Posts Tagged ‘economic recovery’

Two ways to manage manufacturing risk

April 19th, 2011
By: Tim Heston

Last week I visited two facilities that focused on low- to medium-volume manufacturing. Both customize products to meet customer needs. Both tout quick response and comprehensive customer service. Yet in many respects, the two couldn’t have been more different.

A week ago today I pulled into the parking lot of Atlanta Precision Machining & Fabrication and its parent company, Atlanta Attachment Co., a make-to-order manufacturer in Lawrenceville, Ga. Atlanta Attachment began as an equipment supplier to the apparel industry and diversified into automated machines for mattress-making. The company also fabricates products for the aircraft maintenance market. When business went downhill during the past recession, managers considered the manufacturing technology on the floor--press brakes, lasers, waterjet, painting, rows of machining centers--and had a thought: Why not offer contract fabrication? That’s how, in 2009, Atlanta Precision Machining & Fabrication was born. (Look for an article featuring the company in a future issue of The FABRICATOR®.)

Because the company already fabricates and assembles complete machines for its product lines, Atlanta Precision offers more than just parts. For certain customers it handles the entire manufacturing process. Managers are finding that some OEMs are stepping out of the manufacturing arena entirely, especially for products with highly variable demand.

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Credit, cash, and the manufacturing recovery

February 3rd, 2011
By: Tim Heston

I still remember his tropical-print shirt, which stood out among thousands of people walking the FABTECH® show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center. He worked at a major wind tower production facility in California, which perhaps could explain the tropical print he was wearing. But it didn’t fully explain what he told me: The company was busy as ever and had a backlog through 2011. Yes, 2011, and this was in October 2008, weeks after the Lehman Brothers collapse.

He wasn’t the first to tell me things were humming along nicely in late 2008. Many small companies in metal fabrication already had good cash positions, and they weren’t particularly worried about credit. The real concern, they told me, was their customers and other large companies down the supply chain.

Their worries were not unfounded. As credit markets froze, many in metal fabrication had the rug pulled out from under them. By January 2009, it was a different ballgame altogether, and that wind tower backlog went the way of the credit markets.

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Two realities of economic recovery

November 30th, 2010
By: Tim Heston

After more than a year looking, my neighbor finally landed a job. He previously worked as a construction manager, which is undoubtedly why it took him so long to find work again. His new job isn’t in construction but instead is related to supply chain management. He sells software that helps various tier suppliers communicate more efficiently. At a recent holiday get-together, neighbors came by to congratulate him. It’s so good to see someone get back on firm financial footing.

Then there’s the house up the street. Two months ago the vacant dwelling was sold at a fraction of its original value. Then there’s another house that’s been on the market longer than my 3-year-old daughter has been alive.

Sheesh.
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'A sturdy and successful career at Caterpillar'

October 20th, 2010
By: Vicki Bell

Articles about metal manufacturing pop up daily on the news sites I frequent and in my Google alerts. I scan them for information I think is important — both the good news and the not so good — to share with those who visit thefabricator.com.  

There's been a preponderance of the latter in the last few years, and we’ve been told by the people with the crystal balls that we shouldn't expect conditions to improve significantly for some time. We also have been told that things likely will never be the way they were in times of peak prosperity before the Great Recession. 

I get it, you get it … we all get it. Things are tough all over. That being said, there are reasons for hope that the worst is behind us and conditions are improving. Just ask newly hired Caterpillar Engineer Josh Jensen. (more...)

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Fabricators on recovery and job creation

May 12th, 2010
By: Vicki Bell

If you didn’t receive this week’s "Fabricating Update," you missed some promising numbers about the economic recovery and manufacturing jobs. Have no fear; I'm repeating them here, because they are worth repeating: (more...)

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Is manufacturing cool again?

May 10th, 2010
By: Tim Heston

Did you here? The folks who make things for a living are now … cool. Many business gurus out there, including Warren Buffett, say manufacturers are leading the economic recovery. The Institute for Supply Management reported the fifth month of growth in manufacturing employment. ISM’s employment index in April was 58.5 (above 50 is expansion), 3.4 points higher than it was in March.

The Rust Belt’s coming back too, at least in some areas. Team NEO, a nonprofit devoted to attracting new business to Northeast Ohio, recently reported that local manufacturing businesses, including metal fabricators, are expected to grow  by 2015, and much of that growth may be tied to clean energy and related sectors.

Tom Waltermire, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that, “This new, growing field … is enabled by our past,” referring to the area’s manufacturing legacy.

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