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Lean, lithe and powerful
It took “pride of place” on the NM Group Global stand at wire 2008 Düsseldorf, drawing plenty of
attention. It has an outstanding pedigree and the attributes to meet today’s fastener manufacturing
needs, anywhere in the world. The place to really get to know it is Suzhou, China – so that’s where
Phil Matten went.
NM Group Technologies (Suzhou) Ltd, that bridged into the fastener market. While it
National Machinery’s 100% owned subsidiary is not as basic as the machines one gets out
in China, has just celebrated its first of Taiwan elsewhere, it has been carefully
anniversary. The company started with eight simplified and positioned at the right price
people. Forty-five surrounded the birthday cake point that, performance to cost, it delivers the
on April 17. The 4,000 square metre, custom right value equation.”
built plant is home to a very new National. “When we first came to China three years
Where better to catch up with Group CEO, ago it became clear that such a machine was
Andrew H. Kalnow and senior vice-president of required for the market here, if we were going
engineering and IT, Gregory A. Smith, to find to go beyond sales to western transplants.
out what is causing all the excitement. That’s what kicked us into gear. Then we Greg
Depending on where you are in the world realised that we had something that could be Smith, “still
you’ll know it as the LeanFX or the PumaFX. taken back to the rest of the world.” firmly based on the
Either way National is committed to making it All of which explains a dual branded best of the best, in terms
the pounding heart of the fastener machine. For the Chinese market it is the of our proven and market-established Formax
manufacturing industry. Designed at Tiffin, “PumaFX”– a name consciously chosen to design.”
Ohio – the 130 year home of National emphasise the speed and agility it brings to “Of course it is not easy to strip out cost
Machinery – and owing its lineage and core fastener producers, who need precision and without removing some major features. The
technology to the formidable Formax series of long-term reliability as the platform to step up LeanFX is not a quick change Formax. The quick
formers, the LeanFX is manufactured in Suzhou in the valued-added market. “Those aspirations change was taken off and replaced with
by an intensively trained and supervised team are very clear to see here,” says Andrew manual adjustment. That allowed us to simplify
of local workers. Kalnow, “not just for exported parts but also for the electrics, a lot of which related to
Andrew Kalnow explains the conception of burgeoning domestic automotive and automatic adjustments. The heart of the
the new machine. “We had on the corporate engineering sectors.” machine, though, is still very much a Formax.
chalkboard for some time a question: could we “Europe, Japan and elsewhere in the world There is still linear feed, albeit with manual
produce a simplified, less expensive Formax? Formax is well known,” Andrew Kalnow adjustment, there is still a precision zero
We knew there would be a clear demand in continues. “So in these markets it is about clearance heading slide and zero clearance
the worldwide market. Customers said to us, emphasising the productivity advantages of a transfer. Then, achieving the desired price point
‘Formax, we love it, but for more more cost effective machine. Lean has become is about reducing manufacturing costs. To do
straightforward fastener and parts production it the universally recognised concept that that we needed to take it to a lower cost
is more expensive than we would like.” encompasses these advantages. FX is a production environment – one which remained
“Formax is a premium product, with an reminder of the pedigree of the machine and entirely under our strict quality control.”
appropriately premium price. So we took the the quality and performance that remains Which is where a National 100%-owned
approach of broadening the market. The core irrevocably at its heart.” and operated Suzhou facility came into the
Formax is particularly suited to complex cold- “The engineering strategy was to come up equation one year ago. The plant has four
formed parts production. What was needed, to with a simpler, lower cost machine,” explains 10,000 square metre bays. The first is
compliment it, was a more versatile machine dedicated to training and demonstration.
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