It feels like our industry just finished a year long work out at the gym.
Describes our last year pretty well.
Based on this, I’d say we have lost a lot of weakness as we cut waste and reduced capacity.
Now that we are out of the Gym, and back to a “new normal,” are we still managing like we were in the gym workout?
Or are we managing in light of the new business environment?
We lost weight and built organizational muscle able to do more with less.
Now that we are out of the Gym, shouldn’t we be focused on rebuilding our business, and less on losing weight…
What do you think?
See our article in Production MachiningOur Year in the Gym Photo credit
As machinists, we seldom encounter microalloy steels. but what do we need to know?
Microalloy steel is manufactured like any other, but the chemical ingredients added at the initial melt of the steel to make it a microalloy include elements like Vanadium, Columbium (sorry, Niobium for us IUPAC purists), Titanium, and higher amounts of Manganese and perhaps Molybdenum or Nickel.
Vanadium, Columbium Niobium, and Titanium are also grain refiners and aggressive Oxygen scavengers, so these steels tend to also have a very fine austenitic grain size.
In forgings, microalloy steels are able to develop higher mechanical properties (yield strengths greater than say 60,000 psi) and higher toughness as forged by just cooling in air or with a light mist water spray.
Normal alloy steels require a full austenitize, quench and temper heat treatment to develop properties greater than as rolled or cold worked.
Since microalloyed steels are able to get higher properties using forging process heat- rather than an additional heating quenching tempering cycle- they can be less expensive to process to get improved mechanical properties.
The developed microstructure ultimately makes the difference. The microstructure developed in the steel depends on the grade and type. Tempered martensite for normal alloys.
Normal alloy steels require a transformation to martensite that is then tempered in order to achieve higher properties.
Bainite comparable hardness improved toughness.
Microalloy steel precipitates out various nitirides or carbides and may result in either a very fine ferrite- pearlite microstructure or may transform to bainite.
For machinists, if the steel is already at its hardest condition, the microalloyed microstructure of either ferrite pearlite or bainite is less abrasive than that of a fully quench and tempered alloy steel.
P.S. The non- martensitic structures also have higher toughness. We don’t tend to machine prehardened steels in the precision machining industry, but if you ever are part of a team developing a process path for machining forgings, or finish cuts after induction hardening, these facts might be good to know. Martensite. Georges Basement Bainite 1000X
Satellite image of oil spill in Gulf. (NASA)
Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind when your company becomes involved in a crisis.
Communicate. At the very least, make a fact sheet of basic company information and your products. Answers to”Who, What, When, Where?” is a great template for a fact sheet.
Use your website to keep insiders and outsiders informed. Your website is on 24/7 worldwide. Why not use it to help you provide facts and minimize rumors.
Don’t oversell quality. Zero defects has an almost magical ring to it. But the fact is that in complex systems even redundant backups don’t always work. Statistically, outlying events can and will occur.
Do demonstrate your sincerity, and discuss the steps that your company is taking to identify the problem, get the problem contained, and the immediate and long term corrective actions that your team is working on.
Don’t speculate on “Cause” nor “Blame.”
As of noon May 3, 2010, Cameron International’s Website has nary a mention of the fact that their company’s Blow Out Preventers may be involved at the BP- Deepwater Horizon spill ongoing in the Gulf of Mexico. No news. No Comment.
The first quarter earnings release conference call seems to be the only “newsworthy” item on Cameron’s webpage.
No mention of any work or involvement by the Cameron Team to get the situation in the Gulf fixed.
No “Who, what, when, where?” information. No spokesperson.
The Washington Examiner meanwhile reports that Cameron has been named among other companies in “lawsuits seeking damages.”
The AP reports Cameron is the manufacturer of the “fail safe device on the well that is spewing crude into the Gulf” and that Cameron has “$500 million in liability insurance for legal claims.”
That would have probably been good info to have on their own site…
The website provides a company with a powerful means to get the facts out. To show their customers, their employees, other people who may be affected what efforts are being taken to get things under control and restore normalcy. Guess what BP is talking about on their website? The best bargain in education is when you learn from other people’s mistakes. Watch how this one works out.
Meanwhile, how about sitting down with your team and asking “What if this happened to us?
