It’s long been said children’s minds are the future. Little Inventors is a creative and educational organization that inspires imagination and takes this concept seriously. Born from creative minds in the United Kingdom Little Inventors creates free resources for institutions, teachers, and parents to encourage children to think up and draw innovative inventions. From these ideas, they promote challenges, events, and workshops. In addition to encouraging promising young inventors, they encourage skilled experts and makers, like Fori Automation, to work with local children to turn their ideas into reality. Making the fantastical practical.
Sa'Niya's original idea for the project.
This year MISD the Macomb County chapter of Little Inventors brought some of these great inventions to reality, with students from around southeast Michigan. Fori jumped at the opportunity to work on a design by New Baltimore student Sa’Niya. Sa’Niya’s brilliant idea tackles the problem of trash and asks people to take a harder look at what they are throwing away. Her design is called the Trash Monitor. The concept helps people discern if what they are throwing away is trash or if it can be reused or have another purpose.
To start this project the Fori team dove into the world of recycling. As an automation company, we had an idea of how we would bring Sa’Niya’s Trash Monitor invention off the page, but we needed to learn more about recycling and the materials the project would filter.
Many products and items that we throw away can easily have a second, third, or fourth life and we were excited to conceptualize this design which helps people identify items that are not – at first glance - trash.
After completing our recycling research, we moved on to sourcing the parts we would need for the Trash Monitor and creating the design. We had to find a trash receptacle we could modify and sensors to detect various items of materials that are commonly thrown away.
Sa’Niya’s idea for the trash monitor is when someone drops what they think is a piece of trash into the Trash Monitor receptacle, the sensors in the bin detect if the item is trash or if it can be reused or is a recyclable material. If the item can be recycled or reused it moves onto the conveyor and back to the user. If the item is truly trash it stays in the bin. Additionally, if an item is recyclable, a Trash Monitor alerts the user with a buzzing noise and the recycling symbol lights up bright green.
Many of the parts on the project such as the project logo, recycling logo, and conveyor could be 3D printed in our shop, here in Shelby Twp., Michigan. One of our mechanical engineers who specializes in 3D printing, created a design concept for the overall project using CAD software and designed the conveyor model as well.
Another final aspect of the Trash Monitor is the information panel on the front of the bin. A screen is attached to the receptible, this informational screen helps the user learn more about waste, recycling, and how we can all make small changes for a better community and world in relation to what we throw away.
Several Fori teams, including mechanical engineering, controls engineering, marketing, human resources, and the manufacturing shop came together to work on this project. Everyone involved truly enjoyed the opportunity to exercise their creative muscles and bring Sa’Niya's sensational invention to life.
In the images, you can see the final CAD design for the project along with one of our engineers wiring a board for the receptacle sensors. One of the reasons we liked this design was its practicality and how we can see it used today in many applications from a school hallway to an office complex or a bustling city center.
The 3D concept for the Trash Monitor project.
With the Trash Monitor complete, we were proud to showcase Sa’Niya’s design at the Macomb County Little Inventors banquet, along with other student inventors and makers. This project was truly an inspiration to Fori and our team. We hope all the Little Inventors continue to use their minds and imagination to create amazing inventions for a brighter and greener future.
This week as part ofNational EngineersWeekwe celebrated our makers, designers, developers, and tinkerers. Like every one of our integral teams at Fori, we wouldn't get far without our engineers and the important work they do.
When asked about their backgrounds, projects, and overall thoughts on engineering this is what some of them had to say.
"A unique part of being an engineer at Fori is the creative problem-solving used to update customer manufacturing operations. In recent operations we have been altering our designs to up-and-coming Models of EV automobiles, embarking us on a new era of automobiles and engineering. This is an exciting time with so much changing in the auto industry." - Jacob Landenberger, Mechanical Engineer
"What I love most about being an engineer at Fori Automation is the constant exposure to new projects, ideas, and technology. A recent project I was involved in here at Fori was designing a new torque tube that is mostly comprised of 3D-printed parts. I enjoyed getting to learn about additive manufacturing and seeing what role it can play in the future of automation and manufacturing. It’s rewarding to get to work for a company that is always trying to improve using the latest technology." - Jordan Zak, Mechanical Engineer
"The most exciting part of being an engineer at Fori Automation is the opportunity to work on so many unique projects. In the Sales Department, there are always new opportunities to learn, new jobs to work on, and the need of trying to come up with new ideas or ways of meeting our customer’s needs. Every day there are new applications and challenges with those applications that keep my job interesting. It is always a great feeling coming up with a new idea/concept design, proposing it to the customer, and them liking it enough to write a purchase order for Fori to complete the job." - Ryan York, Fori Automation Estimator/Process Engineer
In addition to testimonials, we were able to sit down with Cristiano Sarmento our Lead Controls R&D Engineer, and Martin Erni our Sales Director. We learned more about them, their backgrounds, and some of the projects they have worked on at Fori, providing solutions for customers through engineering.
