Speaking of Precision Blog

If you have a high incidence and injury rate in your shop. 15,000 workplaces were sent the letter. Employers receiving ...
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Every one has a To Do List. Calibrate the gages, do the safety Audit, check the grinders , prepare for ...
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File under "If you can't get something through the legislative process, just create a new rule." In yet another instance of ...
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It is easy for big city editors and academics to broadly dismiss the real issues that employers face as we ...
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Some ideas to be working on during the 'slow time' at the end of the year. 1) Audit your shop's ...
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Today the WTO upheld its decision finding that Chinese restrictions on key raw material exports broke trade rules. We have ...
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The World Trade Organization (WTO)  established an expert panel January 19th  to investigate and rule whether punitive U.S. tariffs on ...
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The World Trade Organization ruled Tuesday that China was unfairly protecting its domestic manufacturers by limiting the export of nine ...
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 News to China: Fair Trade means Trade Fair.  Our original post on this subject: Chinese tire dumping .  A ruling announced ...
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At the request of the United States, the European Union and Japan, the Dispute Settlement Body established on 23 July ...
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Proof the system can work if the Administration has the will. The WTO Appellate Body on Monday ruled in Geneva ...
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Crude steel production reported by the World Steel Association was 1,526.9 megatonnes in 2011, up 6.8% over 2010. This is ...
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eTraining Thanks to eTraining for the share. Note we take issue with the illusion of causality by the graph superimposing the fatality ...
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PMPA member  North Easton Machine Company Incorporated  is taking an active role in solving the skilled workforce issues it faces ...
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The Workforce Participation Rate fell to an astonishing new low of 62.8%, and yet the Employment outlook for skilled workers ...
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Openings for skilled workers as older workers retire are seen as the biggest challenge facing manufacturers in this economic policy ...
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Baby-boomer demographics continue to shape industry and employment. According to Peter Coy with Bloomberg,"...older workers’ share of the workforce briefly ...
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PMPA member Wolverine Machine Products Company in Holly, Michigan knows a little bit about Precision Machining. With their new Wardjet ...
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Sometimes, you just have to leave it in the good hands of your trusted colleagues. I was on the schedule ...
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"More firms report upturn in sales, profits, and hiring despite rising costs" is  the title of the latest NABE survey ...
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After two weeks of  disgust at the ongoing spill of oil into the Gulf of Mexico by the BP Deepwater ...
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Here is a safety lesson learned from one of my Facebook Friends. So the lesson today is......Don't take off the ...
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Low unemployment numbers can be deceiving. When the unemployment rate declines, it does not necessarily mean that more people found ...
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Tool life can vary when machining carbon and alloy steels despite the use of our best technology and our efforts ...
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The tolerance on cold drawn steel bars for machining is always specified as plus nothing minus some value... So why ...
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"Convincing millions of Americans they don't want a job or compelling desperate workers to settle for part time work has ...
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The New York Times Economix Blog ran a nice post on Grade Inflation. Two researchers, Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy, ...
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In the precision machining business, nobody sets up their machines based on the quality or price of your barstock. They set ...
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"The growth and passion I have seen in in manufacturing education and credentialing in just a short time has been ...
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U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration just released a new report that describes why manufacturing jobs are good ...
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Manufacturing is your best career choice today. The idea that there is just one narrative for success- go to college and ...
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Is now the right time for you to start your career in U.S. Manufacturing? I found this chart on Global Macro ...
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ITR Economist Brian Beaulieu gave a very informative economic outlook for the attendees at PMPA's Manaement Update Conference in Glendale ...
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    Lead is added to steels to improve their machinability. But Lead is not considered an alloying element. An ...
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Guest post by Peter Morici. Jobs Growth Tanks in March Peter Morici Twitter @pmorici1 The Labor Department announced the economy ...
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The Invisible Hand Is NOT Training Enough Skilled Machinists. (And by the way, neither are we.) Estimates of as many ...
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Here are some photos of the most surprising thing I saw at IMTS in Chicago last week- SOLD SIGNS on ...
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The companies that are still here today have already made the adjustments needed to be sustainable. Since these businesses have ...
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I can give you 271,574 reasons why you probably ought to make it a priority. That is the number of ...
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 Guest Post by Peter Morici  No economic policy could better serve Americans than genuine free trade but open trade policies ...
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 It is critical to understand that the selection of free machining steels goes against the ability of those components to ...
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You could ask this woodworker why they put guards on his machines. The hazards are real. Respect the horsepower and ...
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New appliances are part and parcel of home sales. And home values. "Home prices are down from their peak in ...
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I was asked this question on Quora. Thought that you might like my answer. Spoiler alert- I blamed Moms... Enjoy! ...
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Guest post by Robin Rutschilling,  Clippard Instrument Laboratory, Inc. I am sitting at my desk preparing my day and this thought ...
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Guest post by Peter Morici. Only 39,000 new jobs created is awful. After we back out health care and social ...
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The Hairstyles! The Ties! The Eyeglasses! The Venues! The People! PMPA staff put together a short video   on Youtube from ...
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Titled "More High Schools Teach Manufacturing Skills" the article confirms that " U.S. high schools that have launched or revived manufacturing ...
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"The manufacturing industry is facing an employment crisis. The rate of technical advances has outpaced our ability to educate and ...
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I went to judge the F1 In Schools State Championships in Pennsylvania.  I was delighted to see the skills and ...
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Am I the only one missing the optimism in the employment situation these days? The New York Times headlined “Jobs ...
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When Did Manufacturing Become a Dirty Word? Guest post by Pamela Kan, President of Bishop Wisecarver The word manufacturing has ...
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Alan Beaulieu, President and Principal Economist at ITR, recently took a look at the Tax Overhaul Proposal authored by David ...
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I found a treasure in Epco Products' lobby! I just returned from a 900 mile trip to visit member companies ...
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Guest post by Dan Vermeesch and the team at Micron Manufacturing. The Micron Manufacturing Team was awarded the Shingo Silver ...
