Learning about another culture

Thursday, June 13th, 2013
By: Dan Davis

Got a culture clash in your metal fabricating operation?

That’s a terrible situation, because if the workforce is unsatisfied with their environment, their negative attitude is probably carrying over to their work. More than likely, that then affects the customers of that fabricating company.

In their 2012 book ALL IN: How the Best Managers Create a Culture of Belief and Drive Big Results, Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton discuss how organizations with positive cultures actually have a greater chance of being very profitable. The authors gauge the health of an organization’s culture based on engagement, enablement, and energy. Is the employee engaged in all aspects of the company and willing to go the extra mile? Does the company enable the employee to perform up to his full potential? Is the employee energized each day, displaying the drive and effort to make a difference? If a company can answer “yes” to those questions, the authors said it is on the right path to prosperity.

To back up their findings, the authors closely examined a database with results from 700 companies compiled by a research firm in 2009 and 2010. They focused on the 25 companies that had “high-performance business results,” which suggested high engagement scores, and found that they had margins that were three times those of companies with low scores. Employees were engaged in their job duties and energized to make a difference. Meanwhile, employers put those employees in the best position to succeed. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Manager's Desk, Training and Retention | No Comments »

Oh, Canada

Thursday, June 13th, 2013
By: Vicki Bell

After reading yesterday’s “Fabricating Update” e-newsletter, a reader from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, wrote to tell me how disappointed he was that Canada was not included in the news item about how difficult it is to find skilled workers globally.

Mexico’s  stats, which are nearly the same as the U.S.—38 percent and 39 percent respectively—were included, and he understood that, to a point: “I can see how Mexico fits in as your neighbor to the South … although Mexico would not seem likely to have a wealth of skills trade workers?”

Insulting the Mexican workforce aside, the reader had a point when he wrote, “I would think it would be a whole lot more relevant to mention Canada as we freely trade workers back and forth through the United Association.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Global Marketplace, Training and Retention | No Comments »

Communicating completely, delivering on time

Thursday, June 13th, 2013
By: Tim Heston

Every year the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association hosts at least one workshop on lean manufacturing. Called LeanFab Workshop & Tours, these don’t cover cookie-cutter lean, but instead improvement methodologies that work for high-mix, low-volume operations--in other words, most of U.S. manufacturing.

This year’s conference, led by our Improvement Insights columnist Dick Kallage of KDC & Associates, and held in Columbus, Ohio, June 4-5, included tours of Ohio Laser, a fabricator in Plain City, Ohio, northwest of town; and of Emerson Network Power’s Columbus fabrication plant, which makes Liebert-brand cooling units for corporate data center facilities.

The conference revealed a telling reality of modern metal fabrication. New technology is essential to stay in the game, but it really just gets a fabricator to the table. Customers now simply expect good quality from new punches, lasers, and brakes able to hold tight tolerances.

What sets a fabricator apart is stellar on-time delivery. For many customers, a cheap part delivered late is way more expensive than a costly part delivered on time. In FMA’s 2012 Financial Ratios & Operational Benchmarking Survey, almost a third of respondents said their on-time delivery rate was 85 percent or less.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry Trends & Analysis | No Comments »

Beware poor service

Thursday, June 6th, 2013
By: Vicki Bell

In this age of many choices that are similar and competitively priced, what really makes the difference in your buying decisions? Where a product is made? Those of us who support U.S. manufacturing routinely note this and buy U.S.-made when we can. However, a recent experience—one many of you will identify with—showed me just how very important another consideration is. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Manager's Desk, Shop Soapbox | 3 Comments »

Data, statistics, and context

Friday, May 31st, 2013
By: Eric Lundin

Some of the latest headlines seem to tell a gloomy story about the state of the economy. On My 31 the Dept. of Commerce released the latest data on consumer spending, and it told of the first decrease in the last 12 months. To quote an article posted at www.nbcnews.com, “Consumer spending fell in April for the first time in almost a year and inflation pressures were subdued, pointing to a slowdown in economic activity, which should allow the Federal Reserve to maintain its monetary stimulus for a while.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry Trends & Analysis | No Comments »

Help wanted in hiring

Friday, May 31st, 2013
By: Dan Davis

As I was walking in from the parking lot this week after giving blood, the driver of the bus that is used as a mobile blood collection center asked if he could walk in with me so he could use the restroom. He knew he needed someone to buzz him into the building, and I did just that.

As I showed him where the facilities were, he turned and asked what happened to the receptionist who used to sit at the front desk. I told him that our organization downsized a bit after the start of the Great Recession, and we learned that we could do more with less. He nodded his head and responded, "I think a lot of companies learned that, and that's what's keeping companies from hiring more people."

That bus driver didn't have an economics degree, but his observation is absolutely correct. Businesses don't want to hire any full-time employees unless they absolutely have to. It keeps them lean and helps them to be more flexible in the face of the next economic downturn. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry Trends & Analysis, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Just a phone call away

Wednesday, May 29th, 2013
By: Vicki Bell

Sometimes good news is simply a phone call away. Case in point—I just had a call from an author of some very thought-provoking articles on thefabricator.com. Some months ago, “Stan” voluntarily left his job of many years for various reasons, not the least of which is that he’s a highly principled individual who had come to believe that his working conditions were no longer compatible with his principles. I can relate to that wholeheartedly, as I once left a job for that very reason. And like Stan, I left without having another job lined up. Several months later, I found the job I have now and couldn’t be happier with the company and my position. Now Stan has done the same. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Manager's Desk, Supplier Happenings | No Comments »

Metal fabrication and the solid model

Tuesday, May 28th, 2013
By: Tim Heston

A microcosm of the evolution of modern metal fabrication has unfolded outside Chicago since November of last year. A dumbwaiter manufacturer having roots going back to the 1880s, Matot’s Bellwood, Ill., factory, with its unassuming brick façade, houses a typical high-product-mix operation. Some dumbwaiters are floor-loading, some are loaded at waist-level, and all are customized for the building. There’s a common template for product families, but options abound. One dumbwaiter doesn’t entirely resemble the next. It’s engineered to order.
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry Trends & Analysis | No Comments »

Long-term trends are fabricators' friends

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
By: Dan Davis

With every conversation I have with a metal fabricator, I become more convinced that the companies left standing after two recessions within a 10-year span are primed to survive in this very competitive global economy. In essence, they have survived because they are the fittest.

In the wake of the bloodbath of U.S. jobs since the start of the Great Recession in the fall of 2008, these metal manufacturers represent a sector that is growing slowly—and successfully. These fabricators learned that it is much easier to make quick adjustments to a smaller, leaner enterprise than a bloated business. That's why they have leaned heavily on automation on the shop floor and software enhancements in the front office and looked to hire temporary employees when labor is needed to address short-term spikes in job activity. These company leaders know that the earlier they are able to react to drops in business, the better they will be positioned to take advantage of the inevitable upswing that occurs in the following months. The key is to have a core team of talented fabricators and the right technology mix ready to respond to new opportunities. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry Trends & Analysis, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Welder and assistant, a good team

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
By: Vicki Bell

If you pay attention, you can learn something new on any given day. And sometimes, what you learn makes you smack your forehead, either literally or mentally, and think I should have known that.

Such was the case a couple of weeks ago when I was sharing an exchange on Facebook with a dear friend who happens to keep machinery running in a large factory, which means he keeps the factory running. He was surprised that we were in a similar industry—one that involves fabricating processes. I told him that I had even tried welding, and he brought up how much he admired welding assistants. Smack! Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

« Older Entries