My Journey to an Accidental Career
that Became My Passion

“Machining was not the career I chose; it chose me.”

by David Wynn

Director of Technical Services, PMPA

Published April 1, 2024

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I recently stepped into the director of technical services role at PMPA. Working for PMPA is a fun and exciting journey. I get to meet lots of great people. I get to see the best manufacturing facilities in the world. My favorite part is helping our members solve their problems. Moving into the director position is just the next step in my transition
into Miles Free’s role with PMPA, so I thought it would be good for me to give you a brief history of how I got where I am.

I started my college career as a dual chemistry and biology major while working in my family’s shop. While attending college, I noticed that I had a passion for two things: machining and business. I spent my spare time studying both. It occurred to me that I should be studying my passion, rather than just trying to get a rubber stamp on a piece of paper. So, after two years I switched to a business degree and earned a degree in finance-economics with a minor in accounting, all while working at my family’s machine shop.

After graduating college, I started moving more into the management side of the business. I had a professor pushing me to get my MBA, so I re-enrolled in college.
This time, all my classes were at night, which allowed me to work full time in the shop. While I was an undergrad, machining was a fun hobby, but now it was becoming a career — being in a small family shop you had to get your hands in a little bit of everything.

While studying for my MBA, I started working on my “masters in machining” at the school of hard knocks and real-world teaching by my grandfather. My grandfather had worked on Brown and Sharpes for several companies in the Chicago area. After the war, he worked primarily at Teletype. Th e teletype machine was a mechanical marvel full of screw machine parts. My grandfather got to see about everything you could do with a Brown and Sharpe while he was there. When it came to teaching, my grandfather demanded perfection. When I would grind a cutoff tool, he would send me back to the grinder if it did not have a mirror finish. I almost wore a whole blade down the first time before he would accept it. I spent time learning flat die thread rollers, the burnishing machine and various other mechanical equipment. 

After earning my MBA, my grandfather and grandmother were getting older and planning to retire. My dad and I decided to take over the business. I had spent seven years on Brown and Sharpes at this point, but my skill could not compare to my grandfather’s 60-plus years of experience. I had to find a way to make the business my own. I challenged myself to find a
way to produce the parts as, or more, efficiently while maintaining quality. Th is is where PMPA and Swiss machines enter the story.

For years I had collected old NSMPA manuals (NSMPA became PMPA in the mid 1990s). Th e manuals were the holy grail of information in our industry. I called and talked with Miles at PMPA, and my dad and I decided to join the organization. My first Management Update (MU) conference was in San Antonio, Texas, which was special to me because I met so many of the people who ended up mentoring me. Th e connections I made at that first MU have carried my family’s business to this day; they guided us into Swiss machines. It totally changed our business dynamic. Th e shop still runs Brown and Sharpe screw machines, but only when it makes sense.

I fell in love with the parallel processing of Swiss just like screw machines — Swiss just takes a different mindset. I also learned mill-turn, CNC lathes and spent a little bit of time on CNC mills, in addition to mastering the implementation of information technology throughout the business.

Machining was not the career I chose, it chose me. With my new position at PMPA, I am honored to be able to continue working with PMPA members and I’m proud to be a part of the organization’s continuous improvement.

PMPA is a fantastic organization that has been helping small manufacturers become world class for over 90 years. I plan to be a part of the great tradition of providing high-value, relevant and useful content that will help our members adapt and thrive. I like to say that I work in the solutions department, and I look forward to being your problem solver.

Author

David Wynn is the PMPA Director of Technical Services with over 20 years of experience in the areas of manufacturing, quality, ownership, IT and economics. Email David

Onshoring Weather Report: Strong Tailwinds!

Onshoring, reshoring, nearshoring: these terms are showing up with increasing frequency in the news and online. But is there evidence that these are real?

by Miles Free III

Director of Industry Affairs, PMPA

Published March 1, 2024

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There can be little doubt that the return of manufacturing — and manufacturing jobs — to North America is happening. But what are the facts? How can we know that
this is a real, sustainable trend worthy of our investment?

The Opportunity of Manufacturing
According to a report by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, over the next decade, 4 million manufacturing jobs will likely be needed — and 2.1 million are expected
to go unfilled — if we do not inspire more people to pursue modern manufacturing careers (bit.ly/PMPA-PM0324a). Clearly, the potential for employment exists.

