Simonds Saw completes 70% factory expansion in Germany
Courtesy of Simonds Saw.
David Miles, president of Simonds Saw in Fitchburg.
Simonds Saw is a maker of metal cutting band saw technology with operations in Germany and in Fitchburg. The company separated from Simonds International in 2014 after its then-parent company decided to divide its metal business and its wood business into two separate companies. Today, Simonds Saw employs 200 people worldwide and recently expanded its German factory by 70 percent.
Simonds Saw President David Miles spoke about international growth, the company’s culture of innovation, and an investment that gave the Fitchburg plant the ability to generate its own power.
How many employees do you have and what are the operations at each plant?
Our company is just north of 200 employees worldwide, including all manufacturing employees. About half are here and half are in Germany. With regards to how research and development is done at Simonds, it’s driven by a global team comprised of folks from the engineering, metallurgy and product management functions. This technology team of six people interacts on development projects that are based on changing market needs. Their work involves everything from deciding which materials are used to make the products, to which designs are best suited to the development of new products. Some of the team is based in Fitchburg, and the rest are based in Germany.
WESPA is a wholly-owned subsidiary. It is a manufacturing company that has origins in the 1950s, and was acquired by Simonds in the early '90s.
Today it’s one of our two band saw manufacturing operations. They specialize is some of our band saw product families for all markets there, and the Fitchburg plant makes the rest. Our sales group sells a combination of products from each plant to customers all over the world.
What markets do you serve?
We manufacture metal cutting band saw technology under an American brand (Simonds) and a German brand (Wespa). We’re in the industrial metal cutting business. Our business mainly concentrates in two places: distribution of metal raw materials for manufacturing, and the other are the actual metalworking machining manufacturers taking raw materials and making them into something. Industries include automotive parts manufacturing, aerospace and energy component manufacturing, structural products such as beam products used in infrastructure and construction, and mold and tooling producers. Our products are being used one way or another in the production of something.
What do you have going on right now?
The company just recently restructured itself to a global factory focus footprint to eliminate production redundancies in each plant. This was done largely to make us much more cost competitive. We have also engaged in significant efforts to grow in the developing industrial markets in Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. We’re developing the breadth of solutions sold by our existing partners and forming several new partnerships.
In the developed industrial markets in North America and Europe, Simonds is a global leader in alloys in the aerospace and energy sectors. We plan to continue to build on our success in these sectors with some exciting product development we have going on for some very strong global customers.
You generate your own power. How do you do that?
A few years back, we made an investment in a generation system for the Fitchburg plant in order to produce our own electricity using natural gas generators. The investment is a captured heat and power co-generation system that also allows us to heat and cool over 400,000 square feet with the heat generated when we make the electricity. The reduced energy costs have been very beneficial to our business. These reduced energy costs recently led us to make an investment in laser welding and in turn, in-source the production of a bimetal strip steel that we use to make a majority of our products in both factories.
What’s the difference between Simonds Saw and Simonds International?
Simonds Saw, a company focused in metal cutting technology, was originally a part of a company called Simonds International. This company also operated a separate division which manufactures products for the sawmill & wood fiber processing industries. In 2014 the Board of Directors decided to separate the metal and wood businesses. The metal business became Simonds Saw and the wood business remained with the name Simonds International. Once separate, each company underwent strategic restructuring in order to be self-sufficient.
Simonds Saw restructured over the last two years by moving to the global focus factory concept I mentioned earlier. We now have global operations for specific product families in each plant, regardless of the brand they will be sold under. Fitchburg was better suited for making our higher technology cutting products which are made with a high tech precision grinding process. Germany was best suited for our high volume, general purpose fabrication products which target light industrial use. These are produced with a milling technology in which the Wespa factory excels.
Having this restructuring largely behind us, in combination with the bimetal strip in-sourcing investment enabled by our low energy costs in Fitchburg, has made us very cost competitive and opened a lot of doors in markets where we wish to grow.
Any expansions coming down the line?
Right now we’re kind of in a wait-and-see mode, having undergone a major operations footprint change. The changes in Germany alone required expanding the factory space by over 70 percent over that last 18 months. We are also still keeping an eye on the key global industrial markets, many of which experienced a decline brought about by a combination of the economic crisis in Europe, the decline in the prices of oil and gas and political events around the world. That said, we are always on the lookout for both organic and inorganic growth opportunities.
Why is Central Massachusetts a good place for a manufacturing company?
A unique aspect of our company is our age. We’ve made it through the last 185 years by being very disciplined and true to our core. In Fitchburg, we have second-, third-, and sometimes fourth-generation employees. Our company is well known in the area and we attract folks as a result of our heritage.
Central Mass is an area surrounded by some really good tech schools and there is a strong engineering talent pool working in the area for a lot of small specialized manufacturing companies. Many of these companies have processes that have similarities to ours and experience is relatable.
If you focus on innovation and automation like we have, you can stay cost competitive.
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