Progressive Components' Progress Report

Scholarship Donations Benefit Local Colleges

Progressive customers are regularly surveyed, and to encourage feedback, respondents are entered to win a scholarship donation to the industry-related program of the winner’s choice. It’s all part of Progressive’s Tooling for Tomorrow program, which was established in 2002.

Recently, Paradigme Engineering, Inc. in Becker, MN, won a $500 scholarship check and plaque, which was presented to Owner Jon Palmquist by Al Hickok, Midwest Sales Manager at Progressive. Jon chose to give the scholarship to Alexandria Technical College, located in Alexandria, MN, to be put towards the Machine Tool Technology program there.

According to Kevin Huwe, an instructor at the college, the money was used to help a student pay for his tuition in the program.

"We asked the students to write a 100-word essay about what moldmaking meant to them and

Al Hickok, Midwest Sales Manager for Progressive presenting the $500 scholarship check to Jon Palmquist, Owner of Paradigme Engineering, Inc. in Becker, Minnesota.

what the future of moldmaking was," Huwe explained. "They all applied for the scholarship, and then instructors in the program reviewed the essays and determined the winner."

Similarly, The Dynamic Group, which has facilities in Ramsey and Coon Rapids, MN, also won a $500 scholarship check this year and the funds were donated to the plastics program at Hennepin Technical College in Brooklyn Park, MN. Cathy

Eckersen, who is a designer at The Dynamic Group and whose name was pulled as the winner of the scholarship, is an alumnus of Hennepin’s Mechanical Design (CAD) and plastics program.

For more information about Progressive’s Tooling for Tomorrow program, visit www.procomps.com/tft

The Dynamic Group was a recent winner of a $500 Progressive Scholarship that they then donated to Hennepin Technical College’s plastics program. Pictured left to right are Dan Ralph, a plastics program instructor at Hennepin; Cecilia Cervantes, president of the College; Cathy Eckersen, a designer at Dynamic, and John Reynolds, general manager at the Company.

Progressive’s Developing Supply Chain

Progressive Components is pleased to announce that an agreement has been established with Spee-Dee Delivery Service, Inc., a Minnesota-based regional parcel carrier established in 1978, to ensure one-day ground service to customers in and around the state’s major metropolitan areas.

"We’re always looking to match capacity to volume, and while we’ve consolidated some direct locations, we’ve found new and innovative methods to get products to our customers," explained Gary Earnest, Operations Manager.

Todd Steinhoff, Progressive’s Sales Manager, is pictured here with the local Spee-Dee driver.

Before announcing it to all customers in Minnesota, Progressive conducted a test period to be sure that delivery

parameters were properly met,
and participating customers have
provided positive feedback about
the results.

Paul Peltier of Preferred Tool in Blaine, MN, told us, "Spee-Dee is working out great. We receive our orders the next morning, which is ahead of UPS deliveries that arrive late in the afternoon."

For more information about the one-day shipping option, contact Progressive’s Customer Service team at customerservice@ procomps.com or call 800-269-6653.

New Standards Speed Mold Build, Reduce costs

Utilized as a custom solution for years, Expandable Cavities now have been released as a standardized,
off-the-shelf component by Progressive. The Ex-Cav™
is designed for molding undercuts located under the
part surface, such as barbs and protrusions, and is offered in four sizes.

Expandable Cavities simplify mold designs
by eliminating the need for complex side action assemblies. In addition, their compact design enables the use of smaller mold bases
and a smaller press.

Progressive has also added two new systems for mechanically controlling parting line sequence.

Plate Locks, also referred to as "latch locks", are being offered in an Externally-Mounted, Cam-Driven style and also in an Internal-Mounted, Ejection design.

The Cam-Driven External Plate Locks provide these advantages:

● Mechanically controlled movement to achieve
positive plate sequencing

● Improvement over existing latch lock devices

● Maximum locking surface, yet compact with an adaptable design

● Straightforward install-ation with minimal machining required in the mold base

● Designed to be one system that applies
to various plate sequencing applications

The Internal Plate Locks offer these benefits:

● Eliminates the need
for two sets of ejector plates for secondary ejection

● Utilizes the mold’s PKO locations, saving space and eliminating external hardware

View live animations of these products and others by visiting www.procomps.com/demo. To order, call 800-269-6653.

Standardized Stack Molds: StacKit^®

Shawn McNamara at Chicago Mold Engineering Co., Inc. recently
installed Progressive’s exclusive
StacKit^®System and contacted us
with his thoughts:

"The StacKit System is fantastic to work with because it is a large, durable component," he told us. "All we have to do is machine locating pockets and dowels for alignment and that’s it. The assembly is very easy – just plug and play."

"We’ve done different approaches in the past where we’ve machined the gears ourselves and machined the racks and pins, which is a lot of
work," he continued. "StacKit requires almost no machining, and you get
the reliability of standardized compon-ents, plus the subcomponents are easily serviceable. We’ve built three tools with them so far and anytime we build a stack tool, we’ll use StacKit."

Marc Thibault, CEO of I. Thibault in Quebec, called our attention to their

StacKit® is used to efficiently design, build, and maintain stack molds. The standard components address center section positioning and support, ejection actuation, and material feed.

I. Thibault in Quebec, Canada built the above stack mold
utilizing the StacKit System to manufacture collapsible crates.

use of the exclusive StacKit System for a stack mold used to manufacture collapsible crates.

"The decision to use StacKit instead of a custom made rack and pinion system was based on several factors," he said. "The cost and delivery were favorable, plus it involved less machining and was easier to install, saving valuable time. The tool delivers a high annual volume, and the StacKit System runs very well and is very durable."

For a complete StacKit System overview, including verified 2D and 3D geometry, visit our online catalog at www.procomps.com.

engineering survey

Each year, Progressive's Engineer-ing Team reaches out to customers to assist in understanding the needs of the industry.

Through these surveys Progressive is able to further develop product lines that offer technical advantages for those who buy, build, and run production tooling.

This year’s survey is quick and pain-less. And, everyone who completes the survey will have the opportunity to enter a drawing to win a $250 gift card in December... just in time for the holidays!

Please CLICK HERE to access the 2009 Engineering Survey!