A: Over the last decade, I have presented a two-day training workshop on Forging Technology—Achieving Continuous Improvement in the Forge Shop at 17 different firms, and from one to seven times at each firm. I developed the first workshops while I was director of technology at FIA, and then presented customized versions after retiring from there in 1996. The customized versions were directed to: warm forgers, hot forgers, cold forgers, upsetter shops, press shops, hammer shops, etc. The focus of these workshops was tailored to the interests of the individual plants.
I am sending an outline of the topics I have covered in the workshops. About 10 of these would fill a two-day training session for hourly and first-line supervisors (they are the target audience.) The more that employees know about the way to make good parts, and to identify when the part quality is beginning to decline, the faster problems can be uncovered and corrected.
For more than 40 years H. James Henning held key technical positions in the forging industry, including as director of technology for the Forging Industry Association, and as president of Henning Education Services, a Columbus, OH, firm specializing in customized education and training in forging technologies.
Guidelines and recommendations offered in this column are based on information believed to be reliable and are supplied in good faith but without guarantee. Operational conditions that exist in individual plants and facilities vary widely. Users of this information should adapt it, and always exercise independent discretion in establishing plant or facility operating practice.