Carpenter Named Winner of Two Industry Awards
15 November 1999
Carpenter Named Winner of Two Industry Awards
WYOMISSING, Pa.--Nov. 11, 1999--Carpenter Technology Corp. recently was named the winner of two industry awards - one for superior product quality and service to automotive customers and the second for an innovative metal injection-molded component.Automotive Industries names Carpenter "best of the best" supplier
Readers of Automotive Industries, a leading trade publication for automotive designers, engineers and manufacturing and purchasing managers, chose Carpenter as a superior supplier in the magazine's second annual "Quest for Excellence" award survey. Carpenter was the only specialty alloy long products manufacturer to receive the honor in the ferrous metals category.
In the survey, 1,800 of the magazine's readers rated companies in the areas of quality, price, innovation, delivery and service. Winners were announced in the July issue of the magazine.
Carpenter's Specialty Alloys Operations, whose largest facility is in Reading, Pa., supplies the auto industry with advanced alloys that provide corrosion and heat resistance, strength, toughness and electrical/magnetic response.
The company's alloys have been used in frame and body parts, engine components, tooling, and exhaust, safety, instrumentation and control systems. The automotive market accounted for 15 percent of the entire company's sales in fiscal 1999.
Overall, Specialty Alloys Operations manufactures more than 400 stainless and specialty alloys for aerospace, automotive, industrial and consumer markets.
Parmatech cited for new metal injection-molded part
Parmatech, the metal injection-molding unit of Carpenter's Engineered Products Group, and its largest customer, Moen Inc., won the grand prize Part of the Year award in a contest sponsored by the Metal Powder Industries Federation, based in Canada. The two companies were cited for their innovative redesign and engineering of an intricate shower component that maintains safe water temperature.
More than a year ago, Parmatech, Petaluma, Calif., began investing in a high-production metal injection-molding equipment line to become the primary producer of the complicated part, called a spool. The company is making more than 200,000 shower components a week for Moen.
The Engineered Products Group is a consortium of companies acquired by Carpenter, largely in the 1990s, to expand its range of product offerings. In addition to metal injection-molded parts, the group's companies manufacture injection-molded ceramic, precision carbide, tubing and drawn products and advanced ceramics. Moen is one of the world's largest manufacturers of plumbing products.
Metal injection molding typically is used for small, complex, net-shape parts that would be difficult or expensive to manufacture by other methods. Powdered metals are mixed with a binder and injection molded into a form. The binder then is removed and resulting parts are sintered - heated to a high temperature - until they are fully dense.
In addition to stainless and specialty alloys and engineered products, Carpenter manufactures and distributes titanium. In fiscal year 1999 (ended June 30, 1999), the Wyomissing, Pa., company had sales of $1 billion. Further information about Carpenter is available on the Internet at http://www.cartech.com.