Author: Miles Free

Top Ten Employment Gaining Sectors in Manufacturing November 2011

Posted on by

Just the top five manufacturing sectors shown below contributed 239,900 net new jobs in 2011 year to date through November  according to BLS data.

Leading the way. Data through November.

Precision Machine shops like PMPA members are impacted as follows :

Transportation Equipment: This sector makes up a large share of precision machined industry shipments.

Fabricated Metals: 1)  Precision machining is a subset of Fabricated Metals. From our conversations with shop owners almost every shop is looking for skilled people for immediate work; 2) Many of our products are sold to customers that are also considered Fabricated Metals.

Machinery: We both purchase machinery and make components that are critical to the manufacture of machinery and equipment.

Motor Vehicles and Parts: This is traditionally the largest market served by the precision machining industry.

Primary Metals: Our suppliers of the majority of raw materials machined.

Semiconductors, Computers : Yep. We make parts for these as well as equipment used in their manufacture.

Beverages and Tobacco: That fountain drink you purchased  probably was dispensed through nozzles and fittings made by a precision machine shop.

Chemicals: We make important sensor, fitting, and pressure vessel components for theis Better things for better living industry.

Bottom Line: almost a quarter million net new manufacturing jobs have been added so far in 2011 in manufacturing areas directly related to proecision machining.

Manufacturing, not politicians, is leading this recovery in jobs.

Soda Fountain

Biofuels and the Precision Machined Products Industry

Posted on by

Normally we’re not enamored of biofuels. Its not the food vs fuel argument. For us it’s the too much input energy goes in for what we get out.

While I’m not certain that that equation has been solved, we found a very interesting discussion of biofuels in a report from Ricardo in Great Britain that bodes well for many of us in the precision machined products industry. Especially those of us who make parts for off road heavy equipment and agricultural markets.

In North Carolina the state is growing biofuels along the highways.

“The impact of biofuels: When considering the outlook for biofuels, the study concludes that the food vs. fuel argument may be poorly supported; for much of the last three decades, the agricultural sector has been constrained more by under-investment than by supply. If crop yields increase at historic rates, there will be enough surplus conventional fuel crops to displace a significant amount of fossil fuels. And more than likely, the higher current selling prices will drive investment in production and research to further increase yields, making more sugar, starch, and biomass available for conventional biofuels production. As a result, the study projects that the production of first-generation biofuels may increase by five to six times over today’s levels, without allowing for any additional contribution from advanced biofuels, whose prospects remain uncertain.” Designfax

If that is the case, I see a major increase in the need for tractors and harvesting technology.

We make parts for those technologies.

To order this £25,000 study

NCDOT Canola Harvest.

Health Care Reform Summary of Benefits Mandate Delayed

Posted on by

The Affordable Care Act health reform mandate requiring health plans to provide a Summary of Benefits to workers required employers to distribute these summaries by March 23, 2012. 

We're not sure if the mandate for summaries is covered in this chart or not but...

The Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services have released  an FAQ document  stating that “until final regulations are issued and applicable, plans and issuers are not required to comply with PHS Act section 2715.”

In other words- compliance with the Summary of Benefits mandate will not be required until they develop a date in the final regulation. (We’re not sure  exactly when this FAQ was released, the Department of Labor doesn’t seem to date their web postings consistently.)

And they gave no indication as to when a final rule would be published.

Here’s what they did have to say:

“ The Departments received many comments on the proposed regulations and templates and intend to issue, as soon as possible, final regulations that take into account these comments and other stakeholder feedback.

PHS Act section 2715 provides that group health plans and health insurance issuers shall provide the Summary of Benefits and Coverage and Uniform Glossary pursuant to standards developed by the Departments.  Accordingly, until final regulations are issued and applicable, plans and issuers are not required to comply with PHS Act section 2715.

It is anticipated that the Departments’ final regulations, once issued, will include an applicability date that gives group health plans and health insurance issuers sufficient time to comply.”

