MBUSI Invites SME & SAE to Tour Plant, March 25

Mercedes Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) has invited members from SME and SAE to tour the Vance/Tuscaloosa plant. Please see notes below for further registration information.

About MBUSI:
Seventeen years have passed since MBUSI came to Alabama and North America as the first Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicle plant located outside of Germany. MBUSI is now well into the second chapter of its life, creating new products and expanding its impact on the Tuscaloosa community and Alabama.

Today, Plant Tuscaloosa represents in excess of a $1.29-billion investment. MBUSI currently has just under 3,000 Team Members and a capacity to build 160,000 vehicles. Plant Tuscaloosa builds the second generation M-Class, the R-Class Sports Tourer and the GL-Class full-size SUV. Plant Tuscaloosa also now builds the innovative new clean BlueTEC diesel technology into the R-Class, GL- and M-Class SUVs assembled here.

In 2009, the ML 450 Hybrid was launched in the U.S., and it was announced that MBUSI will build the next generation C-Class, set for launch in 2014. Vehicles built at MBUSI are solely built in Alabama for more than 135 markets around the world.

Tour date: Thursday, March 25, 2010
Tour start place: Plant 1 Lobby (beside Plant 1, east side parking lot)

Refreshments: 4:45pm to 5:30pm
MBUSI Presentation - Phil Johnston: 5:30pm - 5:50pm
Tours Start: 5:50pm (3 groups - sign up 1st come 1st serve)
Tour 1 - 5:50pm start
Tour 2 - 6:00pm start
Tour 3 - 6:10pm start
Tour length approx 1 1/4 hours.

Tour registration: Registrants will be forwarded schedule of events & map to MBUSI Plant 1, East Parking lot.
Tour requirements: Please bring your own PPE safety wear which should include: Long sleeve shirts, safety glasses, hearing protection; Steel toes not required as the tour groups will stay within the tour route. Please, bring along a photo identification so that attendees can be identified according to registration; a driver license should be acceptable.

Additional note=> for any people able to arrive VERY EARLY, they may take a walk thru the MBUSI Visitor Center which is open from 8:30am until 4:30pm, Monday thru Friday.

Please, Register via the open ONLINE REGISTRATION site at http://www.inline.com/sme. Please, check the PAYMENT Box, Not Applicable. There is no fee for this event. We are in the process of modifying the online registration to meet the Mercedes tour requirements.

Questions: Please contact Blane Vines, email blane.vines@bhamfast.com .

Our April Meeting is scheduled for "the innaugural GRAND PRIX of ALABAMA", sometime April 9 - 11, 2010. Please, view http://www.barbermotorsports.com for more information about this Indy car circuit event. Tickets cost $70.00 each (advance payment) for a 3-day pass, Fri - Sun. SME and Precision Grinding will host 4 tents in the Lot D camping area for those wishing to gather together. All individuals must have a 3-day pass in order to enter the campsite area. We will post more information about the Barber Motor Sports event following the Mercedes tour.

Your SME webmaster, Brian.

UAB to host SolidWorks Seminar at Inline 2/22/10

Inline will host our upcoming February 22, 2010 meeting from 5:00 - 7:30 p. Tina Oliver, Assistant Professor, UAB School of Engineering and some of her students will demonstrate the MS Excel Spreadsheet design portion of SolidWorks. Designing a "parts lists" or a "list of materials" from within a CAD program is becoming a standard requirement, inside the sales & estimation departments of many of our companies. Tina has graciously accepted the task to introduce our membership, along with any invited guests to learn more about engaging some of these "higer functions" within CAD programs. Hope to see all of you at our Monday evening meeting.

Tina and the UAB Mechanical Engineering Department also sponsor and compete in the university BAJA competitions. Several of the BAJA engineering students may be in attendance, serving as our guides. UAB also fields a competitive FSAE team, a university Formula1 sponsored team. SME Birmingham Chapter 143 is doing our best to help support, rather to offset some of their financial requirements. As noted, in our January, 2010 blog, several of us attended the FSAE testing & trials at Barbers Motorsports where Auburn, Georgia Tech, and Louisville fielded competitive teams.

