Sales of U.S. industrial mold makers declined by $3.3 billion, or 28 percent, over the last five years, according to information presented recently to the U.S. International Trade Commission.

        The commission is preparing a report on the state of the U.S. tool, die and molding industries at the request of the House Ways and Means Committee and had a public hearing May 21 to get input from companies in the industry.

        Milacron Inc.'s Michigan-based D-M-E Co., the largest maker of mold tooling and components, commissioned the survey by Veris Consulting LLC of about 1,000 U.S. mold companies, the results of which were presented at the May 21 hearing.

        Besides the decline in sales, the survey found that pretax profits as a percent of sales among those surveyed declined by more than 90 percent to just 1.4 percent of sales last year.

        The survey also found that the number of jobs lost because of plant closings or cutbacks coupled with the reduction in hours worked translated into the loss of about 98,000 jobs in the industry in the last five years.

        The ITC will present its findings to Congress this fall.
       

Dinner meeting topic: Customer satisfaction

        Using the Internet to improve customer satisfaction will be the topic of a Tuesday dinner meeting of the American Production and Inventory Control Society at the Este Conference Center off Center Hill Drive.

        Suresh Anbil, president of OHM Systems Inc., is keynote speaker for the 6 p.m. meeting. For information, contact Barrett Hopper at (513) 786-8889 or go to www.Apics-Cincy.org.
       

Equipment company wins supplier award

        Cincinnati's Portman Equipment Co. recently received a “Partners in Excellence” award from Miller Brewing Co.'s Trenton plant for outstanding quality and service in supplying the brewery with forklift equipment and services.

        The award is presented to only a handful of Miller's 8,500 North American suppliers.
       

Milford company supplies software

        Milford's CIMx is supplying its CIMx Apps manufacturing planning software to Bell Helicopter for the V-22 Osprey program. The software reduces the time required to implement thousands of engineering changes for aircraft production.
       

Seminar covers handling chemicals

        Manufacturers can learn more about the Clean Air Act's Risk Management Program and plant operator's responsibilities for handling hazardous chemicals at a seminar Tuesday at 2 p.m. at TechSolve's Bond Hill center.

        For more information contact Jennifer McClure at 948-2015 or jmcclure@techsolve.org.
       

Roundtable focuses on product pricing

        “Quit Competing on Price” is the topic of an executive roundtable Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. at the Kenwood Country Club.

        Bill O'Gara, new president of Ohio Medical Instrument Co. and former CEO of O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt Co., will share ideas of creating product differentiation.

        Ray Attiyah, president of Midwest Manufacturing Solutions, which is sponsoring the free event, will discuss creating value. For more information, call Sherri McDonald at 381-7200, ext. 120.

        Contact Mike Boyer at 768-8494; fax 564-6991; or e-mail mboyer@enquirer.com.
       

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