Author: Miles Free

Putting A Blog Into Your Marketing Plan Free Webinar!

Posted on by

PMPA is teaming up with Sonnhalter, the leading B2B agency behind Tradesmen Insights Blog to offer you a free webinar on the “why” and “how” to blog.

Join us on September 25th at 2:00 p.m. EDT for the free one-hour webinar.

You can register here PMPA FREE BLOGGING WEBINAR.

We have seen the value of blogging and want to help you capture this too.

Free Webinar: Should a Blog Be a Part of Your Marketing Plan?

  • Blogging can be a valuable marketing tool that gives your organization a way to prove its expertise.
  • Blogging can help you standout as an expert in your area of expertise.
  • Blogging can help you be found by search engines.

In order to tap into the values that blogs offer, manufacturers need to ask themselves certain questions and make several decisions before their blog goes live.

This webinar will help participants explore the idea of blogging  to help find out if a blog should be a part of their marketing plans- and we will review what all is involved in starting one.

We are certain that this free introduction to the world of blogging will help you put the fear behind you and help start you on the path to greater engagement online with your market.

Please join us on September 25th at 2:00 p.m. EDT for the free one-hour webinar.

You can register here PMPA FREE BLOGGING WEBINAR.

When: Tuesday, September 25 at 2:00 p.m.

What: Free webinar about company blogs for manufacturers

                The webinar covers:

  • What blogs are
  • Pros and cons of starting a blog
  • Which questions to answer before starting a company blog
  • What is involved in starting a blog
  • Some steps to take to get started

You can register here PMPA FREE BLOGGING WEBINAR.

Hope to catch you on the 25th!

 Great photo

 

Sneak Peek-Your Workforce in 2020 at IMTS

Posted on by

I’ll be on a panel about workforce development Tuesday September 11th at 11AM CST at the IMTSedu booth  N-6677 in the North building.

Workforce development is our industry’s most critical issue.

Here’s a sneak peek to convince you. In just 8 years:

Major changes ahead for our shops.

As we race toward a demographic cliff, high paying skilled jobs in our industry are being ignored by young people as they go into debt for a  college degree that increasingly no longer assures a job nor even above average pay.

We need to help today’s talent find their career in precision machining.

I and the other speakers, Greg Jones from AMT, Craig McAtee from NCATC, Chad Schron from ToolingU, and Darlene Miller from Permac Industries and the President’s Job Council will be there to share ideas about workforce development and what we need to do NOW.

I’ll have more to share Tuesday, hope to see you there!

Demographics about workforce from BLS Monthly Labor Review January 2012

More facts about College vs Advanced Manufacturing

Why Manufacturing is the Right Career Choice

http://pmpaspeakingofprecision.com/2012/05/02/why-manufacturing-is-the-right-career-choice-data/

August ISM Report

Posted on by

The mixed message in the ISM data of growing overall economy and contracting manufacturing isn’t difficult to fathom- slowdown in manufacturing as orders and demand dry up as global economic uncertainty continues to reduce confidence.

YELLOW FLAG FOR MANUFACTURING!

Global economic uncertainty reducing growth and demand for manufactured goods.

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in August for the third time since July 2009; however, the overall economy grew for the 39th consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business®.

“The PMI™ registered 49.6 percent, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from July’s reading of 49.8 percent, indicating contraction in the manufacturing sector for the third consecutive month.

(This is also the lowest reading for the PMI™ since July 2009.)

Manufacturing contracted in August as the PMI™ registered 49.6 percent, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point when compared to July’s reading of 49.8 percent. A reading above 50 percent indicates that the manufacturing economy is generally expanding; below 50 percent indicates that it is generally contracting.

What this really means: ” A PMI™ in excess of 42.6 percent, over a period of time, generally indicates an expansion of the overall economy.”

Therefore, the August PMI™ indicates growth for the 39th consecutive month in the overall economy, but indicates contraction in the manufacturing sector for the third time since July 2009, when the PMI™ registered 49.2 percent.

Other indicators:

  • New Orders Index registered 47.1 percent, a decrease of 0.9 percentage point from July, indicating contraction in new orders for the third consecutive month.
  • Production Index registered 47.2 percent, a decrease of 4.1 percentage points and indicating contraction in production for the first time since May 2009.
  • Employment Index remained in growth territory at 51.6 percent, but registered its lowest reading since November 2009 when the Employment Index registered 51 percent.
  • Prices Index increased 14.5 percentage points from its July reading to 54 percent. 

