Chapter 133 – Raleigh/Durham/Sanford
Next Meeting:
· Plant Tour of Cooper Hand Tools!
· When: January 20, 2010 1 PM
·
Where:
Cooper Hand Tools, 1000 Lufkin Road, Apex NC
Please RSVP to this
email if you would like to attend
Cooper
Tools
<http://www.coopertools.com/>
serves a multitude
of global markets, including automotive, aerospace, electronics, energy,
hardware, industrial, and volume retail. It offers a broad selection of
application-oriented products, together with the teamed experiences of talented
engineers and designers and quality-conscious production, customer service, and
product development personnel. Cooper Tools provides meaningful productivity
gains to its customers through the proper application of its many well-known
brands of specialized industrial power tools, hand tools, chain, and electronic
soldering products.
With headquarters in Apex, North Carolina,
Cooper Tools maintains manufacturing and sales/service facilities located in the
Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. The local facility has
manufacturing processes that include high speed milling, plastic injection
molding, painting, stamping, turning, grinding, plating, assembly, and testing
for the building of products that range from professional folding wood rules to
Industrial long tapes, and the Distribution Center ships our products to
worldwide locations.
Chapter News
The local chapter is reaching
out to members with the hopes of greater participation in the chapter
activities. We understand that economic events have hampered what is sometimes
viewed as a "technical training organization" and that now is not the time for
training.
Recent (2009) chapter activities have included:
· Tour of Burt's Bees in Durham. The visit was an inspiring example of how a simple product idea could turn into a Billion Dollar per year business in a short time. We viewed the production process from front to rear with insights into FDA requirements as they pertain to product safety.
· Presentation Meeting on technical employment possibilities hosted by a panel of local recruiters.
· Presentation Meeting on 6 Sigma hosted by a gentleman who has trained on three continents for over 20 years.
· Tour of a local metal heat treat company, East Carolina Heat Treat. We observed the manufacturing process, controls employed, and design considerations for heat treated products.
· Tour of Underwriters Laboratory in RTP. We viewed myriad approaches to testing of products such as underwater gear, laser implements, firefighting apparel, helmets, chain saws, and a host of other products.
We would like to urge all
members to join us at our next tour so we may maximize our networking potential!
Although SME is an excellent
source for training it also provides:
· Networking at monthly meetings with like minded peers, potential suppliers, potential employers, and the ever-present possibility of new customers.
· Access to national employment postings.
· Access to world renowned technical libraries.