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September Chapter Meeting held at:
Ryan
Ornamental and Ryan Iron Works,
Raynham, Massachusetts
September 27th the Northeast Chapter of NOMMA held a meeting at Ryan Iron Works in Raynham, MA. Paul
Berube, division manager of Ryan Ornamental, a division of Ryan Iron Works, hosted the gathering.
After the chapter business meeting, Paul gave a brief history of Ryan Iron. The company dates back to the late 1890s. Edward Thomas Ryan incorporated the business in 1918 as E. T. Ryan Iron Works. EG & G, a national conglomerate, purchased the family owned business in the mid 60s. The current owners, Howard Shea and Paul Kelley acquired Ryan Iron in 1973. Since this time, Ryan Iron has grown tenfold to the size it is today. Ryan utilizes 62,000 square feet of fabrication space on a 6.5 acre parcel of land.
Paul proceeded in giving the attendees a tour of the facility beginning with the estimating department. This department of eight estimators utilize a computer software program developed specifically for Ryan Iron. What used to be a manual process was transformed into a computer based program.
The next stop was the drafting department. Here is where full sized drawings are used for layout. The drawings are taped down to a table and fabrication begins. This process enables the mechanics to immediately start working on the project.
As we continued our tour, Mike Spring, Production Manager of Ryan’s main fabrication facility, directed us through the main floor describing the flow of projects through production. The layout of equipment and the design of processes fostered an efficient working environment.
Paul then took us to his domain, a separate 12,000 square foot facility dedicated to nonferrous work. As we entered the building an employee was fitting parts on a large stainless steel rail. The railing was positioned as it would appear in the field. There were approximately seven other employees working on different projects. One individual was finishing a stainless steel bench. Another individual demonstrated how a machine appropriately named as “Timesaver” polished a large piece of stainless rectangular tubing in less than a few minutes. There was a pipe polishing machine in another area of the shop. The employee at this station was polishing brass pipe in 20 foot lengths. The polishing machine also is used for stainless steel and aluminum pipe.
There was free exchange of information. Questions relating to equipment use, specific processes, time and material information was exchanged. The employees at Ryan were informative in describing their input to the production process.
The tour was concluded with a luncheon. Paul fielded questions in an informal setting among the meeting participants. All in all, the day provided a valuable educational experience.
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