Meet the newest member of our quality team!
We purchased this Keyence IM-8000 Series Image Dimension Measurement System in February. It has immediately impacted our quality control and production processes, enhancing our ability to ensure that every part we deliver exceeds acceptable tolerances.
Read More →
If you’ve started a project with us recently, you probably spoke with Scott Macek, our new sales associate. Scott joined us in May and quickly proved an excellent fit at Fourslide. From evaluating new quotes to sourcing material and helping ensure that returning business runs as smoothly as it ever has, his versatile background in manufacturing and management has made him a significant asset to the team.
Read More →
After 53 years with the company, Judy Schmidt has retired as Fourslide’s CFO / Office Manager.
Judy started with us part-time in 1970 in a job-share arrangement with her mother doing accounts payable, accounts receivable, and general office work. No computers! All paper! When her daughter was born in 1972, Judy took five years off, though she continued to assist her mother at work. She returned under the same arrangement in 1978, leaving each day in time to greet her daughter as she got off the bus. Judy would eventually take over for her mother full-time, with her responsibilities growing to include Human Resources and Chief Financial Officer.
Read More →
We get this question every day as manufacturers struggle with ballooning lead times, expensive changes to tooling, and quality control for critical components. And the answer may surprise you!
Sophisticated high-volume parts that traditionally required complex tooling on a progressive power press can be an excellent fit for the fourslide manufacturing process. With its unique integration of stamping and forming operations, the fourslide process can dramatically reduce typical tooling costs, halve tooling lead times, and eliminate post-production adjustments needed to meet specifications.
Read More →
This fall marks our 60th year producing stamped and formed metal parts here in Bristol, Connecticut. Boy have we ever come a long way.
Arthur Funk and a partner founded Fourslide Spring Products, Inc. on the 4th floor of Bristol’s historic J.H. Sessions building in 1962. Starting with a single customer and a single machine for fabricating parts, Fourslide has steadily grown into a $6 million operation employing 25 workers.
All of us at Fourslide Spring and Stamping will miss Executive Vice President Jim Richards as he retires after 17 years at the company.
Jim has been an integral part of Fourslide since the day he arrived in Bristol, armed with a wealth of knowledge and years of experience in manufacturing, machine building, and machine tool sales. With a keen skill in negotiation, Jim was instrumental in forging great relationships with many businesses that remain loyal customers. Under his guidance, core business sales rose an average of 5% per year, with sales of new tools increasing from 15 per year to more than 50 in 2022.
Mark Ratta, the Working Leader on our production floor, joined Fourslide nearly 30 years ago as a member of the Shipping and Receiving Department.
“I didn’t even know what a fourslide machine looked like when I got here,” offers Mark. Three decades later, he is a very accomplished set-up man and a highly effective Working Leader.
After a 20-month hiatus – both scheduled and dictated by COVID protocols – the next phase of our facility update and reorganization is back in full swing.
The first stage of upgrades intended to boost production capacity by as much as 50% involved relocating our toolroom to an up-fitted area previously vacated by our assembly operation. This new phase involves the area that previously housed our toolmaking activities.
We’re often asked this question after prospective customers receive a quotation. The answer is quite simple: your Fourslide tool’s life is the same as the life expectancy of the part it’s making.
Tooling built by Fourslide Spring & Stamping is truly a Non-Recurring Expense. All maintenance, repair, and even replacement of the tooling are free of charge. So long as the design of the part remains the same, the customer never pays another nickel in tooling charges.
We are often asked to recommend a material for a customer’s flat spring, spring clip, battery contact, or other custom part. The standard response is that we do not make material recommendation, because the application requirements (e.g., spring force, conductivity, range of motion and corrosion resistance) are so critical to material selection. Our expertise lies in the manufacture of springs and stampings, not the design of the part for its intended function.
Rather, we suggest the materials that are viable alternatives relative to the manufacturability of a part. Many part geometries can be accomplished utilizing spring-tempered materials such as stainless steel, spring brass or phosphor bronze. When possible, these are preferable because they do not require heat treatment subsequent to forming, a process that can cause part distortion.
© 2023 Fourslide Spring and Stamping, Inc.