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Here are the top posts from 2013 that YOU found most interesting. Skills DO Pay the Bills We paid attention! With ...
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Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels will speak at PMPA's Management Update Conference in ...
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PMPA's mission is to be the premier provider of association services to advance the global competitiveness of the Precision Machining ...
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Lessons from  the Japanese:  Monozukuri, Quality, Cost Cutting, and the Risk of Recall. Graphic credit. Recalls on products sold in ...
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While there is no real recovery in Workforce Participation Rate at the national level, individuals can create their own personal ...
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Integrity. Motivation. Objectivity. Ability. Audacity. Integrity is the foundation of our technical profession. Without credibility, how can we expect others ...
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Deborah Keegan on IndustryWeek Manufacturing Network on LinkedIn asked  "What is the one thing you need young workers who are joining ...
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You are a shop owner or key employee attending IMTS this year. Congratulations. Manufacturing is enjoying a strong "bull phase" ...
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"I get my data in Real Time." What does that sentence mean to you? When I ran a small cold ...
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Today our growth is limited by our inability to acquire skilled workers. In the last recession, we were held back ...
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No training at all! The money saved by not training won't begin to cover the direct and indirect costs of ...
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There seems to be a lot of confusion these days about manufacturing. As a guy who has worked his entire ...
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Machinability is one of those words that everyone uses but everyone also seems to have a different meaning. Here is ...
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This post inspired by a comment from John at HyTek Manufacturing  in the Chicago suburbs who commented on our post ...
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Early in my career at US Steel I was given the following advice, typewritten, from my first mentor. It was attributed ...
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According to the Federal Register Vol. 74, No. 4 / Wednesday, January 7, 2009 / Notices: C. Factoryless Goods Producers The ...
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What if you don't train them and they stay? Photo ...
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 China Trade Surplus Hits An 18 Month High The U.S. Customs bureau reported this week that China's trade surplus hit ...
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G.M. (27% owned by the federal government) is close to making a bid on Ally Financials' (74% owned by U.S ...
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What will our shops look like in 2020? 2020 is only 7 years away. I think that it is going to ...
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The ability of a material to deform plastically without fracturing, is called ductility. In the materials usually machined in our ...
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Diminishing returns is described as a yield rate that after a certain point fails to increase proportionately to additional outlays ...
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As machinists, we are used to handling materials in the bulk world. As machinists, our ease in obtaining productivity is ...
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"We are not given a dream unless we also have the power to make it happen."  -PMPA President Darlene Miller. I ...
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We all know that customers want ever decreasing prices. GM and Chrylser bankruptcy and bailout showed us how that thinking ...
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Here are  some results of a survey of plant engineers and managers by Reed Business Information  taken last month.  Results ...
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We learned with painful social and economic clarity in the great recession of 2008-2009 that it is demand, and not ...
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A colleague asked me this question via email the other day. Actually, he asked: "Simple question for you this morning- ...
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Our customers are interested in what is left after we remove the chips. But it is up to us  as ...
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Wear of equipment in our industry is not on most people's minds nor check books. There is no ROI on ...
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The latest Institute for Supply Management Index for Manufacturing  activity fell to 50.9 in July from 55.3 percent in June ...
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Three points you should know about the EPA's proposed TRI 'Clarification' It underestimates industry burden. It would cost our Precision Machining ...
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There is no reason that the vast majority of new manufacturing jobs have gone to men, but they have. Why ...
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BLS published the data behind the above look at our workforce in 2020 earlier this year.    BLS Workforce But it was something ...
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August 14th we published a post that asked the question-"What does the precision machining shop of the future look like?" ...
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Sometimes the best information that you can get about your machining process requires your sense of touch to feel the ...
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We were pleased to see the infographic approach used by Dr. Lisa Lang to summarize  the career opportunities in Precision ...
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The frequency of occurrence of an unexpected characteristic or non-conformance is an important indication of possible root cause. When you ...
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Leadership is about action, not potential. Global Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data shows that it is the USA, not China, ...
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" U.S. manufacturing activity hovered at a near 4-1/2-year high in September and factory employment surged, supporting views of sturdy ...
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Any questions? Our comment  for this is three words recalled from Mrs. Ponte's Latin Class: 'res ipsa loquitor.' Translation: 'The thing ...
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PMPA is actively working on Capitol Hill,  as well as with the Administration and business groups, to extend the Net ...
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"Upside-down” programs allow students to transfer accredited technical training, work experience, military training, or community college coursework as credit toward ...
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Mechanical properties of a given steel under compression compare closely with its tensile properties. An upset can be performed to ...
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OSHA Director David Michaels has responded to PMPA’s letter challenging several aspects of the OSHA  March 12, 2012 Memorandum  on ...
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Find A Job Friday. We live in a world filled with mixed messages. The FED says “…economic activity has been expanding ...
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"PMPA urges EPA to maintain the current 75ppb standards for ozone. Allowing for the full and continued implementation of the current ...
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In case you were wondering how well the US Department of Commerce is taking care of the exclusion requests by ...
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The reason everyone wants to describe our current unemployment situation as cyclical just might be because 'cyclical unemployment' is cause agnostic ...
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Guest Post by Don Ake. "The unique situations created by the Great Recession have rendered some traditional economic indicators unreliable.  ...
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The reporter on NPR breathlessly gushed  about how the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent. What a great story! They ...
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Compressive Stress is important in the forging, stamping, coining, and cold heading industries. It is compression stress that is used to ...
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Significant revenue growth. Increased costs of materials. Products produced above cost. Injury and Illness rates up slightly. New collective bargaining ...
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MAPI forecasts that manufacturing production will increase 6% in 2011 and advance by 4% in 2012. Industry Week  cites Manufacturers ...
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It's not every post that I write that I can start with a reference to DOS desktop computing, but in ...
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  The American Trucking Associations’ advance seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased for the sixth time in the ...
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After postponements and a head fake by the Chinese, the US Department of the Treasury has once again failed to ...
