Author: Miles Free

Why We're Optimistic For Sales At PMTS

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“More firms report upturn in sales, profits, and hiring despite rising costs” is  the title of the latest NABE survey conducted in March.
The April 2011 NABE Industry Survey report presents the responses of 72 NABE members to a survey conducted between March 16, 2011, and March 31, 2011, on business conditions in their firm or industry and reflects first-quarter 2011 results and the near-term outlook.
“NABE’s April 2011 Industry Survey makes clear that despite geopolitical concerns, higher oil prices, and uncertainties created by the disasters in Japan, the economy continues to recover,” said Shawn DuBravac, Consumer Electronics Association.
“Job creation in the quarter, as well as the outlook for the next six months as measured by the number of firms increasing headcount, is stronger than we’ve seen in the entire survey history dating back to 1982. Supporting this growth, both recent results and the outlook for sales and profit margins continue to improve. Companies appear to be positioning themselves for a firming economic environment by increasing capital expenditures. At the same time, risks remain present. NABE survey respondents view the Japanese disasters as a net negative. The survey findings reflect early signs of inflationary pressure as more firms raised prices last quarter and also expect to raise them in the coming quarter.”
These findings agree with the recent trends in PMPA’s own Business Trends Report. And make us optimistic that sales of technology and processes to make precision machining shops more competitive will be brisk at PMTS this week in Columbus,Ohio.
But caveats exist-the April 2011 NABE Industry Survey results reflect building inflationary pressure in the U.S. economy.

  • The survey recorded the highest percentage of respondents (35%) reporting an increase in pricing since the October 2008 survey.
  • Price increases were especially prevalent in the goods-producing sector.
  • Materials costs also continued to rise, with more respondents in all four sectors reporting that costs rose last quarter.
  • The percentage of respondents reporting rising labor costs has jumped from 16% in the January 2011 survey to 35% in this survey.
  • Expectations for future selling-price hikes and non-labor input costs also increased.

Public version NABE Survey

4 Drilling Symptoms That Say "Check Run-out"

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Problems with the hole often get machinists to blame the material. In my experience checking the drill and machine run-out will  almost always  show the root cause.
There are many ways that a drill can cause problems for a machinist. Many times we look for evidence on the drill itself- chipped corners, edges, or margins. Sometimes the evidence is on the workpiece. And often that means a call to the material supplier.
 But just because the clues appear on the material doesn’t mean that the material is the cause of the problem. In drilling, there are four clues that say “check drill run-out and toolholder alignment and rigidity.”
Four Clues

  • Vibration
  • Tapered Holes
  • Oversize Holes
  • Eccentric Holes

Drill run-out will cause excess vibration when drilling. Run-out can also affect the concentricity and roundness of the hole.  Run-out can result in the hole becoming elliptical, tapered, and affect tolerances needed. A savvy operator checks drills for run-out before putting them in the machine. And a savvy set up technician always checks for run-out in the toolholder or chuck when starting a job.

Well, it is indicating the drill...

 Toolholder or machine caused
However, the cause of the run-out may not just be a bent drill- the tool holder, chuck or spindle may also be to blame. In addition to indicating the drill bits outside the machine, check that the drill chuck and machine spindle is running true.
Length can be an issue
Finally, make sure that the drill is inserted to the proper depth in the chuck, and that the chuck is not overextended. I went on a claim for steel that would not “drill straight” to find a 3/16” drill held in the biggest Jacobs style chuck I had ever seen being held on a # 4 Morse taper. The entire assembly was nearly the length of my forearm, and swinging around on a short cycle time Acme job, the drill never hit the next part on center due to the vibration and lack of rigidity. A more appropriate chuck installed at a shorter length solved this “material problem.”
When the workpiece shows the evidence of the problem, I humbly suggest checking the drill run-out.
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One EV That I'm Excited About

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Here’s an Electric Vehicle to  make you say- “Why didn’t I do that?”

