To win in today's global marketplace, companies must use new technologies and, at the same time, change the way they do business. The goal is to exceed their customer's quality, cost and delivery expectations. GKN drafted a strategic modernization plan giving their St. Louis facility clear direction of the equipment requirements over the next three years. This article provides a brief overview of those directions and how Hartwig, Inc. can work to the success of GKN.

GKN knows that the Strategic Modernization Plan, which is currently underway, supports their “core” businesses within metal structures. These “core” businesses are; machining large titanium forgings competitively, machining large aluminum plate and forgings competitively, and finally, increasing the utilization and capacity of the FMS systems where smaller aluminum and titanium jobs are machined. To compete globally, it is apparent that they must change the way they do business when it comes to machining large aluminum plate stock. The modernization plan includes purchasing six High Speed, 5-axis, Henri Liné machines over the next 3 years. The first Liné machine will be installed by the end of the year. The remaining machines will be installed roughly every six months over the next three years.