March 12th, 2010
By: Dan Davis
closeAuthor: Dan Davis
Name: Dan Davis
Email: dand@thefabricator.com
Site: http://www.thefabricator.com
About: Dan Davis has covered the North American manufacturing industry since 1992. He enjoys meeting managers and shop owners and finding out how they are fabricating a living in today's marketplace.See Authors Posts (92)
I came across the Web site for JRS Custom Fabrication Inc. down in Ocala, Fla., last week. Someone sent me an e-mail so I checked it out.
When you visit the site, you'll notice a Bible verse from 1 John 1:3. Make no mistake; this company's guided by the Lord's words. As its mission statement reads, "To share the love of God, with our employees, customers, and vendors using tanks, trailers, and enclosures as our platform of introduction."
Jump into the Web site and you'll notice the fabricator has a "lead pastor," Don Grant. "I work with our team every day, but I'm here to serve you as well," the audio introduction details. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Business Management, Company Culture
Posted in Shop Soapbox | No Comments »
March 10th, 2010
By: Vicki Bell
closeAuthor: Vicki Bell
Name: Vicki Bell
Email: vickib@thefabricator.com
Site: http://www.thefabricator.com
About: Vicki Bell manages content for thefabricator.com, writes four industry e-newsletters, and contributes to The Fabricator Blog.See Authors Posts (115)
... that the hydraulic cylinder doesn’t have a conventional seal, but uses rings of packing to slow the flow of hydraulic fluid.'
This is just one of the comments we received yesterday in response to the March "Fabricating Update" e-newsletter that addressed companies' reluctance to invest in new equipment (and hire) until consumers resume spending, which they are reluctant to do given the current jobs situation.
We know that the economy has dampened fabricators’ desire and ability to purchase new machinery, even when their equipment may need replacing, so we thought we’d ask readers just how old their most-used machine is. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: capital spending, Economy, recovery
Posted in Industry Trends & Analysis, Shop Soapbox | No Comments »
March 3rd, 2010
By: Vicki BellcloseAuthor: Vicki Bell
Name: Vicki Bell
Email: vickib@thefabricator.com
Site: http://www.thefabricator.com
About: Vicki Bell manages content for thefabricator.com, writes four industry e-newsletters, and contributes to The Fabricator Blog.See Authors Posts (115)
The phrase "backbone of America" is used to describe various important U.S. entities: the Continental Divide, roads, steel, and small business, to name a few.
Just looking at this list, you can see how interconnected these four examples are. We need roads and steel bridges to cross the Continental Divide and small businesses to fabricate components to build them. America at its best is a symbiotic confluence of healthy parts creating a strong backbone that allows us to weather all storms, including economic tsunamis. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Fabricating
Posted in Shop Soapbox | 1 Comment »
March 2nd, 2010
By: Tim Heston
closeAuthor: Tim Heston
Name: Tim Heston
Email: timh@thefabricator.com
Site: http://www.thefabricator.com
About: Tim Heston has covered metal fabrication and welding since 1998. Over the years he's enjoyed meeting and covering managers and shop owners who have found a better way to fabricate.See Authors Posts (127)
This week The Economist put together a special section about how society is overflowing with data. Reading it, I thought it was irony at its best. What better way to cover our data-overload than with a long, drawn-out story bubbling over with … data.
The most obvious example of data-overload is the Internet. When I went to college, during the pre-Internet era, I took an entire class on how to find things in the library. Library computer databases then were in zygote form. They were a beginning, but their breadth was microscopic compared to what the Internet was to become.
In manufacturing, classic examples of data overload come from machine data collection. We now have sensors that show how a vibration may predicate a breakdown of a certain mechanical system. Such data gathering forms the foundation of predictive maintenance (PM), overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and loads of other acronyms. Do manufacturers use all this data? Sometimes they do, but sometimes the data sit forever in old file directories, just waiting to be deleted.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: business software, cnc, Computer Numerical Control, data, data collection, machine control, machine tool software, software
Posted in Industry Trends & Analysis | No Comments »
February 26th, 2010
By: Dan DaviscloseAuthor: Dan Davis
Name: Dan Davis
Email: dand@thefabricator.com
Site: http://www.thefabricator.com
About: Dan Davis has covered the North American manufacturing industry since 1992. He enjoys meeting managers and shop owners and finding out how they are fabricating a living in today's marketplace.See Authors Posts (92)
FMA Communications Inc., the parent organization of this Web site and The FABRICATOR magazine, launched Green Manufacturer last month. The magazine covers manufacturing practices that are not only environmentally friendly, but also friendly to a company's overall performance, whether we are talking about bottom-line performance or increasing productivity. The magazine's editor, Kate Bachman, and the rest of the team behind the first issue should be congratulated. It looks great and reads better.
We thought the timing was perfect for such a magazine, as everyone tries to understand just where they fit into this green landscape. Whether you like it or not, the interest in "green" or "sustainable" manufacturing practices is part of a larger, legitimate movement.