Looking toward the future companies face many challenges, domestically and globally, and engineers will be needed to solve more and more complex problems. At Fori, we are grateful for our team of innovative engineers who consistently rise up and meet these challenges. To all young and upcoming engineers, “Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of, who do the things that no one can imagine.” - Alan Turning. Happy National Engineers Week!
It’s not often you find someone like Mike Beck. A 25-year veteran of a manufacturing business, many of those years spent steering the ship as the GM, Vice President, and President of Fori Automation.
To quote Fori’s current President Paul Meloche,“Mike is a true leader. His integrity, open-minded demeanor, humble attitude, and commitment to well-being of Fori’s employees and customers was unparalleled. He’s also an incredible problem solver; I still believe he has a “sixth-sense” that allows him to predict issues before they happen. I was blessed to have him as my mentor for the past 20 years.”
Mike was born on the South Side of Chicago, after a few moves throughout the Midwest Mike’s family settled on Michigan’s west side, the best side one could argue. He received a Mechanical Engineering degree and shortly after that an MBA. A job with Detroit Diesel brought him to Metro-Detroit where he moved from engineering into manufacturing and saw projects come to life on the floor.
After nearly seven years with Detroit Diesel Mike was recruited into Chrysler for a joint venture power train program between Chrysler and BMW. With this new opportunity came new connections, one of those connections was Heinz Becker. Heinz an experienced manager working at Chrysler knew that Mike was potentially moving to Brazil as part of this joint venture, to start up a new engine factory. Before Mike headed south of the equator Heinz stepped in and introduced him to a gentleman named Arthur Koerner. Art as Mike would come to know him was the candid owner of Fori Automation, along with his son Bernd Koerner.
At the time, Arthur and Bernd were contemplating next steps and looking for someone to help run their growing business. When he met with Arthur and Bernd there were a lot of direct questions, which was Arthur’s style, followed by a couple of Warsteiner beers and a “When can you start?” Also, Arthur’s style. Mike told the Koerners he would think about it, as it was a career-altering decision.
“After two days, I accepted the offer.” And so, he was off to Fori Automation. Mike was hired at Fori as the Manufacturing Manager for the first year before he transitioned into the GM position. “I thought that was pretty exciting I didn’t have to move around the world to be in a General Manager leadership role.”
Big company politics didn’t interest Mike and the advantages of a smaller company where you can sit down with the owner and/or a few key people and agree if something makes sense appealed to him. “You have to live with your decisions, and you can’t blame anyone else, but you also have the ability to make a difference. You’re not part of a committee, there are not 20 people in the room. We didn’t always make the right decisions, but we learned from it.”
Mike’s first day at Fori he walked into the front office, no one at Fori knew or was expecting him except for Arthur. Arthur asked if he was ready to get started. “I am,” said Mike. So, Arthur asked the office admin to page all employees to the center of the building. “I walked with Arthur, and we get to the center of the manufacturing floor and he says, “I’d like to introduce you all to Mike Beck, he’s going to be the new Manufacturing Manager, Mike tell them what you’re going to do.”
“As a young guy, I was taken aback. I said some general words and realized quickly that was Arthur’s philosophy: sink or swim.” After that first day, Mike started to learn all about Fori and this business of customization in automation. "Arthur was a no-nonsense mentor and I respected him as he was the true entrepreneur that started the company," says Mike. There were roughly 110 employees at that time in 1998 and Fori was starting to go global.
Over several years Fori expanded into more regions. For Mike, it was gratifying to have been a part of hiring the general managers and teams in each new region. Supporting these regions and being a part of the international development and expansion was very exciting.
Along with the company's growth came a mission and vision to diversify. Diversify Fori’s global footprint, and its product portfolio with the introduction of new technology and its base of customers. Mike cites the ownership’s commitment and the strong engineering team that supported the diversification plan as the main reasons Fori thrived over the years and minimized some of the downturn cycles in the manufacturing industry; such as the recession in 2008 and the bankruptcy of some of the large automotive customers.
About six years after Mike started with Fori Arthur Koerner stepped back from the business and Bernd Koerner took over as the CEO. Mike describes these years as exhilarating but challenging. “I had a strong working relationship with Bernd and together we traveled often in the early years to support the international growth.” The business grew to more than 680 employees and advanced its global footprint to a total of seven international locations beyond its headquarters in Shelby Township, Michigan.
