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In 1971 General Motors was searching
for a new pointer supplier and encouraged Howard Schuitema
to begin a business for this purpose. That was the beginning
of Monroe, LLC.
The following list highlights some of the milestones achieved
by Monroe, LLC. and our dedicated, talented employees:
1971 - Monroe, LLC established in October, Grand Rapids, Michigan
1972 - Tooled up and began production of stamped metal pointers
for General Motors. Began Machine and Engineering departments
for production of prototypes, assembly equipment and fixtures.
1973 - Introduced the concept of plastic pointers, molded
in color.
1974 - Injection molded plastic pointers passed engineering,
environmental and aesthetic tests and were approved for production.
1975 - Plastic pointers were shown as an option on customers'
prints. Monroe began to tool up for the production of plastic
pointers, while continuing the production of metal.
1976 - Plastic pointers in production and prints discontinued
the stamped option.
1976 - Moved to larger facility to accommodate growth due
to additional customers.
1977 - Began automatic counter weight insertion during molding
process.
1980 - Introduced internally lit pointers i.e. light pipes.
1981 - Due to larger weight of lit pointers developed technology
to produce molded lead counter weights. (not cast)
1984 - Enlarged plant to accommodate molding, decorating,
engineering and assembly needs.
1987 - Began mold production using CAM equipment.
1988 - Developed with customers engineering group the technology
and methods for production of a different concept for analog
information display. The resulting product required methods
beyond accepted molding and heat stability standards. Shipped
15,000,000 parts over three years without a single field failure.
1989 - Added to decorating capabilities screen-printing and
pad painting.
1990 - Moved Engineering, Tool Design, Mold Build and Assembly
equipment manufacturing to new facilities.
1992 - Added CAD to design capabilities. Expanded engineering
staff to provide an engineer assigned to each customer's project.
1993 - As a cost savings recommended for all pointers the
elimination of the brass bushing interface to the instrument
shaft - developed with our customer by using close tolerance
technology the methods to obtain required push/pull interface
forces.
1997 - Established Sales representation for Euro market, stationed
in England.
1998 - Moved assembly to new facility due to special environmental
needs. Introduced vision systems to all assembly machines
to assure aesthetic and assembly standards.
1999 - Began the use of LED's as an option for light source
1999 - Added ray tracing methodology to engineering capabilities
as a means to provide digital verification to our customer
of their lighting specifications.
2000 - Started hands free assembly and packaging.
2001 - Assigned Engineering dedicated to the support of Euro
activity.
2002 - Obtained 9 parts per million-defect rate as reported
by customers.
2002 - Developed LED lit display for appliance manufacturer.
2003 - Began shipments of lighted information display to appliance
manufacturer.
2005 - Monroe begins to ship Hi-Volume chrome plated pointers.
2006 - Monroe LLC is purchased by the Huizenga Group.
2007 - Monroe leads development of shaftless motor pointers in North America.
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