PM News: Reorganization Approved

Reorganization Approved. The stockholders of Tornos SA (parent company of Tornos U.S. in Brookfield, Connecticut) approved a reorganization plan prepared by Tornos' management at the recent annual meeting. The reorganization is said to ensure the long term strength and continuation of Tornos despite the effect of the drop in orders in the last 18 months. One measure the company is taking is reducing the number of employees by about 30 percent (300).

New Personnel. NITON Corporation (Billerica, Massachusetts) has recently hired three new employees. Bill Kinsey is the new director of Asian sales. Ken Stehr is the direct sales associate for California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. Kevin Conroy is the director of new business development. NITON is a manufacturer of portable X-ray fluorescence instrumentation for alloy analysis.

Assets Sold. International Header Tool, a division of R. I. Carbide Tool Co. (Smithfield, Rhode Island), has acquired the assets of Carbide Products, LLC (East Providence, Rhode Island). The company will continue to operate under is present name, but inventory, equipment and personnel will be moving to IHT's Farnum Pike facility. IHT will now have a wider range of steel and carbide tooling products.

"The Alliance" Not Just An Alliance. Powerhold, Inc. (Middlefield, Connecticut) and Abbott Workholding Products (Manhattan, Kansas) have a new collaborative organization called The Alliance. It combines the workholding, engineering and manufacturing skills of Powerhold and Abbott to produce complete turnkey workholding solutions for OEMs and end users. The new organization was officially launched at IMTS 2002. Its first focus will be applications for tooling columns.

Need To Brush Up On Statistics? The Statistics for Technical Professionals workshop is a computer-intensive class that helps technical professionals regain the basic statistical skills necessary to achieve Six Sigma objectives and other quality improvement initiatives. The class is offered by Stat-Ease, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minnesota). The workshop is aimed at engineers and other technical professionals. The class is held in Minneapolis, but Stat-Ease will also offer it in-house to companies who wish to train six or more employees. To see the class outline, visit www.statease.com/out_stp.html. For more information call (800) 801-7191.

It's Innovative. Emhart Teknologies (New Haven. Connecticut) has opened a new engineering technology center devoted to fastening design and automated fastening systems. The center, located in Shelton, Connecticut, will deliver value analysis and engineering benefits to a cross section of industrial manufacturers. This center joins the company's innovation centers in Detroit, Germany, Japan and at emhart.com. The company also has three mobile innovation centers.

A Merger Fabrication. Fab-Tech Inc. has merged into Airflow Systems, Inc. (Dallas, Texas). Airflow has been taking steps to be more customer-focused and thinks this merger will benefit customers. Fab-Tech's manufacturing operations and management offices are in Airflow's new headquarters in Dallas.

Coupling In Europe. Lovejoy, Inc. (Downers Grove, Illinois), a supplier of flexible shaft couplings and other mechanical power transmission components, has established a wholly owned subsidiary company with a warehouse and manufacturing unit, Lovejoy Europe B.V., in Alkmaar, The Netherlands. The new operation was established to provide the company's European customers with improved product inventory, manufacturing and modification, and technical support. The facility primarily stocks couplings compatible with European standards. The new manager of Lovejoy Europe is Barry Vowles.