February 9th, 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 (124)
This morning’s announcement of Toyota’s recall of 437,000 hybrid vehicles seems to have brought the automaker’s woes to a whole new level. Judging by the media coverage, these events are epic.
Want to understand the media circus around the Toyota recall? Here’s a little something John Updike wrote about Toyota salesman Rabbit Angstrom to open the novel Rabbit is Rich.
“They won’t catch him, not yet, because there isn’t a piece of junk on the road that gets better mileage than his Toyotas, with lower service costs. Read Consumer Reports, April issue. That’s all he has to tell the people when they come in. And come in they do; the people out there are getting frantic; they know the great American ride is ending.”
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Posted in Industry Trends & Analysis | No Comments »
February 5th, 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 (88)
My mother is a retired elementary school teacher, and I'm married to a high school math teacher. Inevitably if the two are together for any length of time, the discussion turns to public education. The opinions are impassioned and obviously biased, but the input is valuable in understanding how a community might improve public school performance.
Public education is in the news today , and most manufacturers concede public school systems could do a better job turning out graduates with better math and science skills. Everyone agrees improvement is needed, but no one is sure how best to approach it. Charter schools are an interesting approach, but too often they are positioned as the absolute cure for what ails public education when, in fact, there is no silver bullet. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Education, Manufacturing Image
Posted in Training and Retention | No Comments »
February 3rd, 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 (110)
Among the items in last month’s “Tube Talk” e-newsletter was one about Leonard Maniscalco, who owns Sackett Systems Inc., Bensenville, Ill. This small-business owner wants the government to give him a $1.3 million grant. In return, he’ll create 150 new jobs.
According to Chicago Tribune columnist Greg Burns, who wrote about Maniscalco’s quest for government funding, “If the idea sounds pie-in-the-sky, or maybe just batty, consider how the government expects to lose $30 billion on its investment in General Motors and Chrysler. By that score card, 150 jobs for $1.3 million would be a steal.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: jobs, loans, small-business, tax incentives
Posted in Shop Soapbox | No Comments »
February 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 (124)
Despite the drama at Toyota (talk about the risk of standardized parts) and the political sideshows in Washington, on the main stage of American life, something’s happening. Business is decidedly better.
As Chris Kuehl, economist for the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, put it in a Feb. 1 newsletter, “The latest GDP numbers are the best they have been in over a year and a half and suggest that a recession is in clear retreat.” Alright! It’s time to start hiring again, right?
Not so fast.
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Tags: Employment, employment rate, hiring, hiring strategy, human resources, salary negotiation, unemployment
Posted in Manager's Desk | No Comments »
January 28th, 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 (29)
Whether or not you follow all the latest trends in digital technology, you’ve probably seen fancy devices such as the Smartphone from BlackBerry® or the iPhone from Apple. They allow you to do all sorts of things—play music, send and receive text messages, take photos, record and edit video, surf the Web, and so on. I have heard that you can even place and receive telephone calls.
It doesn’t end there, of course. Countless programmers have spent countless hours creating applications (excuse me, “apps”) for these devices. Many are free, and a lot of them are novelties (excuse me, “useless”), such as one that mimics the sound of pumping a shotgun. I guess that one is actually pretty cool, now that I think about it. The iPhone has a built-in accelerometer; when it senses you making a shotgun-pumping motion, the application responds accordingly.
I asked a couple of our IT staff members about unusual apps.
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Tags: continuing education, digital reading devices, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, manufacturing careers, mobile apps, Smartphone, vocational training
Posted in Training and Retention | No Comments »
January 27th, 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 (110)
Tonight, President Barack Obama will take the podium to deliver his State of the Union address. In his preview of the speech, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that Obama hopes to use his message to “outline a hopeful track for our future.”
He also said, “The president is going to explain why he thinks the American people are angry and frustrated.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Economy, Employment
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
January 20th, 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 (110)
Yesterday was one of those days. Late in the afternoon, the first of three guys who came to replace our burst hot water heater showed up. Brian introduced himself, and I directed him to the failed heater that had caused some damage (soggy, stinky carpet) and left us hot-waterless for almost a day. Miniscule nuisances, especially when compared to the devastation in Haiti.
I told Brian that I would leave him to his work and return to mine. He asked what kind of work I do. When he learned that it was Web-related, he said that he had retired from writing financial software applications and taken up plumbing. He “loves” his new vocation: “I see the sunshine and people and get to work with my hands.”
I would have liked to have heard more, but deadlines called, and I returned to my desk in my solitary office, where I continued to think about what Brian said. It occurred to me that he could be a spokesperson to visit schools and encourage young people to pursue technical careers. If he did, he would be joining a cadre of educators and manufacturers who are doing just that -- like those in Manitowoc, Wis. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Education, Skilled Labor, Work Force Development
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
January 18th, 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 (124)
This recession has got me thinking about careers. As you know, unemployment still is uncomfortably high. Businesses may be recovering, but they aren’t hiring in a substantial way just yet. The talking heads on TV are pointing fingers, saying the government stimulus hasn’t led to any significant improvement in the employment picture. This may be because of an issue that’s not talked about too much: the structurally unemployed, those who held jobs that aren’t coming back.
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Tags: Employment
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
January 15th, 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 (88)
I'm reading about the tragedy in Haiti this morning and thinking about the sheer amount of work that'll be required to get this nation back on its feet. That may be one heck of a goal considering many feel this nation really wasn't on stable footing to begin with—extreme poverty, history of military coups, and tendency to be hit with natural disasters on a regular basis.
Despite the implausible, most of the world is scrambling to help. The U.S. military already has arrived with aid. Other countries are being held back in delivering aid by the lack of functioning infrastructure in Haiti.
Like most people, I try to relate to what's going on in Haiti by imagining how I might react if such an event struck my hometown. It just so happens that my family sort of has an emergency plan should a catastrophic event hit northern Illinois, cutting off communication and leaving everyone with a need to relocate temporarily. We're meeting at a family friend's home in Madison, Wis., even if it means walking, I guess. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Business Management
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
January 14th, 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 (110)
You don't have to be a former autoworker to have been affected by the automotive industry's problems. All U.S. taxpayers have been affected, as have many community and state economies.
I personally was affected — in a relatively minor way — when Chrysler sent letters of termination to 789 dealerships in May 2009. Mine was among them. The facility closed shortly after receiving the letter, and the Dodge dealership across the road hung a banner that said its service department now was Chrysler-certified.
On my first visit to Dodge, I asked my technician if he could get my Jeep's service records from my former dealership, one of many in the state — selling various brands — that bear a prominent dealer's name. He replied that he couldn't and indicated that the defunct dealership was not receptive to the idea. I couldn't understand why at the time. My thinking was that common decency and the desire for former customers to visit another of your dealerships when buying a new car might be incentives enough to cooperate. I think I may understand now, but it really doesn't matter.
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Tags: Automotive Industry, Conflict Resolution, Customer Service
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »