World's Largest Mold

In April of 2003 Ingersoll Machine Tools filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In August 2003, Tino Oldani and his financial backers, Italy-based Camozzi Group, bought the company. Now see what they are up to:

Massive Mold Winging Way to Japan

By Alex Gary
April 26, 2006
Rockford Register Star

Rockford - Workers at Ingersoll Machine Tools Inc. have finished what company President Tino Oldani believes is the largest single piece of equipment ever manufactured.
Ingersoll is shipping the piece, a wing mold, to Mitsubishi, the Japanese manufacturer that is making the wings for the new Boeing 7E7 Dreamliner. The mold is 110 feet long, 23 feet wide and weighs about 154,850 pounds. The manufacturing process took about 15 days. The whole process, including the welding, took three months.
In 2005, Ingersoll hired Scandroli Construction CO. of Rockford to build a 40,000-square-foot, $8.5 million addition to Ingersoll’s 500,000-square-foot factory at 707 Fulton Ave. just to house the machine neede to make the mold.
Oldani said Ingersoll, which employs about 340, will build two more of the wing molds in 2006 and also will build similar molds for Airbus, Boeing’s main rival in the airplane-building business.
Several other local companies have contracts for the Dreamliner, which total more than $6 billion. They include Woodward Governor Co. of Loves Park, Monogram Systems of Machesney Park and Rockford’s Hamilton Sundstrand.

A big round of applause for Mr. Oldani. To see the new mill used to make the mold go to:

http://www.ingersoll.com/

Steve

wow amazing video!

I couldn't get any of the videos to play.

Now if Boeing would make the entire plane in America like they used to, they could put all of those 38,000 machinists back to work in Seattle.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_05/b3969417.htm

In the movie, "American Jobs", they interview Boeing workers who state that Japan demanded that part of the Dreamliner be built in Japan if BOeing wanted to sell any to Japan.

Anybody verify this?

Steve

Now if Boeing would make the entire plane in America like they used to, they could put all of those 38,000 machinists back to work in Seattle.

So they can go on strike again, just in time to frustrate production schedules? Demand rigid work rules, full boat pensions and "health care" like their brother rats get at GM? After all, Boeing makes billions of dollars, so it's time to share that wealth with the little people...

Same characters who helped elect Gregoire, on the third count... Yeah, I remember seeing those ballot counters with their "Unions Work" t-shirts on. I hope those clowns are eating out of dumpsters, serve 'em right.


Boeing would have to have rocks in their heads to put those hotheads back to work. If it were me I'd move the machining operations to Kansas, where that kind of militancy isn't appreciated or wanted. Better than China or Mexico, where Airbus could steal information.

Gene

Better than China or Mexico, where Airbus could steal information.

Click to expand...

And what info would that be?
How to make the largest passenger aircraft? nope sorry been there done that
How to make a supersonic passenger aircraft? nope sorry been there done that too

If Boeing did not have a competitor in the civil aviation business, we'd all still be flying around in 707's

Remember our engineering motto.. faster and cheaper and better than the other guy

Boris

GeneH-

So they can go on strike again, just in time to frustrate production schedules? Demand rigid work rules, full boat pensions and "health care" like their brother rats get at GM?

Click to expand...

You're absolutely right, just a bunch of rats.

We need to go back to the good old days of the Ludlow massacre, Pullman strikes, Ford strikes.

YOU remember the Ludlow massacre, don't you GeneH?

http://www.umwa.org/history/ludlow.shtml

How about the worker's paradise inside coal mines?

You know anything about what it was like working in a coal mine before unions GeneH?

http://www.wvculture.org/hiStory/minewars.html

And what of the children working in those mines?

http://history.osu.edu/Projects/ChildLabor/MrCoalsStory/

Or the kids in the cotton mills?

http://history.osu.edu/Projects/ChildLabor/CottonDress/

More rats.

But I'm so happy you don't mention the CEO rats pulling down millions a year while exporting jobs to countries like China where labor organizers die in prisons.

http://www.china-labour.org.hk/public/contents/article?revision%5fid=9153&item%5fid=9137


Steve

We need a 'happy medium'

Looking at the plaque with an infant names literally made me ill.

Yes, America has skeletons in its closets. Shoe shops, woolen mills, flock shops in New England were nicknames sweat shops. And that they were even thru the fifties. And then they migrated south, then out of the country.

GM and others failed to impliment changes in the seventies. (Cannot see the forest as the trees are in the way syndrome). The UAW union in receiving dues, has to justify themselves. Thus at each new contract it is more, more, more.

During that time and up to the present, non union workers are working harder for less. Wives in the fifties who worked part time as her paycheck paid for a new car every few years now must work full time to stay above water. Cars are kept longer. No more is it a great deal to see the new model....LOOK AT THOSE TAILFINS...the Jones's just got a NEW 59 CHEVY...WOW.

Times have changed.

Unions have their place. Arrogance and confrontation need not be part of it.

