for the design community ranging from Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) conversions from steel or aluminum, to Carbo-Austempered™ steel powertrain parts that can transmit more torque with the same, or less, mass.  Our engineers and technical staff are working with customers daily to develop product designs that are better, faster, cheaper and more sustainable.  It’s one of the most-fun parts of what we do at Applied Process.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain telling you that US manufacturing is “dead” or being “off-shored”.  Reality is quite the contrary.

You’ve all heard me say (ad nauseum) that at Applied Process we get paid to Austemper people’s parts, but what we really do is help customers convert from one material/process combination to a better, faster, cheaper one.  In the larger sense, however, we are simply one step in the manufacturing process.  Manufacturing takes materials from the earth and, step by step, synthesizes them into goods that we use.  Manufacturing creates wealth. 

Applied Process is a proud member of the National Association of Manufacturers ( www.nam.org ).  NAM’s primary function is to represent the manufacturing community’s interests.  That includes keeping track of US manufacturing and telling our story.  In a recent edition of NAM’s publication “Member Focus” NAM’s Chief Economist, Chad Moutray, painted a very interesting picture of the state of US manufacturing’s tremendous impact on the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  In 2010 the value added by manufacturing equaled $1.7 TRILLION (about 13% of the total GDP).  Manufacturing supports 17 million jobs in the US with 11.7 million being employed directly in manufacturing.  And in the recovery since the Great Recession US manufacturing has added well over 500,000 new jobs. 

Manufacturing, Agriculture and Mining/energy have carried the country out of a deep recession.  The US Commerce Department, finally awake to the importance of manufacturing to US growth, had its Bureau of Economic Analysis compete a study on the multiplier effect of various jobs within the economy.  Lo and behold, they found that “a flourishing manufacturing sector in the United States is crucial to our future competitive strength”.  No kidding?  The data show that the manufacturing sector had the largest multiplier effect of any economic sector.  In other words, for every dollar of GDP created DIRECTLY by a given sector, how much additional INDIRECT GDP activity is generated.  The chart below shows the results…….and it ain’t even close.  For every dollar of manufacturing GDP an additional $1.35 of GDP is created indirectly.

Now I’m no economist, but even I can see why “all of a sudden” the folks in Washington D.C. are taking an interest in the state of US manufacturing.  Manufacturers create wealth.  And US manufacturers and their direct (and indirect) employees pay taxes.  I’m glad the politicians are finally awake.  Maybe they just want our vote this fall and then they’ll forget about us again until the next election.  But maybe this election will show that we can’t be so easily forgotten.