July 2025 Public Policy Webinar
Author: ddavis
PMPA Craftsman Cribsheet #141: 10 Things We Learned at Horn Technology Days 2025
Published July 1, 2025
By David Wynn, Director of Technical Services & Industry Affairs | Miles Free, Director Emeritus, PMPA
Horn Technology Days 2025 is an exposition that both teaches and demonstrates technology so you can experience the entire process. It is far more than an open house. The best way to describe it is a partnership between Horn and partners to share best practices using the latest technology.
Here are 10 things we learned at the 2025 Horn Technology Days:
- Climb milling is the preferred process, not conventional milling. Conventional milling was traditionally utilized because of backlash. Modern equipment compensates for backlash allowing climb milling, which reduces heat and horsepower needed and improves tool life.
- Y-axis cutoff reduces chatter and allows cutting forces to more efficiently be pushed into the toolholder, allowing for faster feeds and increased tool life.
- Utilize turn milling on thin wall parts and long stick outs. Lower clamp pressure is required because spindle is rotating slowly while the tool provides the speed for cutting.
- Even though they were machining tool steels, the chips that we checked in the chip buckets were in control, showed signs of heat and seemed to be just as well managed as the final parts produced.
- Turn-milling breaks chips more effectively in long-chipping, difficult-to-machine alloys. With 3D-machining techniques and multiflued tools, chips are easily managed in super alloys.
- Tool geometry is the key to running automated production. One key factor in running unattended production is chip control. Having the correct tool geometry is the first step in controlling chips.
- A single-flute mill with appropriate coating and geometry can achieve ground-like finishes. We saw milled parts that we could not distinguish with our eyes that they were not ground.
- Incremental improvement in our shops and processes is necessary, but insufficient for achieving major innovation. Continuous improvement is more of a “healing system” for sustaining existing processes. Major innovation is how we grow our capabilities to meet ever-changing market demands. “Hunker down” is not a business strategy; it is capitulation.
- The move to unleaded steel and brass materials in our shops has finally arrived in full force. Tools are available with geometries to help meet the production levels that have been met using leaded materials. The biggest potential problem to solve is no longer lower productivity due to the absence of lead; it is the potential loss of recovered value from scrap if the various varieties of unleaded brass are mixed or intermingled. Maintaining separation of scrap streams is critical. Mixing different grades will prevent recovery of expected scrap value. Segregate chips, bar ends and actively manage a process for maintaining material identity throughout your process.
- Immaculate housekeeping is not only possible but is a critical factor in making the process visible, eliminating wasted time, motion and materials and ensuring equipment maintenance is on track.
How much money and time could your shop save if you implemented these lessons? Where can you and your team go to learn the latest to sustain your competitiveness?
Author
David Wynn
David Wynn, MBA, is the PMPA Director of Technical Services& Industry Affairs with over 20 years of experience in the areas of manufacturing, quality, ownership, IT and economics. Email: gro.apmp@nnywd — Website: pmpa.org.
Change Leadership vs. Change Management: Why You Need Both
Change is necessary for continuous improvement. Knowing the distinction between change leadership and management can be the difference between success or failure.
by Carli Kistler-Miller
Director of Programs & Marketing, PMPA
Published July 1, 2025
Change. It’s inevitable and necessary for a business to grow or adapt. Some people accept change and others resist. When looking to guide employees through change, it’s important to understand the difference between change leadership and change management.
Change Leadership
Change leadership is the practice of guiding and influencing people through organizational change. It focuses not just on managing the logistics of change but also inspiring, aligning and equipping people to embrace and drive change forward.
Some of the key aspects of change leadership are:
- Being vision-oriented. Define a compelling future and communicate why the change is necessary.
- Being people-focused. Recognize that change can be emotionally and professionally challenging. Focus on empathy, communication and support.
- Being proactive and adaptive. Anticipate resistance and obstacles. Stay flexible and responsive to employee feedback.
- Influencing. Influence isn’t authority. Influence uses trust, credibility and engagement to motivate others, rather than relying on positional power alone.
- Driving culture. Encourage new ways of thinking and behaving, not just new processes or structures.
Change Management
Change management is the systematic approach to dealing with the transition of an organization’s goals, processes, technologies or people. It involves strategies and tools to help individuals and teams move from a current state to a desired future state effectively.
Some of the key aspects of change management are:
- Planning. Define the change, set objectives and identify key stakeholders.
- Communication. Inform and educate those affected by the change.
- Training and support. Provide the resources and knowledge people need to succeed in the new environment.
- Monitoring and feedback. Measure progress, gather input and make adjustments.
