Page 4 - MetalForming July 2010

Contents
July 2010
Volume 44 — Number 7
Cover Story
12 Servo-Electric Punching, Bending
Fuels Productivity Push
Features
8 Productivity-Improving Obstacles Fall Like
Dominos
16 Metalforming Technology Critical to the Future
Steel Vehicle
Tooling Technology
20 Coatings Enhance the Diemaker’s
Craftsmanship
Commentaries
Editorial ........................2
You Don’t Have to Invent—Just Innovate
Brad F. Kuvin
TheScienceofForming ............18
Worst-Case Scenario—Good or Bad?
Stuart Keeler
Tooling by Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
A Close Shave
Peter Ulintz
Metalforming Electronics. . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Sensor Fundamentals, Part 2—Motion
George Keremedjiev
The Business of Metalforming . . . . . . . . . 28
Precision: Pick your Targets
Michael Bleau
Blackman on Taxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
What’s the Risk of an Outdated or No Estate Plan? Lose Half of Your Wealth to the IRS Irving L. Blackman
YouandTheLaw .................32
Law Limiting Employee Workplace Intentional Tort Claims Against Employers Upheld Douglas B. M. Ehlke
Departments
News Fronts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 TechUpdate .....................6 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Ad Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Serving those who create precision metal products using stamping, fabricating and other value-added processes.
“Don’t make changes that ‘move too much’ and become ‘difficult to control.’”
EDITORIAL BRAD F. KUVIN
You Don’t Have to Invent—Just Innovate
It’s been stated often, here and every- where—innovation is the key to pros- perity. Just ask Clairon Metals Corp., a metal stamper profiled in this issue (beginning on page 8), which stepped up its innovative journey a few years ago with the acquisition of new press- automation controls. Year after year since, results are impressive:
• Production efficiency: Up 30 percent. • Die crashes: Slashed by 75 percent. • Die-repair costs: Down 60 percent. “It’s amazing how one relatively
simple and affordable change like new press controls can change everything you do in your facility,” I was told by Clairon tooling manager John Butler. It’s a great story about how continuous, incremental innovation can create a domino effect that adds value day after day.
Change that adds value is exactly how Roger La Salle, the creator of the Matrix Thinking technique and an internationally recognized speaker, defines innovation. La Salle writes elo- quently about the differences between the “big I” (Invention) and the “little i” (innovation) on his blog. Visit his web- site, at www.matrixthinking.com, for the complete story.
I’ll get right to the punch line: The “little i,” representing incremental improvements, is far easier to manage than the “big ‘I” (or more landscape- changing innovations), and carries far less risk.
What’s the risk of “big I” actions? Consider the hard lesson learned recent- ly by sporting-goods giant Adidas, which has found that the line separating invention and innovation can easily
become blurred.
Anticipating June’s World Cup soc-
cer tournament, Popular Mechanics reported on the unveiling earlier this year of what Adidas hoped would be crowned the “perfect soccer ball.” The firm used a wind tunnel to help create a “highly calibrated soccer ball,” says t.he article, offering optimal round- ness and stable flight.
However, this new innovative ball seems to teeter on invention, beyond just tinkering with what was really invented decades ago. Adidas, rather than sticking with the traditional 32 hand-stitched panels, developed a ball with eight thermally bonded sections. What happened when the ball made its way onto the pitch? Players called it “erratic,” with more than one compar- ing it to those bought at a common supermarket. Outside of the wind tun- nel, players said the ball “moves too much and makes it difficult to control.”
Great metaphor there: Don’t look to make changes to your processes and procedures that “move too much” and become “difficult to control.” Loosen the reins as necessary to innovate and improve—as Clairon Metals has done —and do so on a continuing basis, day in and day out. That’s the ticket to prosperity.
Editor
bkuvin@pma.org www.pma.org/blog
2 METALFORMING / JULY 2010
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