Honoring Industry

This month we honor our 2011 Leadtime Leaders Award winners and honorable mentions—all four represent outstanding North American mold manufacturers who best demonstrate overall innovation, efficiency, quality and commitment within their moldmaking operations while raising the bar in terms of mold engineering, building, repair and management. And the winners are:

Large Shop, United Tool & Mold, Inc. (UTM; Easley, SC). A mold manufacturer with a niche specialty in mold repair, three plants in the southeastern part of the U. S., and the acquired moldmaker JungwooUSA.

Small Shop, Mold-Tech, Inc. (Albertville, MN). A moldmaker focused on specialty molds and a strict attention to detail while serving the medical, electronics, consumer, automotive and telecommunications markets.

Honorable Mention Large Shop, MSI Mold Builders (Cedar Rapids, IA). A mold manufacturer with a team-driven approach, lean manufacturing principles and commitment to high quality, low maintenance, efficient plastic molds.
 
Honorable Mention Small Shop, JM Mold South (Easley, SC). A moldmaker dedicated to its full-service metalworking, conservative business management, continuous process improvement, cutting-edge technologies and established relations with Asian manufacturing partners.

This month I’d also like to introduce our 2011-2012 Editorial Advisory Board members.
1.    Tim Atwood, Technology Manager, MSI Mold Builders (Cedar Rapids, IA); msimoldbuilders.com
2.    Victor Baez, Technical Sales Manager, Triangle Tool Corporation (Milwaukee, WI); triangletoolcorp.com
3.    Tim Bartz, V.P. Operations, Mold Craft, Inc. (Willernie, MN); mold-craft.com
4.    Andrew Baker, Project Manager, Byrne Tool & Die (Rockford, MI); byrne-tool.com
5.    Edward Baker, President and COO, Quashnick Tool Corporation (Lodi, CA); quashnick.com
6.    John Berg, Marketing Director, MGS MFG. Group (Germantown WI); www.mgstech.com
7.    Richard (Dick) Laverty, President/General Manager, Chicago Mold Engineering Company, Inc. (Saint Charles, IL); www.chicagomold.com
8.    Tom Lynn, Tooling Engineer, Plastics, General Electric Appliances & Lighting (Louisville, KY); ge.com
9.    Ralph Neufarth, Senior Scientist/Engineer, Procter & Gamble (West Chester, OH); pg.com
10.    Steve Rotman, President, Ameritech Die & Mold (Mooresville, NC); amdiemold.com
11.    Mike Zacharias, President, Extreme Tool & Engineering (Wakefield, MI), Cosmos Tooling Solutions Ltd. (Shenzhen, China); www.extremetool.com

Finally, MoldMaking Technology would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Harold Steele, founder of H.S. Die & Engineering, Inc. (Grand Rapids, MI), who passed away last month.  Harold dedicated his life to instilling a quality on time philosophy and a giving back to the community culture within his business and each employee. H.S. Die was founded in the garage of Harold and Marcia Steele in 1969. Quality workmanship and on-time deliveries gave H.S. Die an immediate strong presence in the industry. In 1978 the business moved from the Steele's garage to its present day Plant #1 location, a 160,000-square foot facility in Grand Rapids, MI, where it has flourished as a result of Harold’s passionate vision and the teamwork of his dedicated employees.