IS THE TUNE OF TOOLING CHANGING?
Two of North America’s largest tooling companies weigh in on the partnership among casting source, end-user and tooling supplier.
J SHANNON WETZEL, SENIOR EDITOR
ohn McIntyre, president of tooling company Anderson Global, Muskegon Heights, Mich., watched as automotive OEMs reduced their on-staff casting engineers over time, leaving little casting knowledge in their design depart- ments. Now, McIntyre is positioning his company to fill that knowledge gap, serving as a design and casting process consultant and sometimes a go-between for OEMs and casting suppliers. “When I came to Anderson Global in 1980, we were
basically a replacement tooling manufacturing plant for the big automotive OEMs,” McIntyre said. “Now, the engine and foundry engineers at the OEMs are fewer and fewer, while 40% of our direct labor force works in engineering.” McIntyre’s vision is to establish alliances in which the tooling supplier serves as a
process consultant to the OEM, streamlining tooling and casting design for produc- tion at the metalcasting facility. Te strategy is not altogether dissimilar from that of automotive tool shop Tooling Equipment International (TEI), Livonia, Mich. “It’s a perfect scenario when you can get the end-user, Tier 1 foundry and tool-
ing guys together in all phases of a project,” said Oliver Johnson, TEI’s business development director. TEI uses its in-house casting facility to bridge the gap between casting sup- plier and OEM. Te company can prove out tooling or produce low volume, prototype castings as its automotive customers test designs with the potential
for full, high-volume production. According to the International
Trade Administration of the U.S. De- partment of Commerce, the U.S. ma- chine tool industry comprises about 550 manufacturers, predominately made up of small and medium-sized enterprises. While the administration reports a significant portion of the tooling is exported, only a handful of shops compete for high volume auto- motive work, according to Johnson. MODERN CASTING recently sat
down with Anderson Global, Mus- kegon Heights, Mich., and Tooling and Equipment International (TEI), Livonia, Mich., to discuss how the rela- tionship among tooling supplier, OEM and casting source has changed and the challenges of meeting the needs of global customers and low- to medium- volume metalcasters.
Oliver Johnson, Business Development Director, TEI MCDP: What are some of the is-
Tooling and Equipment International (TEI), Livonia, Mich.
Services: Tooling, in-house casting development center, prototype castings, machining, CAD engineering.
Size: 83,000 sq. ft.
Industries: Automotive, military, racing vehicles. Exports: 50% of sales.
Affiliations: Pattern Equipment & Prototype International Corp., Ontario, Canada; sister tooling provider Ditemsa, Saltillo, Mexico.
sues facing the metalcasting tooling industry? What changes do you see on the horizon or that the industry
is currently undergoing? Oliver Johnson: Tradition-
ally, the foundry tooling industry has been made up of a large number of small businesses supplying custom- ers geographically close by. I think that is changing. There is a need
Jul/Aug 2012 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | 39
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