Please, register your interest by visiting the Online Registration Form for this seminar event. We're seeking a $25.00 donation to help support some of the endeavors of the UAB BAJA Team.

Directions to Inline:

From I-65 at the Lakeshore Exit, drive west, passing Wildwood and John Carroll High School, until you meet West Oxmoor Road. Turn right onto W. Oxmoor Road, then take an immediate left into the Inline parking lot. Please, find parking available, then enter the main glass doors at the front of the building. We'll meet in the front lobby before moving into the conference room. Note, light dinner refreshments will be served. If you wish to bring along a notebook computer, please, do so. Inline's phone number is (205) 278-8100. Martin Costa, CPA, CEO and his team will serve as our hosts.

No Safety gear required. Please, Email Mark.Partyka@siemens.com with any questions, as he is taking command of the online registration requirements. You may discuss further details with Mark Partyka by telephone at (205) 907-3681.

Review ASM / SME at Tubular Products 01/28/2010

Birmingham SME members invite members from ASM Birmingham to join us for a plant tour at Tubular Products Co. Social time arrival is scheduled for 5:00pm, Thursday, January 28, 2010.

ASM International is a society dedicated to serving the Materials Science and Engineering professions. This is our first opportunity to meet together with this group of professionals from ASM. Let's give them our full support. We are certain to have many interests in common.

Tubular Products specializes in the design, fabrication, and assembly of round and rectangular tubular steel products. Open since 1973, based in Birmingham, AL, Tubular Products Company is a division of Samuel Man-Tech, Inc. Examples of welded assemblies and fabricated components manufactured by Tubular Products include bent tubing, furniture frames, roll bars, canopy supports, frame rails, seat frame components, Engine mount components, and many other precision cut tubing specialty items for industries across the spectrum.

Craig Armstrong, Operations Manager at Tubular, our host is opening the conference room for us to socialize from 5:00 - 5:30p. We'll enjoy light snacks and open conversation. The plant tour should then last for about another hour. Afterwards, we plan to drive together to meet at the Fultondale, Outback Steakhouse for dinner. Please, plan for a $15.00 dinner.

Tubular Products Co.

1400 Red Hollow Road

Birmingham, Alabama 35215

205-856-1300

http://www.tubularproducts.com/

Driving Directions: from I-20/59, take Hwy 79 toward Pinson to Red Hollow Road. Turn left on Red Hollow Road. Take first driveway to the right into the parking lot. Park in the front parking lot, first driveway on the right after turning in. Meet in the front Lobby.

As always, please, remember to bring your PPE - safety glasses. Neither hardhat nor industrial safety shoes are required for this tour. Please, email Blane Vines, blane.vines@bhamfast.com with an RSVP. Brian, Mark, and LaVada are also available to receive your requests.

Sometime during our meeting, we will review our needs for additional Volunteers to step up to assume new leadership roles for 2010. We have considered several opportunities for community participation, including working with the Barber MotorSports IRL event scheduled for April 9 - 11, 2010. Please, consider all suggestions of mutual interest open to group participation. This is your organization, too!

Upon arrival, Rod Dempsey, Reid and several other members from Tubular Products Company walked us through the plant to meet in an upstairs, refinished conference room. Along the way, we passed by most of the production cells and workstations, and we got our first glimpse of the 2nd shift hard at work, manufacturing various jobs for their customers. First glimpse: an incredible amount of production going on inside a clean, modern facilities with many machines and production gear. It's apparant that Tubular competes worldwide to meet the heavy demands for structural tube products.

5:00 - 5:45p we met there in the conference room, introducing ourselves and having light snacks. Members each took a moment to give a brief "30 second standup intro." Then, Blane Vines, our treasurer reviewed several important points, before accepting affirmative votes to accept our SME Chapter 143 2010 Officer volunteers.

Chair - Mark Partyka, Siemens Automation

Co-Chair, LaVada Varner, Alabama Technology Network - ATN

Secretary, Brian Everling, planning to visit Chile for a month

Treasurer, Blane Vines, Birmingham Fastener

Several others SME members, such as Al Hanhauser, Wesley Wolfe, Dewey Duncan, and Guy Carter witnessed the vote, along with our associate friends from ASM.