New Private Construction for Manufacturing
A look at new private construction for manufacturing is convincing. The hockey stick graph shown below represents investment in construction of new manufacturing facilities (bit.ly/PMPA-PM0324b). Total private construction spending for manufacturing in the United States was $18.867 billion in October 2023 — its all-time high. How many manufacturing jobs will result from this dramatic increase in manufacturing facility construction?

Foreign Direct Investment
Foreign companies are investing in the U.S., and those investments result in jobs. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in U.S. manufacturing was $5,254.816 billion in 2022, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ report “Direct Investment by Country and Industry 2022” (bit.ly/PMPA-PM0324c).
That investment is up almost 20% from 2019’s $4,398.763 billion in Manufacturing FDI. According to the report “FDI in Manufacturing 2017,” produced by Trade.gov, more than
2.4 million U.S. jobs in manufacturing are supported by FDI (bit.ly/PMPA-PM0324d).
FDI in manufacturing is a major force driving manufacturing employment in the U.S.

Foreign Direct Investment
Foreign companies are investing in the U.S., and those investments result in jobs. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in U.S. manufacturing was $5,254.816 billion in 2022, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ report “Direct Investment by Country and Industry 2022” (bit.ly/PMPA-PM0324c).
That investment is up almost 20% from 2019’s $4,398.763 billion in Manufacturing FDI. According to the report “FDI in Manufacturing 2017,” produced by Trade.gov, more than
2.4 million U.S. jobs in manufacturing are supported by FDI (bit.ly/PMPA-PM0324d).
FDI in manufacturing is a major force driving manufacturing employment in the U.S.

Supply Chains and Shipping Rates
Since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the term “supply chain disruptions” has become an almost everyday phrase. While the pandemic is no longer the operative cause, Reuters reported on January 4, 2024, that “Rates for shipments from Asia to North America’s East Coast climbed 55% to $3,900 per 40-foot container. West Coast prices jumped 63% to more than $2,700 ahead of expected cargo diversions to avoid Red Sea-related issues.” While these are serious increases, they are nowhere near those fueled by the prior pandemic: “$14,000
per 40-foot container for Asia to North Europe and the Mediterranean and $22,000 for Asia to North America’s East Coast” ( reut.rs/ 48T2FTv ).
Rate increases like these are no longer acceptable to consumer pocketbooks already stretched by inflation. Buying (and manufacturing) local makes economic sense today, by reducing the direct costs of global shipping, as well as eliminating the costs of delays by events that delay the shipping process – weather, disease, labor disputes. The lack of a logical reason to purchase globally – in the face of so many opportunities for delay and freight cost increases – supports the idea that manufacturing in the U.S. is likely to continue its renaissance. 

Boardroom Sentiment
Bank of America strategist, Savita Subramanian, posted a May 2023 note to clients that mentions of reshoring on earnings calls from S&P 500 CEOs have risen 128% year over year (cnb.cx/3vYoZMY). S&P 500 companies produce durable manufactured goods that need precision machined products to function – automotive, appliance and aerospace to name a few – so a mention by CEOs of these companies is certainly a forward-looking indicator of their intentions and actions in this space.
According to The Conference Board “Executive mentions of nearshoring/reshoring/onshoring in earnings calls and conferences are up 1,100% since the start of the pandemic” (bit.ly/PMPA-PM0324e). Up 1,100%. That’s convincing. And they are the customers for what we make in our precision machining shops.