Unbelievable performance

Here’s some specs:

  • 60″ tall
  • 39″ wide
  • 0-60 in 3.8 seconds
  • Nascar Roll Cage FIA certifed to 200 mph
  • 56 degree rollover threshold- same as a Porsche 911
  • 3150 pounds curb weight
  • Range- 100 miles using lead acid batteries. 87 mpg equivalent.
  • 1000 lbft of combined torque
  • 2000 amp 350 volts ~ 600 kw; 805 input hp

At $150,000 probably  certainly out of our range, but not too bad from a guy who self describes as being “Too dumb to know it couldn’t be done.”
Awesome video!
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Hints Of Heavy Truck Recovery

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According to a story in The Journal of Commerce, Daimler Truck Raises 2011 Truck Forecast,  North American  heavy trucks sales will rise 30 to 35 this year over 2010. This week DTNA bumped that forecast up to 30 to 35 percent.

PMPA’s Business Trends Index is up to 110 from December’s 91, and last year’s average of 100.
“For 2011, large truck sales are predicted to climb back over 200,000, with the optimists predicting 250,000 or more. The four year down cycle in sales of new trucks has left the U.S. trucking industry with a high average fleet age. A rebounding national economy will result in more stuff being trucked and there will be money to spend on new trucks. 2011 should be the first year of a several year up trend in
heavy truck sales.”-Istockanalyst 
We believe that there is stronger demand for trucking services than there has been for past couple of years. We welcome JOC’s report on the Daimler (Freightliner) forecast.
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High Tech Manufacturing Needs High Skills

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Think Manufacturing is dead? Think a four year degree is your key to a well paid career?
Watch this video from NBC.
These are real jobs, and well paying jobs as well.
These are not your daddy’s brawny jobs.
These are about brains and technology.

High Tech Work Available- Skills Needed

Come join us as we make things that make a difference in peoples’ lives.
In manufacturing.
Think this isn’t real? check out this story from Redlands Daily in California.
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Ergonomics- The New Safety Frontier

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Guest post  from James Pryor, ASH,Inc.
OSHA is boldly going on a mission to add Musculo Skeletal Disorders (MSD) Column to the OSHA 300 log.

To seek out new ways to enforce

What does this mean to your company?
OSHA has been entertaining a regulatory approach to ergonomic issues since 2001 when Congress rescinded it’s original ergonomic rules (Senate Joint Resolution 6).
Currently, OSHA relies on the General Duty Clause for its enforcement,  which obliges employers to ensure their workplaces are free from recognized hazards.
It is the recognized hazards language that seems a bit broad. If these hazards are recognized, why aren’t they codified? In a form acceptable to, lets say, Congress?
In the absence of actually developing a workable MSD standard, OSHA has a new strategy of making employers specifically track these as a category, thus making them ‘recognizable’ as well as to provide data for future rulemaking and to target for current enforcement.
As shop owners, what can we do to meet our responsibilities to ourselves, our employees, and our requirements under the OSH act?
Here are some points to consider as you deal with this emerging frontier of MSD/ Ergonomic issues at your facility:
1. Listen to your employees-they are your best defense against MSD. Employees are the local expert. Get their commitment and ownership in establishing your shop as a safe shop, free from hazards and unsafe practices. OSHA may penalize employers, but safety is everybodies job. Get your local experts involved! 
2. Engineer out the problem. Our shops are masters of process engineering. If any one can find a way, it is us. We don’t need anyone to beam down to tell us how to do it safer. 

 
 
 

Engineer it out…

3. Most MSD type injuries in precision machine shops may be related to proper lifting. Until someone invents an economical tractor beam technology for us to use in our shops,  here are  a few tips to aid in the reduction of these  types of  injuries:        

 

  • Size up the load
  • Seek alternatives
  •  Inspect the object to be lifted
  • When lifting remember to Place, Turn and Kneel
  • Always lift with the legs  

 While the nuances of what needs to be posted  on the OSHA 300 log  are still being worked out, now is a great time to revisit your shops slips, falls, and lifting training.
Enterprise
Scotty
  

Injury, Illness Rates Were Decreasing Without OSHA Enforcement Push

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Rate declining well ahead of the arrival of the new sheriff.