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We wrote about Transparent Aluminum early in our blogging adventure. According to MAKE magazine the science seems to have caught up ...
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We ought to provide immediately relevant training the best way we know how, today. Insisting on old school manual training ...
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What if... SOTP Welding ...
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Guest Post by Darryl Crum of Viewit.US.com training provider. “Information is not knowledge, let’s not confuse the two.” - Deming Years ...
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Guest Post by Darryl Crum of Viewit.US.com I am convinced we have done a very poor job in training our ...
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Deputy Director  of OSHA's Directorate of Enforcement Programs Patrick Kapust presented the agency's preliminary list at the National Safety Congress ...
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Just the top five manufacturing sectors shown below contributed 239,900 net new jobs in 2011 year to date through November  ...
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Thanks Investment Tooling International Precision Toolmakers! Was doing a random Google search the other day on the topic of precision ...
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I went to the U.S. Government's  Bureau of Economic Analysis Site the other day looking for some information on imports ...
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Leaded steel bars historically have been a mainstay raw material in the screw machining industry. As more applications and newer ...
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In most shops there are three magic bullets that can make a job go better: Tool Coatings Tool Geometry Tool ...
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Today is Manufacturing Day. The purpose of Manufacturing Day is to highlight the opportunities for skilled people to find rewarding ...
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   To advance member companies is part of the PMPA's Mission; "to identify legislative issues having a significant impact on ...
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Many precision machining shop owners think that they sell parts. The savvy shop owners know that what they sell is ...
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I was reminded of the possibility of heat stress  in our shops when I started the car the other day ...
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It’s that time of year again: Time to post your company’s OSHA 300A Summary  of Work Related Injuries and Illnesses ...
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I saw  this post originally last December and found it relevant. Now that we are midway through the year, I ...
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How we manage our time is a great way to evaluate our success as managers. How do you utilize your ...
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We're a fan of manufacturing. Automotive. Legos. Time Lapse. See it being built. Here's your Link: Time Lapse Ford Explorer ...
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Santa asked me to close my eyes and make three wishes for the precision machining industry. Here they are. Wish ...
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The Three Rules of Thumb are: Does this action attempt to deceive anyone or allow anyone to be deceived? Does ...
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In my experience these are the three prime causes for accidents  and injuries in our manufacturing plants. Failure to wear ...
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The machinability of steel bars is determined by three primary factors. Those factors are 1) Cold Work; 2) Thermal Treatment; 3) ...
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Thanks to Tim Waters via LinkedIn Goups for the great thought-starter Question!   1) Be sincere and respectful when employees engage ...
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Many times a print will come in to be quoted with material called out to be "Grade 8," "Grade 4.8, ...
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Three primary criteria for selecting bar steels are  1) suitability for end use, 2) suitability for manufacturing process, 3) economical delivery of the ...
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The causes of plating difficulties  on parts manufactured from cold drawn steel bars are neither mysterious nor beamed on to ...
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Thermal effects can affect your results. Its consistency of temperature, not the actual temperature, that is important. Thermal errors can ...
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Everyone knows that the type of coating for a job is the most important thing to consider. Right? Obviously, using ...
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Guest post by Lib Pietrantoni, CJWinter Flaking threads and thread damage can be avoided when thread rolling thin walled parts ...
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Today is the 164th anniversary of the birth of  prolific American inventor, Thomas Edison. Truly a modern Prometheus, Mr. Edison ...
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Our July 2010 Business Trends Report provides hard data that the precision machining industry is maintaining "A New Normal." The ...
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The Team at Keystone Threaded Products shows us that "Precision" doesn't necessarily mean "Tiny" as they thread the ends of ...
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Don's inferences about the changes to come in the distribution industry could very well affect our provision of parts to our ...
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Guest post by Peter Morici  "The fact is nothing the Fed does can appreciably accelerate U.S. economic recovery or stem ...
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  The Precision Machined Products Association is proud to serve its member companies in the precision machining industry. We know ...
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Stealing scrap metals  Clerical errors at scrapyards could become a federal crime under provisions of H.R.1006 now in committee.  We ...
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Not the kind of "Change" I like to see. Looking back at the recessions in the 1960's, '70's, and '80's, ...
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What is the REAL inflation rate?  Guest post by Dr. Ken Mayland,  ClearView Economics LLC When we look at things that ...
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The June jobs report came out. Unemployment rate now 9.2% The economy added <gasp> 18,000 jobs in June. Compare this to ...
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In most of this footage you will see that there is a small mass of workpiece material (Built Up Edge ...
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These past two years have taught us all some valuable lessons. But, we haven’t yet recognized the change that these ...
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We wrote a piece in Production Machining August 2009 about the "New Domestics." You can read it here. Researching for ...
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  Ryan at Change The Perception discovered this CNN video about Machining. Here's the Video. Ryan, thanks for sharing this ...
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Guest post  by Dr. Ken Mayland, Clearview Economics Here is a picture of the last year of durable goods orders ...
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I know some folks who have an uncanny ability to predict the future. They are not psychic, indeed, they are ...
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As a steel company Metallurgist and Quality Director, I was the guy who got the call to visit a shop ...
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The Witch is dead! The National Bureau of Economic Research issued a statement that the "trough" ended in June 2009 ...
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As machinists, we seldom encounter microalloy steels. but what do we need to know? Microalloy steel is manufactured like any other, ...
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Your QA manager can put you to sleep explaining the difference between these two terms- but you really need to ...
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The Chinese yuan  or 'remninbi' hit a record high against the US dollar on Monday amidst the strong volatility visible ...
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Guest Post by Jeff Wiltsie, President, Vanamatic Company The Climate Change Debate   Greenhouse Gases – CO2   Fossil Fuels Deforestation Chemical ...
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The WTO just handed China a 460 page ruling regarding how the country handles American books, movies, and music. Here ...
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  Chatter costs money when you reduce the productivity of the machine by slowing it down  to make the vibration ...
