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Show Before a company begins to produce hundreds and thousands of products be they cars, typewriters or toasters it must make a few experimental samples for testing. Industry calls these "prototypes." Prototypes are made of many components some of which may be prototypes themselves. Springs, for example, are essential parts , of many products. And springs can vary widely in shape, size, materials and function. When a company is developing de-veloping ' an experimental product, it may need only a few special springs springs unlike any others that make this particular product work. Companies can get assistance assist-ance in designing prototype springs from a supplier that has special departments devoted de-voted to creative spring design de-sign and small production runs. Associated Spring, Barnes Group Inc., has "special order" departments at ten locations in North America with experts who work closely with customers to develop and manufacture prototype springs even one-of-a-kind springs or several variations on a single design. Later, a customer may order hundreds of thousands of springs. But at prototype time, a few are just fine. And because Associated Spring is the world's largest springmaker, it offers expertise exper-tise in engineering, materials . procurement and production produc-tion techniques. |