Why the Distinction Matters
Understanding the distinction helps leaders address both the technical and the human sides of change. Change management ensures the logistics are in place (plans, training, timelines). But without change leadership, people may resist, disengage or revert to old habits. Leadership drives the “why” — the emotional and cultural commitment needed for lasting change. Different skill sets are required, so the owner may provide change leadership and the plant manager may provide change management.
Change is both rational and emotional. One without the other can lead to failure. Strong management without leadership equals technically sound plans, but poor adoption. Strong leadership without management equals energized people, but chaos or confusion.
Author
Carli Kistler-Miller, MBA has over 25 years of experience with operations, event/meeting planning, marketing, writing and communications.
Email: gro.apmp@rellimc — Website: pmpa.org.
Have You Checked Your Quote Book Recently?
Check your quote book to get a glimpse of where your business is positioned.
by David Wynn
Director of Technical Services & Industry Affairs, PMPA
Published July 1, 2025
When looking at business conditions, we must self-normalize data. Business is an easy target for noise. Everyone around us — the news media, social media, industry media and colleagues — all have their shiny objects they follow. The trick is to find data that tells us where the trend is going, not our current state. Knowing the direction and slope of a trend in business provides clarity for making decisions. Clarity in decisions provides the path to victory.
Not all metrics work in every business cycle. Remember the warning label on every prospectus: “Past performance does not guarantee future results.” The metrics that have long tracked records of providing forward-looking analysis help predict trends. I use the term “metrics” plural because several indicators pointing in a direction will have a better chance of predicting the future. Leading indicators provide a snapshot of the future and state of the business cycle.
It is important to find multiple indicators in our business to shield our decisions from the business cycles where one indicator screams fire while the rest do not. One of the best indicators in sales is your pipeline or funnel.
There are several ways to look at a sales funnel. In our business of machining, we often start at the proposal stage, skipping prospecting and qualification. At the proposal stage there are hard facts which provide data for making future state predictions. Prospecting and qualification are valuable parts of the process but have limited data for making predictions. Tracking the total of outstanding proposals provides a number. Knowing the win-rate predictions can be made on the future state of business.
When talking about total proposals — what I call the “quote book” — there are four data points to track:
- Total Won. Quotes won and a part order (PO) is received.
- Total Awarded. This is typically contingent contracts. A customer has awarded you the business contingent on their customer ordering the widget.
- Total Lost. Quotes that were lost due to cost, delivery, quality requirements and so on.
- Total Open Quote Book = Total Quote Book – Total Lost – Total Won.
I leave in total awarded even though they are technically a winning quote because no PO means they don’t generate dollars for the business. Total awarded is like potential energy. It has the potential to generate cash but without a PO, it is still in our “quote book”. This can get more complicated to give granular detail. Tracking average days outstanding to each metric and the percentage of each of the data points can provide a time-based weighted average predictive analysis of the quote book.
So … have you checked your quote book recently? I know shops that are running 200-300% above normal open quote book.
One shop is currently at 500% above normal. Some of this is tariff window shopping. Larger primes are gathering data on what it will cost to produce in the United States. I don’t believe all of this is exploratory. Gross private investment increased by 21.9% in the first quarter GDP. Companies are building new manufacturing facilities in the U.S. Check your quote book to get a glimpse of where your future is positioned.
Author
David Wynn is the PMPA Director of Technical Services & Industry Affairs with over 20 years of experience in the areas of manufacturing, quality, ownership, IT and economics. Email David
Generating Value — Generational Values
Accounting accounts for costs. How does a successful multigenerational business account for value(s)?
by Miles Free III
Director Emeritus, PMPA
Published July 1, 2025
I have attended every Horn Technology Days program since 2011. Regardless of economic or geopolitical news, every two years Horn has had new technology on display, a new cohort of apprentices and new investments and capabilities in their means of production. I asked CEO Markus Horn and Press Officer Christian Thiele if we could explore the thinking that makes this so.
Miles Free (MF): Horn continues to invest in your technology and people. I would argue that you also invest in your customers. How does this make Horn the employer of choice and enable you to attract the talent that you require?
Markus Horn (MH): Technology equals growth. We continue to invest so that we can stay aligned to our vision of the future. During the Great Recession (2009/2010) we placed on order 80 machines. Crisis provides a very good opportunity to succeed in paths where you can grow and have the flexibility to help the customer, while others are playing it safe and do not invest.
MF: This courage to invest helps you to hire talent?
MH: The question about hiring is often seen as one of quantity. How many? It is not. It is, to our way of thinking, about how many are recommended to find their success here in our manufacturing. To be a preferred employer.
MF: You are third generation of your family in the family business, I am third generation of my family in manufacturing, how many people employed at Horn do you think are similarly multigenerational, supporting your “recommended to work here” thesis?
