June 30th, 2009 by Mark Ricotta

An article published in the June 2009 issue of Foundry Management and Technology declares an industry in evolution.  The article asserts that speed to market is increasingly becoming an essential measure of success for rapid manufacturing and rapid prototyping companies. . .and their customers.

The article titled,  “Rapid Prototyping Speeds Up,”  spotlights Clinkenbeard’s (Rockford, Illinois, www.clinkenbeard.com ) business practices and operations, such as the company’s patented Clinkenbeard ® Toolingless Process and its “Fasterestest” marketing slogan and lead times, as successful responses to the relatively new yet critically important speed to market requirements of the industry and its customers.

According to the opening paragraph of the story, which was written by FM&T staff:

“Among all the problems that metalcasters face – quality, cost, competition – time wouldn’t seem to be too critical. However, depending on the production program and the technologies in use, time can make the all the difference. In fact, one producer of metal castings (Clinkenbeard) is making a bit of news because it believes speed is the key to its success.”

The entire article can be found here.

For more information, contact Ron Jr. “Reg” Gustafson, 815.226.0291,
reg@clinkenbeard.com

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Mark A. Ricotta
815.708.7254
http://www.linkedin.com/in/markricotta

June 22nd, 2009 by Eric Voyles

The activity at the Rockford booth was greater than I ever imagined!

I really did not know what to expect.  And I certainly never expected the level of interest that we experienced.

Rockford first set its sights on aerospace no more than three years ago when in 2006 the Carter*Burgess (now Jacobs Engineering) targeted industry report came back and identified aerospace manufacturing and R&D industry as a potential industry to target for expansion and attraction.

In 2007 Winnebago County did a more comprehensive study of the immediate cluster of aerospace companies within the Rockford Metro Suburban Area.  This study revealed a rather large concentration of 90 aerospace and aviation companies in the immediate Rockford area.

Companies included those engaged in Power Management and distribution, R&D and prototype development, manufacturing of component parts for a diverse number of sub-assembly’s, logistics, and large amount of maintenance and repair operations.

In 2008 RAEDC began discussions with several of its largest investors in the aerospace industry to determine if developing a cluster strategy would make sense for the region.

It was due to and through these conversations that RAEDC received help from SupplyCore to determine that there was an even larger group than thought. In fact, 130 aerospace suppliers existed in the Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin area.

This aerospace group encouraged RAEDC to attend the Paris Air Show and determine if there was room for Rockford on the global aerospace stage.

I really did not know what to expect.  I never expected to come back with 33 business cards received in conversations at the booth, or in meetings with entities wanting to know more about Rockford.  I never expected the level of interest that we experienced.

I will be presenting our results to key RAEDC volunteers and local aerospace leaders, but I now expect that they will encourage RAEDC to continue our efforts.

I will also expect this will include participation at the Farnborough International Airshow next year from July 19 – 25, 2010 in Farnborough England, asking for DCEO to partner with RAEDC again, working to get more Rockford area companies to attend that air show and then inviting several new leads and prospective clients to come and visit Rockford.

Here is what I found interesting. As I looked around the show I found that the size of our cluster here in greater Rockford region, in total companies, was comparable to several other very well known US locations and several regions in countries that were presenting aerospace for attraction.

WOW!!!  We definitely have something here to crow about in the Rockford region!

I hope that Clinkenbeard and Leading Edge Hydraulics each got what they wanted out of the show.  I believe they did.

I know that while I was in the booth one of Clinkenbeard’s clients came by to introduce himself to Reg Gustafson, Project Manager for Clinkenbeard, and to thank them for quality work on a rebuild of a part for a WWII War Bird. I witnessed another potential client step up and ask about quoting a piece of work.

As I was busy outside in meetings, and in the booth so infrequently, I am sure that other such conversations occurred.

Leading Edge Hydraulics attended the Paris Air Show to research the potential of entering the aerospace market with their products.  My understanding from Russ Dennis, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Leading Edge Hydraulics, is that they came away being favorably impressed as to the potential.

In addition, we were able to publicly announce that Kaney Aerospace was the finalist for a prototype development opportunity for an Australian company, Tigerfish.  We were able to distribute information on Kaney Aerospace to at least one other entity specifically related to their composite capabilities.

Other entities whose information was distributed included: Ingenium, Balanced IT, Emery Air, Chicago Rockford International Airport, Greater Rockford Airport Authority, Northern Illinois University, Rockford College, Rock Valley College, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and Ingersoll Machine Tool.

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With Thanks to Special Guest Author

Eric Voyles, VP
RAEDC
+1-815-987-8118

http://www.rockfordil.com/