“The PMI™ registered 57 percent, the second highest reading for the year, just 0.3 percentage point below November’s reading of 57.3 percent. The New Orders Index increased in December by 0.6 percentage point to 64.2 percent, which is its highest reading since April 2010 when it registered 65.1 percent. “– Bradley Holcomb, Institute for Supply Management.

Confirms PMPA Business Trends Experience to Date
Confirms PMPA Business Trends Experience to Date

Transportation Equipment; Primary Metals; Fabricated Metal Products; and Miscellaneous Manufacturing were among the markets reporting strengthening that are important to Precision Machining. Machinery; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components markets reported contraction in December.
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in December for the seventh consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the 55th consecutive month according to ISM.

PMPA’s November 2013 Business Trends Report was similarly positive, despite seasonality at the highest value ever for a November  at 116.

November is typically a slow sales month due to seasonal factors. The index is maintaining an average for calendar year 2013 of 122, and for trailing 12 months of 119. November 2013 shipments are 113% of October 2012.

The Employment Index registered 56.9 percent, an increase of 0.4 percentage point compared to November’s reading of 56.5 percent. December’s employment reading is the highest since June 2011 when the Employment Index registered 59 percent.
Why wouldn’t you be considering a career in Manufacturing?

Here are the top posts from 2013 that YOU found most interesting.
Skills DO Pay the Bills

You need skills, not just high pay, to properly hitch the cart to the horse.
You need skills, not just high pay, to properly hitch the cart to the horse.

We paid attention!
With over 20,000 views, we adjusted to your interest by creating a new blog focused solely on careers:
http://yourcareerfacts.com/
Second most popular  was Multiple Solutions about the lesson I learned at Paul Horn Company about optimizing for product output and quality rather than lowest cost- over 14,000 views:
Yep Two solutions! Which one is right?
Yep Two solutions! Which one is right?

Accuracy and Precision in your Machining Shop
Accuracy describes 'close to true value;' Precision describes 'repeatability.'
Accuracy describes ‘close to true value;’ Precision describes ‘repeatability.’

Our post explaining accuracy and precision has had over 10,000 views.
We had two posts in our top ten addressing Safety and Lift Trucks:
OSHA Emphasis Lift Trucks
Inspection Compliance ForkLifts
And the balance  at 5000 views or less each addressed Metallurgy and it’s impact on our processes and products:
Hardness vs Hardenability
5 Benefits of Cold Work 
Blue Brittleness
5 Reasons to Anneal Steel
Seams on Steel Products
We started this blog to provide knowledge retention of important concepts that impact our precision machining businesses.
But you keep this blog going with your interest,  forwards to colleagues, and comments on group discussion on LinkedIn where we share.
What will be 2014’s most important posts? We suspect regulatory topics to garner a lot of attention, but there is always the economy…
What would you like us to blog about in 2014?

Published January 2014

By PMPA Staff

Workshops for Warriors, a San Diego nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing job training to veterans at no cost to them, is the only accredited 501(c) (3) nonprofit that trains, certifies and places veterans and wounded warriors into manufacturing careers.

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Published January 2014

By Miles Free III

This is the time of year when purchasing agents and buyers try to get us to agree to and commit to longterm, fixed pricing for parts, which are largely produced from various metals. Here are four reasons why you should not plan on an accurate pricing forecast for metals this year.

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