TIP OF THE SWORD

Back in January, FMD reported on Forest City Gear (Roscoe, IL), a family-owned gear manufacturer that reinvests between 25 to 40 percent of their annual revenue to keep business strong (?Invest To Be Best?, FM Digest, January 9). In this issue, we revisit FCG as a follow-up to see if and how this strategy is helping the company navigate through the difficult economic waters of the current recession.

Fred Young, the CEO of the company, details how the numerous factors of physics, math, material science, machine tool technology ? and especially the wave of new applications and new materials in certain markets today ? all impact the gear making and gear finishing businesses. As such, ?we keep our machinery, equipment and people on the tip of the sword, technologically,? he says. ?These investments allow us to do much more for our customers and even a few of our competitors, who use us for specialty work.?

In these tough economic times, Young continues, ?it?s the diversity of customers and the broad range of gear solutions we can bring to them that enables them to survive and thrive in these most difficult times.? Here are a few illustrations of the diversity that keeps this ?tip of the sword? finely honed:

Motion Control, Inc. (Salt Lake City, UT), one of the Fillauer Companies, is a world leader in myoelectric prosthetic devices and the makers of the world-renowned Utah Arm, the most advanced prosthetic elbow/hand in the industry yet built for above-elbow amputees. The development of this unique device was done by Motion Control and the University of Utah?s Center for Engineering Design and is today in its third iteration, the Utah Arm 3.

This device incorporates two microcontrollers for the elbow and hand, thus separate and simultaneous control of both are possible, allowing the wearer a more natural feel and free-flow movement. Many veterans of the War in Iraq have been fitted with the Utah Arm 3 at Walter Reed Medical Center and Brooke Army Medical Center. Motion Control also released the myoelectric hand and Electric Terminal Device (ETD) to complete its line.

With a strong motor, strong fingers, battery save feature, wider grip and quick disconnect wrist, the MC Hand offers speed and rugged wear performance. Motion Control follows rigorous FDA and ISO quality control standards. ?We have partnered with FCG since its earliest versions of the Utah Arm,? according to Roger Morandi, documentation manager at Motion Control. ?Quality and reliability are crucial in creating the precision sector gears and pinion gears for all three of our flagship products, namely, the Utah Arm, Motion Control Hand and ETD.?

For many years, the sector gears were made for the Utah Arm in a multi-step process that included machining two separate parts, welding those together, grinding down the weld, hardening the part, having FCG cut the teeth and do some final machining. The time and cost involved merely to move the products from one vendor to another were substantial. Typically, a 10-15 percent product loss was experienced in this process.

FCG proposed single sourcing for the product and the job was awarded to them. As Morandi puts it, ?We now just send them an order while we concentrate on our customers. This enables us to quickly receive high precision gears at a better price than we were paying, without the hassle of chasing the products from one vendor to another.?

At U.S. Reel (St. Louis, MO), their new SuperCaster 1000 has a same-direction, no eyelet, virtually friction-free and very high-speed retrieve rate, owing in large part to the internal gear mechanism built by FCG. According to company president Fred Kemp, ?We?d produced our design to the CAD stage in Catia, SolidWorks and Pro-E formats, working with an outside consultant and our manufacturing partner. It was a combined engineering effort, using GearTrax software from Camnetics. We?d been referred to Fred Young by our consultant, Bob Benzinger. Upon first meeting he and Mike Goza (the product manager) and learning they were both passionate fishermen, we quickly realized we had a receptive ear for our needs.?

Kemp described the part they?d designed as a 7075 aluminum gear with internal helix, 0.45 module. The part was being wire EDM?d by U.S. Reel?s manufacturing partner and the weak area on the teeth was consistently breaking. Then, working with Young and Goza, Kemp explains how they had a ?Eureka moment? when FCG discovered two inconsistencies in the initial design and ?simply worked harder to overcome them for us.?