Chart

Chart as PDF 

Year End To-Do List

Posted on by

Some ideas to be working on during the ‘slow time’ at the end of the year.

1) Audit your shop’s Injury, Illness, Accident records and Incident reports.If any are missing now is the time to start looking- before you need to prepare your next OSHA 300 log.

2) Audit your OSHA 300 log. If you find any deficiencies- FIX THEM!

3) Prepare a listing of all raw materials brought in by type and grade to facilitate next year’s TRI reporting.

4) Review the years stack of no quotes. What capabilities  do you lack that the market is telling you you need?

5) Review your jobs by profitability list. (If you don’t have one, why not?) What is it that you are really doing right?

6) Look at your machine utilization rate by department or type. If you have clear winners or losers the market is telling you that the way you are assigning costs needs to be reevaluated.

7) Come in on the weekend when noone else is there. Bring a trusted friend or colleague that is not in the business. Look, really look, at what you see. Are you comfortable? What would you change? Can you answer their questions about “Why it’s like this?”

8) Develop a safety, quality, and a production theme for the year.  In my steel mill days I made it the “Year of No Rust Claims,” and our work and investigations and permanent corrective actions put an end to rust claims off that mill by the middle of the summer. For the rest of the year and the next…Why not do that for safety, and productivity too?

9) Inspect all slings, cables, straps, and other lifting and rigging. Destroy and replace all showing frays, wear, damage of any kind.

10) Identify the stupidest policy that you have in place.  Eliminate it.

Photo

” 8) ” Glitch  in the list above is an undocumented feature courtesy of WordPress (Typed the numeral 8 and the close parentheses…)

Why Free Machining and Impact Strength Don’t Mix

Posted on by

 It is critical to understand that the selection of free machining steels goes against the ability of those components to withstand impact loads.

Charpy impact values are reduced by free machining additives.Impact values increase with increased hardenability.

 

Impact strength is often an important design consideration in mechanical components. Cost to manufacture is also an important consideration in mechanical components.

Free machining grades can reduce the cost to manufacture precision machined components. But free machining additives reduce the impact strength of the steel. Materials should be selected on the basis of complying with design requirements, not just low cost to manufacture.

The low carbon free machining steel grade 1215 exhibits a particularly low level of toughness over a wide range of temperatures. Even light impact loadings are a bad fit for this grade of steel. The principal effects of the free machining elements  (Sulfur and Manganese) added to this steel are to lower the upper shelf or ductile portion of the absorbed energy curve.

The effects of hardenability can be seen between the 4140/41L40 and 1141 steels. While the presence of lead in the 41L40 does drop the upper shelf energy somewhat, the biggest difference can be seen  to lie between the 1141 and the two 4140 grades. The lower hardenability of the 1141 on mill cooling in addition to the effect of the manganese sulfide additives explains this difference.

The greatest difference however that can be seen from this figure is the vast difference between the two low carbon steels, Grade 1215 and 1018. Even at 212 degrees F the upper shelf energy of the 1215 is roughly  only a third of that of grade 1018.

Rule of thumb: If a steel grade machines well- it probably has miserable charpy impact properties. 

Figure 1 taken  from The Assessment of The Mechanical behavior Of Free-Machining Steels, J.T. Berry and  R. Kumar, School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology; R.G.Kumble, Vermont American Corporation. 1975 ASM  Mechanical Working and Forming Division, International Symposium  on Machinability.

PMPA Business Trends October 2011- Flattening of Shipments

Posted on by

Both the PMPA Business Trends Index and the ISM PMI  for October 2011 index show a slight flattening in shipments; the ISM report indicates a continuation of the expansion of the manufacturing sector.

Shipments seem to be levelling off.

The direction of change in our index parallels that of the ISM PMI reported for October. We believe that the October numbers we report indicate a ‘flattening of,’ not a ‘decline in’ industry shipments.

