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/