"the inspectable round sling: a technological breakthrough by first sling technology" -...

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Wire Rope News & Sling Technology December 20078

continued on page 10

The inspectable round slingA technological breakthrough by

First Sling TechnologyBy Thomas G. Dolan

The Mustang, 0K-based First Sling Technology, LLC, is a new company, just two years old. Its founder and president, Linda Summars, is an inventor. Her first product repre-sents an improvement of identification systems for synthetic slings. The second, recently introduced, represents something brand new, an inspectable round sling.

Summars explains that the im-petus for her first product came from the relatively new ASME

B30.9 standard dealing with slings which came out in 2000. This standard puts the responsibility on the end user so that if the tag becomes illegible or detached from the sling, the sling must be removed from service. “This can be-come costly,” Summars says. “In the past there have been three major types of tags, leather, preprinted vinyl tags, and software system based tags. They all look good cosmetically on the shelf, but none of them can be depended on to hold up well enough in the field to

huge issue.” The second, she contin-ues, is that the ID tag is typically sewn onto the sling, but the penetration of the needle into the tag material tends to weaken it so that the entire tag can easily become ripped off.

Summars’ solution was to enclose the tag and protect it in a heavy clear plas-tic or vinyl window. She adapted this technology from the automotive indus-try, the windows used on convertibles. The tags are sewn onto the slings the same way they were before, but this window protects the tag and prevents it from being torn off. The window also

Linda Sommers presented her inspectable round sling at a recent meeting of the Spe-cialized Carriers & Rigging Association.

protect the information.”There are two problems. One, Sum-

mars says, “is abrasion, which is a

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continued from page 8protects the tag not only from the wear and tear on the letters from abrasion, but also the fading of information tra-ditionally applied with ink due to high temperatures. For this window is heat resistant as well.

“This window is not only a part of the tag, but an attractive part as well,” Summars says. Furthermore, she con-tinues, the vinyl tag has a special fin-ish so you can use a laser or color print-er. “You don’t need special equipment, so that keeps costs down,” Summars says.

The result of this innovation is that now the tag is not, because it is a re-quired add-on, the weakest part of the sling. Rather, as says Summars, “In most cases, the tag will outlast the sling itself.”

Summars latest embellishment to this product has been incorporating radio frequency identification (RFID) into the tag via a micro chip. At this point there are some 16-20 locations using this ID system. “We have inte-grated with Distributor Computer Sys-tems so that their operational software can utilize our tagging system for their rigging shop software.”

Summars started her company in October, 2005. After a three month

(L-R) Robert Ashley, with sons and Ashley Sling owners, David, Greg and Mike.

start-up period, this ID system was in-troduced into the marketplace in Janu-ary, 2006.

But what Summars has been work-ing on since, and what she considers “the heart” of her company, is the in-spectable round sling.

Here Summars also refers to the ASME B30.9 Chapter 6 standard that deals with slings. But, she says, “His-torically round slings, unlike wire

rope, chain, or any other type of sling, are outside the regulatory inspection criteria because the user is unable to inspect the core, load bearing material, which is hidden beneath the cover.”

The cover, she explains, embodies and protects the very fine fibers of the yarn, which would not hold together without the cover. But, ultimately, she maintains, this heavy duty layer

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of protection the cover provides makes not for a safer, but rather a more dan-gerous sling. Unlike, say, a flat web sling, in which the user can view the yarn to see whether or not it’s intact, all the user can see on the round sling is its painted cover. “But the cover has no real weight bearing capacity at all,” Summars says. “So you can have a cov-er that appears in good condition but the underlying core yarn is not. Or, you can have a cover that may be abraded or damaged, but the underlying sling is fine.”

A few companies have addressed this problem, Summars says, through sling “jewelry” or indicators in the joints which can provide an early warning for deterioration within. “But this is not enough,” Summars says. “The biggest problem is false readings.”

For many years, Summars continues, the inability to accurately inspect round slings “has been a huge issue in our in-dustry. Another part of the equation is that there are thousands of round slings sold every day in North America. But the problem has increased because of imports, especially from China. Now round slings have become more and more of a commodity. To compete, many distributors sell foreign made

continued from page 10

round slings where it’s more difficult to establish the quality controls.” In ad-dition, Summars says, in many indus-tries in which safety is a driving factor, such as nuclear, the military, energy, and railroads, “some users have quit using round slings after a failure or a near miss, because they could not see what is going on with the sling.” Also, Summars says, inspectors have had difficulty with round slings both for in-specting and training inspectors.

Summars solution?A transparent cover so the user

can see through to the sling beneath. “The idea started deceptively simple, that seemed like a simple solution,”

Summars says. But simple in concept does not necessarily mean simple in application to the real world. Bring-ing the product to fruition was a long hard struggle. “I would be remiss if I didn’t give credit to Murdock Webbing who helped develop this product,” says Summars. Murdock, based in Provi-dence, RI, worked to develop and refine the technology for three years. “It was not a piece of cake,” she says.

But, she adds, “There’s been such an advance in synthetic fiber technology, the same dynamics which has resulted in so much high strength performance yarn. There’s been an explosion in this

High-strength yarn is being fed through the cover of a round sling.

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area• Innovation has moved so much faster than in steel.”

