Companies serious about Speed to Market require good prototype and short run suppliers to support the effort. Production suppliers have a production mindset and are geared for production; it is difficult to cross the boundaries between the prototype and production worlds. Clinkenbeard has streamlined the prototyping process, from initial contact for quotation to shipping and tracking the package to your door. We eat sleep breathe the flexibility necessary to make things happen quickly. This includes taking HOT orders which change our personal and work schedules daily, implementing engineering changes throughout our business and manufacturing processes, and finding a way to get parts to your door Monday morning when they were just finished Sunday night. Believe it or not, we were just discussing parts which will be done this Sunday night, and need to take a trip to be delivered by 7AM Monday morning 4 states away. We are often involved in projects which Clinkenbeard is the dual source – to be sure that our customer has parts one way or another. Dual sourcing parts is an expensive insurance policy; companies who engage in this type of activity are very serious about Speed to Market.

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3. Clinkenbeard Blog Aims to Create Value for Professionals in Metal Casting, Rapid Prototyping and CNC Manufacturing and for Rockford, Illinois, Business, Economic and Political Leaders

Clinkenbeard’s Fasterestest Blog addresses two key audiences:

1. The Rockford business, political, economic development, manufacturing, and aerospace-related communities;

2.  All professionals who wish to engage in a forum that focuses on any issues of “speed to market” as they relate to all areas in the product development cycle in relationship to metal casting, rapid manufacturing and rapid prototyping.

It is true that these key audiences are similar in scope to our other social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, and our Fasterestest Group on Linkedin), but this blog allows readers a forum to present more in-depth comments and more detailed lead topics. It is also the social media site where we have found that most Rockford-area business and economic conversation takes place.  So, we thought we’d perpetuate that with this mission statement.

With respect to our slogan, Fasterestest,” that’s simple: we operate under a speed strategy that creates a healthy sense of urgency in our workplace and allows us to deliver some of the “shorterestest” lead times on Earth for the manufacture of our customers’ products and prototypes.

So, please, join, participate, learn, teach and enjoy this site!  It’s ours as much as it is yours.

The Staff of Clinkenbeard

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5. Clinkenbeard Blog Aims to Create Value for Professionals in Metal Casting, Rapid Prototyping and CNC Manufacturing and for Rockford, Illinois, Business, Economic and Political Leaders

Clinkenbeard, a Rockford, Illinois-based rapid manufacturing and prototyping company, was named by Aerospace eBusiness as “best in class” for its use of social media during the Paris Air Show, which took place June 15 through 21.

One of Clinkenbeard’s key markets is the aerospace industry and Clinkenbeard’s Ron Jr. “Reg” Gustafson attended the aerospace-dominated show and monitored and participated in the company’s social media networking, which included a Twitter page (www.twitter.com/Clinkenbeard) and a company blog (http://Clinkenbeard.info).

Other participants on the Clinkenbeard social channels included customers, prospects, the aerospace trade press, local Rockford, Illinois, media, economic organizations, individuals from the state of Illinois, a number of participants associated directly with the Paris Air Show, and more.

Aerospace eBusiness also reported ( http://ludozone.net/2009/06/22/social-media-at-paris-air-show-by-the-numbers/) that Clinkenbeard had the third most active Twitter account of all companies tweeting at the show, out-tweeting companies ranging from Raytheon to GE Tech Infrastructure.

A week before the show, in a news release, Gustafson encouraged all interested parties to “join the conversation and participate.”

This call for participation was one of the likely reasons involvement was so great, Gustafson said.

Gustafson added that, “One of Clinkenbeard’s key metrics of success is our adherence to meeting and exceeding the time-to-market requirements of our customers. Our company slogan is ‘Fasterestest.’ We think our having communicated in a real-time mode from the show is a form of our ‘Fasterestest’ way of doing business. ”

According to Aerospace eBusiness, “Most of the big companies used Twitter in a ‘traditional’ way, simply as a relay for the press releases they had posted elsewhere. However, there were two exceptions. GE started using their accounts early and was very active on the community boards and other social media outlets well before the show started. Clinkenbeard (Rockford, Illinois), a small US manufacturer of complex cast and machined parts, was the best user of the medium in the industry class and was rewarded with great coverage including a television spot back in Illinois.”

According to Gustafson, both sites will continue to be active components in Clinkenbeard’s integrated marketing mix.

Social media company D.D. Griffith Consulting assisted Clinkenbeard in launching the social media sites and will continue to provide consultation to Clinkenbeard with respect to Clinkenbeard’s ongoing social media communications.

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About Aerospace eBusiness

Aerospace eBusiness is a website operated by Ludo Van Vooren, a 15-year veteran of the aerospace industry.  Mr. Van Vooren blogs about eBusiness, Social Media, Internet Marketing, International Business Development, and Online Supply Chain Management.  He now spends the majority of his time developing the Internet as a communications and news vehicle for the aerospace and defense industry.

About Clinkenbeard

Clinkenbeard is a worldwide leader in the rapid production of complex castings and machined parts using a wide variety of plastics and metals. The company’s principal markets include US defense and government, aerospace, aviation, automotive, truck, marine and agricultural. Some of Clinkenbeard’s aerospace and aviation clients include Hamilton Sundstrand, Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls Royce. The patented Clinkenbeard® Toolingless Process is industry renown for producing metal castings efficiently, affordably and extremely fast. The process is based on machining sand cores and molds without the expense of tooling. All machining is done using CNC, which produces superior speed and accuracy.

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

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5. President of Clinkenbeard featured in Product Design & Development

Ron Gustafson, president of Clinkenbeard, was featured in Product Design & Development’s Electronic CEO Fireside Chat. He was asked and answered a series of ten questions, including “What is the future of rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing?”, “What is the Clinkenbeard Toolingless Process?”, “What’s this madness about being the Fasterestest?”, and more. Read more here.

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5. Clinkenbeard Receives Official ITAR Registration from the US Department of State

Clinkenbeard, a Rockford, Illinois-based company that specializes in the rapid prototyping and manufacturing of complex castings and machined parts, announced today that it has received official International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) registration from the United States Department of State, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.

Administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), under authority established by the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), ITAR regulates the manufacture, export and transfer of defense articles, information, and services. Companies receiving this certification demonstrate that they have knowledge and understanding to fully comply with the AECE and ITAR as well as having corporate procedures and controls in place to ensure compliance.

“US defense and government markets are key segments of our business,” explained Ron Gustafson, president of Clinkenbeard. “This certification is evidence of our commitment and ability to safeguard all defense- and government-related data for our customers and our country and our government‘s trust in our doing so.”

ITAR regulations were designed principally to control the information and materials of defense-related technologies and ensure that technologies are only shared with US persons unless approval from the Department of State is received via a special exemption. The registration of a company to comply with ITAR regulations allows them to work in conjunction with the US military, and companies that work with the US military, and expresses the company’s obligation to handle ITAR protected products according to all regulations.

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