GLOBAL INFORMATION XCHANGE
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Shareholders, Customers, Employees
Vol. 1, Issue 7
October, 1997
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Global Now
By Larry Nance
This is the third in a series of articles about Global's businesses worldwide.
A Giant Sucking Sound: Icon for Initiating Excellence
Coming back from lunch, my computer signaled an E-Mail in the queue. Pulling it up, the alert jumped off the screen at me with its "four people at Houston's INTOOL were reported dead following a tornado spawned by a fast moving front" bulletin.
Fast-forward: Shoving a phone in my ear, I found out that the report of demises was way premature. The roof over part of the shop and office area had been peeled off, a second story wall had fallen on the roof, some INTOOLers thought they were dead, and Division President Tom Hurst was out in the rain with a one-way cellular phone trying to get things put back together. But, thankfully, everyone was safe!
Fast-forward some more: I purpose to make a pilgrimage to the site of that fallen wall where was created stupendous waterfalls that bathed the unsuspecting without a warning, and where was mobilized a breathtaking response to crisis by INTOOLers thought by the unwashed to be whacked.
Well before the wall, 1899 to be exact, the company was founded as Cleveland Pneumatic Tool Company in the city of the same name. In 1969 the now legendary Dresser bought the Cleco Tool Division which grew up to become Global's Industrial Tool Division (INTOOL) representing three segments of its own:
CLECO® and QUACKENBUSH® products are made in Houston; AIRETOOL® and KOTTHAUS+BUSH® in Springfield, Ohio; ITD AUTOMATION® in Auburn Hill, Michigan; and ROTOR® in Cleveland, Ohio.
INTOOL's markets include aircraft and aerospace, automobile and truck assembly, off-road and construction equipment assembly, foundries and steel mills, refineries and petrochemical plants, power generation, metal fabrication, electronic and small component assembly, ship building, household appliances and general assembly, fabrication and maintenance of tubular vessels, and general plant construction and maintenance.
INTOOL Houston has had ISO 9001 Quality Certification since 1992. The Industrial Tool Division has been awarded the "E" Award "E Star" for Excellence from Prezes Bush and Clinton (fronting for the U.S. Department of Commerce who singles out companies excelling in the global market place).
Not resting on their successes, INTOOL is currently exploring a number of options designed to increase use and management of the gigabytes upon gigabytes of information that constitutes their operation, as well as revisiting how information technology can help sustain INTOOL's growth. This includes information management, and how new processes and procedures can be enhanced to meet the demand of both "client on-call specific product development", and new product development for downstream yet-to-be-determined market needs.
Now about these "products" that Houston makes: industrial power tools and precision drills. "If you write about anything," Tom says, "write about the people." Point well taken. You can't begin to explain these extraordinary wrenches and drills and such without explaining the people who design, manufacture, assemble, carefully package and shove them out the door to customers around the world: BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, Compaq Computers, Caterpiller, EXXON, Audi, Airbus, Volkswagen, Siemans, Opal, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, Northrup-Grumman, Lockheed ... you get the point.
Engineering Veep Bob Kane, and engineers Mark Allen, and Gary Gibbs show me their toys: Silicon Graphics computers with almost as much intelligence as Thomas Jefferson. These computers are loaded with the most incredible computer assisted design parametric software you'll find outside of Industrial Light and Magic's animation studios knocking out stuff for George Lucas.
Wire drawings are worked up from engineering specs driven by customer needs, "run" in virtual time under virtual loads to determine finite point stresses, and finished out with "virtual skins." The data is then downloaded to a device which creates "real skin" which can then be used for investment casting production, eliminating the need for model making.
These design tools, and the engineers using them, are incredible enough, but the "wrenches" and "drills" are even more so. These tools are beautifully crafted from 30 different kinds of steel, matching specific steel to specific parts. They are either driven strictly by air or driven by air and controlled by electric powered integrated circuits, or exclusively DC powered depending on the application and the customer's needs. INTOOL re-figures tool requirements for customers as an ongoing service. They make 30 permutations of products a months.
These are precision tools having 75 to 125 parts designed and tested to run 24 hours a day (2,000 fastenings during an eight-hour shift), 7 days a week, 365 days a year for who knows how long before giving up the ghost. This ain't Home Depot stuff. They tighten nuts and screws to exacting torque, measured to precise safety standards, on aircraft wings and engines, and automotive engines and other parts. INTOOL's computer assisted tools not only control the output of the tools, but they also store data history for verifying on what motor or air frame a tool was used to torque fasteners, sequencing information, date, time, and a host of other critical information that can be used to research construction techniques and procedures if something goes wrong with the motor or aircraft downstream.