Speaking of his two-plus decades with Fori, Mike fondly remembers the challenges and the Fori team coming together to overcome them. “When we had some jobs that didn’t go as planned and had to jump on a plane or in a car whether it was to Auburn, Indiana, Kitchener, Ontario, or overseas, we would go into the field and spend days or weeks getting something back on track…I don’t miss the pressure or stress but the excitement of the team pulling it off and walking out of there knowing we were able to get it right is memorable.”
“Good companies have good people. I’m grateful people trusted that the ownership and the leadership team always had the employee’s and customers’ best interests in mind. As a machine tool company, you often get peaks and valleys, but Fori was always secure. We consistently experienced growth which was exciting. The global growth was quite an accomplishment for an organization of our size to create a global footprint and build stand-alone organizations in seven different regions was something. It was clearly a testament to the ownership’s commitment and the dedication of the international leadership and employees.” Says Mike.
Mike is confident Fori will continue to grow and succeed under the new ownership of Lincoln Electric and the leadership of Fori’s former Vice President and now President Paul Meloche. Paul has worked with Mike for nearly two decades as part of the Fori management team.
Speaking about his future, Mike said, “I’m ready to slow down for now. We have the right people in place, and I feel good about the hands that are taking over. I plan to spend time with family, maybe learn the guitar, spend time traveling; wake up in the morning look outside and have a cup of coffee without having to read a hundred emails or troubleshoot any issues. I feel that the timing and the way things landed this is the right time.”
Thank you, Mike, for helping take Fori to a level of distinction and credibility that can only be achieved through exceptional leadership. Thank you for fostering the right people and right customer relationships along the way. You truly helped shape Fori’s present and future. Enjoy your much-deserved retirement and as the saying goes, this isn’t farewell, it’s simply see you later.
Fori Automation, USA implemented a welding system for an SUV aluminum front suspension sub frame. The integration of weld scanning in North American automotive welding systems required an economical and robust concept to offer original equipment manufacturers (OEM's) European style weld verification and high system thru put. For this project Fori provided Robotic Aluminum MIG Welding, a Robotic Fori Weld Check System and In-line Inspect/Repair Stations.
Weld seam inspections for U.S. Automotive Structural Components are becoming a developing requirement to ensure critical welds are free of defects. Current weld seam inspection systems are not cost effective in North American markets due to high on-set costs and high levels of good part rejections that result in added production labor costs and lost production thru-put.
Current weld seam scanning inspection systems operate with extreme resolution to detect very small defects and weld bead profile conditions required to provide reliable weld certification. This results in high numbers of acceptable welds that are rejected due to the high accuracy image-processing requirement.
Fori Automation and a North American customer developed Weld Check as an alternative to high-resolution weld seam scanning systems. We combined low cost, high-speed 2D profile weld seam scanning and electronic data from the digital welders in a common database to provide reliable weld seam accept/reject capability. The combination provides customers with cost effective and truly efficient weld verification.
The solutions provided on this project offered high robot utilization and keyence profile scan and fronius weld database. Results eliminated part handling and the 100% weld check and allowed for 54 assembly jobs per hour (JPH) with a capacity of 40,000 lbs. or 18,181 kg. This weld project was successful due to the in-line robotic weld check system and the integrated sub-assemblies. To learn more about this project or Fori's welding systems check out our site.
The Manufacturing industry supports much of the U.S. economy. It's a backbone in Southeastern Michigan and pivotal to Macomb County but many in the manufacturing workforce are aging and retiring. Most schools no longer offer skilled trades, apprenticeships or promote manufacturing jobs as viable career paths. That's why Macomb County implemented Manufacturing Day more than ten years ago. The purpose of Macomb County's Manufacturing Day is to help students learn about modern-day manufacturing careers. Through Manufacturing Day students are able to visit local businesses that specialize in manufacturing and either learn more about careers they're familiar with or gain exposure to something new.
Today, careers in manufacturing are different from years past. Now, the manufacturing industry utilizes technology to create and build the latest and greatest products. And manufacturers need skilled workers who understand that technology. A skilled manufacturing team is essential to Fori's long term growth and the future of manufacturing in Southeastern Michigan. Fori's Vice President Paul Meloche gave his insight into Fori's experience with the event.
"Fori has been actively engaged in Manufacturing days since 2013, when County Executive Mark Hackle toured Fori with the media. We then attended a roundtable discussion with Mark and various local manufactures in an effort to raise awareness about the lack of young people entering the field of skilled trades. It was on that day that Manufacturing Day in Macomb County was established," said Paul.