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Why doesn't the cost of these correlate to the investment needed to produce them? This great question came from a discussion ...
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This is awesome photography and will convince you that perhaps there is some Magical "Slinky Antigravity Technology" involved that keeps ...
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"Asking GE to advise the USA on Domestic Job Creation is like asking Willie Horton to consult on Bank Security. " ...
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In North America, the AISI/SAE steel grade nomenclature system is widely used. In this system, 4  numeric digits (XXXX)  describe the ...
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The need for talent is a universal concern- in Germany and in North America. The German apprenticeship model is effective ...
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I started a list of the things that I was 'Thankful for"    (Grammatical correction courtesy of memories of Miss Jerles ...
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This technology could be the embodiment of our industry's real vision of a "Paperless Shop." [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1uyQZNg2vE] No mention of ...
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We have many blessings in our lives, the love of family, friends chief among them. Most of us enjoy an ...
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We have many blessings in our lives, the love of family, friends chief among them. Most of us enjoy an ...
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I didn't say "Happy Fathers Day" even once today. What I said was "Thanks Dad for:___" Thanks for being first ...
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Actually, a million thank yous! Thanks to readers like you, SPEAKINGOFPRECISIONBLOG has over 1,000,000 views. 1,000,000 views! Our first post ...
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Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster PA was recently awarded a JOBS1st PA Tech Grant of $148,970 to upgrade ...
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We attended a presentation at WIRE-Net by Cleveland OSHA Area Director Howie Eberts. Howie did a great job of giving ...
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Post by James Pryor II  American Safety And Health Management Consultants, Inc. Your shops's LOCKOUT /TAGOUT program is the "key" ...
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In steels, tempering is reheating hardened steel to some temperature below the lower critical temperature for the purpose of decreasing hardness ...
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The majority of the demand for skilled workforce in industry is in this area  of engineering and production technology requiring ...
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"With aerospace function and safety criticality, we absolutely need to know the status and location of every piece that could ...
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USA Today has an extensive article and video segment on Right Skills Now, the skilled workforce development program spearheaded by Darlene ...
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"Government-backed talent investment loans will give SMEs the capital to hire the workers necessary to expand their businesses, as well ...
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The PMPA Business Trends Index showed a surprisingly strong August. PMPA’s Index of Sales of Precision Machined Products in August ...
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Effective Associating- PMPA and other groups challenged the "recess" appointment of three nominees to the NLRB without a confirmation vote. The ...
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The job of the supervisor is one of the most difficult and one of the most rewarding. It is a ...
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I subscribed to Ryan Pohl's blog feed, Change The Perception. (link below) Ryan's blog is thoughtful, passionate, and genuine. It's ...
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Right out the of the gate the PMPA Business Trends Index shows a 46% gain over December shipments, the highest ...
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The PMPA Business Trends Index for May 2014 increased 5 points over both April 2014 and May 2013. Our industry ...
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Forgive us if our schizophrenia is showing. Precision Machined Products shops serve Manufacturing and Construction markets. According to the latest ...
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A strong ISM Report for June: The PMI Index increased 2.9 percent,  New Orders Index up 4 percent, Production Index ...
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"Stress cracks are defined as transverse or near transverse open crevices created when concentration of residual stresses exceed the local ...
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"Competers  are usually so caught up in meeting their day to day challenges that they can only worry about the ...
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Seams are longitudinal crevices that are tight or even closed at the surface, but are not welded shut. They are ...
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Gold is for the mistress Silver for the maid Copper for the craftsman, cunning at his trade, "Good!" said the ...
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Rethinking connecting! We just learned of this prize winning development. Researchers at  Technical University of Munich , Germany have developed ...
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We expect to see steel surcharges and prices on the climb as manufacturing economic activity starts to recover. The current ...
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The current service center destocking will mean shortages and delays when manufacturing recovers. This makes raw material price increases inevitable. MSCI Report ...
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Industry Week's report on the AISI's annual meeting in Colorado Springs is the Official report on AISI website. Here are ...
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"The jobs crisis has brought an unwelcome discovery for many unemployed Americans: Job openings in their old fields exist. Yet ...
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This 4 minute video was produced by a British high school in cooperation with a film-maker and local police authorities ...
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One of the reasons I blog is for "Knowledge Retention." I want to be sure that the stuff I know ...
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Our industry works with some pretty amazing resolution and precision as our stock in trade. There are shops that look at ...
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As the end of the year holidays and time off arrive, it is time to reflect on just what it is ...
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The much awaited Budget deal is sure to disappoint anyone expecting real help for the budget, deficit, or the country ...
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It is not just demographics of our workforce that drives our industry. It is also the demands of society that ...
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The networking that matters is helping people achieve their goals. Its not the number of superficial friends or followers. But ...
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I'll be on a panel about workforce development Tuesday September 11th at 11AM CST at the IMTSedu booth  N-6677 in ...
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A number of customers of the precision machining industry have started telling their suppliers (Us!) that we need to adopt ...
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Last week Bloomberg BusinessWeek published an insightful article on the hassles of small manufacturers with their China businesses. "American production ...
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"Slivers are elongated pieces of metal attached to the base metal at one end only. They normally have been hot ...
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Slips, trips and falls- here are some facts to help you with training for your team. We are currently working on our ...
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Recently PMPA member Darlene Miller told the White House Jobs Council that what we needed were skilled workers. "Not just ...
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We have been working on the skills gap issue for a couple of years. This infographic from MSN careers shows ...
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Lack of skills were found to be behind the skills gap for production jobs according to a new  report by ...
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I had the privilege of participating in the Business Leaders United Fly-In to Capital Hill in Washington D.C. earlier this ...
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The Precision Machined Products Association (PMPA) has partnered with The Manufacturing Institute to expand Right Skills Now, a fast-track machining ...
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PMPA member company Precision Plus in Elkhorn, Wisconsin is just one of many PMPA companies committed to changing the conversation ...
