National Mechinery and Tiffin Part Two
As we continue our review in the last article of the first hundred years of National Machinery to the time of 1974, we should pause a moment to think about how rare it is for a company to exist in the same place and with the same name for what is now 127 years. Buoyed with the news this week that the Andy Kalnow group is planning to purchase National Machinery Company and start production again, let us look at some accomplishments of the past 25 years and mention a few examples of the many, many ways that National Machinery Foundation has benefited our community.
Material for this article has been gleaned from a second publication, National Machinery, 125 years and from notes by Larry Baker on the work by the Foundation.
Along with others in the machine tool industry, National Machinery suffered in the general recession in the early 70’s. Still, they were able to boast of the shipment of their 1000th High-Speed Cold Header. They maintained a high work level and were ready to take advantage of an upswing in business in 1973. By the end of ’73 they had orders for all of their production for ’74, ’75 and part of ’76.
For this increased business the Company bought the Special Machine Company of Rockford, Illinois which they converted into a sheet metal operation to supply their sound enclosures.
For the first time in 1974, the company picnic was held at Cedar Point. Traditions like the Old Timers Softball games, the Headpin Tournament and golf and basketball leagues continued. At the close of the ‘70’s four new and better ideas were put into production. These were three and four-die Hot Formers. These machines took in bars fed through induction heaters and produced nuts and special parts at rates up to 150 pieces a minute. The largest Hot Former set a world record for size. It was shipped to a customer in France. This machine could feed over 3” diameter hot rolled bars and produce 8” gear blanks at 45 gears per minute. National’s largest U. S. competitor, Waterbury Farrel Div. Of Textron, closed its doors in 1981. Another competitor, Hartford Specialty Machinery, ceased to exist in 1982. In 1983 National Machinery bought the thread rolling portion of that company and brought it to Tiffin. Later National Machinery developed their more technically advanced FORMAX Threaders and sold the Hartford line.
By the mid ‘80’s, the company was in a very difficult business situation. They had accumulated a large level of debt over the past 15 years. For the first time in memory, all markets around the world were in an economic downturn.
Paul Aley was brought in as president in 1985. The company began an intensive program to sell the inventory. They began a program to develop new technology in the cold forming machinery. They implemented a new selling approach overseas. They formed teams to develop leading edge technology. The result of their efforts was a new concept in cold forming machinery, FORMAX. This machine was introduced in 1989 at the International Fastener Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia and was a huge success. FORMAX provided customers a very simple and easy-to-operate system that drastically increased production and permitted more rapid job changeovers.
The engineers and craftsmen at National continued to expand the FORMAX line. It includes FORMAX PLUS Formers, FORMAX PLUS Threaders and FORMAX PLUS for Large Parts. FORMAX 2000 was introduced in 1999.
Many of us have not been able to appreciate these huge machines produced by the engineering skill and teamwork at National Machinery, but every family in Tiffin has been touched by the generosity of the National Machinery Foundation.
Early gifts include First Citizenship Awards started in 1957 which won three Freedoms Foundation Awards. By 1968 these awards totaled $18,000. By 1997 college scholarships for sons and daughters of National employees were increased to $40,000. In 1974 the Community indoor swimming pool was a gift from the National Machinery Foundation.
In 1995 the Foundation gave $100,000 to Mercy Hospital of Tiffin Capital Fund Campaign. In 1996 it pledged $100,000 over five years to St. Joseph’s Activity Center. In that same year it pledged $250,000 over five years to Community YMCA’s “Vision of Excellence” project. In 1997 it pledged $100,000 to St. Mary’s School for capital campaign.
In 1999 three pledges were made: $500,000 over two years to Tiffin Stadium Fund, $150,000 over 3 years to Betty Jane for Dialysis Equipment in addition to annual support of $30,000 to the Betty Jane Memorial, and $50,000 over 2 years to First Step, Sandusky Valley construction project.
National Machinery Foundation makes an annual contribution of $35,000 to the United Way. In recent years this has increased to $45,000. In 2001, $150,000 was pledged to the construction of Williard Hall at Heidelberg over a five year period.
Over the past ten years significant contributions were made to all county, city and parochial schools for the purchase of computers for their Technology Initiative.
These are just some of the many benevolences funded by the National Machinery Foundation.
We in Tiffin have been blessed to have National Machinery in our midst. Their commitment to continuous improvement in their products and their spirit of creativity and teamwork has been an example to us all.
– Mary