Chinese Manufacturing
Since 2001, when China became a member of the World Trade Organization, (WTO) China has been seen as the “workshop to the world:’ This narrative has diminished as crises in real estate, high unemployment and a crackdown on its technology sector have dampened China’s growth, in addition to a shrinking population. According to Statista, China’s labor force peaked at 800.91 million in 2015; in 2022, it had declined to 768.63 million (bit.ly/ PMPA-PM0324f).
Nor is Chinese labor a low-cost bargain. According to Global Data, “China’s labor cost index in 2021 stood at 138. The index recorded a growth of 2.8% in 2021 compared to the previous year. Between 2010-2021, the index in China increased by 37.9%” (bit.ly/PMPA­PM0324g). Up 37.98%. China GDP is also declining, as its “share of Global GDP fell in dollar terms for the first time in 29 years:’ according to NikkeiAsia ( s.nikkei.com/ 48KxFVD ).
What are the “strong tailwinds” pushing the onshoring, reshoring and nearshoring trend in manufacturing today? We see the strong boom in new construction for manufacturing as one. Increasing FDI counts as another. Chaos in supply chains and out of control shipping costs are another factor convincing executives to buy local.
Executives themselves continue to announce their plans to bring manufacturing back, and in China, the demographics, and the economic data are showing that the economy may have peaked in terms of its output as a share of global GDP. And I haven’t even mentioned­ U.S. government investments, incentives and efforts to promote domestic production of semiconductor chips and other high-technology products.
These are strong tailwinds. I’m not a weather forecaster, but the data I am seeing leads me to believe that manufacturing and manufacturing employment will be strong for the foreseeable future.

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

How Do You Know What To Do Next?

Do modern, quality tools provide an answer?

by Miles Free III

Director of Industry Affairs, PMPA

Published February 1, 2024

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How do you know what to do next? Seriously. Do you follow specific work instructions? Standard work? A process flow chart? Just habit? What if the usual stimulus is not present? How do you decide what to do next?
Theodore Roosevelt isn’t quoted or often remembered these days, but my grandfather shared a quote that is often attributed to Teddy: ”In any moment of decision, the best thing that you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” So, let’s just consider this quote and see how it can apply to our work, and our shops’ success.

The Best Thing That You Can Do Is The Right Thing
Well, that seems obvious. Do the right thing. Ok. What is the right thing to do? In this exact moment, how will we know? Th at is the issue. How do we know, judge or determine what is the right thing to do?
“In the first place, do no harm,” comes to mind, providing us a guard rail or signpost on what we should or shouldn’t do. If it doesn’t protect the customer — the entity that brings our business demand then it is clearly the wrong thing to do. But doing no harm could also be taken as an instruction to do nothing. And that, Teddy states, is the worst thing. So, we need more than just a prohibition on doing harm. Operating at our highest and best use is one of my foundational principles. This tells me to do, but not what to do. We can do things that are within our scope — our responsibilities and authorities. But what to do?

This is where the tools of quality really help. Standard work tells us the What, the When and the How. Standard work is by definition the current best practice for performing a process. When combined with the practice of continuous improvement, it will answer the question that most entrepreneurs mistakenly ask when trying to decide what to do next…“What can I do that will make me the most money?” Th is is absolutely the wrong question, as shown by how it worked out when employed by the folks at Enron. We all know how that ended.

After the standard work is completed, perhaps your organization has (or needs) standing instructions. “If you have time to lean, you have time to clean,” was the motto at one of my early jobs. It stands the test of time and I wonder what other similar wisdom might be added to make a list of standing instructions for our precision machining shops? 

When I set out to write this piece, I was sure that “do the next best thing” would be the inevitable conclusion. But Teddy’s dictum —“doing the wrong thing is better than doing nothing” — gives me pause. In my world, we are performers not employees, and our pay is compensation for our performance. To perform is to do something, not for us to do nothing. And certainly not for us to do the wrong thing.

So back to the initial question how do we know what to do next? In our shops, the ERP, the scheduling software, the foreman or the production planner will generally have this covered. But those moments between jobs, projects and assignments…how do we know?

On our PMPA Mastery Program visits last year, we visited several shops that were practicing not 5-S, but
6-S. What is 6-S? Well, in the United States, we all know “safety first,” so add to that the 5-S method — Sort. Set in order. Shine. Standardize. Sustain. Takes that “time to lean, time to clean” to another level, indeed. So perhaps, as shown on the shop tours we made, 6-S is indeed our industry’s standing instructions.

The initial question was how do we know what to do next? My anticipated answer was “do the next best thing.” Perhaps when we are not at work that answer will do. But frankly, it seems vague and also highly dependent on one’s own values. But having reflected on this, I am certain that when no other work has been assigned, following the 6-S method in the area for which we have responsibility just might be that “next best thing.” What do you think? I would love to get your take (my email is below.)

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