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Dan's comments were a response he shared with PMPA members regarding the charge of one talking head on last week's ...
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We just completed our 2013 Business Forecast Report, a compilation of markets served by our industry as measured by  percent ...
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"By almost any measure the American Dream is in Peril. The  robust middle class growth of the 1950's and 1960's ...
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 Silicon plays many roles in steel but its most important is deoxidation; it is detrimental to tool life, machinability and ...
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Tom Andel, Editor over at Penton's  Material Handling and Logistics blog, raised an interesting paradox the other day. "Not only ...
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At PMPA's National Technical Conference, attendees will be presented with a wealth of programs to help them 'further their degree ...
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You can tell a lot about a shop by what you don't see... I had the privilege to attend Technology ...
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One of my friends on Facebook posted this video about how to sharpen a wood scraper by a guitar maker ...
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"Setups are going a little smoother (mostly);  there is much less wasted time searching for needed tools; and everyone is ...
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 The Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) directive became effective on June 18. (You wouldn't know it from the OSHA website, ...
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PMPA’s Business Trends Index of Shipments fell to 100 in September, a non-seasonal move that shows our industry shipments gain ...
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"The PMI™ registered 51.7 percent, an increase of 0.2 percentage point from September's reading of 51.5 percent, indicating growth in ...
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According to Wards Auto World, the current Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) for Light Vehicles is 12.5%. Chrysler's volume January - ...
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The ISM PMI  report issued today  is the highest reading for the year to date.  PMPA's Business Trends Index for August ...
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"Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in September, and the overall economy grew for the 100th consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives ...
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The  single point in time, monthly headline unemployment rate is a not very useful leading indicator for people in the ...
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Guest post by Peter Morici, professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland School, and former Chief Economist ...
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"Seams are longitudinal crevices that are tight or even closed at the surface, but are not welded shut. They are ...
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Scratches are longitudinal or near longitudinal indentations caused by mechanical rubbing of the bar on protrusions as it is processed.--AISI ...
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OSHA Issues Safety Alert- Scissors Lifts 10 fatalities and 20 serious injuries over a one year period spurred the alert ...
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Can transporter beams be far behind? University of Oxford Scientists led an international team that created this material first described ...
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The M-List is curated by the Manufacturing Institute to include those institutions that offer NAM endorsed metalworking skills training and ...
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False: Preventive Maintenance (PM) is too costly. False: Its cheaper to fix it when it breaks, rather than before hand. False: ...
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Scabs are irregularly shaped, flattened protrusions caused by splash, boiling or other problems from teeming, casting, or conditioning.-AISI Technical Committee ...
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The security camera on the roof  at PMPA  North American Headquarters caught a very brief few seconds of one of ...
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I attended a holiday dinner with my father and guess who showed up? Santa! I know he's real. He called ...
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We recently caught up with Santa on his pre- flight rounds checking chimney status in Ohio. Speaking of Precision: What ...
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I really get annoyed when people tell me to do as they say, rather than as they do. How about ...
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Fun post for Friday. Researchers at Nanyang University demonstrate the refractive qualities of Calcite to make a post it note ...
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Machinability of carbon and alloy steels is a shear process. Working the metal (Shearing to create chip) provides heat. The subsequent sliding ...
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Northeastern Ohio's  Lakeland Community College held a double elimination battlebot competition Saturday, April 31. PMPA Members  Criterion Tool, Fischer Special ...
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"A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. " ...
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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 ...
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Robots continue to find their way into our precision machining shops as we move away from departments of similar machines ...
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The US has a shortage of engineers, a fact that certainly can be recognized as hindering competitiveness in a world focused ...
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Brandon Jacobs, 20 years old, was a grocery store cashier and pricing clerk before completing the Right Skills Now program ...
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Right Skills Now will provide fast-track training for skilled manufacturing jobs- starting with  entry level precision machinists. According to a ...
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High tech,  get a well paying job, kind of skills. Watch the video here. http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/money/minn-program-trains-high-tech-workers-apr-5-2012?CMP=201204_emailshare#82666188-1 PMPA Member Darlene Miller, member ...
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Talking with a colleague about riding lawnmowers the other day. It's that time of year around here in Ohio. He ...
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There is a lot happening in Rhode Island to help spread the word to high school students about MFG Day ...
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Starting yesterday, chemical manufacturers, importers, distributors and employers are required to provide a common approach to classifying chemicals and communicating ...
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2019 has been a very strong year for Sales.  PMPA's June Business Trends Sales index  11 point “reversion to the ...
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Now is the time for innovation- throughout our organizations, not just the shop floor. Today we'll provide you with a ...
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There was certainly no transformation of culture at the Tier 1 suppliers  coming out of Chapter 11. Despite all the ...
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A lot of people have a false idea about "power" in their ideas about authority at work. And from what ...
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Why should you consider a career in manufacturing? Wall Street Journal: Industry Puts Heat On Schools What the Shortage of ...
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Automotive NewsWire: June 29, 2011 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave final approval yesterday on labeling that will allow the ...
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 On June 17th, at the request of the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Management & Budget removed from ...
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The 2011 Reduction Drinking Water Act  reduces the permissible Lead content in plumbing fixtures, fittings and components with wetted surfaces  ...
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Hidden variation is what increases your costs. Permanently eliminating the causes of variation is the only way to truly reduce ...
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Ford announced it is reducing its summer shutdown in several North America plants, including six assembly plants, from the traditional ...
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Every stapler in our office is black and metallic silver. Or grey. Except for two red staplers. While visual management ...
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Speaking of assembly...    Last weekend I bought a table that my wife wanted, to replace the classic old drop ...
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One of my pet peeves is to walk into a shop and see, on each and every horizontal bench surface ...
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This graph is pretty clear. PMPA’s Index of Sales of Precision Machined Products in February 2011 was 110, staying even ...
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The pundits lately are all increasingly pessimistic about manufacturing these days. Industry Week, NFIB, Bloomberg. The PMPA Business Trends Index ...
