11/1/09 Product Showcase Bronze Craft is proud to announce that all the hardware in our published catalogs is now featured in our online product showcase. Also, Bronze Craft part numbers are now searchable using the search feature on the top right of every page on the website. | 6/10/09 Bronze Craft Architectural Hardware Catalog We are proud to present our newest full color catalog for our architectural hardware line. This new catalog features color pictures of the hardware, dimensioned drawings, hardware selection guides, and much more. Please download your copy today! | 1/28/09 Lead in white bronze
In 2007 many toy manufacturers were forced to recall products made in China, which had lead levels in paint that exceeded the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission limits. This event prompted the United States Congress in 2008 to greatly reduce lead exposure limits for children. We believe window hardware used in elementary public schools may be affected by this change in legislation. Since Bronze Craft has been a leader in white bronze window hardware for 65 years, we are taking a proactive approach to the lead issue raised by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission to insure our customers receive hardware made of the finest materials available.
We have been researching and testing alternative alloys to identify one, which will provide the strength, appearance, and corrosion resistance of our currently used white bronze. The white bronze historically used by Bronze Craft has a lead content of 4%, and the lacquer used has no lead content. This alloy was formulated 65 years ago when the rules for lead content were nonexistent. Today, we have developed a white bronze alloy, which is stronger, equal in appearance, corrosion resistance and contains less than 1% lead.
Our research on low lead white bronze included testing levels of lead in our competitor’s hardware. We found lead levels as high as 8% in samples of our Chinese competitors. This is of great concern to us since some of these high lead products may be used in American public schools.
We will begin to make shipments of our domestic low lead white bronze by February 10th of 2009. After this date we will no longer domestically make our current white bronze with 4% lead. Our white bronze hardware made in China will change to low lead white bronze by March 2009 or sooner as inventory of our current stock diminishes.
Please check our alloy chart to review the mechanical properties of our new low lead white bronze, or contact us at 800 488 7747. Thank you for your continued business.
Sincerely,
Jim Bernard
President/CEO
| | 11/18/08 Message from the CEO Going Green
The Consumer Products Safety Committee is developing new standards for lead in products used in environments where children are present. You may recall recently children’s toys imported from China were found to be coated with lead paint. Although the standards have not yet been defined, Bronze Craft is taking a proactive approach experimenting with the reduction of lead in our white bronze alloy used for our window hardware. We have seen our off shore competitors increase the lead content and decrease the nickel content which reduces their cost. This cost savings measure creates an unsafe condition in the schools where commercial windows are used and children are present. The Bronze Craft Corporation continues to be an industry leader and we will again lead the way to be much more environmental friendly.
ISO-9001
On October 21 & 22 of this year, Bronze Craft underwent a surveillance audit for our ISO-9001 quality system. During the audit, three (3) minor nonconformances were found and were immediately corrected. We passed the audit and have been recommended for continued certification. We would like to thank all our employees for their efforts in sustaining Bronze Crafts reputation for quality.
Ergonomics Grant
We are in the process of fabricating a “belly bar” with padding to lean up against when unloading the vibratory tubs. We will be adding rubber “feet” to the platform the operators stand on during this process to further isolate the operators from vibration. We will also be making improvements to the lacquer speed dip machine, sand system & water treatment facility. We have exhausted all funds provided by the ergonomics grant and have successfully satisfied the grant requirements. We will continue to make ergonomic improvements to insure a safer workplace for our employees.
Work Force Opportunity Council Training Grant
Bronze Craft recently applied for and was awarded a grant for the New Hampshire Workforce Opportunity Council. The grant provides funds to improve employee skill sets in the areas of job instruction, improving methods, and leading people. The New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) will do the training at Bronze Craft over a period of 5 days in January for a total of 20 hours. A 17-hour Skills Mastery workshop will be conducted by MEP, 4 weeks after the initial training, and will focus reinforcement of Job Instruction training techniques and reviewing project completed by each graduate.
