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Tungsten travails in China
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Metaldyne three face 64-count indictment The Metaldyne powder forging conspiracy case (Metal Powder Report, March 2005) is set to end in court after a federal grand jury in Detroit handed down a 30-page, 64count indictment charging three former employees with secrets theft. One former vice president and two former senior employees of Metaldyne are accused of theft of the company's powder forging trade secrets and a variety of other offences including wire and computer fraud, interstate and foreign transportation of stolen property, conspiracy and lying to the FBI.
Some of the charges relate to theft of secrets from GKN Sinter Metals, the other major player in powder forging. The central allegation is that Anne Lockwood (53) a former VP Sales at Plymouth, Michigan-based Metaldyne; her husband, Michael Haehnel (51) formerly a senior engineer at Metaldyne, both of Rockwood, Michigan; and Fuping Liu (42), a former Metaldyne metallurgist, of Westland, Michigan stole secrets and passed them to Chinese would-be competitor companies. Liu worked from Metaldyne's Shanghai office
Tipped for reliability
until April, 2004, when he moved to a senior position within GKN Sinter's Chinese operation. According to the indictment, after Lockwood left her position at Metaldyne early in 2004 she began planning with Fuping Liu to develop Chinese PM manufacturers who could displace Metaldyne as a supplier of various PM-manufactured parts, including connecting rods, to US auto and equipment manufacturers. Confidential files A company set up by Lockwood, but also involving Fuping Liu and Michael Haehnel, was to receive commissions based on the expected sales by the Chinese companies. The indictment says that while Lockwood and Fuping Liu negotiated with Chinese companies, Haehnel remained working at Metaldyne using his position there to gain access to hundreds of confidential files dealing with design, manufacturing processes, and costings, and copied them to CD for
Lockwood. The indictment also alleges that Fuping Liu stole confidential information from GKN sinter and passed it to Lockwood. The conspiracy was detected when one of the Chinese companies approached the furnace and press manufacturers in the US and Germany that had built the original units for Metaldyne for quotes on new machinery. Recognising the drawings, they contacted Metaldyne and the FBI's Cyber Crime Squad was called in. "Regardless of the highly competitive rough and tumble of today's global automotive industry, stealing is still stealing," said US Attorney Stephen J Murphy. "This indictment alleges a case of current and former employees stealing secret and crucial information from a victim company and handing it to a competitor overseas. The federal laws protecting trade secrets prohibit such conduct and, whenever it occurs, it warrants an aggressive law enforcement response."
Tungsten travails in China
Getting the balance right between cost and quality can be a marketing nightmare. Built-in obsolescence is a fact of life in the 21st Century consumer market. But when it comes to industrial products the decisions shift. In the processing industry, reliability is king. That's why Centriquip Ltd., the UK's largest manufacturer of decanter centrifuges, always uses duplex steel for its high wear components, with PM-produced hard metal tips for the rotors.
4
MPR July/august 2006
THE national television network in China has disclosed it uncovered illegal tungsten mining in Hunan province in central China, Metal Bulletin Monthly (MBM) reported. The exposé programme was part of a series focusing on illegal and unregulated mining. It alleged that government officials who were supposed to
be preventing illegal mining were engaged in the practice themselves, selling about 11 000 short tons. Official investigations in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces may reduce tungsten production, which could impact world markets for the metal. MBM reported that previous investigations have led to mine closures.
metal-powder.net
Metaldyne three face 64-count indictment The Metaldyne powder forging conspiracy case (Metal Powder Report, March 2005) is set to end in court after a federal grand jury in Detroit handed down a 30-page, 64count indictment charging three former employees with secrets theft. One former vice president and two former senior employees of Metaldyne are accused of theft of the company's powder forging trade secrets and a variety of other offences including wire and computer fraud, interstate and foreign transportation of stolen property, conspiracy and lying to the FBI.
Some of the charges relate to theft of secrets from GKN Sinter Metals, the other major player in powder forging. The central allegation is that Anne Lockwood (53) a former VP Sales at Plymouth, Michigan-based Metaldyne; her husband, Michael Haehnel (51) formerly a senior engineer at Metaldyne, both of Rockwood, Michigan; and Fuping Liu (42), a former Metaldyne metallurgist, of Westland, Michigan stole secrets and passed them to Chinese would-be competitor companies. Liu worked from Metaldyne's Shanghai office
Tipped for reliability
until April, 2004, when he moved to a senior position within GKN Sinter's Chinese operation. According to the indictment, after Lockwood left her position at Metaldyne early in 2004 she began planning with Fuping Liu to develop Chinese PM manufacturers who could displace Metaldyne as a supplier of various PM-manufactured parts, including connecting rods, to US auto and equipment manufacturers. Confidential files A company set up by Lockwood, but also involving Fuping Liu and Michael Haehnel, was to receive commissions based on the expected sales by the Chinese companies. The indictment says that while Lockwood and Fuping Liu negotiated with Chinese companies, Haehnel remained working at Metaldyne using his position there to gain access to hundreds of confidential files dealing with design, manufacturing processes, and costings, and copied them to CD for
Lockwood. The indictment also alleges that Fuping Liu stole confidential information from GKN sinter and passed it to Lockwood. The conspiracy was detected when one of the Chinese companies approached the furnace and press manufacturers in the US and Germany that had built the original units for Metaldyne for quotes on new machinery. Recognising the drawings, they contacted Metaldyne and the FBI's Cyber Crime Squad was called in. "Regardless of the highly competitive rough and tumble of today's global automotive industry, stealing is still stealing," said US Attorney Stephen J Murphy. "This indictment alleges a case of current and former employees stealing secret and crucial information from a victim company and handing it to a competitor overseas. The federal laws protecting trade secrets prohibit such conduct and, whenever it occurs, it warrants an aggressive law enforcement response."
Tungsten travails in China
Getting the balance right between cost and quality can be a marketing nightmare. Built-in obsolescence is a fact of life in the 21st Century consumer market. But when it comes to industrial products the decisions shift. In the processing industry, reliability is king. That's why Centriquip Ltd., the UK's largest manufacturer of decanter centrifuges, always uses duplex steel for its high wear components, with PM-produced hard metal tips for the rotors.
4
MPR July/august 2006
THE national television network in China has disclosed it uncovered illegal tungsten mining in Hunan province in central China, Metal Bulletin Monthly (MBM) reported. The exposé programme was part of a series focusing on illegal and unregulated mining. It alleged that government officials who were supposed to
be preventing illegal mining were engaged in the practice themselves, selling about 11 000 short tons. Official investigations in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces may reduce tungsten production, which could impact world markets for the metal. MBM reported that previous investigations have led to mine closures.
metal-powder.net