Abhay (Abe) Vadhavkar of CAR writes about the impact of sourcing tools overseas on the US tool & die sector. The report states that new tooling sourced in Low Cost Countries such as China and Taiwan may cost 20 percent lower than US sourced tooling, with similar time-to-completion, even with shipping. Among other things, the report highlights the advanced age of US tool & die workers and potential for US-based shops to become technologically uncompetitive without new tooling business to support investment in newest machinery & tryout equipment. The report offers steps to revitalize the US tool & die sector.
https://www.cargroup.org/publication/impact-of-overseas-tooling-sourcing-by-automakers-on-u-s-based-tool-die-firms/
-Danny Schaeffler, www.EQSgroup.com and www.Learning4M.com
Danny received his Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Materials Engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. While at Drexel, Danny held engineering and research positions with the David Taylor Research Center (Annapolis, MD) and Hoeganaes Corporation (Riverton, NJ).
After receiving his Doctorate, Danny started at the LTV Steel Technology Center (Independence, OH), where he was a member of the Customer Technical Center, focused on customer-based problem solving in the areas of corrosion, formability, and surface contaminants. He then transferred into the Automotive Development Group, focused on formability analysis and training; materials selection and optimization; tooling development and production launches for new vehicle programs; customer materials & manufacturing cost reduction efforts; forming/denting/structural computer simulation; and technical awareness and communications with the automotive manufacturers and their Tier One / Tier Two companies. Danny's first position in the ADG was as the engineer responsible for all transplant accounts, and then moved to having responsibility for the Ford Motor account, before being promoted to the Group Manager. During his time with LTV Steel, Danny was active in AISI and Auto/Steel Partnership activities, serving as Chairman of the Standardized Dent Resistance Test Project as well as participating in other committees. Danny is the founding member of Engineering Quality Solutions, Inc.
Danny has over a dozen publications and is a member of ASM International, SAE International, and is a former President of the North American Deep Drawing Research Group (www.NADDRG.org).
