Did the Seasons Change? We’ve Been Too Busy to Notice!

On August 25th, our legacy company, North American Spring Tool (NAST), merged with Spring Manufacturer’s Supply Company (SMSC) to form Spring Tool Solutions (STS). That same week, we published a press release, launched our Spring Tool Solutions website, and created a new STS LinkedIn page. That’s enough to keep anyone busy, but that’s not all we did.

Then, on August 28th, we were the golf cart sponsors at the New England Spring & Metal Stamping Association’s (NESMA) annual golf outing in Farmington, CT. We can’t call this enjoyable golf outing “work”, but it did pull some of us away from the office at an exceptionally busy time. Nonetheless, we’re glad we went because events like these are time well spent.

They give us a chance to share ideas and best practices among our industry peers, which has more value than can be measured or monetized. When we attend, we almost always learn something new, meet someone new, or connect with a great supplier or customer. At this outing, NESMA graciously allowed our STS president, Alan Ortner, to formally announce the merger and introduce our new company. This short announcement helped spread the word quickly, demonstrating another benefit of industry events.

Since the golf outing, we’ve been busy with merger logistics. On September 13th, we moved machines and other equipment from SMSC in Southington, CT to our STS facility in Berlin, CT. Fortunately, it was only a 20-minute drive, but we took multiple trips, and trucks were tightly packed with some very heavy loads.

We moved several people to our Berlin headquarters this month, too. SMSC had some exceptionally skilled employees, and they – along with SMSC’s machines – will significantly increase STS’s capabilities and capacity. While we built new workspaces for these team members, our IT department scrambled to set them up with all the login credentials and software they needed to hit the ground running. And they are.

Now that the move is over, things are finally calming down a bit for us. Everything is in place, and our customers are already beginning to reap the benefits of having the talent and equipment of two companies combined under one roof. We can take a short breather and enjoy the bright blue skies and crisp air, while we watch the trees for more signs of autumn.

This fall, we invite you to look around the new STS website or our new STS LinkedIn page. Also, if you were following our NAST LinkedIn page, please note that we’ll be deleting this page in October.