Progressive Components International Corp. (Booth N4744) is continuing its expansion, both in locations and product offerings.
The Wauconda, Ill.-based tooling components supplier will open an office in Hong Kong this year, bringing its global presence to nine locations on three continents, said President Glenn Starkey in a June 19 interview at NPE 2006 in Chicago.
Progressive expects to open the site during the fourth quarter, he said.
The company also is expanding its offerings, adding the mold-maintenance software MoldTrax 4.0 to its lineup, and bringing program developer Steve Johnson on board as maintenance systems manager.
``We've all got systems built in to our cars to let us know if we need to add oil before the engine seizes up,'' Starkey said. ``Why wouldn't we have it for a half-a-million-dollar mold? We've really assembled a top team to address this.''
Johnson developed MoldTrax of Ashland, Ohio, to create an improved way to track mold repairs and maintenance, focusing on creating a portal that makes it easier for press operators and maintenance workers to log adjustments and repairs to the mold.
The latest version adds the ability to search mold maintenance over a specific date range, Johnson said.
With a few clicks of the keyboard, molders can pull up a list of everything recorded about the mold during the past few months. They can see if problems occur on a specific press or with a specific operator, he said.
``It's a great trouble-shooting tool for the molders,'' Johnson said.