Blane also reviewed additional, new SME sponsors for the year 2010. Our next blog should show links to our new sponsors. Thank you new sponsors for your support! Then, we talked about several "missions" for 2010.

Rod Dempsey, Project Manager took the floor, reviewing a brief history about Tubular Products, which was opened in 1973 by Charlie Brown & Steve Brown. Today, Tubular Products is a division of Samuel ManTech, a Canadian company. With over 150,000 sq ft inside the plant and over 100 employees, Rod suggested that they're best known for manufacturing "Carrier Coils," aka "large, wire spools for heavy industrial manufacturing."

Several open floor questions led to a better understanding of the various sizes, gages, and types of manufactured products offered at this Birmingham based, tubular manufacturing plant. Then, our hosts walked us about the plant, mingling with production personnel for the next hour. We passed by various cutting machines. We were each amazed to see the number of various dies used amongst manufacturing "just about any type of tube parts requiring additional machining." Another interesting note included watching a specific "rivot hole technique" applied during production.

Thanks, Tubular Products for a great tour! Then, 10-11 of us met for a dinner at the Outback in Fultondale. An excellent evening tour. Hope to see more of you at one of several upcoming tours.

Flagman Request: Auburn Barber Formula1 FSAE

Auburn University Engineering Department is hosting a Formula 1 / FSAE War Eagle Motorsports event at Barber's Motorsports complex on Saturday, January 23, 2010. "Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds and Auburn University's War Eagle Motorsports are putting together a competition practice for University Eligible cars that have passed FSAE tech. Cars will be teched, noised, and braked. Teams will have the opportunity to run through all four dynamic events in one day to practice the demands of keeping up with a competition schedule. AutoX and Endurance will run on Barber's road course. Beginning in 2010, university teams are "sharing" the costs of the event (insurance, ambulance, set-up)," according to Peter Jones, Chief Engineer for the Auburn FSAE team. This is a request for SME members to volunteer to help on Saturday.


At least four (4) of our SME members have volunteered to host our first SME road-course tent event. While there we'll share FLAGMAN and CORNER MAN duties. Sounds like a great time. If you'd like to volunteer to show up at 7:00 - 7:30a Saturday morning, when our training session begins, please, contact Blane Vines - blane.vines@bhamfast.com to make your reservations. As always, we'll have some light refreshments. You may also contact Blane by phone at 205-595-3511 to register.


Auburn War Eagle Motorsports, GTMS Ga Tech, University of Louisville FSAE, and Southern Poly are among the schools invited to compete. FSAE is a Formula 1 understudy division.


Good weather is likely (the probability for snow is low). Bring rain gear if you have the gear. Bring an outdoor chair if you have a comfortable favorite. Blane will be able to send you all pertinent information.


Four SME Birmingham members attended a brisk, windy winter University Formula1 testing & trials competition between War Eagle Motorsports (1 car), GT Motorsports (1 car), and Louisville FSAE (1 car). Our duties, outline approximately 1500 cones around 1.8 mile track with BLUE CHALK. Seven or Eight of us, including 2 Eagle Scouts circled the track, outlining as many cones as practical.


With Approximately 25 volunteers stationed at 17 turns, our job was to serve as "Corner men" and "Flagmen" , to reposition cones, and to radio activity to the control tower. The drivers job included dancing these super-cars around a track, mazed by cones, without tumbling any cones from the BLUE CHALKED BOXES.

Louisville's team drivers seemed to score the better times. Auburn's team drivers improved with every pit-stop, until they seemed to match Louisville's best combination of time less penalties. GT kept engineering the diagnostics on the motor until finding that a high-rpm-idle served them best. All three teams showed well.

All of us met new acquaintances, we all made new friends. We should be able to continue building our relationships with these FSAE Motorsports groups, while helping to support, in some small way, the Major sponsors, such as Honda, Mercedes, and a host of others who have brought FSAE forward.