The mixed message in these data isn’t difficult to fathom- slowdown in manufacturing as orders and demand dry up as global economic uncertainty continues to reduce confidence.

See the full ISM report for August here

Yellow Flag

OSHA Severe Violator Enforcement Program Removal Criteria

Posted on by

OSHA ‘s Severe Violator Enforcement Program  (SVEP) has been in effect since June 18, 2010. So what does an employer have to do to get out of this program? OSHA published Removal Criteria for SVEP  August 16, 2012.

SVEP is like Double Secret Probation except it’s no secret…

SVEP  is intended to focus agency resources on employers that demonstrate indifference to their responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act with willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations.

To date, 288 inspections have been designated as SVEP inspections.

What must an employer do to be removed from SVEP?

  • Only after a period of three years from the date of final disposition of the SVEP inspection citation items.
  • Employers must have abated all SVEP–related hazards affirmed as violations,
  • Paid all final penalties,
  • Abided by and completed all settlement provisions,
  • Not received any additional serious citations related to the hazards identified in the SVEP inspection at the initial establishment or at any related establishments.

If an employer “fails to abate all hazards, pay all penalties, or comply with settlement terms during this three-year period, the Regional
Administrator shall notify DEP with a brief summary of the situation. The employer will remain on the SVEP log for an additional three years and will then be reevaluated.”

Find the Removal Criteria Memorandum here.

OSHA SVEP Removal Criteria News Release

Dean Wormer Photo

What Does An Economist Mean by “Diminishing Returns?

Posted on by

Diminishing returns is described as a yield rate that after a certain point fails to increase proportionately to additional outlays of capital or investments of time and labor.

FED increasing monetary base is neither a bargain nor a model of efficacy.

Growing up, we would have described it as less bang for the buck.

Shrinking as debt grows…

As we can see from the figures above, our latest forays into Quantitative Easing are showing a lot less “bang for the buck.”

3.4 % on 227% debt growth today compared to 40% GDP growth on just a 106% increase in debt in the 1990’s!

“The simple fact is that the Federal Reserve HAS reached the point of diminishing return.  The economy has grown increasingly insensitive to debt and credit growth.

The returns to extra debt growth are approaching “nil!”  This argues against more rapid debt and monetary base expansion. ” -Dr. Ken Mayland

The data  above shows an extreme degree of diminishing returns. The current policy is severely punishing savers who are trying to do the right thing, and enabling the federal government to spend with abandon, and also risks, as in the 1970s, a runaway inflation situation. Savers are needed to  invest in new equipment that creates jobs… Why save? Why invest?

At what decimal place will we need to define the term IMPOTENT?

We may find out soon enough.

Data and analysis from Dr. Ken Mayland Clearview Economics

Bang

FAA Begins Reconsideration of Electronic Device Policy Comment Now

Posted on by
But I’d still be careful about what I was doing…

The FAA wants your comments regarding  in flight Portable Electronic Device policy.

“The FAA seeks comments on current policy, guidance, and procedures that aircraft operators (ranging from pilots of general aviation aircraft up to and including air carrier certificate holders at the major airlines) use when determining if passenger use of portable electronic devices (PEDs) may be allowed during any phase of flight on their aircraft. “

Read their announcement here PED NOTICE

Why do they have the policy? Here is the current FAA Fact Sheet.

No they don’t want your seat mate to be gabbing on their cell phone the entire flight.

But they are opening up the possibility that real scientific evidence, rather than just all encompassing paralyzing fear that “something,” “could,” “happen.”

In this case I am rooting for the committee that is to be established.

We just might get some “Intelligent Management of Risk” out of this.

How to comment:

  • Send comments identified by docket number FAA-2012-0752 using any of the following methods:
  • Email: Submit your comments via email to vog.aaf@tnemmocDEP
  • Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for sending your comments electronically.
  • Mail: Send comments to Docket Operations, M-30; U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Room W12-140, West Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
  • Hand Delivery or Courier: Take comments to Docket Operations in Room W12-140 of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
  •  Fax: Fax comments to Docket Operations at 202-493-2251.

If enough people comment, we might just get to the point that it won’t be illegal to take photos out of the window during takeoff and landing.

