About BTC - Press Release

  

For years the Tool & Die Industry prospered by making products in a timely manner, somewhat protected by local markets and high capital costs as barriers to entry. These companies traditionally served small geographic areas and specialized in customers serving only one or two industries. Now, the Tool and Die Industry is facing increasingly sophisticated and organized competitors from other nations, shattering the traditional business model.

The State of Michigan recognized that the industry is facing severe pressure to reduce costs. Therefore, in 2004, the Michigan Renaissance Zone Act, P.A. 376 of 1996 was amended to allow the Michigan Strategic Fund to designate up to 20 Tool and Die Recovery Zones. The Berrien Tooling Coalition is vying for one of the prestigious zones.

The Berrien Tooling Coalition is a group of 19 companies consisting of: Accu Die & Mold, Apex 3D, Dane Systems, Eagle Technologies, Great Lakes Welding & Fabrication, Griffin Tool, Hanson Mold, K&M Industrial Machinery, Liberty Steel, M&I Machine, Mach Mold, Maximum Mold, Metal Processors, Michigan Mold, Midwest Die, Quality Mold & Engineering, Shoreline Mold, Standard Tool & Die, and West Michigan Tool & Die.

The global economy has forced the BTC members to re-examine their cost structure and their methods of doing business and identify ways to reduce expenses. BTC's structure and member companies offer synergistic cost savings advantages and long-term performance improvements with their customers. The BTC believes it will provide its members enhanced economic effectiveness.

The Berrien Tooling Coalition has galvanized into a showcase for the region to tackle one of the most profound structural changes in the automotive industry in Michigan's history - working together to improve their competitiveness.

The Berrien Tooling Coalition believes that by working together, costs can be reduced through cooperation. Savings can be obtained by:

  •   Workload balancing - supporting each other as backup resources when one company has a bottleneck in their operation.

  •  Lean methods - companies identify areas of waste.

  •  Functional build - when a full program can be purchased as a unit there are significant opportunities for savings in time turn around and efficiency.

  •  Product design - significant product design knowledge that resides in the shops can reduce tooling costs without changing the part from the customer's perspective.

  •  Improving tooling standards - many customers tend to over-design their tools rather than designing it for its intended use.

  •  Economies of scale - the purchasing power of ten companies for steel, tool components, and software is greater than any one company.