Released March 28, 2022.
Miles Free and Carli Kistler-Miller discuss how the United States claims of national security is a farce and how the tariffs are putting our U.S. manufacturing companies in a bind.
Author: Joe Jackson
Released March 28, 2022.
Miles Free and Carli Kistler-Miller discuss how the United States claims of national security is a farce and how the tariffs are putting our U.S. manufacturing companies in a bind.
Released March 21, 2022.
Miles Free and Carli Kistler-Miller look back on the workforce in 2012, compare it to today and dive into the challenges that the precision machining industry faces and some critical areas to focus on as we continue to try and build our workforce.
Released March 14, 2022.
Miles Free puts EMC Precision’s Jeff Ohlemacher in the interview chair as Jeff dives into his company’s culture, lighting, his early days in the PMPA and much more!
Released March 7, 2022.
Miles Free & Carli Kistler-Miller discuss the PMPA January 2022 Business Trends Report and examine the details behind the record high performance in our Precision Machining Businesses.
January 2022 continues the positivity as our PMPA Business Trends Sales Index out performs the FED’s Industrial Production and Manufacturing indexes, as well as the five year average for the January index, up seven and a quarter percent (7.25%) from December 2021’s remarkably high close. Lead times are as high this report as they were last January in 2021- you know how that turned out. There are plenty of issues in the larger world to give us pause, but the consensus of your peers, as given by their data, is one of continued positivity and performance for our precision machining shops in the quarter ahead. 71 respondents.
If you are not currently participating in PMPA’s Monthly Business Trends reporting, you are missing a great peer benchmark and a tool to provide you with confidence for your business decisions. Contact Veronica Durden to sign up.
March 2021
Craftsman’s Cribsheet #104
Computer numerical control (CNC) machining is one of the most versatile manufacturing methods, capable of producing parts and components with dimensional accuracy and complex geometries in varying quantities from a wide range of metallic and nonmetallic materials.
Provided by W.H. Bagshaw Co. Inc.
Nashua, New Hampshire
Published March 1, 2022
The construction machinery manufacturing industry is expected to grow significantly in 2022 and beyond due to increasing demand for equipment as well as the passing of a new Infrastructure Bill.
Top 5 Companies
Published March 1, 2022
What’s your title at work? Does it match what you do every day? Does it match your level of responsibility? Are you proud to tell people your title? Or do you tell them what you do because your title doesn’t tell the story? Titles matter as a form of communication and employee pride. What about your employees? What does their title say about them?
I was at a PMPA Technical Programs Committee and I sat next to Pat Eliason, Shop Superintendent at Roberts Automatic Products in Chanhassen, Minnesota. We were talking about job functions and he mentioned that his pet peeve is when Machinists are called Operators. He continued saying that operators sound like they just push buttons. He currently uses the term Machinist Trainee because he expects them to become machinists. He is also thinking about using Production Machinist or Production Specialist. I started asking around and found that there are several shops who call some employees operators who do more than push buttons. But I could see the wheels spinning, wondering if they should still call them operators.
What are the titles at your company? Do they reflect the employee level of responsiblitity and what they do? I pulled the list of titles used on PMPA’s Wage Survey:
These are generic titles so that all the participating shops have a place to list their wage. Those work for a survey. But do they work for the human beings who are the greatest asset in your shop? Your employee’s title is part of their identity in the workplace — it’s important to make sure it is the right title.
There is a trend for executives to adopt creative titles: Chief Problem-Solver, Number Ninja, Boss of All Things, etc. The upside to creative titles is they can further your brand and show progressive thinking which may lure younger people to apply. The creative titles don’t have to be limited to the office folk — they can work for the shop floor, too.
Read: ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Working with Precision Turned Parts
You could get creative with titles. Perhaps the setup employees are Rookies, Stars and Superstars instead of C, B and A. Maybe your machinists are Machine Masters or Master Makers. You could get really creative with the titles, but keep in mind that they need to be consistent across the employees and reflect what the employee does and their responsibility level.