Guest post courtesy of Jim Stanley at FDR Safety
There’s great news in a recent report from OSHA – injury and illness rates, collectively known as recordables, were down sharply in 2009 compared with 2005.
As you can see from the chart above, the trend line moved on a steady downward path.
Of course that’s great news for workers and their companies. With a safer workplace, everyone wins.
But the chart does make you wonder. Nearly all that progress in injury and illness reduction was made prior to OSHA’s announcement that there was a new “sheriff” in town for workplace safety enforcement.
Under the Bush administration, there was a much stronger emphasis on voluntary cooperation between industry and OSHA. When the Obama administration took over, OSHA’s new leaders said the voluntary approach did not do enough to protect workers and reduce injuries and illnesses. But many business leaders have complained that OSHA’s enforcement push has been misguided and overdone.
As time goes on and OSHA compiles figures for 2010 and 2011, during the full bloom of the enforcement campaign, it will be interesting to see where the trend line goes and whether the sheriff got the real job done – keeping workers safe.
Nothing like a graph of some data to help us see the situation clearly. Thank you Jim.
FDR Safety Home

Full Auto Industry Employment- Not So Fast

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According to Reuters and other news sources, UAW VP Joe Ashton is claiming full employment in the auto industry by September. Sounds pretty good. I want to believe!

 
 


I want full Auto industry employment. I do. I do.

 
 
Here’s one such report:
 

“United Auto Workers vice president Joe Ashton, speaking before a UAW strategy conference in Detroit, said that GM is planning to rehire roughly 2000 laid-off workers and bring the company back to full employment by September.  
“Those people will all be back at work in September,” said Ashton, who is also the head of GM union members. “We will have full employment in September for the first time in a long time.”

 
 
 
 
 


It's not exactly like this guy says...

 

Uhhh, pardon the interruption but if that is so, why is the US Department of Labor giving an $8.3 million dollar grant  to the state of Tennessee for retraining laid off Saturn corporation workers?
And how many of those laid off NUMMI employees in Fremont, California are coming back to work?
How many workers were lost by suppliers in GM and Chrysler’s Bankruptcy never to work again in auto supply chain?
Photo credit.
I want to believe

Three Criteria for Selecting Bar Steels

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Three primary criteria for selecting bar steels are  1) suitability for end use, 2) suitability for manufacturing process, 3) economical delivery of the requirements.

Shape can be an important selection factor.

Suitability for end use includes appropriate mechanical properties, physical properties and chemical compatibility. Mechanical properties can include hardness, tensile and yield strength, ductility as measured by % elongation or % reduction in area, and / or impact properties. Mechanical properties can be achieved by chemical composition, cold work, or heat treatment. Note: properties need to match the environmental conditions of the intended end use…  Physical properties that are often considered include magnetic properties for solenoid, actuator, or electronic applications. Process path of steelmaking can play an important role in determining these properties.
Suitability for manufacturing requires at least a cursory understanding of the intended process path. Will there be extensive stock removal by machining? Welding, brazing or other means of bonding? Heat treatment? Will the equipment used to machine require tight dimensional tolerances or straightness? Will the material be upset or cold worked? Will the material be cold worked (crimped, swaged, planished or staked) after machining? Bismuth additives can prevent achievement of bond strength in brazed joints unless special techniques and materials are employed. Various chemical constituents can have an effect on the cold work response of steel. These too can be determined by the melting and thermomechinical history of the steel before it arrives at your shop.
Economical delivery of requirements means choosing a materal that permits the creation of conforming parts that fully meet the requirements for end use and manufacturability at a total lowest cost. There are many ways to meet any particular set of requirements for steel in most uses. Chemistry, cold work, heat treatment, as well as design details can all be criteria used to select one material over another. Minimizing costs is clearly important, but most important is assuring that all of the “must have” properties (strength, hardness, surface finish, typically) needed in the finished product are delivered.
Costs of manufacturing can make up a large fraction of the final products cost. For some parts, the cost of manufacturing and processing can exceed the cost of the material. Choosing the lowest cost process path that will assure required properties often requires steel materials that are priced above the cheapest available. This is because free machining additives, or cold finishing processes  can reduce cost to obtain desired properties or product attributes when compared to those needed to get hot rolled product up to the desired levels of performance.
Bottom line: Buyers may want to get the cheapest price per pound of steel purchased; Savvy buyers want to buy the steel that results in the lowest cost per finished part- assuring that costs are minimized for the total cost of production of their product. Understanding the role of steel making and finishing processes can help the buyer optimize their material selection process.
Photo courtesy of PMPA Member Corey Steel.