Author: ccrisler
Published November 2004
By Miles Free
You don’t have to have the last name “Einstein” to figure that energy efficiency equals more money for you and your business. While many of us consider our company’s energy budget to be a fixed cost or a constant variable cost as a fraction of our sales, the fact is both of these mindsets put blinders on to our ability to think about energy costs.
Published November 2004
By Miles Free
You don’t have to have the last name “Einstein” to figure that energy efficiency equals more money for you and your business. While many of us consider our company’s energy budget to be a fixed cost or a constant variable cost as a fraction of our sales, the fact is both of these mindsets put blinders on to our ability to think about energy costs.
Published November 2004
By Miles Free
What It Takes To Achieve Sustainable Success.
At a recent district meeting, a question posed to the panelists was “What will the ‘winners’ in our industry look like, who do you think they will be and why?”
Published September 2004
By Miles Free
There are 19,116 cancelled or superseded commercial item descriptions, federal specifications and standards. Lucky you, that print that you have to quote is citing two or three of them. There are also 738 federal standards, as well as 5,610 federal specifications, and only a few not-so-helpful hits on Google if they show up at all.
Published January 2004
By Miles Free
I can remember the very moment I started thinking like an adult. I was a college student on spring break in March, hiking near Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. I was wearing thin, suede leather boots on snowshoes. I had set out, alone, without a good map — only a quick glimpse of an aerial photo of the area — and darkness was setting in.
Published January 2004
By Miles Free
Do you produce parts for shipment overseas, say to Europe? Do you now or are you thinking about importing parts from overseas? Are you up to speed on the international phytosanitary requirements as they might apply to your shipments?
Published November 2003
By Miles K. Free
Earlier this year, I spent a couple of days with a leading figure in the precision parts industry. This was someone who owns his own shop and reorganized it several years ago, completely eliminating secondary operations. “Miles,” he said, “running secondary ops is a lose-lose proposition. The costs of workers’ comp and healthcare for the employee running them make secondary ops a non-starter in today’s environment. The labor cost just kills you.”
Published September 2003
By Miles Free
Most of us work within the quality systems and departments already in place in our companies. Much of our work is determined by the structure and form of the established quality policies, procedures, processes and systems that we have inherited. These systems grew as our businesses did, evolving from an initial inspection focus to systems using statistical process controls, and they now comply with international quality system standards.
Published July 2003
By Michael B. Duffin
Like many of you manufacturers, I have been following the transformation of manufacturing and the world economy for the past several years. We all recognize that globalization has radically impacted the competitive balance of our businesses. And, most acknowledge that this issue is the single greatest challenge we must confront to ensure continued prosperity for our industry.
Published July 2003
By Miles Free
It was my pleasure to introduce three sessions on lean setups at the May 2003 Precision Machining Technology Show in Columbus, Ohio. Three different presenters, three different approaches — one coherent message.