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and  America's Standard of Living Guest post by Jeff Wiltsie, Vanamatic Company On July 4, 2010, the United States will ...
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This is a graph of the 4 week moving average of total rail traffic from ASI Transmatch. The data is through ...
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When I was a blast furnace burden clerk at USS back in the 1970's, the hot metal production that I ...
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The methodology of measurement and what is measured are quite different. this is critical to understand if  you will not ...
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Quench cracks result from stresses produced during the transition from Austenite to Martensite, which involves an increase in volume. The ...
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No spec, no quality. Know Spec, know quality. Know the specification! ...
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  "Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful ...
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PMPA is teaming up with Sonnhalter, the leading B2B agency behind Tradesmen Insights Blog to offer you a free webinar on ...
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The Bureau of Labor Services reported the preliminary productivity changes  in manufacturing for the second quarter of 2009: 5.3 percent gain in manufacturing; ...
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The prices of all raw materials that we track rose as follows over the past year: Aluminum: Up 23% from ...
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   EMC Precision Machining, a fourth-generation, family-owned company that produces complex precision metal components for a diverse group of global ...
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In my experience, the ability to anticipate is the mark of a great manager. At the Epicor Insights 2013 Conference, ...
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"By controlling the important variables, dimensional changes in heat treatment can be controlled." Patrick McKenna Variability is the enemy in ...
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Precision Plus, Inc. is featured in the latest issue of Wisconsin STEM Pathways Magazine.  The article, entitled Companies in the ...
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On Wednesday, February 26, approximately 200 students from five different schools settled into their seats at the Elkhorn Area High ...
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PMPA member company Precision Plus President Mike Reader posted two great videos on his blog last week. Imitation being the sincerest ...
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When I visit our precision machine shops around the country, I am always impressed at how often the parts being ...
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The PMPA Business Trends Report for September 2013 shows our sales /shipments index to be down  to 115 for September, ...
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While we can identify over 13oo "machine shops" in Canada, here is a quick look at the impacts of 60 ...
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PMPA’s Business Trends Index for November 2013 is 116, down 10 points from last month’s value, yet at the highest ...
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Our December PMPA Business Trends Report for December 2017 finished at 125 for the year, up 6.8% over last year's ...
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For the Precision Machining Industry, a strong case can be made that our sales are recovering. PMPA's Index of Sales ...
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  The PMPA Business Trends Index of Sales for March 2010 reached the 100 mark. This is auspicious because that ...
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 PMPA’s Index of Sales of Precision Machined Products rose to 85, the  highest value for the year. This is an ...
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The Precision Machining Industry continues to show solid sales in 2014. The PMPA Business Trends Index for July 2014 rose 3 points  ...
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"Manufacturing continued its growth in September as the PMI registered 51.6 percent, an increase of 1 percentage point when compared ...
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PMPA’s Business Trends Index for July 2012 is 111, down substantially from last month’s adjusted value of 119, but still ...
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The PMPA Business Trends Report for March 2014 hit 129, a new high for the indicator of precision machining industry ...
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Unless they are family, or are under encouragement from someone on the Sopranos, people have three reasons to buy from ...
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Population Growth and Globalization are two very important determinants or drivers of your precision machine shop business. Are you paying ...
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Polyamide is used in a wide variety of automotive technologies- yarn for airbags and tires; engineering plastics under the hood, transmission ...
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Mike Reader, President of Precision Plus, shares his take on PMPA's recent 2 day Capitol Hill Fly-in. On Tuesday, March ...
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The Precision Machined Products Association recently joined forces with the Forging Industry Association, Industrial Fasteners Institute, National Association for Surface ...
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PMPA recently provided formal written testimony, additional supporting comments and an estimate of implementation costs at the recently held informal ...
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On Friday, October 9, 2009 PMPA's Director of Marketing and Communications, Robert Kiener, testified before the Senate Banking Subcommittee on ...
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  PMPA’s Index of Sales of Precision Machined Products in October 2010 was 103, basically at the six month average ...
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It takes quite a bit of coordination to prepare and turn around a hotel ball room for lunch, a keynote ...
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The team at Ohio Screw Products tells you why they attend PMPA's National Technical Conference. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw9346Jm4gs&hl=en_US&fs=1&] See you in Pittsburgh ...
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The National Technical Conference is one of PMPA’s most valued deliverables. Produced by members for members, this conference shares how- ...
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Michael Tamasi was called to the White House to share AccuRounds’ successes in building a partnership to re-employ local residents ...
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PMPA Government Affairs Committee Chairman Brad Smith of Indianapolis based The Mitchel Group particpated in a round table discussion with ...
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Fischer Special Tooling President Kevin Johnson and PMPA  Executive Director Mike Dufffin are prominently featured in a report on the ...
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Darlene Miller, Chief Executive of Permac Industries in Burnsville Minnesota, was named last week to President Obama’s 22-person Council on ...
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The Precision Machined Products Association announced today that it has appointed Bernie Nagle to be the organization’s next Executive Director ...
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'Tear out' ideas worth keeping on technical, management, quality and regulatory topics will be the focus. These four core subject ...
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The Precision Machined Products Association (PMPA) filed official comments opposing an Administration proposal to place additional burdens on employers while ...
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PMPA has a history of providing relevant industry training programs at the local regional and national level. Now, PMPA is ...
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The PMPA Business Trends Report for February 2014 has just been released. "The PMPA Business Trends Index for February 2014 ...
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Seasonality explains our drop in Sales this November, as it does every year. The November 2015 PMPA Business Trends Report Sales ...
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Both the PMPA Business Trends Index and the ISM PMI  for October 2011 index show a slight flattening in shipments; ...
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PMPA’s Business Trends Index for June 2013 is 119, identical to the value for June 2012 and down 8 points ...
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October’s numbers, while up from September’s, are discouraging to our forecast of industry sales for 2012. With seasonal declines already ...