The reverse rotation of the SuperCaster 1000 spools required a new gearing mechanism that was previously found in spincasting reels. Most 7-to-1 retrieve reels, according to the company?s literature, have a large casing on the main-gear side of the reel that often protrudes down beyond the reel foot. The SuperCaster, owing to the new design of the internal mechanism, is now able to achieve high-speed retrieve with a much more compact assembly that features a new main gear with teeth on the inside to produce a stronger, smoother drive train.

Results with the SuperCaster 1000 include casting farther with lighter lures and fewer backlashes, according to the reel?s manufacturer. Unlike the side-to-side action of most conventional casting reels, there?s no levelwind guide or eyelet in the SuperCaster, so regardless of the line position on the spool, the line leaves straight and virtually friction-free.

The retrieve is enhanced by an Angled Bar Levelwind (ABLeTM) that creates a seesaw effect to guide the line, plus the spool rotates the ?wrong? way, but it?s actually the right way, according to Kemp. ?Spool control is easier with the spool turning into the thumb rather than moving away from it.? The spool is forged aluminum with stainless steel ball bearings for optimally smooth motion.

Commenting on the achievement of this new design, Young echoes his counterpart at U.S. Reel. ?This was one of the toughest challenges for us, because any irregularity in gear operation is easily detectable in the hands of an experienced fisherman.? Though working with multiple sources on different continents created some challenges to the process, he believes the end product was worth the effort. ?This reel is new on the market but is really generating a lot of interest.

At Frank Weiss Racing Components, Inc., Young is a known supplier and trusted partner (for nearly 20 years) in the design of gears for this high-performance manufacturing facility, located on Gasoline Alley in Indianapolis. FWRC specializes in the machining, fabricating and assembly of various oil systems, exhaust systems and starters for teams competing at the top auto racing venues in America.

Wade Weiss, who manages day-to-day operations for his father Frank, comments on the relationship with FCG. ?We work with them on a number of products that are included in our starters, oil pumps, limited slip differentials and other assemblies. These products are continually evolving, as technology and innovation bring competitive advancements to the racing industry. Consequently, we make parts to order and most often we only need 50 or 100 pieces per order.

?We are accustomed to building high quality parts with very quick turnaround times,? Weiss continues. ?We struggle to find vendors that can provide the accuracy we demand within the time and pricing constraints that are demanded of us.? FCG processes various alloy steel, bronze and even titanium gears for FWRC, with performance ratings up to 850 hp.

?Truth is, we could go out and buy machines to do the hobbing, splining and shaping work, but then we wouldn?t have the gear design assistance, application software, state-of the art inspection software and equipment, and wealth of knowledge that comes from their years of designing and producing challenging gear products,? notes Weiss.

The proof of that performance is borne out in the winning tradition of both FWRC and their primary gear supplier. Weiss smiles, ?As the old saying in racing goes, when the truck leaves for the track, if the parts aren?t on it, they didn?t need them. There is simply no tolerance for failure, because you only get that one chance on race day. If the products fail, the team loses. It?s that simple.

?In our case, we?ve supplied Nextel and Indy car winners consistently for over 25 years and we?re very proud of that fact,? he continues. ?It?s also a fact that the complete field at Indy since 1997 has carried our products (and therefore FCG) and handiwork onboard. That?s the best evidence I can give for why our relationship stays solid. It works!?

?Our diversity of products and customers helps us prosper in all economic conditions,? concludes Young. ?We know our customers and we work with them to find solutions by applying the talents of our most important assets ? our people ? to every job.?

Though the differences between a prosthetic limb actuator, a fishing reel levelwind and an Indy racecar oil pump far outweigh the similarities, the one constant in these diverse applications is a commitment to engineer and manufacture solutions. Unlike the racing world, where only one car crosses the finish line first, these are true win-win situations for both FCG and its customers ? especially in this tough economy.

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Forest City Gear Co., Inc., 11715 Main Street, Roscoe, IL 61073-0080, 815-623-2168, Fax: 815-623-6620, www.forestcitygear.com.