Thanks for reading and have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Jim Bernard
President/CEO
The Bronze Craft Corporation
| | 10/17/08 Message from the CEO
This month Bronze Craft begins its 65th year in business. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers for allowing us to service your hardware needs.
Going Green
In an effort to reduce costs and be a more environmental friendly neighbor, Bronze Craft’s Labor/Management team has implemented a recycling program to reduce our daily waste streams. We now recycle paper, plastic, glass & aluminum. This daily waste recycling program helps to reduce our disposal costs and also makes Bronze Craft that much more environmental friendly.
Ergonomics Grant
We have successfully implemented an ergonomic friendly process improvement that will assist our tumble machine operators with emptying the tumbling barrels. A newly designed container is placed under the barrel and the barrel is emptied into the container. It is then moved to the separating area using an electric fork truck and placed on a specially designed mechanical lift table where the tumbling media and castings are separated, placed in tote boxes and loaded into the FIFO conveyor lines. This new process is a result of our employees working hand in hand with ergonomic consultants to make a safer work place for our tumbling operators. Our next ergonomic improvement is also in the tumbling area. We will be fabricating a “belly bar” with padding to lean up against when unloading the vibratory tubs. We will also be adding rubber “feet” to the platform the operators stand on during this process to further isolate the operators from vibration. We will also be making improvements to the lacquer speed dip machine, sand system & water treatment facility. We will have more to report on these areas in future updates.
Lean Initiative
We are focusing some of our ergonomic improvements mentioned above on Lean Manufacturing concepts. Our Labor/Management Team, Implementation Team and our Lean Manufacturing Team have worked together to carefully plan each ergonomic improvement. We have significantly reduced the size of our stock room and have incorporated point of use inventory throughout the company. We will continue to evaluate each process to minimize scrap, rework and the elimination of waste in all forms.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the fall season.
Jim Bernard
President/CEO
The Bronze Craft Corporation
| 8/12/08 Message from the CEO
We are back from our preventative maintenance and annual shutdown period. We are continuing to maintain our current delivery schedule despite an increase in orders.
Going Green
In an effort to reduce costs and be a more environmental friendly neighbor, Bronze Craft’s Labor/Management team has embarked on extending our recycling program to include reducing our daily waste streams. We already recycle used foundry sand and all metal generated from our foundry process such as machining chips, pot skimmings, floor sweepings and any mixed metals. Our Labor/Management team has investigated recycling paper, plastic, cardboard and aluminum cans. The team has worked with our refuse vendors to develop programs that will result in savings based on receptacle rentals and weekly pick up charges.
Ergonomics Grant
We are currently working in our Rotary/Vibratory tumbling department. Our Implementation team is designing a basket type container that will assist our tumble machine operators with emptying the tumbling barrels. Once the barrels are emptied into the container, it will be mechanically lifted and transported to our separating area where the tumbling media and castings will be separated, placed in tote boxes and loaded into the FIFO conveyor lines.
Lean Initiative
We are focusing our ergonomic improvements mentioned above on Lean Manufacturing concepts. Our Labor/Management Team, Implementation Team and our Lean Manufacturing Team have worked together to carefully plan each ergonomic improvement and to incorporate these improvements into a Kaizen Event. We will continue to evaluate each process to minimize scrap, rework and the elimination of waste in all forms.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of the summer.
Jim Bernard
President/CEO
The Bronze Craft Corporation
| 7/9/08
Message from the CEO
This is the first in a series of updates to help keep our customers, friends and extended family informed on recent activities at The Bronze Craft Corporation.
Our Annual Shutdown
Our Foundry Department will not be operating beginning the week of July 27th for one week so that we can perform annual preventative maintenance required for our foundry equipment. We will be running a skeleton crew during this time throughout the plant in order to provide our customers with an uninterrupted shipping schedule.
