Recently PMPA member Darlene Miller told the White House Jobs Council that what we needed were skilled workers.
“Not just labor, we don’t have labor jobs, we need to hire people with skills. People who can add value right away when they start on the job.”
Here’s a video from NBC news last week that shows the same thing.
The want ads list plenty of openings for skilled set up personnel and machine operators.
Interestingly- they did so even through the worst of the recession.
Get skills to get a job.
Month: March 2011
On February 10th 2011 OSHA issued new enforcement guidelines in regards to personal protective equipment (PPE).
Here’s the link: PPE Enforcement Guidance
“This instruction, Enforcement Guidance for Personal Protective Equipment in General Industry, establishes OSHA’s general enforcement and guidance policy for its standards addressing personal protective equipment (PPE). It instructs OSHA enforcement personnel on both theagency’s interpretations of those standards and the procedures for enforcing them.”
The scope of this enforcement guidance includes head, face, eye, foot , respiratory protection , protective clothing and electrical protective equipment. All per 29 CFR 1910.132 through 29 CFR 1910.138. The areas that will directly impact Precision machining establishments include:
1) Assuring that the proper personal protective equipment has been properly chosen and issued,;
2) An active program of enforcement is in place on its proper usage.
3) Documentation should be in place in regards to both of these aspects, as well as regarding no cost to employees as discussed in the new guidance provision.
Have you reviewed your company’s personal protective equipment policy / program ?
Are you aware of the new OSHA enforcement guidance?
Below are a few tips to consider in your review
- Has a Job Safety Analysis been performed on all tasks to determine if PPE is required ?
- Has the proper PPE been selected?
- Is the PPE properly maintained, inspected and stored ?
- Have medical exams been given to employees in reference to the use of certain types of PPE?
- Are all records pertaining to your PPE program current ?
The new guidance document is a 54 page .pdf easily downloadable. I’d urge you to download and review it now.
Post coauthored by James Pryor and Miles Free
photo Copyright (C) 2003-2011 Miles Free
PMPASPEAKINGOFPRECISION.COM was listed in Orthoworld’s BONEZONE Spring 2011 Industry Watch column as a “Blog or App That Brings Solutions.”
BONEZONE is the premier journal for orthopaedic device company professionals at all levels of the supply chain. We follow Bonezone ourself to stay up to date on the orthopedic Industry’s latest challenges and opportunities, and its editorial coverage of product design and development, supply chain optimization, regulatory processes and insights into the state of industry and cutting edge technologies.
We were pleased to be recognized by this leading publication as a solution provider for shops that make orthopedic and medical implants. We focus on regulatory and material impact on shops like yours. They focus on challenges facing the broader orthopedic industry.
Yay team.
Bonezone Spring 2011 Speakingofprecision
Thermal effects can affect your results.
Its consistency of temperature, not the actual temperature, that is important.
Thermal errors can stack up.
For measurement uncertainty purposes, you want to assure that linear expansion dimensional errors attributable to temperature variation are minimized- less than 10% of your intended accuracy.
Thermal Expansion Coefficient – The thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) of tool steel is added to the measurement uncertainty calculation where relevant. The Testing Laboratory considers consistency in temperature most important. This policy was derived from MIL-STD-120 which states: “Whenever precision measurements are to be made, the temperature should constantly be kept as near to 68 degrees as possible. Since most gages and measuring instruments are usually made of steel…..the requirement that the temperature remain constant is more important than the actual temperature.”
Based on the above statement in bold, our laboratory tracked the temperature with its computerized temperature control system over a period of a month in order to determine the amount of deviation from 68 degrees. The amount of this deviation is used to calculate the Linear Expansion per unit length per degree Fahrenheit. This amount is used in the calculation of relevant measurement uncertainties.
For steel, the coefficient we used was 0.000006″ per degree of temperature change. (That’s six millionths of an inch per degree F)
For copper and copper alloys we used 0.000009″ per degree of temperature change. (That’s nine millionths of an inch per degree F.)
For aluminum, the figure we used was 0.000013 ” per degree of temperature change. (That’s thirteen millionths of an inch per degree F.)
While room airconditioning is important don’t forget that handling gages can affect your measurement system too.
Note that gaging can pick up operators body heat and that temperature errors can thus stack up…
http://www.commodorecomputerclub.com/images/020411/IMG_1868.jpg
Darlene Miller, Chief Executive of Permac Industries in Burnsville Minnesota, was named last week to President Obama’s 22-person Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
The council was created by President Obama last month to advise him on economic issues, and is focused on jump starting employment recovery and other issues. Other members of the panel include the heads of American Express, Intel, DuPont, and leaders from labor unions, economists, and others.
In her comments to the President and the Council, Miller focused on the need for talent and skills, not mere labor- “The biggest challenge, even though there is huge unemployment, is that we don’t find skilled labor. In our shops we need people with talent and skills. We really don’t have any unskilled labor jobs.”
Miller’s comments were picked up by national media including the Washington Post, and the Minneapolis StarTribune.
Her comment about the need for skilled talent resonated with the committee and the President who mentioned the need for skilled talent in his remarks.
Miller also discussed the especially heavy burdens that regulations place on small businesses like her precision machining shop, which produces precision machined components for almost all industries including medical, aerospace, food service equipment and many more.
Ms. Miller has been an active member of the PMPA since 1997, where she has been a member of the board and served on several committees and currently chairs the Statistical and Financial Resources Committee.
PMPA is proud that our member was selected to serve on this important council and is confident that Ms. Miller will carry the message from Main Street to the White House that “Small and medium enterprises are the key to job creation and economic recovery. Identifying and acting on issues that prevent smaller companies from operating effectively will be positive for both job creation and economic recovery.”
Permac Industries
Small Business of the Year
Published March 2011
By Miles Free III
Adding value is the goal of all of us in a business.
Published March 2011
By PMPA Staff
The Precision Machined Products Association recently retained the services of the Institute for Trend Research (ITR).
Published March 2011
By PMPA Staff
Grow the skills of your technical, quality and management personnel. PMPA’s Technical Program Committee has designed a program that will continue the world-class training opportunities of five decades of technical conferences.