Houston Shop Superintendent Mark Ideus went from an assembly department trainee to foreman when he was 29. He's been on the job for 28 years. Like his team, he gets up a 3 a.m. and is on the job by 4 in the morning. He's got an office in the 250,000 square foot building but is rarely in it. He doesn't manage his team, he helps them, and he's proud of them. His team in turn teaches rookies who aspire to advance, by example.
Over the clatter and din of industry, Mark ticks off that the company employs 740 employees in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, the Netherlands, and Germany. Export sales represent 35% of the Division's total sales with one-third of the jobs depending on over-yonder deals.
The tools they make are beautiful tools, safe tools, ergonomically designed, wonderfully finished to exacting standards tools. The parts alone are a delight to look at and hold, some of which are plated with black oxide to improve performance, others burnished bright, satin smooth. The parts come together and become a part of the operator's hand. Components are assembled lovingly by a team of proud men and women whose working environment they keep pristine. You can eat off of the floor. They tag each assembled tool and sign their full names. Each assembled tool is tested. Spot-checking is not INTOOL culture. A final tag and the tools are then carefully packaged for shipping to the customer. These tools run longer than that pink bunny. They are considered the "quality benchmark for industrial power tools."
"Want to see the wall?"
"Yes. I'm on a mission to the wall."
"I felt pressure on my ears," Mark says squinting into a bright, high hung, western sun, "and then a huge explosion."
"This entire roof was peeled back," Tom explains, sweeping with his hand at the huge expanse of roof and a superstructure with windows to the left. "Where those windows are now was where the brick wall was that was blown over onto the roof. Walls of water poured into the office and shop below. You can't believe how much water came in off that roof."
But as quickly as the storm came, sucked off the roof and shoved over the wall, things began to be put back to rights. By third shift, the water was up, tarps made a temporary roof, electricity was back on line, and contractors were on site planning to repair the damage beginning the next morning. No fooling around. Shipments to meet. Earnings to track. Hear the sucking sound, see the snake, cut off its head, and get back to work.
Great people. You gotta love 'em.
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Global Roundup
Headquarters
Watch Global grow: Corporate financial information, GIX stock quotes updated every 15 minutes, financial history, links to Division site's home pages and more, are all accessible now on Global's Internet home page at www.prnewswire.com/gix. Global's home page information is updated daily. Don't forget to bookmark the page after it comes up.
Ameri-Forge
Just in case you didn't know, Ameri-Forge has gone into the business of making tracks (undercarriage) for big earth moving type of equipment (Caterpiller). Well, hot off the assembly line are the first track chain assemblies to fit Caterpiller crawlers and John Deere tractors. Specs include a sealed type chain using a master pin, which connects the track chain ends. The track link is 109 mm compared to a previous 103.2 mm link. The newly designed link height "separates the link pin retention area from the running surface so the roller flanges won't impact the link and cause premature destruction of the link or roller." Ameri-Forge is warranting undercarriage products for either one year or 1,500 hours (whichever comes first) against defects in workmanship and materials. They are also producing track shoes (no, not that kind) with single, double, and triple grouser profiles.
Harbison-Walker
Developing the China connection
H-W is marketing to China, the world's largest producer of Portland Cement, which is an important niche for the company. Awareness is being developed through marketing opportunities like the recent Second Annual Beijing International Cement Technology and Equipment Exhibition in Beijing where marketing showed off refractory products like NUCON magnesite-chrome brick and the MAGNEL product line whose production technology is not available in China.
Planning and Developing Strategy
Dallas international finance guru Dirk H. Hilkmann has been named Vice President-Planning and Development for Global's Harbison-Walker Refractories Company subsidiary in Pittsburgh, PA. He reports to President Juan M. Bravo and will be responsible for developing short and long-term strategic business plans.
Dirk is leveraging 20 years corporate finance, multinational banking and worldwide business development. He worked most recently worked for Dallas Bank of America as Senior Managing Director of the Corporate Banking division. He signed on as Senior Vice President-Managing Director of the Southwestern States Division in 1994 and where he has held numerous positions starting in the Belgium Office then working in Multinational Banking Divisions in Amsterdam, and in Chicago, where he handled multinational corporate clients in southern California. In 1983 he was appointed Vice President of Multinational Banking where his responsibilities included worldwide business development for a number of Texas and Chicago-based multinational corporations.
Dirk matriculated the Solvay Business School of the Free University of Brussels, Belgium where he earned a Commercial Engineering degree (MBA equivalent). In 1996, he received BankAmerica's CEO Teamwork Award. He is a member of Dallas International Bankers Association and serves on the board of MEDISEND, a nonprofit organization that ships surplus medical supplies to developing countries.
INTOOL
www.INTOOL-inc.com
ITD Automation
www.LRapp@aol.com.
