EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is the first in a series, Manufacturing Matters, that focuses on products that are made in Richland County.
MANSFIELD – Slam your oven door. Drop the lid of your washing machine. If it slowly closes despite your best efforts to make noise, you might have Mansfield Engineered Components to thank.
Mansfield Engineered Components, 1776 Harrington Memorial Road in Mansfield, custom designs and makes appliance hinges, counterbalances and motion control components for customers like Whirlpool, General Electric and Maytag.
“If you look at the market share we have, the odds are good that many or most houses in our county, and by extension in our country … have a component of ours in the kitchen or laundry room,” said Vice President Steve Cummins. “Granted, it’s hard to see because most of what we make are functional products, but they are in homes across the country.”
While not all of closure mechanisms made by Mansfield Engineered Components will keep an oven door from banging to a loud close or the lid to a washing machine from dropping on someone’s fingers, the business is able to design and manufacture what its customers request.
The ultimate result is based largely on price. Cummins explained that a customer that can spend $10 on a closure mechanism will receive a different product than another customer that only wants to spend $1.50.
“We have to be creative in our designs to meet the price points that our customers demand,” he said. “They know what they have to sell this washing machine for and how much they can spend on each part.”
These components are more than hinges.
“When you say ‘hinges,’ people usually think you’re talking about hinges like this,” Cummins said, pointing to his office door. “We have started using the term closure mechanisms … It is what holds a door, lid or hatch on, but usually it does a lot more than that.”
The mechanisms control how an appliance door closes, allowing it to shut at a slower pace or to stay open at one angle and conveniently close at another.
Jim Collene, director of engineering oversees the innovation of new products.
“It can be challenging, but it’s rewarding to see it hit the production floor,” Collene said.
Between design and production, the company employs about 280 people and is always accepting applications for entry level positions. Cummins said the company looks for “a good attitude” in its new hires.
About 250,000 motion control components are manufactured each week. Most of the products are shipped domestically, but a substantial amount are exported to places outside the United States like the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Open your refrigerator door at a 90-degree angle. Does it stay open? Now, close it a little more. Does it still stay open? Okay, close it a little more. Does it close on its own at some point?
That could be thanks to Mansfield Engineered Components, which started as Mansfield Plating Company in 1939.
Cummin’s grandfather, Otis Cummins Jr., started Mansfield Plating Company in 1939 at a 5th Street location, which the company moved away from after a fire. He began the shop as a contract metal finisher.
“From a production standpoint, we sort of evolved up the production stream since then,” said Cummins, who has deemed himself the unofficial company historian. “We started as platers … and because the metal finisher was the tail end of the production cycle … dad (Otis ‘Koke’ Cummins) and grandpa always joked about how everything was always so last-minute.”
They decided that they could better “control our destiny” if they were also involved in production. This shift is why it was renamed “Mansfield Manufacturing Company” in the 1960s.
In the 1980s, the company began to offer designing services, too, hoping to offer more value to its customers. This portion of the company was named “Mansfield Assemblies,” which was a component of the business, which in turn was again renamed, this time to “Mansfield Industries.”
“The manufacturing part is still important for us, but we really thought we could add more value for our customers when they can come to us with an idea and … have us design it.”
Since 2011, this third-generation, family-owned company has been rebranded as Mansfield Engineered Components with the tagline: “Designing Solutions. Delivering Results.” Its owners are siblings: Bruce, Steve and Claudia Cummins. Bruce serves as the president.
Treat yourself. Go to a Subway restaurant. Even if you typically don’t get your sandwich toasted, give it a try. And ask if they use a Merrychef oven.
The closure mechanisms on the oven were probably made by Mansfield Engineered Components.
“A lot of Subways, including the one by the airport, use ovens made by MerryChef that have our hinges in,” Cummins said.
Though a bulk of business comes from customers who make residential appliances, Cummins explained that Mansfield Engineered Components produces some components used in commercial products.
The closure mechanism in a residential appliance must be able to withstand 25,000 to 30,000 cycles. But the ones in commercial appliances need to last longer.
“Dynamic or life cycle testing involves opening and closing the mechanism to the customer or agency specifications, which can be anywhere from 25,000 to a million cycles,” Cummins said. “During and after the test we examine our mechanisms for wear and any other degradation that might affect performance.”
Two other categories of testing include performance testing and static or overload testing. The first ensures that the mechanism “performs per design specifications,” and the second tests it with a maximum load.
“This is done to ensure that the door system can take real life abuse and still function as designed,” Cummins said.
Ultimately, to remain successful, Cummins said Mansfield Engineered Components selects materials carefully and focuses on making its customers happy.
