Month: May 2012

Approved Stainless Steels for Your Rube Goldberg Kitchen Project

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The choice of materials for food applications is critical if we are not to poison someone.

As Masters of Metals- ahem, machinists- many of us feel that there is no need to buy the expensive store bought items that we can easily cobble together from a few common on hand materials.

Personally the use of the galvanized garbage can doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the possibility of galvanized wire cages being used for grates for fire or grills for food contact.

I’ll pass along the University of Maryland’s  word of caution to avoid zinc  for food contact and high temperature (fire) applications.

While the temperatures involved in smoking foods are far lower than those encountered in welding and metal flame cuttting, the minimal risk of zinc is unneccessary.

The use of galvanized (zinc containing) steel grates – from old refrigerators or chicken cages or galvanized fencing should be avoided for applications actually touching food.

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So if you are determined to make your own Rube Goldberg  food preparation equipment what  metal should you use?

Stainless steel baby! Use Stainless!

National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) recommends stainless steel:

NSF 51 Sect 7.1 Stainless steel

7.1.1 Stainless steel used in food equipment shall be of a type in the AISI 200 series, AISI 300 series, or AISI 400 series.

7.1.2 When used in a food zone, stainless steel shall have a minimum chromium content of 16%.

Stainless steel with a chromium content of less than 16% may be used for cutlery, blades, and similar applications requiring a sharp edge, provided the alloy has been hardened or tempered by an appropriate post-weld heat treatment process.

We don’t know why NSF thinks that the heat treat needed is a post weld heat treatment, (who is welding blades?) The blades may be quench and tempered to develop microstructure and toughness… but we’ll still trust their opinion about the safety aspects.

Now who has a great recipe for a dry rub…

NSF 51 pdf

Garbage can smoker

Why Manufacturing is the Right Career Choice- Data!

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Is now the right time for you to start your career in U.S. Manufacturing?

The phrase "get in on the ground floor" comes to mind...

I found this chart on Global Macro Monitor Blog on WordPress.  They look at it for their purposes. Lets look at it for ours.

I started my manufacturing career in September 1973, near the bottom of the “Nixon Decline.” It wasn’t easy- I had plenty of layoffs- but there was plenty of upside and I went from laborer in a sintering plant through a series of jobs to become, senior plant metallurgist, quality director, plant manager, division director for quality and technology.

Being in the right place at the right time (manufacturing) from 1973 to 1977  allowed me to take advantage of the upside in manufacturing that  gave me the momentum to grow my career.

Looking at the chart above, 2012 looks like the exact same opportunity, only better.

Global Macro Monitor lists some of the factors which influenced the chart above:

  1. Strengthening of the dollar during the 1980′s;
  2. Globalization;
  3. Entry of China and India into the global labor force;
  4. The internet;
  5. Improved productivity; 
  6. Technological innovation; 
  7. Demographics and worker preferences;
  8. All of the above.

I speak and meet with precision machining company managers and owners daily.

All are looking for people with skills and talent.

All are investing in training for their proven performers.

Our National Technical Conference last week  had over 102 first time attendees.

Twice as many companies offerred internships as there were  students in our first Right Skills Now class.

A comment I received yesterday on Linked In: “I teach Precision Machining and our students are all getting jobs now and the starting pay is getting better… ”

These are some very strong indicators that now is a great time to start a career in manufacturing.

 If you can do the math and solve problems based on your experiences, we’d love to have you in our precision machining industry.

P.S. And even though I characterized it as the “Nixon Decline,” I am not at all holding any president responsible for these.

There are far more important factors at play in this chart than whether or not there is a Donkey or an Elephant in the oval office.

Chart

Bullish On Precision Machining-5 Reasons

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There is a lot of uncertainty in the press about the economy and a lot of fear among businessmen regarding the near term for their business. Here are 5 reasons why I am bullish on  the Precision Machining Industry’s prospects for the balance of 2012.

5 Reasons!
  1. Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) for April rose to 54.8 an increase of 1.4 points. If sustained this would indicate an approximate 4.1% real growth in GDP. Precision machined components are vital components in all facets of industry and so would reflect that GDP growth.
  2. The World Steel Association (Worldsteel) just released its April 2012 Short Range Outlook (SRO) for 2012 and 2013. Worldsteel forecasts that global apparent steel use will increase by 3.6% to 1,422 Mt in 2012, following growth of 5.6% in 2011. In 2013, it is forecast that world steel demand will grow further by 4.5% to around 1,486 Mt.
  3. “According to USMTO, February machine tool sales were 2,063 units. This was 23.5% more than February 2011, which was the highest one-month rate of change since September 2011. On an annual basis, unit sales continued to see slower growth, but that rate of growth (33.5%) is still historically high… While the rate of growth in machine tool sales is bound to slow, the leading indicators are strong enough that it looks like machine tool sales should be good throughout 2012.”- Steve Kline Jr, Latest email
  4. “Future business expectations remain strong. The index showed metalworking facilities are slightly more optimistic about their business than they were last month. This continues the trend of improving business expectations that began in October 2011. Finally, since September 2011, the average spending on metalworking equipment for the next 12 months has improved. This indicates that machine tool sales should remain strong for at least the next quarter or two.” Modern Machine Shop MBI
  5.  Real personal consumption expenditures increased 2.9 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 2.1 percent in the fourth.  Durable goods increased 15.3 percent, slowing from the fourth quarter’s 16.1% increase. – BEA

Anecdotally PMPA’s Business Trends Reporting sentiment indicators are strongly positive. We’ll have the index, and our prediction for the end of year average in about two weeks.

Robotics Competition Sparks Student Interest in Manufacturing

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Nothing like hands on experience to make an electromechanical device that obeys your commands to develop student interest in making things.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP1NjaLzDkM]

At Lakeland Community College the Alliance for Working Together (AWT) Consortium, a local initiative addressing manufacturing needs and concerns, is full steam ahead as it launches an associate of applied science certificate/degree program. The goal of this program is to provide a pipeline of skilled workers to the manufacturing sector.

The Alliance for Working Together (AWT) Consortium  supports Lakeland Community College’s efforts  to support the manufacturing community with a degree program to educate future employees.  Last weekend, Lakeland sponsored a robotics competition for local high school students, who designed, built and operated robots for competition.

Our industry's future talent.

We were pleased to see the interest in making things, the widespread use of PPE and a team whose Tshirts said it all:

Madison Robotics- T-shirts say it all!

In addition to the associate of applied science degree, an educational and career pathway has also been developed by AWT and Lakeland. The degree will require at least 63 credits and be aligned with curriculum supported by the National Association of Manufacturers’ industry standards and skills certification system.

Manufacturing is vital to the economy of Northeast Ohio, the state, and in fact our nation’s economic competitiveness. We are pleased to see the pipeline for manufacturing talent being primed by AWT, Lakeland Community College, and the local manufacturers who sponsored the student robotics teams. Over 100 students from  18 high schools in three counties got to test their ‘mettle’ at this second annual Robobot competition.

The talent pipeline is looking pretty good!

Local news coverage and video here:

News Herald Robobots