Photo credit

EPA Overreach- Facts Say It Is A Pattern

Posted on by

A thoughtful response to our post on the EPA  Cross State Air Pollution Rule being struck down from a member of the NTMA group on LinkedIn stated that the court’s decision was “not a single gotcha moment of EPA overreach,” and suggested that the court decision was perhaps more attributable to the party line of the judges appointments.

We were pleased with the comments and accepted the challenge to determine if the incident was in fact “not a single gotcha moment of EPA overreach.”

Here are the facts regarding how the EPA has fared in the courts under the current administration.

Actually, there were 6 “gotcha” findings just for EPA this year.

A half-dozen 2012 moments of similar “overreach, no legal basis, exceed statutory authority”  findings for just this agency!

Given this record, we would gently suggest that the current administration might want to adjust and recalibrate their “approach and overreach.”

Read decisions here:

EME Homer City

Florida Wildlife Federation

National Mining

Luminant Generation

Texas

Mingo Logan

And by the way the judge in the Florida Wildlife case Robert Hinkle, was appointed by President Clinton; the Mingo Logan judge  Amy Berman Jackson was appointed by President Obama.

Click here for a  similar listing of more than a dozen  recent regulatory smack downs by the courts across various federal agencies totalling more than $4.6 billion.

PMPA Introduces “Craftman’s Cribsheet’ in Production Machining Magazine

Posted on by

‘Tear out’ ideas worth keeping on technical, management, quality and regulatory topics will be the focus.

Introducing Craftsman’s Cribsheet- More Tools You Can Use

These four core subject areas will be represented at the top of the page; the topic of choice for the month will be highlighted and in bold type in the logo at the top of the page.

Craftsman’s Cribsheet will provide all ideas as a one page ‘Tool You Can Use’ – less narrative and more bullet point driven.

We are providing this information, monthly to  provide your team the relevant, valuable, information  to make a difference in your shop.

Look for the first Craftsman’s Cribsheet to start  in the September 2012 issue of Production Machining.

Precision Industry Sales In July Beat Seasonal Doldrums

Posted on by
Up five points over last July.

PMPA’s Business Trends Index for July 2012 is 111, down substantially from last month’s adjusted value of 119, but still well above last year’s July value of 106 and July 2010’s value of 99. While our index does reflect a drop in shipments that we expect seasonally in July, the 111 value is highest value for July in this decade. July 2012’s reading is up 4 % over last July, and year to date we are up 5% over same period last year. It is easy to see the absolute value of the month to month drop and be concerned, but our index shows that our industry continues to improve over past years’ performance when considering where we are seasonally.

Industrial Production (IP) increased 0.6 percent in July after having risen 0.1 percent in both May and June. In July, the U.S. summary “Purchasing Managers’ Index” (PMI) from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) inched up 0.1 points for July, to a level of 49.8.

In plain English, “Industrial activity at the nation’s factories remained stalled in July” according to Dr. Ken Mayland, PMPA’s retained economist.

Our index indicates that our shops continue to adjust to the broader economy as we sustain higher performance than prior years.

Over half  of shops responding were scheduling overtime in July.

Full report here.

D.C Circuit Court Agrees EPA “Exceeds Statutory Authority”

Posted on by

Yesterday’s 2-1 rebuke from the D.C. Circuit marks the 15th time that a federal court has struck down an Obama regulation. It is the third court ‘smack-down’ of regulatory overreach by the Obama EPA this year.

EPA caught overreaching once again.

In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia  Circuit said the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule rule targeting emissions from coal-fired power plants “exceeds  the agency’s statutory authority” by requiring some states to clean up more than their fair share of pollution.

This rejection of  the Environmental Protection Agency’s  latest over-reach will

  • Avoid a projected cost of $2.7 billion
  • Help keep utility costs affordable for U.S. manufacturers
  • Provide a respite  short-term lifeline for aging coal-fired power plants
  • Maintain employment of thousands of workers
  • Add yet another substantive issue  of regulations vs. jobs to the presidential campaign.

The recent report of U.S. Greenhous Gas Emissions falling as GDP grew shows how market solutions, rather than heavy handed regulatory dictates actually can  achieve desired environmental outcomes.

In 2011, GDP grew by 1.8 percent, but emissions decreased by 2.4 percent (136 million metric tons). This indicates that the carbon intensity of the economy declined by about 4.2 percent.

WSJ Discussion of Cross State Air Pollution Rule

Busted kitty