News

The latest issue of Industry Week has an excellent story about nearshore manufacturing opportunities in Mexico. Our Guaymas, Sonora operation is featured along with several other manufacturers. Mexico, and particulary Sonora, is a hotbed of manufacturing activity right now. Customers in high precision industries including medical, industrial, and aerospace are showing renewed interest in our Mexican machining capabilities, which complement our operations in Connecticut. Click here to read the Industry Week story.

Horst Engineering and the Livingston Family are featured in the March/April 2012 issue of Family Business Magazine. In 2001, our business owning family had a successful third generation transition. Many family businesses are plagued with succession challenges, but Horst Engineering is often cited as a model because we have successfully transitioned while retaining family harmony and perpetuating business success. Dave Donelson’s article titled, “A Dramatic Transition,” recounts the process that the Livingston Family used. He explains that like any transition, it wasn’t without challenges, but in the end, family bonds were tighter and the business remained on solid footing.

Click here to read the story.

Sharing family business best practices has become second nature for the Livingston Family. Both generations of ownership are sought out for inspiration and knowledge. Supporting family business success is a satisfying objective and through participation in various organizations, and networks, Horst Engineering and the Livingston Family pay forward what they have learned. Click here to read more about Horst Engineering’s family business heritage.

EAST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, March. 10, 2012 — Horst Engineering (HEM) and Thread Rolling Inc. (TRI) are pleased to announce that Pratt & Whitney Aircraft (P&W) has approved both companies with its PWA Laboratory Control at Source (LCS) designation. LCS is the system that validates the testing and control of specified materials and processes used in P&W’s aerospace products.

“Approval is the culmination of excellent work by our team. These approvals validate our process, especially with our in-house thread laboratory,” said Larry Frechette, TRI Coordinator & Sales.

In addition to LCS, both companies are now approved for PWA 96, the P&W specification that covers fabrication of tie-rods, bolts, and screws made from certain nickel-based alloys.

“These two milestone approvals are significant achievements and further strengthen our quality management system. These certifications present us with new growth opportunities,” said Scott Livingston, Horst Engineering’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

Horst Engineering & Manufacturing Co. is a contract manufacturer of precision machined components and assemblies for aerospace, medical and other high technology industries. The company has an ISO9001:2008/AS9100 registered quality management system. The company operates plants in East Hartford, Connecticut, USA and Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.  Learn more at www.horstengineering.com

 Thread Rolling Inc. is a specialty process supplier of value-added roll threading, roll knurling, and centerless grinding services. Rolled threads have superior characteristics; therefore many threads are required to be formed. TRI is a dedicated business unit and sister company of Horst Engineering. Learn more at www.threadrolling.com.  

###

Click here for a PDF version of the press release: Press Release-Horst Engineering-Thread Rolling Inc._PWA LCS-PWA 96

Our company hosted the Aerospace Components Manufacturers Purchasing Team for their regular meeting. We are one of more than 60 members of this vital industry cluster that spans Connecticut and Massachusetts.  ACM is a network of independent aerospace companies; a non-profit partnership that is part of Connecticut’s Industry Cluster Initiative. Working together as a network, member companies collectively offer broader capabilities than they could as individuals. ACM helps capture new business opportunities for Connecticut’s aerospace industry. ACM member companies are united by a single goal: Be the world leader in providing customers with aerospace components of unsurpassed quality, competitive prices and on-time delivery.

The Purchasing Team has shared market intelligence, best practices, and collaborated to group the purchasing power of ACM companies. We welcomed them to our plant for a round-table discussion and tour. It was nice to share what we do and it was good to get updates from other ACM companies at the start of year.

2011 wasn’t a banner year for solar energy in Connecticut, but Horst Engineering still managed to generate nearly 40,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean energy at our 41 Cedar Street plant. We have 128 rooftop solar panels that provide 40% to 50% of the power needed to run that facility depending on our annual production and usage.

At the start of the year, the panels were covered by a record amount of snow thanks to a brutal winter. Spring was cloudy and wet, early summer was on par with prior years, while late summer and early fall were also cloudy and wet. Our total 2011 production trailed 2010 by a whopping 14% because 2010 was a fantastic year with lots of sunshine. 2010 was 10% better than 2009, the year our system went live.

Solar estimates are based on decades of analysis, so one year is only a blip when a system has a 25+ year lifespan, but the numbers are fun to track. In terms of clean energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Calculator is a fantastic tool. Pick the equivalency that makes the most sense.

2011′s total productin of 40,000 kWh’s is equivalent to 27.6 metric tons of CO2, or one of the following:

• annual greenhouse gas emissions from 5.4 passenger vehicles
• CO2 emissions from 3,092 gallons of gasoline consumed
• CO2 emissions from 64.1 barrels of oil consumed
• carbon sequestered annual by 5.9 acres of pine or fir forest
• CO2 emissions from 1,149 propane cylinders used for home BBQ’s
• greenhouse gas emissions avoided by recycling 9.6 tons of waste instead of sending it to landfill

In three years, we have produced more than 129,000 kWh’s of clean energy and produced 44% of the 41 Cedar Street plant’s total electricity demand. This is fantastic. Most of 2012 is still in the future, but so far, we are much better off than 2011. The sun is shining brilliantly today, and let’s hope it keeps shining!

To learn more about our solar PV electric power system and all of our environmental initiatives, click here.

To view our live monitoring system, click here (check it on a sunny day!)