Page 18 - MetalForming December 2017

Reshoring Trend Gains Momentum
A Wisconsin metalformer wins inaugural National Reshoring Award.
BY JOE JANCSURAK, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
For the third consecutive year, the number of manufacturing jobs returning to the United States equaled or exceeded the number of jobs lost to offshoring. An important factor in reversing the decades-old trend is the Reshoring Initiative, found- ed in 2010 by Harry Moser, retired pres- ident of machine-tool supplier GF AgieCharmilles. Moser’s organization assists companies with assessing their total cost of offshoring, and with efforts to shift collective thinking from off- shoring is cheaper, to reshoring reduces the total cost of ownership.
Recognizing that stellar efforts to bring back jobs deserve recognition, the Reshoring Initiative, in conjunction with the Precision Metalforming Asso- ciation (PMA), announced the winner of its First National Reshoring Award: Mitchell Metal Products (MMP), Mer- rill, WI, a company that, since the early 1990s, has been reshoring products for its customers. One of Mitchell’s most recent successes—a reshored cultiva- tor-handle subassembly that in 2016 went from 4500/yr. made overseas to 30,000/yr. made in Wisconsin—gained MMP the award. The product is made using 13-gauge cold-rolled steel; 14- gauge electro-welded tubing with an 0.75-in. OD; and a type 1018 commer-
Harry Moser (left), founder and president of the Restoring Initiative, is shown with Tim Zimmerman, president of Mitchell Metal Products and recipient of the First National Reshoring Award.
16 MetalForming/December 2017
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cial-quality 000-
gauge wire. in 2016 that went from 4500 made over-
Equipment used to make
the part includes: twin 400-
ton Blow servo-press lines for
the stampings; a Minster 70-ton
open-back inclinable press for tube
fabrication using custom tooling by
MMP; a Stamtec OCP-80 30-ton secondary
press, equipped with MMP-designed and -
built tooling that punches and fabricates the
tubing; a pneumatically controlled assembly sta-
tion, designed and built by MMP; and an Ultimat UMW-65 2-axis PC-controlled wire-forming and weld- ing machine, producing wire forms for the kickstand subassembly.
“The bracket stamping for the kickstand is produced
on an 11-station progressive tool,” explains Tim Zimmerman,
MMP president. “The bracket is highly formed with close-tolerance
extruded holes, which create the pivot point for the wire-formed sup-
port. Alignment of the holes, critical to function, is assured after extruding via
A reshored cultivator-handle subassembly
seas to 30,000 made in Wisconsin is what gained Mitchell Metal Products the First National Reshoring Award.