Food ... yes the food and festivities were excellent. So many people worked many hours to make this trials event a grand showing for active, participating volunteers. We commend everyone involved, especially the student engineers who average working 15 - 40 hours per week, all year for their teams in preparation, engineering, building, breaking down, testing, and trialing their cars.

Any high school student in America with aspirations to become an engineer, especially those considering MotorSports will find a great set of people, all with organizational team spirit and know-how to produce, to compete against over 250 worldwide universities participating in the FSAE program.

SME Birmingham looks forward to future eventful trials with the FSAE and with Barber Motorsports.

Thanks to all of you for a terrific day at the races.

Pictures taken by a GT member, Warren Vannus may be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/wvannus/sets/72157623169862085/

October 29 Tour: TS Tech Alabama, Boaz

TS Tech Alabama LLC invites SME Birmingham members to tour their Boaz, Alabama facilities on Thursday, October 29, 2009, 5pm - 7pm.

TS Tech Co, LTD is a global supplier of automobile seats, automotive interiors, motorcycle seats, and motorcycle parts. The TS Tech Alabama plant manufactures automobile seats for Honda. Our host, Brian Cochran will show us what it takes for a Tier 1 Automotive Supplier to deliver large quantities of high-quality, custom interior seating components "just-in-time" to one of Japan's, Alabama's, and the world's leading auto manufacturer assembly plants.





TS Tech Alabama LLC
1685 North Main Street
Boaz, Alabama 35957
256-593-9399




Members should receive an email invitation confirming this tour. Please, RSVP to Blane Vines or to Mark Partyka. Please, remember to bring along your safety glasses and safety shoes.




If you are not a member of the Birmingham Chapter of the SME and you would like to meet with us to attend scheduled tours at some of the most advanced manufacturing plants in Alabama or to meet regularly to discuss topics of interest for manufacturers, please, take a moment to contact one of our sponsoring companies listed on this page.





Follow Up - Tour Synopsis



Mr. Brian Cochran, Plant Engineer for TS Tech Alabama welcomed our small group, including 4 regular members and 4 guests with a brief introduction to the Kaizen Manufacturing Principles. A word similar to improvement, "kaizen" is the japanese philosophy harmonizing the focus of continuous improvements in manufacturing processes, in business, and in life. During post World War II reconstruction, the Japanese immediatedly promoted LEAN manufacturing adaptations into their newly founded and revitalized manufacturing businesses. The kaizen adaptive model promotes from every individual participating in the business, from assembly line workers to team-leaders to management to the CEO to make suggestions to help refine every process until 100% efficiencies along with 100% non-defective products are achieved plantwide. Striving to refine and improve every process in the business, from office procedures to purchasing to production to delivery, each to the highest efficiency, the kaizen manufacturing principle seeks to eliminate the wasteful procedures and the non-productive business practices.

As we walked through the plant, we all noticed how well their teams worked together. The manufacturing lines appeared to achieve a balanced harmony between work and production. Approximately 300 workers per shift work together within extremely efficient and modern assembley areas, robotic welding centers, conveyor systems, workcell stations, inspection cells, and automated loading equipment. We were able to view how the kaizen manufacturing philosophy has helped the TS Tech Alabama team to produce and deliver from 400 - 800 sets of seats to the Honda, Lincoln plant, daily. Recent analysis indicates that their internal failure rate is less than 0.5%. Additionally, TS Tech Alabama maintains 100% quality product delivery to the Honda assembly plant with 0% failure. Most of us have probably not achieved such quality results in manufacturing at our own plants. SME Birmingham congratulates TS Tech on reaching the highest in delivering quality.


SME visitors included members from Ajax Tocco of Boaz, Bluewater Thermal Services from Athens, and Pneumatic Automation from Birmingham



We wish to extend our highest regards and thanks to our hosts, Brian Cochran and the whole TS Tech Alabama plant.