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The PMPA Business Trends Report for March 2013 looks quite similar to that of March 2012. While our shipments in ...
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"2019 was a better year than you think, finishing essentially even with 2018. Responding shops have balanced expectations going into  ...
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The PMPA Business Trends Index for April 2014 fell 6 points from 129 to 123, up two points over April ...
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The PMPA Business Trends Report 2012 Year End Review and Summary is completed and posted on our website here.  Despite ...
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PMPA’s Index of Sales of Precision Machined Products rose to 114 for the year, up 15 percent from the 2010 ...
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The Board of Directors of the Precision Machined Products Association announced the hiring of Michael T. Kobylka, II as PMPA's ...
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Lets add one more federal burden to beleagured manufacturers. At least, thats what iGPS,  a  manufacturer of plastic pallets is calling ...
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http://connect.facebook.net/rsrc.php/v1/yQ/r/f3KaqM7xIBg.swf http://www.facebook.com/dialog/oauth?api_key=79439656165&app_id=79439656165&channel_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs-static.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fconnect%2Fxd_proxy.php%3Fversion%3D3%23cb%3Df2e1af9664f580e%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fpmpaspeakingofprecision.wordpress.com%252Ff15f40b8a1435e9%26relation%3Dparent.parent%26transport%3Dpostmessage&client_id=79439656165&display=none&domain=pmpaspeakingofprecision.wordpress.com&locale=en_US&origin=1&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fs-static.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fconnect%2Fxd_proxy.php%3Fversion%3D3%23cb%3Df11a1af65215f8b%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fpmpaspeakingofprecision.wordpress.com%252Ff15f40b8a1435e9%26relation%3Dparent%26transport%3Dpostmessage%26frame%3Df1ddcbe502365d9&response_type=token%2Csigned_request%2Ccode&sdk=joey Which would you rather hire- a plant manager or a profitability engineer? The outlook is bleak for plant ...
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The majority of defects encountered in steel bars in our shops are found on the surface. Internal defects can also ...
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The uhh- "techie" part of us is celebrating Pi Day at 1:59 pm today So besides being  the cause of ...
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OSHA cited Advantage Powder Coating in Defiance, Ohio, for 15 safety violations and fined the company $159,600 after a pedestal ...
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Part Time Employment in a low paying field does not have to be your destiny. Mortgaging your future to enormous ...
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“This fear of inflation, I think, is way overstated,” Mr. Bernanke said. “We’ve looked at it very, very carefully. We’ve ...
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Sunday,  Austrian Felix Baumgartner rode a balloon to the edge of space, stepped off his balloon- borne capsule into a 128,100 feet, 830 mph, 4 minute, ...
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EHS magazine had a great post on the  overuse as abuse of PPE. Diminished Returns, Diminished Awareness was written by ...
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Thank you, readers, for your attention to our posts. We will continue to post thought leadership, knowledge retention, and emerging ...
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21,420 to be exact.  This is a 20% increase in the number of credentials issued in the United States from ...
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It feels like our industry just finished a  year long  work out at the gym. Based on this, I'd say ...
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This is our 100th blog post! Since we went live last August, we've had over 20,000 page views of our ...
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OSHA Penalties increased 78% August 1, 2016. The following is a list of the top 10 most frequently cited standards ...
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Summary: A change in the interpretation of  the word ‘FEASIBLE’ by OSHA could cause all shop owners whose shops noise ...
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PMPA invited Assistant Secretary of Labor, OSHA Director David Michaels, PhD, MPH to speak to attendees at our Management Update ...
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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced that it is withdrawing its proposed interpretation titled ...
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OSHA has updated their form 2201 General Industry Digest for 2012. This publication provides a general overview of standards-related topics ...
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Yes, they  have a book for that. What is in this book for your manufacturing shop? General Industry Training Requirements ...
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OSHA recently posted  its top 10 most frequently cited violations for FY2013.While 2 of the top 3 are Construction, the balance ...
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The link in this post will take you to a table of  the Top 10 Training Citations by OSHA for ...
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Please note that these  Top Ten Citations are for all industries (including construction), not just Precision Machining. Fall protection – ...
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On June 20th, OSHA published a memorandum to Regional Administrators outlining its temporary enforcement policy for 29 CFR 1910.137(b) and ...
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OSHA 's Severe Violator Enforcement Program  (SVEP) has been in effect since June 18, 2010. So what does an employer have to ...
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A new wallet card issued by OSHA will help your supervisors understand the changes to  Injury and Illness Reporting Requirements ...
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Employers! These requirements are now in effect! A new wallet card issued by OSHA will help your supervisors understand the ...
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Under the revised rule, employers will be required to notify OSHA of work-related fatalities within eight hours, and work-related in-patient ...
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Your chance to comment on the proposal is NOW! On June 22, 2011, The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced in a Notice ...
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On February 10th 2011 OSHA issued new enforcement guidelines in regards to personal protective equipment (PPE). Here's the link: PPE ...
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“The intent of this NEP is to target workplaces with machinery and equipment that cause (or are capable of causing) ...
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No Formal Announcement. Why? No Entry in the Federal Register. Why? No Official Statement. Why? Just a tiny little update ...
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  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has identified and sent letters (OSHA LETTER) to approximately 14,600 workplaces with the ...
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Ever want to know what happens after an OSHA inspection, what  are the types of violations that you can be ...
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OSHA inspections don't just 'happen.' They are the result of some initiating circumstance that makes them a priority. OSHA inspection ...
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We were priveleged to have had a face to face meeting with Director Michaels of OSHA earlier this year. We ...
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The new HAZCOMM 2012 'Right to Understand' will impact 5 million businesses at an OSHA estimated cost of only $201 million ...
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The first implementation phase of the updated Hazcom standard is Dec. 1, 2013. This is the date by which employers ...
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How does OSHA decide to inspect shops? Prior to this latest change, OSHA followed its Enforcement Weighting System (EWS). Late ...
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The powered industrial trucks (PIT) standard (29 CFR 1910.178) is the most commonly cited standard throughout the material handling industries ...
