Successful Business-High School Partnership - 8/15/2011
Forest City Gear, a Roscoe manufacturer of precision gears, has experienced a successful partnership that could become a model for other manufacturers. This summer, they employed four recent high school graduates. What set these interns apart from many others is three of them are participants in the Winnebago High School’s Winnovation Robotics team and a fourth is a participant in Hononegah High School’s Project Lead The Way. A fifth student, an engineering major from Bradley, has been part of the “Small Engine Repair Project”.Forest City regularly employs young students as interns in their high technology manufacturing operations.
The AGMA Foundation offers a $5,000 scholarship to assist graduate-level engineering students whose programs focus on gear technology or gear research. The scholarship is made possible by generous contributions to the Don McVittie Memorial Education Fund.
Please help us alert graduate students about this scholarship opportunity!
The scholarship application deadline is July 5, 2011, with award notification in August. For specific eligibility requirements and application guidelines, please visit the Foundation's scholarship web page at this link.
Regards,
Sandra
Quality is the Word for Illinois Gear Manufacturer - 4/6/2011
Knowledge is valued at Forest City Gear, where a tradition of re-investing in technology and people pays big dividends for customers.
For many companies, periods of economic downturn are a time for retrenchment across the board. But for one quality-conscious gear manufacturer in Roscoe, Illinois, the past few years haven’t deterred the company from pushing the limits of its capabilities and re-investing in its most important resources. That company is Forest City Gear (FCG), a maker of high-precision custom gears for some of the world’s leading companies and technology innovators
Forest City Gear has been a supporter of the stateline economy since 1955.
With great benefits, clean and modern facilities, and a forward-thinking
atmosphere, Forest City Gear is a great place to work. If you have loose
gearing experience, CNC set-up experience, or have a great mechanical
aptitude and are willing to learn, come check us out!
Custom Gears may require custom lead times. - 2/24/2011
Makers of custom gears are a breed apart from other gear manufacturers. That’s because, among other distinctions, the sophistication level of machinery capability (and capital investment), expertise and process management required to be successful in custom gear manufacture is in another stratosphere in comparison to makers of stock, commodity-type gears.
From tainted food products to malfunctioning car parts, corporate reputations have been damaged and consumers have become more cautious due to a plethora of recalls. So, when I visited Forest City Gear (FCG) to report on the production behind their standard gears, it wasn’t surprising when the story angle emphasized the importance of quality.
Forest City Gear has purchased a Takisawa TT-200G, a fully-automated turning center with twin-spindle, twin-turret and twin-CNC operation, for its in-house blanking department.
Reduce Gear Noise and Misalignment Problems with C - 1/27/2011
Noisy gear trains have been a common problem for gear designers for a long time. And the demands for smaller gearboxes transmitting more power at higher speed and greater efficiency continue. Some popular solutions to the noisy gear problem include enlarging the pinion to reduce undercut, using Phenolic, Delrin or other noise-absorbing products where possible, or changing to a helical gear train. Other methods include tightening specifications to insure greater gear quality or redesigning the acoustical absorption characteristics of the gearbox.
Occasionally, experimentation with gear ratios can limit harmonic frequency amplification, which otherwise can cause a gearbox to amplify noise like a finely tuned stereo system. You can also study material and hardness requirements so that modifications may minimize heat treatment distortion or possibly eliminate the need for heat treatment entirely.
Forest City Gear is one of the first gear manufacturers to successfully complete the achievement of ISO 13485, the process quality management certification for manufacturing medical devices.
Forest City Gear Achieves Itar Registration - 8/13/2010
Forest City Gear supplies some of the world’s leading companies with high-precision gear work. These include products for various defense sector contractors, which would be subject to the strict guidelines of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). This standard is designed to “establish and maintain a procedure for identifying and complying with export authorization requirements for the sale and shipment of defense articles, the performance of defense services and the transfer of technical data” by the companies involved, pursuant to the Arms Export Control Act. Applicable products include those on the United States Munitions List (USML).
Mars Rover Components Will Use New Alloy | Produc - 5/27/2010
Mechanical components for the newest Mars Rover, scheduled for launch in late 2011, will use a new titanium-like alloy and, thanks to work by Forest City Gear (Roscoe, IL), will help save the project thousands of dollars per ounce on the final payload.
Tall Order: This family-owned gear manufacturer strategically reinvests an average between 25 percent and 40 percent of annual revenue to keep business strong
