2/24/2011 4:05:00 PM
NEWS BRIEFS
Acument’s North American Technical and Processing Center Comes Online
(Courtesy Joseph Tobianski — The Flint Journal)
Acument Global Technologies’ new North American Technical and Processing Center in Fenton, MI, is coming online less than two months after the center was announced.
Acument reopened the Fenton facility in January after mothballing it during the height of the recession. The facility will handle some of Acument’s processing needs, including heat treatment, sorting parts and other services that were previously done out of state.
“We began hiring and ramping up the facility in January,” communications director Timothy Weir told GlobalFastenerNews.com.
Employment currently stands at 30 workers, with 50 expected by year’s end. The facility workforce is projected to top 100 in 2012.
While the Center will not replace all outside processes performed by its suppliers, it “affords us the greatest degree of vertical integration we’ve enjoyed in many years,” Weir added.
HEAT TREATMENT
Both heat treat furnaces at the center are now operating “at or near capacity.” The 3,000 lb-per-hour furnaces, which are qualified to requirements of CQI-9 standards for operation, were mothballed when the facility was shuttered in early 2009.
“One was suitable to begin operating immediately,” Weir explained. “We rebuilt and restarted the second furnace in mid-January.”
To run the furnaces, Acument has hired some experienced heat treat furnace operators while transferring others.
“We are already heat treating parts for the majority of our North American plants and working with our customers on their approvals prior to start.”
SORTING
Acument is operating automated sorting equipment at Fenton that was transferred from another Acument facility outside of Michigan.
“We expect to add to this capability in the future. In the interim, we are augmenting it with hand sorting.”
STRAIGHTENING
Plans are in motion to move straightening machines from the company’s Sterling Heights Operations facility into Fenton in the next few weeks.
ZINC ELECTROPLATING
“We purchased a used zinc electroplating line from a former plating company in Illinois that was in the process of downsizing their operations at the end of last year.”
In preparation for the installation, Acument poured the foundation for the equipment in January, and then began installing it in February, including a process water treatment facility onsite. Weir said the installation is 75% complete.
“We expect the line to be operational for trial runs in late March.”
PATCHING
Acument is working with a partner to install an adhesive and sealant patch line at the facility in the second quarter of 2011. The net result will be to in-source patch work being done out of state for select high volume parts. Other patch lines will be added in the second half of 2011.
“We are evaluating other processes we purchase outside to determine which could be internalized,” Weir noted.
In addition to serving as a tech and processing center, the Fenton facility will also house Acument’s North American Engineering group.
“We are renovating laboratory and office space for the core group of engineers who will be relocating to the Center from other Michigan facilities.”
The test lab and engineering staff should be in place by mid-March. ©2011 GlobalFastenerNews.com
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