Millions ( sorry tens of millions) paid to top chairmen and directors are equally not needed. Yes, many workers in the twenties thru the forties could not read or write....and they were raped. Every town in New England (mill town) had company stores and housing. Paternalism was the word of the day.

Some management still think 'father knows best'. But we can think, we can decide, we can do for ourselves.

I think it was Alan Greenspan who spoke of hatred of the CEO's whose salaries and perks are in the stratosphere. How true.

A happy medium would be good.

Your points are excellent FranH.

Now if only both sides would harken, but I doubt it will happen. Each is too busy getting all they can to think about the other guy or the long term ramifications.

And what info would that be?
How to make the largest passenger aircraft? nope sorry been there done that
How to make a supersonic passenger aircraft? nope sorry been there done that too

If Boeing did not have a competitor in the civil aviation business, we'd all still be flying around in 707's

Remember our engineering motto.. faster and cheaper and better than the other guy

Strategic direction, sources, little details.

Gene

GeneH-

quote: So they can go on strike again, just in time to frustrate production schedules? Demand rigid work rules, full boat pensions and "health care" like their brother rats get at GM?

You're absolutely right, just a bunch of rats.

We need to go back to the good old days of the Ludlow massacre, Pullman strikes, Ford strikes.

Fresh out of Tech School I was hired to help wire a campus. Installed data cable. The IBEW extracted a couple of bucks out of my pay each week. I worked with them, but I wasn't really in the Union. The "real" Union people made sure to inform me of that from time to time.

Another work group used to take long breakfast breaks. One group got busted sleeping for a few hours in one of the dorm rooms. I figured that was how they did things. I kept on working and minded my own business.

I got a calendar and each month got letters addressed to "Brother". I felt good about that, at least my money meant something to them.

Eventually the CWA started to snivel about "scabs with papers". In other words us working stiffs who paid a few bucks each week for the privledge of working.

Eventually the IBEW and CWA came to an agreement. I and many others were laid off. For a time my "Brothers" in the IBEW kept sending me letters. Since I wasn't a member I couldn't go the Union Hall and get a job. I spent months trying to find a new job.

I got screwed. Paid my dues, so I could be laid off. What good was that money I paid to the IBEW?

Since that time I've had to pay more in propery taxes, so that School Teachers can work nine months a year, make more money than me, have total job security and retire in their fifties.

Recently the NEA stated that there would be a "minimum wage" for all school teachers - $40,000 a year. NEA has been a big backer of affirmative action, gun control, and other "progressive" stuff. I pay taxes so teachers get paid, so they can give the NEA money, so the NEA can do political things I don't approve of.

I still don't make $40,000 a year. I don't have a pension. I don't have a fancy medical program. I sure as heck don't have "tenure". I work all year round, not for only nine months a year.

Kids today know all about gay sex and global warming but are challenged by making change or writing in complete sentences. They are keenly sensitive to "racism" but still feel guilty over "past injustices", as if their skin color makes them evil. Your tax dollars at work.


The Unions have been helping to elect in "people" who make it harder for me to start a business, who want to make me a criminal for owning a gun, who want to force me to buy things at prices that they set. If I object I'm some sort of evil person.

The unions are behind socialist medicine. I worked as a biomed tech in kidney dialysis, which is socialist medicine. I know exactly what the future holds for us if we ever get "health care". It won't be pretty, like having the VA in every hospital. Oh, and by the way, Union retirees have great benefits, unless the business goes bankrupt - talked to enough of them at work.

I work forty to fifty hours a week at work, tens of hours at home, to better myself. I don't get a pension. I have to dicker for a little vacation. No tenure. No union steward. I do my work, I get paid. Fair is fair.

So tell me, what have unions ever done for me, rather than to me?

Gene

GeneH-

Everything you say is absolutely true, and everything I said is absolutely true. Abuses occur at the owners' level and at the labor level. You personally had a lifetime of bad union experiences. Does one persons' bad experience become grounds to declare all unions and their members "rats" to the exclusion of the managment side?

Right now, CEOs around the world in their greed, are outsourcing jobs to countries where torture, labor camps, prison factories, no right to organize, child labor, etc... are enforced by governments.

You have not made one, single, solitary, minute, mention of this fact.

FranH and rj both stated a happy medium needs to be achieved and I agree. Will it happen? I believe not without supernatural intervention.

Men, all men, are inheritantly selfish. Been that way since the dawn of recorded history. Technology and increasing complexity of our laws and governments will make it easier for the bright, motivated human pig to take advantage of his fellow man and enslave him for the benefit of the few.

I happen to believe that the Bible in its prophecy is accurate in describing what the human race will degenerate to in the end times and I believe we are witnessing those events.

Steve

Steve,

I am a CEO - and I think Gene is saying he wants to be CEO of his company.

Every company in the world has a leader . . . I don't personally know a single CEO who is characterized by your statements - I have read about perhaps a dozen or so high profile ones that do, but this is 0.00001% of the CEOs in the world. . . broad brushes don't look good in anyone's hands.