MH: We asked our apprentices how they learned of our company — online, websites and so on. We were surprised to find none of them came from our social media. All came because someone that they knew personally shared our company. Our first principle is that all employees must be satisfied here. They are not a number. The fact that we have so many recommendations is our indicator — showing all of our employees share our commitment and values.
MF: What do you think the number of multigenerational employees is here in Tubingen?
Christian Thiele (CT): I was prepared for this question — of our 900 employees, over 200 are multigenerational in some way. When we say that Horn is a family company, we can see that over one fifth of our employees are indeed kin as well. So, they have family bonds and shared values that align with our company goals and values.
MF: I have always believed that having work that matters — purpose, if you will — is critical in keeping performers satisfied.
CT: Purpose does matter, and as an employee, if they are responsible for their purpose and they have the package and what they need to perform, they can have confidence in the company and their colleagues, and so produce tools that lead the way.
MH: If it is something no one else has done before, if we are first, we can only win. This gives us the courage to invest. This is our purpose to use the latest science to create our own future. It gives us time to develop what is now the newest. We have a single vision over time. Many companies that are focused on price are focused on cost. We believe that if shops want to win, they actually need to focus on value. My father and grandfather would say, “I don’t have enough money to buy something cheap.” If you want to win, you need to have the best tools, the latest capabilities. That is the true differentiator. It is about value, not cost. Values that people can align with.
MF: It seems to me that one of the values at Horn that is shared through the generations is the focus on the future. From the outside, it looks like pragmatic optimism. But that really understates what is going on.
MH: Technology brings us forward. That is why we call this Technology Days. It is about revealing to our customers the latest technology. Humans naturally fear not knowing the future. At Technology Days, we bring our customers to the future that we have intentionally created, the success that we want for them and ourselves. The economic cycles, the news, these come and go, but we are not necessarily a part of it. As a company, as a family, we all need to be prepared to get through these. Our preferred way to prepare is to use the latest technology.
CT: If employees have a purpose — meaningful work — they will stay aligned with this goal.
MH: Clear transparent communications — open discussion of facts — leads to confidence and honesty. With such a culture, why would one leave? Despite uncertainty, technology is the driver of sustainable growth in the future. Why should we not invest? Why should we not continue to hire, to train? As Swabians, we are never satisfied. So, everything that we do is to make the future better.
Author
Miles Free III is the PMPA Director Emeritus with over 50 years of experience in the areas of manufacturing, quality and steelmaking. Miles’ podcast is at pmpa.org/podcast. Email Miles
The ITR Economics quarterly forecast report gives us insight into eight industries that are the primary drivers of our shops’ success. The ability to consistently look into the future with actionable data gives us a competitive edge. The reason that PMPA members closely follow the ITR Quarterly forecast report is that the ITR process of analysis clarifies and makes patterns clear that the news cycle seems to miss. Cut through what the financial media is telling you about the economy and use the ITR report to get at the heart of what affects your shop. The May report still shows moderate growth for this year and industrial production moving into an accelerating growth phase. Check out in this month’s PMPA May 2025 Economic Report from ITR Economics.
The Institute for Trend Research (ITR) quarterly reports focus on major areas of economic growth and decline in key market segments for the Precision Machined Products Industry. They are provided to PMPA members as part of the association’s overall business intelligence program and are used as a management tool to help PMPA members plan for what lies ahead and which markets they should focus on in a complex manufacturing environment.
PMPA Craftsman Cribsheet #140: How To Read an HTS Code
Published June 1, 2025
By David Wynn, Technical Services Manager, PMPA
With tariffs at the forefront of everyone’s mind, it is important to understand how Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes work. Careful consideration is required because a simple digit error can be the difference in paying a 170%+ tariff or no tariff. The first six digits are the Harmonized System (HS), the internationally recognized system for identifying products for trade. In the U.S., the addition of four digits is used for tariff classification and statistical data collection. An entire code is broken up in two-digit segments. The chart below explains an example 10-digit HTS code giving the details of each two-digit section.
Author
David Wynn
David Wynn, MBA, is the PMPA Technical Services Manager with over 20 years of experience in the areas of manufacturing, quality, ownership, IT and economics. Email: gro.apmp@nnywd — Website: pmpa.org.
STATE OF MANUFACTURING – Washington Manufacturing
by Joe Jackson
Director of Communications & Events, PMPA
Published June 01, 2025
Fabricated Metal Products Manufacturing is a subsector of manufacturing that makes critical goods from metal components.
Precision Turned Products Manufacturing is a subsector of fabricated metal product manufacturing that makes the components that MAKE IT WORK!
WASHINGTON ECONOMIC OUTPUT
Washington Manufacturing
NAICS 31-33
$62,800,000,000
Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing
NAICS 332
$5,107,475,000
Precision Turned Product Manufacturing
NAICS 332721
$588,802,000
WASHINGTON MANUFACTURING ACCOUNTS FOR
Manufacturing Is Productivity –8.6% of Washington’ total output. (GDP)
Manufacturing Builds Businesses –7,938 manufacturing establishments in the state of Washington.
