MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
Marking a milestone year for National
As National Machinery prepares to celebrate its 140 year anniversary, Phil Matten revisited its headquarters in Tiffin, Ohio, USA, to see how an unprecedented programme of investment has enhanced capabilities to support a global customer base and deliver further growth in a highly competitive market. A follow up personal meeting with owner and CEO, Andrew Kalnow, provided a rare opportunity to explore his perspective on a milestone year for National.
F
ounded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1874, it was only six years later that the National Machinery Company relocated to Tiffin: Then a nascent industrial city, now a pleasant, leafy county capital, with a population of around 18,000,
surrounded by open farmland. By 1889, the New York Daily was describing the National Machinery Company as “a mammoth concern… enjoying the unique distinction of being the only establishment in the world capable of equipping a bolt and nut factory with machinery.” The Daily continued: “They have correspondence and make sales all over the world.” While the unique distinction is clearly no longer, the Tiffin plant has expanded throughout its long history and remains the large-scale, engineering facility at the heart of a business that long since won worldwide recognition for the performance and durability of its machinery.
“Dominating the hall is
National’s new FORMAX XXV…”
National’s detailed timeline offers a fascinating chart of its
course through nearly a century and a half (you’ll find it at
www.nationalmachinery.com/about-us/history). In the context of this article two century-apart dates are particularly significant. In 1900 Mr Earl (E.R.) Frost, son of Meshech Frost, the local entrepreneur who helped bring National to Tiffin and later purchased the company, was asked to step in as the company’s general manager in order to turn around a then troubled business. 102 years later, his descendant, Andrew Kalnow, stepped in to reclaim an again troubled business into family ownership, renamed National Machinery LLC and part of the NM Group of companies.
It’s some five years since this magazine’s previous visit to Tiffin and the contrasts in many aspects of the National plant are striking. National machines are structured on a steel plate frame, rather than a casting. Similarly, in addition to normal castings, most of the major components are either welded assemblies (which are fabricated and then stress relieved in an on-site furnace), or turned from bar stock. The reasoning is simple: Good quality forging capacity was not available locally so National developed machines based on production technologies it could achieve and rely on in-house. There are clear benefits. While Tiffin holds more than 7,000 SKUs specifically reserved in a separate warehouse for servicing the massive world population of Nationals, the durability and longevity of the machines means many, still performing totally reliably, are decades old. Producing from bar stock presents a crucial flexibility, where necessary, to rapidly produce required spares in the Quick Response Center – a dedicated area in which some of National’s most experienced operators direct-program modern CNC machine tools and operate traditional tooling lathes and equipment. A full tour of the plant takes a solid hour. Immediately, the fruits of new investment are evident, in the shape of brand new, advanced machining centres. Several are now grouped into production cells, supported by banks of ready to use tooling, allowing automatic programmed production throughout National’s two-shift six-day week. Walking further, there is an initially less definably but
noticeable difference in the plant. By definition it is largely a historic structure, previously painted in a rather archaic pale green that cast something of a gloomy pall, belying the modernity of technology in operation. A major refurbishment programme has replaced older sodium lighting with banks of modern daylight units, the output from which now reflects from NM Group livery cream walls. The programme is not complete and the occasional contrast with older lit halls reinforces the radical improvement in working environment achieved. In the main assembly hall, ranks of partially assembled
FORMAX machines, as well as the smaller ball and roller headers for which National is also well known, reflect the global penetration of the company. Machines are destined for Asia and Europe as well as North and South America. Dominating the hall is National’s new FORMAX XXV – in the final stages of assembly and crowned by a distinctive robotic arm that facilitates rapid
94 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 89 September 2014
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