Page 188 - BWA FEB 2013

188 | Business World Magazine | February 2013
INSISTING ON
EXCELLENCE
To provide insight on the company’s engi-
neering capabilities, Ron Check (the Vice
President who leads Corporate Engineering
and Technology) begins a lecture detailing
distinctions in the metallurgical modalities
among spring varieties categorized in terms
of torsion, extension or compression dynam-
ics. While not really as confusing as it may
sound, there is somewhat more comprehen-
sible truth in Check’s assertion, “It’s not just
bent wire.”
To appreciate the depth of that com-
ment requires his further explanation as to
how products have to be engineered with
standards of precision customized for the
application. For example, the engine valve
springs they manufacture for the automobile
industry is very different from that manu-
factured for vehicles in the racing industry.
Check says drag racers require valve springs
that can withstand bursts from “a hell of a lot
of force” for a short duration. On other rac-
ing circuits, those valve springs have to be cus-
tomized for endurance, allowing the driver
to complete 500 miles on a round track. The
properties are different, but in either case,
should the valve spring malfunction caus-
ing the valve to drop, the engine is thereby