Again, the search went outside this industry, which utilizes multi-filament yarn, to utilize mono-filament yarn, an established technology in other areas. Weaving this filament in a tubular form resulted in a clear as opposed to opaque cover. This was not easy. “We had to equal the surface abrasion re-sistance quality comparable to a ny-lon or polyester multi-filament,” Sum-mars says. “But, in the process, along with adding transparency, we actually improved the weave so that it is snag resistance. Even on traditional polyes-ter round sling covers, small particles of abrasive material can penetrate the cover, though you can’t see it. There are no holes or tears. You’ll never have to

A sling user inspects the core of this round sling, through the sling’s transparent cover.

A sling I.D. tag being sewn onto a First Sling Technology inspectable round sling cover.

retire a sling on the basis of its cover.” Summars introduced her inspectable

round sling at the Association of Wire Rope Fabricators meeting in Palm Springs in April. So far she’s gotten an enthusiastic response. “When I went to the training session for inspectors in cranes and rigging, they were very excited by the product, and are using samples in their training,” she says. She’s taken the product to the sub com-mittee for B3O.9 and they too felt “it opened many doors to achieving a safer sling.” In addition to two potential rig-gers on the Gulf who may license the product, it is now being used by Ashley Slings, Atlanta, GA; Marcel Rigging, St. Louis, MO; Lift-In Manufacturing, Los Angeles, CA; and Hercules, SLR, Nova Scotia, Canada - all of whom re-port good results. When she exhibits to end users, she gets comments such as “This is the sling of the future, and “Why didn’t I think of it?”

The question here is, why did Sum-mars think of it? She likens it to luggage on wheels to take to the airport. Once you see that, and realize you don’t have to lug your luggage around, you’re not likely to go back. For this reason, Sum-mars is confident that the idea will, in similar fashion, spread throughout the industry.

Like luggage on wheels, a simple idea countless people could have come up with, but apparently only one per-son did. So why did Summars come up with the idea?

“I’ve been in the sling business for 30 years,” Summars replies. “So I know that, from the end user’s standpoint, inspecting round slings has always been confusing. They’re never quite sure when to pull the sling out of ser-vice or to continue its use.”

But, to really understand Sommers immersion in and dedication to the In-dustry, it’s necessary to go back even further. Sommars would probably not be offended if she was told she was born with wire rope for veins. “When I


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was six yours old I was helping my dad-dy splice cargo nets,” She recalls. Her father, Lanell Cox was, she says “an Okie, “ and her mother was from Hous-ton. When Summars was a toddler, her father sold his farm and moved to Houston. He went to work for Man-chester Sling Company, and, after a few years, he and a partner purchased the company. When Summars was 13, he moved back to Oklahoma and pur-chased a farm.

But he apparently couldn’t stay out of the business. He worked for Gulf Coast Wire Rope for a time, and helped them set up rigging shops and train-ing workers to make slings. In 1975 he formed United Rigging in Oklahoma City. Summars was 18, taking classes, but soon started working for her father. When she was 23, he passed away. Her mother had never worked, and her lit-tle brother, Jody, was nine years old.

So, at age 23, Summars took over the company. “I was thrown into the fire. It was scary as hell, but it worked out. It was definitely not easy, but daddy put so much hard work and honesty into the business that, well, it’s an old cli-che, but it paid off. His suppliers and customers really helped me out. The one thing he always said which has

continued from page 16 always stuck with me is that ‘It’s not a good deal unless it’s a good deal for everybody.”

Bridon-America acquired the compa-ny, and now it’s a part of the CERTEX group. Summars stayed on as general manager from 1991 to 1999, but says that, though she really didn’t disagree with the decisions being made, she had a small family business orientation and didn’t really enjoy working for a large corporation. In 1999, her mother de-veloped terminal cancer, so Summars retired to stay with her. Shortly after-wards, a former customer, F&M Mafco, in Oklahoma City, had a distribution center but wanted to open a rigging shop so they hired Summars to do that. She stayed there six years. Her broth-er, Jody Cox, came on board and took over her position as manager when she resigned in 2005 to start First Sling Technology.

Summars has been very active in AWRF, having served on the board of directors for two terms, as well as hav-ing held a number of officer positions. She has been a committee chair for the Web Sling and Tiedown Association, and has been active in the Association of Crane and Rigging Manufacturers, and, most recently, the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association.

Summars has two children from her first marriage. Her son, Wyatt Townsend, is a political science ma-jor, with a minor in international re-lations. He works part time, but will be full time when he graduates, with a focus on international patents. Her daughter, Blair, is 17, in high school. “The love of her life is cutting horses and doing cattle work.” Summars has been married to her current husband, Paul Summars, for 9 years. “When we get up in the morning, Paul puts on his tie and I put on my boots,” she quips.

Summars puts on her boots not for her own shop, but to visit other shops as well as end users to market her products. Her office is her home and she works now primarily marketing her product. Sling makers are licensed to use her round sling. But Murdock makes and sells them. Summars makes her money through licensing fees and royalty. “We all work closely together so we all make a little money, and it’s a good deal for everybody,” Summars says.

Summars concludes by saying that the positive responses she’s gotten for her products “has been very gratifying. The industry has given so much to me, it feels good to be able to give some-thing back.” WRN

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