About Symmco: powder metal manufacturing since 1952
From its founding in 1952, Symmco has evolved into one of the most innovative and technically capable companies in our industry. Investments in state of the art equipment and leading edge material technology provide our customers today with solutions to their design, quality and delivery challenges.
Two plants, one company
Symmco Incorporated manufactures at 40 South Park Street in Sykesville, Pennsylvania, and Symmco Tennessee Incorporated at 386 Phipps Bend Road in Surgoinsville, Tennessee. Both plants produce, so a Symmco part is made in the USA at one of the two rather than at a single site, and between them they run 39 compacting presses: 36 in Pennsylvania from 5 to 750 tons on mechanical, hydraulic and electric drives, and 3 in Tennessee from a 300-ton electric press to a 500-ton hydraulic one. Dorst presses at both plants produce parts with up to seven levels, and the Osterwalder presses in Pennsylvania do the same on mechanical and hydraulic technologies.
| Plant | Address | Phone | Presses | Tonnage | Drives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symmco Incorporated | 40 South Park Street, Sykesville, PA 15865 | 814-894-2461 | 36 | 5 to 750 tons | Mechanical, hydraulic and electric |
| Symmco Tennessee Incorporated | 386 Phipps Bend Road, Surgoinsville, TN 37873 | 423-455-6434 | 3 | 300 to 500 tons | Electric and hydraulic |
What Symmco makes, and for whom
The catalogue side of the business is sintered bushings, bearings and bar stock in SAE 841 oil-impregnated bronze, with cored and solid bars in SAE 863 iron-copper for higher-load applications: over 1,500 unique stocked parts, tooling to make over 5,000 standard sized parts, and the largest inventory of sintered bronze bushings and bearings in North America. The twelve stock families are:
- SAE 841 Bronze Sleeve Bearings (SS)
- SAE 841 Bronze Flange Bearings (BSF)
- SAE 841 Sleeve Flange Bearings (SF)
- SAE 841 Flanged Bearings (FFB)
- SAE 841 Bronze Thrust Washers (ST)
- SAE 841 Bronze Cored Bars (SCS)
- SAE 841 Bronze Solid Bars (SBS)
- SAE 841 Bronze Rectangular Plates (SP)
- SAE 841 Bronze Solid Discs (SDD)
- SAE 841 Bronze Cored Disc (SCD)
- SAE 863 Iron-Copper Cored Bars (FCCS)
- SAE 863 Iron-Copper Solid Bars (FCSS)
Custom work runs the majority of MPIF Standard 35 materials, across bronze, iron-copper, iron, steel and stainless steel, and extends to Somaloy 1P, 3P and 5P soft magnetic composites. Parts that require high-temperature sintering are the exception Symmco does not take on, and its engineers raise that at quoting so alternatives can be discussed.
Those parts go to lawn and garden, electrical distribution, agriculture, recreational vehicles, power transmission and motion control and military programs, where special military-grade oils are available, and to makers of alternative energy, appliances, business machines, food processing, compressors, heavy trucks, hydraulics, marine, materials handling, plastic injection molding, pumps and transit equipment. Symmco works with multiple lawn and garden companies, supplying parts for more than transmissions. Applied Industrial Technologies is Symmco's main distributor, and Symmco also supplies parts directly to distributors.
Capacity for new programs
Symmco has more than enough open capacity for new product opportunities, bushings are always being manufactured, and Symmco will not turn down an order because of a capacity constraint. Stocked parts ship in 24 hours, non-stocked parts ship in as soon as six to eight weeks with flexible scheduling, and blanket purchase orders with scheduled or Kanban releases are supported for made-to-order parts.
Customers have transferred their tooling to Symmco, or launched new products there, for many reasons, and the shape of the work is the same in each case: direct quality and technical support through development, engagement with what the end user actually needs, and a ship date that Symmco works toward as the best one possible.
Quality system
Symmco's quality management system is registered to ISO 9001:2015 and its environmental management system to ISO 14001:2015, both through PRI Registrar and both current to August 10, 2027. Chemical analysis and metallurgical testing are backed by A2LA-accredited ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory testing, while in-house quality runs PPAP and first-article inspection, in-process and final audits, and statistical process control with DataMyte collectors. Symmco is a member of the Metal Powder Industries Federation, and every product carries RoHS, REACH, DFARS, Mercury-Free and California Proposition 65 documentation, with a DRC conflict-free minerals report available on request.
| Standard | System | Certificate no. | Registrar | Valid to | Certificate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 9001:2015 | Quality Management System | 025061 | PRI Registrar | August 10, 2027 | View PDF |
| ISO 14001:2015 | Environmental Management System | 023829 | PRI Registrar | August 10, 2027 | View PDF |
| ISO 14001:2015 (corporate) | Corporate environmental management system | 025062 | PRI Registrar | August 10, 2027 | View PDF |
Engineering support
Symmco offers comprehensive design support, engineering expertise and rapid in-house tool design and fabrication, with 3-D modeling and FEA simulation in SolidWorks and tooling built in-house on sinker and wire EDM, grinding and polishing equipment. That is what makes a conversion from a machined or cast part a joint exercise rather than a handoff: the engineering department confirms that powder metal is the right fit before anything is tooled, and a jointly-approved production plan follows.
When an order requires custom tooling, the customer owns the tooling. Once the original set of tools is purchased, Symmco maintains all tooling and replaces any broken tools at Symmco's expense. Tooling typically takes three to five weeks to be delivered and a brand-new part six to ten weeks to manufacture once the tooling is received, and a buyer who already owns tooling can transfer it to Symmco for quicker production.