Capital Investments
As we approach the start of our 65th anniversary, The Bronze Craft Corporation continues to reinvest in our manufacturing capability for the future of our company and employees. Recently we installed a new high efficiency Sullair 75hp multi speed air compressor. This was a direct result of an energy audit performed at our Nashua, NH location.
We also replaced a cooling tower that regulates the temperature of the water that cools our melting furnaces.
These investments indicate our desire to maintain our commitment to our manufacturing operation and capability.
Ergonomics Grant
We recently received a grant from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service that was authored by our Labor/Management team. The grant will fund an ergonomics project to improve our material handling systems. We are incorporating a series of conveyors and utilizing carts to move work throughout our manufacturing departments. These improvements will reduce lifting injuries by keeping tote boxes of hardware off the floor and in the safe lifting zone.
Lean Initiative
We continue to refine our manufacturing processes to become more efficient, reduce throughput times and reduce scrap and rework all in an effort to insure our competitive position and provide good secure jobs for our employees.
Thanks,
Jim Bernard
President/CEO
The Bronze Craft Corporation
|  7/7/08
Email Tracking Now Available Bronze Craft now offers same day email tracking numbers to our customers. This new tracking system allows you to follow the progress of your shipments. If you'd like to sign up, please email us at bronze@bronzecraft.com.
| 5-27-08 Earth Friendly Practices at Bronze CraftThe casting alloys we use here at Bronze Craft are all manufactured to the Copper Development Association specifications. Bronze Craft recycles all metals used in our process. The raw materials used by our smelters to produce these alloys are from the secondary or scrap copper market, which recycles copper and nickel bearing components from many diverse sources. Bronze Craft recycles all of the sand used in our foundry process. Sand no longer suitable for use in our process is provided to primary metal smelters as an effective substitute for silica used to clean or flux molten copper. The primary copper smelting process which uses our sand, melts it, changing it from sand to glass slag. The slag is then processed and sized for reuse by roof shingle manufacturers and ore mining operations. To reduce our hazardous waste streams and provide lower prices on American made products to our customers, we have offered hardware finishes such as US25DX, which better match BHMA, finish specifications and reduce polishing belt disposal volume and cost. We have installed HEPA filtered fans at all air discharge points in our production process in addition to our bag houses in order to ensure that our plant does not in any way pollute the air in our community. In order to conserve energy in our plant we have replaced all lighting fixtures with modern energy efficient lighting, which not only conserves energy, but also improves work lighting for our employees. We have formulated a custom water based lacquer, which performs, equally as well as our traditional lacquer. In addition, we have installed water based lacquer spray equipment to reduce, by one half, the release of volatile organic compounds to the atmosphere. Environmental or earth friendly strategies are very important to our business in and outside of America. We have seen many of our traditional window hardware products copied by our competitors and subsequently made in developing countries such as China. In order to remain competitive we have developed manufacturing partnerships with Chinese foundries. The lack of environmental and worker safety enforcement in China is widespread but will not last. Environmental impacts brought on by the expansion of China's manufacturing base will force increased rule making and enforcement by the Chinese government. This in turn will create higher costs and prices for Chinese made products. To support our Chinese manufacturing partners we provide technical guidance on environmental and worker safety controls to reduce their R&D costs and remain competitive. Green Products We have seen an increased interest in "green" building products in the last few years. This is particularly true in the American west coast architectural community. Green building concepts generally focus on energy conservation. Some products we distribute for Ultra Flex Control Systems (UCS) allow building HVAC systems to interface with electric motors to operate windows thereby saving energy costs for heating and cooling. European countries have been focused on green or energy efficient technologies for several decades. We have established distribution agreements with European manufacturers of building ventilation products. These products, when used within the context of a green building design allow significant energy savings in some climates. The "green architecture" movement is too important to be considered a fad, but probably will not get the wide spread attention it deserves in the US until America's energy costs rise to equal or exceed those seen in Europe.
| 5-1-08
Bronze Craft is proud to offer the newest product in its line of high-strength, impact Hurricane Hardware: the Impact Custodial Lock.
|
|
