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Forest City Gear

Forest City Gear Achieves ISO 13485 Medical Certification, Makes Major Investment in Capital Equipment

ROSCOE, Ill.--Forest City Gear (Forest City Gear) reported recently that it has achieved ISO 13485 certification for the manufacture of medical devices and, in a separate announcement, said that it has invested over $6 million during the last 18 months in the purchase of new capital equipment for the manufacture and inspection of gears. Forest City Gear CEO Fred Young and President Wendy Young, along with Patrick Keeley, quality manager for the firm, who jointly coordinated the certification process, made the announcement of the company's ISO 13485 medical certification. Everett Hawkins, director of sales, was also instrumental in facilitating the achievement of the certification, the company said.

Emphasizing product quality and strict process control, Forest City Gear manufactures various gear types for products used worldwide in aerospace and transportation, as well as medical, military, industrial, and consumer product applications. Gears are now in production at Forest City Gear for various medical devices, including a 4340 alloy steel gear for the articulation of the patient table in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unit; a brass gear for mechanical movement in an X-ray machine; a composite gear assembly for a blood infusion pumping station; and a specialty alloy gear for motion control on an artificial elbow mechanism. These and other medical gears are engineered and manufactured at the company's factory in Roscoe, Illinois, northwest of Chicago.

According to CEO Fred Young, the company's reinvestment of revenue was made primarily to expand the company's manufacturing capabilities and to maintain its reputation for staying on the leading edge of manufacturing technology.

"Our customers expect Forest City Gear always to lead the way in devising new production techniques to make better gears for them, at competitive cost and with superior service," said Young. "That's a tall order, but it's one we welcome. Our track record speaks for itself in this area, as Forest City Gear has reinvested an average between 25% and 40% of our annual revenue for the last 30 years in the purchase of gear-making machinery and ancillary equipment. In addition, we've made some major investments in green technology, over the last two years."

The company's new equipment includes a variety of gear shapes, gear hobbers, and gear grinders, as well as inspection equipment that includes a Wenzel Gear Tec LH87 CMM with rotary table; a Wenzel Gear Tec WGT 600 CNC analytical checker with air bearing technology; and Mitutoyo Digimatic Model HDS H24C height gages. Among its new gear shapers is a Gleason PSA gear shaper with electronic helical guide to eliminate the need for helical lead guides. It has a special face gear attachment that is said to allow increased shaping capability, more prototype capability, and shorter lead times, along with more accurate face gears, which, in some instances, can substitute for bevel gears. Other new gear shapers are a Gleason PSA 300 gear shaper with electronic helical guide and automatic column inclination, and Fellows/Bourn & Koch MS450-125 CNC gear shapers with radial crowning and electronic helical guideless shaping.