Madison Buckley

Austin Family Business Program Selects The Ulven Companies as finalist in Annual Contest.

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Oct 30, 2012

As a family-owned business, The Ulven Companies, was recognized as a finalist in the annual Excellence in Family Business Contest conducted by the Austin Family Business Program. The Austin Family Business Program was started at Oregon State University in 1985 to serve the business community and was the second of its kind established. The program is not aimed towards start-up companies, but rather towards established family business looking for practical business tools in an affordable and easily accessible format. They provide many workshops and seminars throughout the year with an emphasis on day-to-day operations and planning for future generations.

The contest received 31 applications for 2012. Scores are totaled from written applications and the finalists advanced onto the second round. After round two, oral presentations, a winner is chosen along with three finalists in each category.

AE Coleman Chair in Family Business Director, Sherri Noxel told The Ulven Companies, “This year, the judges had an especially difficult time selecting only one winner per category…You are a special family with an exemplary business. We are pleased to have this opportunity to honor you and your contributions to the economy and to the world of family business.” A formal ceremony was held on Thursday, November 15, at the Governor Hotel in Portland.

The Ulven Companies have been in the forging industry for over 40 years – starting with the creation of Ulven Forging, Inc. in 1971. The Ulven Companies now comprise a group of four different American companies and are privately held. Each company has its unique set of process capabilities in different areas of the industry and is known for bringing high quality, cost-effective products to its customers with reliability and integrity.

Contact: Dan Ulven, President TUC
888-558-9779

Madison Buckley

Major PGE Power Expansion Underway at The Ulven Companies to Meet Production Demands

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Oct 18, 2012

The Ulven Companies have announced expansion plans for electrical power for their primary manufacturing plants in Hubbard, Oregon. The project has been a collaborative effort between The Ulven Companies, PGE, and local contractors requiring extensive excavation, directional drilling, capital equipment and electrical work. The expansion will directly provide power requirements for manufacturing facilities for Ulven Forging, Inc., and Wolf Steel Foundry.

The Ulven Companies have grown significantly in recent years and this continued growth and expansion of the company has driven the need for expansion of the power capacity available on The Ulven Companies campus.

Jordan Reed, Industrial Engineer at The Ulven Companies said, “The expansion enables our continual growth, our ability to meet the needs of our customers, and positions Ulven to have a positive impact in new markets and industries.” In addition, the new power capacity will allow the company to incorporate more energy efficient equipment and manufacturing processes, which help the company be more competitive in the market.

The Ulven Companies have been in the forging industry for over 40 years – starting with the creation of Ulven Forging, Inc. in 1971. The Ulven Companies now comprise a group of four different American companies and are privately held. Each company has its unique set of process capabilities in different areas of the industry and is known for bringing high quality, cost-effective products to its customers with reliability and integrity.

Contact: Dan Ulven, President TUC
888-558-9779

Madison Buckley

Lean Manufacturing Summit Between The Ulven Companies and Samson Leads to Increased Production

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Oct 11, 2012

During one of the routine vendor visits that Samson, a synthetic rope manufacturer, paid to The Ulven Companies this year, they heard and saw the progress TUC had made in the first year of implementing Lean Manufacturing. Samson became eager to have TUC visit their company to share and compare experiences along the journey towards Lean Manufacturing excellence.

Lean Manufacturing is a business philosophy with a goal of maximizing customer value by minimizing waste. Lean Manufacturing focuses on creating more value for customers with the concept of eliminating 9 main types of waste – transport, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, over-processing, defects, environmental/energy, and underutilized people. Ulven Forging has been consulting with Tom Wright-Hay of OMEP (Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership) to implement Lean company-wide.

The Ulven delegation sent four equipment operators and four managers for a 2-day trip to Samson headquarters in Ferndale, Washington. Tom Arnold, Lean Champion at Ulven said, “It has become clear that when a company embraces and embarks on a Lean Manufacturing transformation, it joins a fraternity of companies that are on the same path. One of the core beliefs in Lean is that information hoarding is of no benefit to anyone.” This was clear over the course of the meeting between these two companies. The purpose of the meeting was to share each company’s journey with Lean Manufacturing and share tools and ideas that may be useful to support each other in the shared mission of domestic manufacturing success.

Samson was originally founded in 1878 by J.P. Tolman, in Massachusetts. The company’s association with the strength of the biblical character is apt, since its ropes have long been the best in strength and durability. By the time the company relocated to Washington State, the company was a conglomerate of several well-known cordage companies. Today Samson engineers continue to lead the exploration of new fiber and rope construction technologies to meet the demands of the industries as diverse as commercial and recreational marine, arborists, logging utility, and more.

The Ulven Companies have been in the forging industry for over 40 years – starting with the creation of Ulven Forging, Inc. in 1971. The Ulven Companies now comprise a group of four different American companies and are privately held. Each company has its unique set of process capabilities in different areas of the industry and is known for bringing high quality, cost-effective products to its customers with reliability and integrity.

Contact: Dan Ulven, President TUC
888-558-9779