Right now, CEOs around the world in their greed, are outsourcing jobs to countries where torture, labor camps, prison factories, no right to organize, child labor, etc... are enforced by governments.

What do Unions do about this? How often do you go to Wal-Mart and see "Union Proud" bumper stickers on cars? I see 'em.

Demonizing CEOs is a profitless venture. CEOs by their nature have the ambition, brains and lack of empathy to claw their way to the top. If we fired every CEO in America by the end of next week someone much the same would be in charge. Depends on the Corporate Culture. Some companies care very much about social issues, others aren't so worried.

Unions are playing a Class Warfare rap. "Us" versus "them" and by "Organizing" they'll make sure you get your "fair share" of the "pie". Get people all riled up and they won't think reasonable, they'll just march. The Commies had this drill down cold over a century ago.

Class Warfare died with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some people, especially those who forget that Envy is one of the Seven Deadly sins, forget this point.

Incidentally, in Europe many companies have Union representation on their Boards. This in no way changes how often consumers in those countries buy goods made with child and prison labor.


I wish I knew when the Ends Times were coming. I think the Man put it best, "No one will know the hour when I return".

Gene

Steve,

I am a CEO - and I think Gene is saying he wants to be CEO of his company.

Every company in the world has a leader . . . I don't personally know a single CEO who is characterized by your statements - I have read about perhaps a dozen or so high profile ones that do, but this is 0.00001% of the CEOs in the world. . . broad brushes don't look good in anyone's hands.

Being responsible is one thing, but just telling people what to do doesn't sound like much fun.

Sure would do my heart some good to follow my visions. I think I have some good ideas to make a good business. If people want to come along, fine. Probably get a few to do that.

Where I work now we're a family business. I will never ever be CEO. I've considered approaching the owner with a venture, a side business which would diversify without going too far from their core. He discourages side ventures. Just his style.

One of my best friends runs his own business. Much more likely I'll work for him and then help him grow and diversify. He wouldn't care what I did as long as it didn't hurt him.

Gene

Gene,

I was in your shoes 11 years ago - working for a family business who liked what they were doing and didn't want to diversify. I sold my house, moved in with inlawas and after 4 years of eating rice and beans and beating on doors things started to gather momentum and we are now doing well. We even have a lot of equipment installed in Pennsylvania making glass containers (in union shops)

Anything worth pursuing is worth taking a risk for - value people, aim for excellence and let success take care of itself, it shouldn't be the goal.

motion-

I don't personally know a single CEO who is characterized by your statements - I have read about perhaps a dozen or so high profile ones that do, but this is 0.00001% of the CEOs in the world. . . broad brushes don't look good in anyone's hands.

Click to expand...

And I bet not one of those CEOs sees it themselves. Every single CEO who moves production to China, no matter what his personal motivation, can't claim ignorance as to what goes on in China. The road to destruction is paved with good intentions.

Remember Kathy Gifford and her surprise when she learned that her line of clothing was being made in sweatshops in Honduras?

Is ignorance an excuse when you are making millions?

Not in my book.


Steve

To be facetious, isn't 12 CEOs being 0.00001% of the CEOs in the world saying that there are 120 million of them?

Wow, with so many bosses and their yes men running around bossing, it's a wonder any work ever gets done.

Cheers,

George

The mould or mandrel is going to be used with a new fiber placement machine (also being made at Ingersoll Rockford) to laminate carbon epoxy composite wing skins. Boeing is modifying 747's to be able to transport the finished skins to final assembly. I heard also that the big fiber placement machine is going to be installed in Italy to lay up the wing skins.

gmatov - good catch, I got carried away in my illustration.

Much of the aircraft is being manufactured using carbon fiber composites.

I have seen first hand the fuselage mandrels - all made from carbon fiber and aluminum and machined here in the Northwest using motion controls designed and built in our shop. The machines were similar to the cybermill from Ingersol but also designed and built here in the Northwest.

The end customer for the mandrels is Vought and fuselage manufacturing will be done in their new plant built in South Carolina.

http://www.vought.com/newsFactGallery/releases/2006/033006.htm

The technology behind the the new fuselage and mandrels is pretty amazing in that they are extremely light, very stiff and will be cantilever mounted with the fuselage wound onto the mandrel - the mandrel is then collapsed and the fuselage tube slipped off. Neat stuff.

It will be interesting to see how Boeing manages to integrate parts from many different countries from all over the world into this aircraft.

geneh;
what a crybaby.
first of all why didnt you go through an apprenticeship? or were you too quick to show the world you didnt really need training, but i guess pulling wire isnt the same as calculating amps and loads or what wire gauge is correct.
so now its somewhat later and you havent been able to get past your bad experience.
maybe as suggested you should go to work in a sweat shop or a underground mine for a real eye opening shock.
as for me ive never had a bad union experience.
ive found that negoiated contracts eliminate the nepotism and croynism that is prevelent in non-union operations, but wait you may be the perfect example of nepotism. you are part of a family owned business right?
so what is your position on any employees that arent related to you by blood?...jim