Thompson Tractor Tour Highlights

We wish to thank Ashley Self, Bob Bacon, and Mike Reuter for hosting our small touring group last Thursday evening. As soon as we arrived, we stopped by the Thompson Power Systems Truck Department to learn about tweaks and power adjustments from their Caterpillar Engine Dyno experts. Thompson Tractor is highly regarded for servicing and repairing the Caterpillar Diesel engines found in over-the-road tractor rigs. Dyno testing is used to test and to adjust fuel, maximum horsepower output, and optimum efficiencies along with finding out-of-tune parts, diagnosing fixes, and settling on a combination that's ideal for the owner and the engine.

After talking awhile over refreshments, we were introduced to the Thompson Tractor family of businesses: Heavy Equipment, Lift Truck Division, CAT Rental Store, Power Systems, and Parts & Service. We found out that Thompson maintains a $25M inventory, retaining 95 - 97% of the parts necessary for service and repair on their shelves, available for on-site service and for immediate repairs. Two interesting forward-in-time-framed videos showed complete rebuilds of tractors. Our hosts further reviewed ongoing training policies and continuing education for service personnel. Thompson Tractor fully supports Heavy Equipment and Manufacturing Training and Educational facilities across the state of Alabama, including the development and participation in a joint-effort Caterpillar University. After a brief introduction to company history and education, our hosts touched on recent growth and expansion before stressing how important all three, employee satisfaction, strong customer partnerships and just as strong supplier partnerships have helped them build a rock-solid service business that should stand for another 50 years.

After a brief discussion answering open questions, our hosts walked us through the main inside service and repair facilities. From presses and exotic machinery used to rebuild canisters of all types and sizes to complete tear-downs, replacements and rebuilds of whole vehicles, we stopped by each station in turn to see from disassembly to reassembly of individual parts, such as transmissions and complete engine assemblies. Along the way, we stopped inside another Dyno Testing room where even the engine oil is analyzed in addition to confirming expected horsepower ratings, fuel efficiencies, and optimum performance. In order to maintain such an impressively clean indoor service depot, parts are complete washed and cleaned upon disassembly at the entrance. Including an environmentally sound, fully enclosed paint booth which serves as the last station and the assembled exit, the whole building was a clean-room. Every employee must be proud of their workspace. We stopped by to take a picture alongside one of the engine rebuilding stations:

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Just before closing for the evening, Bob, Ashley, and Mike took time to show us the fluid testing and diagostics laboratory that must rival the one from the home Caterpillar office in Peoria, Illinois. As we stood discussing farewells and until laters, our SME team invited Thompson to find an employee to begin actively participating with our humble group. We let them know that we are planning future events, such as a tour of the Tuscaloosa Mercedes plant, which should be a joint tour with the Mississippi SME membership, as well as other tours throughout the central Alabama region.

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If your company would consider hosting a tour for the Birmingham SME Chapter, or if you wish to join us on our adventures, please, email Blane.Vines@BhamFast.com for more information. For more information about the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, please, log on to http://www.sme.org/.

Thompson Tractor tour 08/27/2009 5 - 7 pm

Thompson Tractor looks forward to hosting the Birmingham SME group on Thursday afternoon, 08/27/2009 from 5:00 to 7:00pm. The event will take place in the Building 1 Auditorium, located on the east side of the Highway 79, Tarrant facilities at 2401 Pinson Hwy, Tarrant, AL 35217. The tour will target the Component Rebuild Center of Thompson Tractor along with the Caterpillar Certified Rebuild process, including a look at contamination control, the flow of materials, and internal processes developed from years of experience.

Planned Schedule:

5:00 - 5:30 Welcome

5:30 - 5:45 Thompson Tractor Company overview

5:45 - 6:00 Society of Manufacturing Engineers overview

6:00 - 7:00 Thompson Tractor Company facility tour

Thompson CAT is the full-line Caterpillar equipment dealer serving Alabama and panhandle Florida and represents Mitsubishi Caterpillar forklifts across most of Georgia. This Tarrant campus is the corporate headquarters for Thompson Tractor.

Please, bring Safety Glasses. Membership, please, RSVP. If you would like to join us for this tour or if you would like to join us on future tours, email BrianE@PrecisionGrinding.com or Blane.Vines@BhamFast.com for more information. Please, consult http://www.sme.org/ for more information about the SME and the benefits of being associated with our group.