CHICAGO (June 28, 12:20 p.m. EDT) — Progressive Components International Corp. is continuing to expand its 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, President Glenn Starkey said June 19 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.