In Macomb County Manufacturing Day has been around for almost a decade but the idea of this day isn't unique to Michigan. Manufacturing Day or MFG Day for short, is a national movement to inspire younger generations to take up careers in modern manufacturing. MFG Day is an initiative of The Manufacturing Institute, with the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association as a founding partner. Across the country cities, schools and businesses come together through a series of events to promote and educate students, parents and teachers on what careers in manufacturing can offer.
Manufacturing Day 2022
This year Fori hosted over 75 students on Friday, October 7th. The students were divided into groups and then rotated through five stations each on a different aspect of manufacturing. The students stopped by Fori's Machine Shop where they saw the machines used to create and fabricate parts.
They visited Fori's Quality Department where students learned about the various tools and systems needed to check the engineering specifications prior to assembly. The Fori Quality Team went over a Faro arm details inspection, a laser tracker demonstration and a Zeiss CMM running auto, all processes used to verify precision and accuracy.
Students also had a chance to drive an AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) and learn about the use cases for different types of AGVs. They viewed a presentation from one of our sales engineers about the quoting process and even stopped by our 3D printing department.
Fori's focus on MFG Day is educating students that walk through the door. We want to showcase the engaging, challenging and lucrative careers that exist within manufacturing, what skills are required to succeed and a day in the life of the Fori team. We do all of this through hands on experience and our employees, who are passionate and proud to share their work with others. It's truly rewarding when our efforts pay off.
"By far my most memorable moment was not at Manufacturing Day itself but when a young man entered my office early one morning wearing a Manufacturing Day t-shirt, (Macomb County provides an MFG Day t-shirt to every student that participates.) He came into my office to introduce himself and thank me for hiring him and for hosting Manufacturing Day three years prior. That was his first day on the job at Fori and he was excited."
Paul Meloche, Fori Automation, Vice President
To learn more about Fori Automation check out our site. For more info about Macomb County's Manufacturing Day, find it here.
With eight global locations Fori Automation, Inc. is no stranger to meeting customer needs on an international level. A great example of this is shown through our Fori Korea team. In 2021, Fori Korea supplied a stable AGV system to an automotive manufacturer located in Andizon, Uzbekistan.
Fori Korea successfully installed a Body to Chassis Marriage system or BCM AGV system, as we like to call it, for an automotive manufacturer that made a major facility investment after converting another Uzbekistan automotive plant to a state-owned company. Fori Korea's BCM AGV System was selected because of our longstanding experience with body to chassis marriage systems. Fori Korea stabilized the facility in a short period of time and started mass production in September 2021.
The results consisted of four processes of sub-line and four processes of marriage line. The sub process is a go and stop method, and the marriage process is composed of a reflector and a smart camera, so that the vehicle body and AGV are synchronized to execute marriage. Annual production for line one is 180,000 units and line two is 150,000 units. Fori is a global leader in automotive chassis marriage systems and turnkey integration. Contact us to learn more about our offerings or head over to our website.
For the past decade and since its inception in 2013 Fori has participated in Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) in Macomb County. But what is MFG Day and why is it so important to Fori and the communities throughout the nation?
Manufacturing Day is a national day where high school students learn about modern-day manufacturing career options and current technologies in manufacturing. Students visit local facilities and gain hands-on experience in a range of careers. MFG Day connects classroom learning to on-the-job skills. Careers in manufacturing today are much different than years ago. Today, the manufacturing industry utilizes automation and cutting-edge technology to create and build its products and produce solutions.
The Macomb Intermediate School District (MISD) in conjunction with the Macomb County Department of Planning and Economic Development (MCPED), works with local businesses and organizes MFG Day each year. For 2023 their goals were for 2,000 students from all 27 high schools in Macomb County to participate in MFG Day. Each year students are on-site for roughly two hours. MFG Day host sites, like Fori, welcome a group of chaperoned students and provide them a chance to see the industry in action by offering tours that showcase different processes as well as the careers involved. This year Fori welcomed Chippewa Valley High School whose students visited our machine shop, drove and demoed some of Fori’s Automated Guided Vehicles, and learned about 3D printing and how Fori incorporates 3D printing in our manufacturing processes.
Along with Fori local businesses like Kuka, Ascent Aerospace, BAE Systems, Paslin, and more opened their doors so students could take part in this educational opportunity.
Why is this day so important?
In Michigan and across the nation there is a trending manufacturing skills gap in the U.S. which could result in 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030, according to a new study by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute.
As an automation manufacturer, we believe it’s important to promote the value of manufacturing and skilled trades in our county, state, and country. While many people have a negative view of jobs in manufacturing many of us also know manufacturing offers fulfilling and rewarding careers. MFG Day encourages young minds to take a closer look at manufacturing and what this industry offers.
We are grateful to participate in this enriching program that promotes manufacturing and automation in Macomb County, Michigan, and across the United States.