Giving your employees the proper title — whether it is traditional or creative — can boost morale. There is pride in being a machinist. There is pride in being a foreman, lead person, engineer or quality manager. There is pride in being in precision machining and the best form of workforce recruitment is recommendations from your employees. If your employee has a title they are proud to tell others, their pride will depict that the employee likes their job, likes where they work and likes what they do. What could that do for your business?
Carli Kistler-Miller, MBA has over 25 years of experience with
communications, event/meeting planning, marketing, writing and
operations. Email: gro.apmp@rellimc — Website: pmpa.org.
Published March 1, 2022
In November 2012, after returning from IMTS, I wrote an article for these PMPApages titled “The Most Important Challenge” bit.ly/PMPA-PM0122. I returned from IMTS 2012’s week of sensory overload of new technologies and new ways to achieve the precision and accuracy demanded by our customers. I was struck by the contrast between the optimism these new technologies heralded, compared to the looming reality that our greatest challenge was finding and building the human talent needed in our shops. Everyone that I spoke with mentioned lack of skilled and trained people to work in our advanced manufacturing shops.
In that article, we shared a graphic projecting the demographics in our shops in 2020 (at right). The year 2020 came and went. But our projections for shop workforce hit very close to the mark.
Recently, PMPA surveyed our Manufacturing Member shops to help us determine what is top of mind for our work in Washington D.C. Over 18% of shops eligible to participate responded, and we learned that workforce continues to be our No.1 concern.
The above graphic was the prediction in December 2012. Image Credit: PMPA
A look at the numbers shows that our 2012 analysis was very close to target. On our December 2021 survey (upper right image), the age brackets were different, but 41% over age 50 in the current survey closely agrees with “more than one in three (33%) employees will be over 55.”
When comparing the latest survey numbers with our projection in 2012, it appears that many of the oldest demographics have already left our workforce. This is easy to understand given our experience with COVID-19 in the past year, COVID-19 early retirees top 3 million bloom.bg/34gUZ0O.
It is also understandable by looking at the increase in people’s savings — particularly in retirement accounts. Retirement accounts are at a new high. cnb.cx/3g6qj59
What do these numbers mean for our shops? Here are a few ideas to consider given this look at the makeup of our workforce today:
Read: ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Working with Precision Turned Parts
Those remarks are just as relevant and valid today as they were in 2012. And they highlight our duty to ensure the safety of these most valuable performers (MVPs). They are the people who are making the things that make a difference. They are the people who are satisfying the demands of our customers. Their safety is a critical part of our plan for success in 2022.
Workforce is still the most important challenge. The facts from our work in 2012 and our latest survey indicate that addressing this may just be the most important priority we have in 2022. Without sufficient workforce, we have no assurance that we can satisfy the continued peak demand that our customers trust us to deliver.
Miles Free III is the PMPADirector of Industry Affairs with over 40 years of experience in the areas of manufacturing, quality, and steelmaking. He helps answer “How?, “With what?” and “Really?” Miles’ blog is at pmpaspeakingofprecision.com; email – gro.apmp@eerfm; website – pmpa.org
Now is when your efforts at managing can really make a difference!
Despite all of the angst and nail biting issues in the press these days, the US economy is strong and will continue to be strong in the coming years. Continued (but SLOWER!) growth is likely for the next couple of YEARS. Fears of an impending recession are misplaced, but slowing growth provides us with opportunities to reflect, reconfigure, and rebuild for a successful and sustainable longer timeline. Automation, workforce retention, upskilling, and talent acquisition should be our top management priorities going into this slower growth phase of the business cycle. Inflation is here as well- raw material prices up by high double digit percentages demand that you reexamine your new AND EXISTING contracts to make sure that you are not including fifty dollar bills of excess unrecovered costs in every box of parts you ship. Most of the markets that we serve remain in accelerating growth, but a couple have moved into a slower growth phase. None of our bellwether markets are in recession.
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.