Obviously, some manufacturers don't like it. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Green, Manufacturing
Posted in Going Green, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
February 24th, 2010
By: Vicki BellcloseAuthor: Vicki Bell
Name: Vicki Bell
Email: vickib@thefabricator.com
Site: http://www.thefabricator.com
About: Vicki Bell manages content for thefabricator.com, writes four industry e-newsletters, and contributes to The Fabricator Blog.See Authors Posts (115)
Two of the most compelling stories these days have to do with an athlete long-considered the best golfer in the world and an automaker that became the world’s No. 1 in 2008 (and is ranked Japan's No. 1 global brand for 2010): Tiger Woods and Toyota.
Once at the top of their games, both entities (brands) now are teetering on the brink of graveyard death. Barring miraculous overnight one-eighties, they're destined to remain there for a long time. The question is how long -- if ever -- it will take them to regain solid footing and escape burial in graves they dug for themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: jobs, quality, Safety, Toyota
Posted in Safety Sense | No Comments »
February 23rd, 2010
By: Tim HestoncloseAuthor: Tim Heston
Name: Tim Heston
Email: timh@thefabricator.com
Site: http://www.thefabricator.com
About: Tim Heston has covered metal fabrication and welding since 1998. Over the years he's enjoyed meeting and covering managers and shop owners who have found a better way to fabricate.See Authors Posts (127)
Dennis Rider’s career path changed directions recently, as reported by The Grand Rapids Press. After 27 years as a roll forming and laser cutting machine operator, he was let go in 2007. After spending serious time job hunting, Rider decided to retrain as an auto mechanic. He told the newspaper that he likes his job a lot; he was a serious car tinkerer in his youth, after all. He does miss the money, though. Today he makes about half what he made at his former position, factoring in all the night-shift and overtime work he had operating metal fabricating machinery.
You read right: He now makes half of what he used to make, and he put himself through two years of school to get that smaller paycheck. Note that this isn’t your stereotypical, relatively unskilled assembly person. This person was trained in metal fabrication technology.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: capitalism, consumerism, Laser Cutting, logistics, roll forming, training, unemployment
Posted in Industry Trends & Analysis | No Comments »
February 19th, 2010
By: Dan DaviscloseAuthor: Dan Davis
Name: Dan Davis
Email: dand@thefabricator.com
Site: http://www.thefabricator.com
About: Dan Davis has covered the North American manufacturing industry since 1992. He enjoys meeting managers and shop owners and finding out how they are fabricating a living in today's marketplace.See Authors Posts (92)
Talking with successful metal fabricators, I'm beginning to feel that they are the only companies left that remain committed to customer service. Lean manufacturing improvements are all about getting fabricated products to the customer sooner. Investments in engineering personnel and tools are made to offer more design expertise to those customers looking to trim costs from a part. Investments in capital equipment help to produce fabricated parts more accurately and efficiently, which in turn helps improve on-time deliveries and customer satisfaction.
Obviously, I know that some people will forfeit good customer service for a low-cost supplier. Think about the OEMs that rely on foreign-sourced stamped parts and have to deal with suspect quality and late deliveries. It's amazing what's been sacrificed in the name of saving a dollar. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Customer Service, FABTECH International, Global Competition
Posted in Shop Soapbox | No Comments »
February 18th, 2010
By: Eric Lundin
closeAuthor: Eric Lundin
Name: Eric Lundin
Email: ericl@thefabricator.com
Site: http://www.thefabricator.com
About: Eric Lundin writes about tube and pipe production and metal fabrication. He has an economics degree and has written several articles detailing economic trends affecting the metal fabricating industry.See Authors Posts (30)
The headline caught my attention like few do: “Oh-so quick and even carbon-free.” The article discussed Tesla Motors’ Roadster®, the $110,000 beauty that uses lithium-ion battery technology—6,831 individual cells, to be exact—to power a 375-VAC induction motor that redlines at 14,000 RPMs and develops 288 peak horsepower. And indeed it is quick. It goes from 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds. Top speed is 125 MPH. Cool!
The automobile has come quite a long way since the first ones were developed for commercial production around a century ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Going Green | No Comments »
February 17th, 2010
By: Vicki BellcloseAuthor: Vicki Bell
Name: Vicki Bell
Email: vickib@thefabricator.com
Site: http://www.thefabricator.com
About: Vicki Bell manages content for thefabricator.com, writes four industry e-newsletters, and contributes to The Fabricator Blog.See Authors Posts (115)
One of the much-touted bright spots for the future of manufacturing in the U.S. and the economy overall is the green energy revolution. Part of this uprising (we have nowhere to go but up) includes companies producing products for wind, solar, and nuclear power and creating high-paying jobs in the process.
Just yesterday, President Obama announced government approval of an $8.3 billion loan guarantee to help Southern Co. build a nuclear power plant in Georgia that will create thousands of "well-paying, permanent jobs in the years to come."
As reported in Business Week, Obama said the U.S. "can't keep on being mired in the same old debates" over nuclear power because energy production affects the nation's economy and security.
"Whether it is nuclear energy, or solar, or wind energy, if we fail to invest in these technologies today, we'll be importing them tomorrow," the president said in a speech in Lanham, Maryland.
If we are to believe the points raised by John McCormick (Siliconsamurai) in his article High-Paying Green Jobs in U.S. – Another Fantasy? (published on News Blaze), tomorrow may come sooner than expected. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Green jobs
Posted in Global Marketplace, Going Green | No Comments »