Industrial Energy Products
www.airetool.com
Larry Van Deusen
larryvan@erinet.com.
Corrosion Technology International
(Web site is under construction)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Global Culture
[The following is a wrap-up of great goings on, present and revisited throughout the Corporation. Let's share your stories and experiences. Either fax them to us at 214/953-4592 or call 800/843-1929 and talk to Sandy Baird.]
We're Getting Things Done, Thank You Very Much!
Walking-The-Talk Nominations Deadline Is Getting Close
Want to get your manager or partner out of the office for a couple of days around the first of '98? Hey, nominate them for the Walking-The-Talk Award. They might just win! So, get those nominations forms from your delegate, plant or office manager (or call Sandy, she'll get one to you ASAP), and wax poetic about someone with whom you work, and is an example of The Way. The deadline for submission of nominations for the next round of awards is November 21, 1997 with awards presentations slated for February of 1998.
________________________________________________________________________
Global Tech
Becomeng Computur Literut
Can Information Technology Make You Paranoid?
Yes.
Bill Gates and his merry software mullets sent out their pre-Windows '95 version of MS Word complete with a built-in virus that would lock everything up and post wonderful messages about Win Word fatal errors. Subsequently every time Windows '97 locks up, one suspects another version of some incurable electronic germinoid. Download stuff from sites on the Internet and you can be up to your RAM in viruses that make happy faces, wipe out hard drives, and sing "We're in the money ..." in the middle of a spread sheet update.
Life at the computer can be vexing.
2000's coming. Check your systems. Check your software. Check your code. Applications with zillions of lines of code in which are embedded years as two digits have to be either rewritten line by line or wired around with fakey software fixes. Else, when 2000 comes around, non-compliant applications will crash because they can't convert data to four digits.
Oh, look at my new warp-speed box! Five grand down the porcelain because you gotta have more digit power to stoke a mega-bigger generation of universocosmo-sofware-video-Internet- telecommunications gizmos. Multiply that by 100, 200, 500, 1000 workstations and watch the bottom line set a spread sheet speed record for bracket production.
Life at the ol' computer ain't cheap.
It's not particularly safe either. Big Brother is watching, or wants to watch.
Luis Freeh, CEO of Netscape Communications Corp., is quoted in the WSJ saying that U.S. based companies are not allowed to export Internet data protection of anything that boasts more than 40 or 56 bit encryption point to point over phone lines, up and downloading from satellites, and the like. Encryption strength involves the length of software key/codes that are measured in the zeros and ones that constitute computer data. Overseas encryption writers code and produce 128 bit key/code length, which, by current state-of-the-art consensus, is unbreakable except by 12-year-old self-taught hackers.
Our very own FBI proposes, in the form of an amendment to the Oxley-Manton House bill drafted to liberalize export controls on encryption, to limit the use of so-called unbreakable domestic encryption. The FBI wants to provide the government with immediate access to information in a computer or network without the knowledge of either the owner or user of the computer. Wire tap is updated to data tap.
Feech contends that without "strong encryption", consumers and businesses will abandon the Internet, which contributes some "$8 billion" currently to the Gross National Product and could reach as much as "$330 billion in five years." The U.S. has hold currently of some "75% of the global software market," and about the same slice of the Internet economy.
The scare is that all of this potential business in the form of light-speed Internet capital will dim out without the WWW being a safe place to pass information. In short, "safe" meaning encryption that can't be broken, or at least can't be read, without the time, brainpower, and computer power that's out of the reach of your run-of-the-mill techno crook, whomever and whatever that is.
"So what!" you say.
Well, the next electronic bank deposit, order, inquiry, letter, and confidential agreement that either you fax or mail (faxes are targets for interception just like any other data and deserve encryption as well but usually do not enjoy same), take a little time out and think about who's looking at your files and packets. Think about who's reading either your corporate or personal bank statements. Remember too, E-mails can come back to haunt you. Be careful what you write and share, particularly proprietary and confidential information both within the network corporate firewall and with externals.
Encryption is fundamental, just like two and three-level firewalls.
It's not IT induced paranoia.
It's the real thing.
Next episode: Where's the data bits please?
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Global Talk: Word of the Month
Argot: AHR-goh, first and AR-gut second pronunciation, French and anglicized version respectively. Argot came into English in 1860 from the French and refers specifically to the secret language of beggars, tramps and thieves. In this century it has come to be used generally as jargon, specialized vocabulary (found in Information Technology and other scientific fields).
Global Information Exchange is published at Global Industrial Technologies, 2121 San Jacinto Street, Suite 2500, Dallas, TX., Fax news items to: GIX, Attn: Larry Nance, 214/953-4595.