The Arrogance Of Gratitude

Posted on by

I started a list of the things that I was ‘Thankful for”    (Grammatical correction courtesy of memories of Miss Jerles 7th grade English) for which I was thankful.

It was getting to be a really long multi page list.

And while it started off with health, family, friends etc., it didn’t take long to get to some of my favorite “things.”

How Arrogant!

So here is my reboot of what I’m really thankful for (Sorry Miss Jerles, this is my genuine voice.)

Courtesy of my West Coast Funk Playlist: here’s Tower of Power  performing ‘Doin’ Alright.’

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh5xL1w-E0k]

” As long as you’re living

the life that you were given…

as long as you’re able

to put food on the table…

You’re Doin’ Alright.”

What am I thankful for?

Plenty. I’m ‘Doin’ alright.’

Our Precision Machining Industry is ‘Doin’ alright.‘

 I hope that you are ‘Doin’ alright’ too.

 But I’m a little bit sad that a lot of my fellow Americans aren’t “Doin alright.”

Happy Thanksgiving.

How Many Days Did It Take To Design The Jeep?

Posted on by
How many days do you think it would it take to design it today?

You can find the answer on the Ohio Academy of Science Website at this link: Jeep

It is a very interesting story.

P.S.- If you thought that your auto customers are tough about stealing  co-opting uh- ‘sharing’ your PPAP submitted process information with your competitors, this story will tell you who taught them that- the US Government!

Manufacturing Careers, Not Just Jobs

Posted on by

Precision Machining is a branch of fabricated metals manufacturing that continues to have a high demand for people with skills.

Even at the depths of the last recession, I saw want ads in the major papers in cities across the country from companies looking for skilled machinists, setup men, and toolmakers- people with skills.

So with job openings even during a recession,  Precision Machining is a great industry to find a job.

What many people don’t realize is that its also a great place to find a career.

PMPA Technical Member Peterson Tool Company recently honored 24 employees for 25 years of service.

Finding a job is an important part of having a quality life. Finding a job that sustains a career and lifelong employment is- well as you can see from this photo- its  not all that rare in the precision machining industry. Here is a company that recently honored 24  of their employees for 25 years or more service.

That’s a Career!

Congratulations to PMPA Technical Member Peterson Tool Company.

Congratulations to the 24 employees who have collectively achieved over 600 years of industry knowledge and experience at Peterson Tool Company.

If you are already working in the precision machining industry, congratulations on your great career choice.

If you are not working in precision machining and would like to and can do the math, the people pictured above are examples of what you to could have in our industry- a great career with a great employer.

Peterson Tool Company

Manufacturing- Good Economic News

Posted on by

When I grew up I learned Economics from Uncle Bob.

Uncle Bob had the family farm, and worked as a foreman in the steel mill.

This is the mill Uncle Bob worked in.

Uncle Bob taught me that wealth is created by either growing it , manufacturing it, or mining it. And since he had a working oil/gas well on the farm, he knew of what he spoke.

He grew food and raised livestock on the farm, he manufactured steel in the mill, and he sold the oil from the well and burned the gas for heat.

Then I got to college and saw that the folks with money weren’t working in mills or mines or farms. There was this burgeoning service economy.

Today, I just prepared PMPA’s Business Trends Report for October 2011. It aggregates sales and sentiment data from a little over 80 PMPA members in the U.S..

The Business Trends Indicator flattened a bit- a decline from  a value of 114 last month to 111 this month.

Woe is me- NOT!

The fact of the matter is that the Business Trends Sales Data is up 15% for the year to date. Our average is 115. in 2010 it was 99.

Precision Manufacturing- according to PMPA’s respondents are up 15 percent over last year.

So how does that 15% stack up against the interest rates that those service economy bankers are paying you on your savings, checking and Certificates of deposit? How does 15% compare to how the rest of your investments- real estate, stocks, bonds- are doing?

According to our data, Uncle Bob seems to be right. There are many worse places to be in today’s economy than precision manufacturing.

Congratulations on your great career choice!

Photocredit: Riverrat