Manufacturing Creates Jobs – Jobs: 7.6% of all Washington’s employees are in the manufacturing sector.
(271,000 employees)
Manufacturing produces for Washington
- Manufacturing is the fourth largest GDP Producer in Washington.
- Manufacturing employment in Washington has grown 2.2% each year since 2019 surpassing the national average over 1.8% over that time period.
Washington is a great place for a career in manufacturing
- Manufacturing jobs pay on average 18% over the average job in Washington.
- Job sites are currently reporting over 3,000 available manufacturing job openings in Washington.
Sources: NAM.org, US Census, statista.com, IndustrySelect.com
Data selected to show relative values. May not be directly comparable due to differences in sampling, analysis, or date obtained.
Author
Joe Jackson
Director of Communications & Events, PMPA
Email: gro.apmp@noskcajj — Website: pmpa.org.
Tariffs, HTS Codes and Your Company’s Scope
Scope creep has become a tsunami!
by Miles Free III
Director of Industry Affairs, PMPA
Published June 1, 2025
Tariffs have become the number one item of concern and conversation in our manufacturing industry. Every day, every hour, it seems there is something new to learn about tariffs. And that is causing a great deal of concern and uncertainty. What do these mean for our business today, and in the immediate and longer-term future?
These concerns are magnified by the fact that “foreign trade” is not included in the scope of our quality management systems, nor has there been a need to understand the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) at the 10-digit level. Until now. Where can your shop turn to make sense of the tariff tsunami that is overwhelming all of the media and conversations between ourselves, our suppliers and our customers? May I humbly suggest effective associating through your industry trade association?
PMPA has led our shops to understand the impacts of the tariff developments since prior to their announcement. We have been working with our Washington D.C. team to prepare our members with online webinars, slide decks and review of HTS codes. We have helped our members push back on false tariff claims made by their package delivery providers who were misapplying tariffs by what seemed to be a random process. What else would explain an aluminum tariff being charged by the carrier for an international shipment of steel machine components? On the entire value of the shipment?
We have helped our members understand the taxonomy of HTS codes so they could help their customers determine the proper classification for the components that our shops supply based on the final product in which it is incorporated. This has been an essential benefit, as both our shop management and the supplier-facing procurement employees at our customers typically lack formal training in the increasingly important field of international business.
Navigating the Tsunami
What can you do to help your company navigate the tariff tsunami that has waves breaking far above all of our heads? Here are a few suggestions:
Join the trade association for your industry. At PMPA, we have an ongoing practice of advocating for our members as well as bringing them information that will help them navigate all of the legislative and administrative developments that can impact them and the markets that they serve.
Connect with your trade association’s staff and find out what resources they have available to explain these developments and ask advice on how to respond.
Attend the online and local programming as well as read any publications or breaking news shared by your association so that you will have authoritative, industry relevant details that you can apply to your situation.
Engage with your suppliers and customers to seek out alternatives that might allow all parties to avoid the tariff in the first place. If the first choice of material is imported and offers a 25% advantage in machining, but comes with a 25% tariff, why not use the domestically available alternative with the lower machinability and no tariff?
Study the categories for the components you make. Compare to the chapters of the HTS codes (hts.usitc.gov/) is your component an article of iron and steel under Chapter 73? Is it an article of plastic (Chapter 39) or rubber (Chapter 40)? Is it made of copper or copper-based materials (Chapter 74)? Nickel and articles thereof (Chapter 75)? Aluminum (Chapter 76)?
Don’t just look at it based on raw material — Chapter 84 reads “nuclear reactors, boilers” — not many of our shops are making parts for these on a daily basis, but Chapter 84 also includes machinery and mechanical appliances and parts thereof. Our components are essential in these applications. Chapters 86-89 cover vehicles and all things transport equipment.
There are more. Chapter 93 covers arms and ammunition parts and accessories. Miscellaneous manufactured items (furniture) can be found in Chapters 94-96.
The point of this article isn’t to teach you how to find it. The point is: Who is helping you make sense of the challenges you are facing? At PMPA, we provide this kind of sense making every day for our members so that they can adapt and thrive. Who is doing that for you? Because nobody has “must become expert on HTS codes for the raw materials, tools, equipment we buy or the components we sell” on their management scope and list of responsibilities and authorities. Until now. Who is helping you? PMPA is helping our members find the information that they need to become Better Together.
Author
Miles Free III is the PMPA Director of Industry Affairs with over 50 years of experience in the areas of manufacturing, quality and steelmaking. Miles’ podcast is at pmpa.org/podcast. Email Miles