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As shop owners, we tend to think of OSHA as meaning "Enforcement." At PMPA's Management Update Meeting in Arizona last ...
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On December 10, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued an instruction (Directive)  CPL 03-00-022 ...
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Informed is prepared. OSHA just added and published  a new chapter addressing noise to the OSHA Technical Manual. This new ...
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Actually, Saturday, February 1st, is the deadline, but do you really want to come in on Saturday to do this? ...
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PMPASPEAKINGOFPRECISION.COM was listed in Orthoworld's BONEZONE Spring 2011 Industry Watch  column as a "Blog or App That Brings Solutions."   ...
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If you have an intermittent  or periodic problem, start counting frequency of occurrence, and then figure out what the order of ...
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Karen Martin spoke at PMPA's Management Update meeting earlier this year. Her presentation was based on her book, The Outstanding ...
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Here's an Electric Vehicle to  make you say- "Why didn't I do that?" Here's some specs: 60" tall 39" wide ...
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Sometimes, our eyes can help us see what is really going on, no matter what the talking heads in the ...
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Seth Godin has just published his latest book, The Icarus Deception. It is a challenging read for all of us ...
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The October PMI is the lowest reading since May 2013, when the PMI also registered 50.1 percent. A reading above ...
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"The October PMI® registered 59 percent, an increase of 2.4 percentage points from September’s reading of 56.6 percent, indicating continued ...
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The time to catch an obsolete specification is during contract review, before there are commitmemnts to material and or sunk ...
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The March 31st explosion at Evonik Industries in Marl, Germany is likely to have the same effect on worldwide automotive ...
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  Deena Ebbert is Propellergirl, a passionate champion for personal and organizational performance. She will be the keynote speaker at ...
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The NRC concluded mandatory hearings on the request for licenses at the Vogtle site  26 miles southeast of Augusta Georgia ...
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Listen to the ~3 minute broadcast here: NPR clip Here's what manufacturers want when they say "We need people with ...
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The PMPA Business Trends Report Sales index for November plummeted 23 points from 132 to 109, a drop of almost ...
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" Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in November for the 18th consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for ...
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The Institute for Supply Management Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) report for November 2013 shows strengthening in manufacturing and hit the ...
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The ISM manufacturing index indicated contraction in November. PMI was at  49.5% in November, down from 51.7% in October.  This ...
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"If U.S. manufacturing were a country by itself, it would be the eighth largest economy in the world." Guest post ...
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Labor doesn’t add much value. In my experience, it only moved stuff around. The labor jobs went away. Today, I ...
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When you are in a professional conversation, leading with a disclaimer about what you are going to say sabotages your ...
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 Guest post  by Peter Morici Any parent knows, adolescents are inclined to deny facts when told something they want is ...
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Washington, D.C. – The Precision Machined Products Association (PMPA) today strongly criticized the release by the National Labor Relations Board ...
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Credentials issued by NIMS in 2014 show that more students are preparing for success and high-demand careers. In 2014, NIMS ...
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As a Lab supervisor in a Metalurgical Lab, quality pictures through the microscope was all in a days work. Obtaining ...
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This sobering presentation from the National Federation of Independent Business contrasts the headline stockmarket picture to the reality faced by ...
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If you have stationary  reciprocating internal combustion engines (gasoline or diesel) for standby generators,  pumps, etc, these January 14, 2013 ...
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On "Workers Memorial Day" OSHA sent out a memorandum regarding efforts to protect temporary workers. "...the agency is making a ...
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Injuries and illnesses should be recorded on only one employer’s injury and illness log. 29 CFR 1904.31(b)(4). In most cases, ...
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Our industry doesn't use "mechanical power presses" per se, but the OSHA Mechanical Power Press Standard, 29 CFR 1910.127 is ...
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(OSHA) is initiating a national emphasis program (NEP) on recordkeeping to assess the accuracy of injury and illness data recorded ...
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Why you should care. There actually has been a payoff to our shops from our investment and implementation of ISO/TS ...
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Just learned that an American National Standard for calculating the Cost Per Hire has been published. ANSI/SHRM 06001.2012 Normally, I'm ...
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PMPA Technical Member Nevada Heat Treating recently hosted U.S.Senator Dean Heller at their plant in Carson City Nevada. Senator Heller ...
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The bill is H.R. 3548.  The House passed the bill yesterday and the President is expected to sign it  today.  You ...
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Lou Dobbs is hosting a program exploring the shortage of skilled workers tonight on Fox News. ”Out of Work” is ...
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Guest post by Jon Holbrook, PMPA member company North Easton Machine Company The industry today is a buzz with the ...
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There are only a handful of things to check when your steel parts fail to respond to  quench and temper ...
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I remember the first time that I sat down to work on quadratic equations and discovered that there was more ...
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Here in one tidy place you can find a current list of the most Valuable College Majors. Many of them ...
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Here are our  ten most read posts this year: The Difference Between Accuracy And Precision Measurement In Your Machine Shop ...
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Guest post by Matt Gudgel of SourceOne who responded to our post about NPR's story about the lack of people with math ...
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Training assures our shops will be sustainable and that all are operating at their highest and best use. Scheduling does ...
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Guest Post by Dave Bradford, President, William Bradford Associates, Cleveland Ohio. Dave publishes a series of PROTALK roundtable discussions to ...
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Forbes Blog nails this one folks! According to John Bruner:" In 2010, American manufacturers added value of $1.7 trillion to ...
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July orders for autos and auto parts experienced their largest increase in eight years at 11.5%, according to Commerce Department ...
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"Already there are more American men on disability insurance than doing production work in manufacturing."- Larry Summers, former Secretary of ...
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Monocrystalline diamonds make the coating question "moot." Was asked a question "Why all the fuss about tool coatings? The base ...
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Guest Post by Julie O'Keefe, Partner, Armstrong Teasdale LLP PMPA member companies are engaged in making parts that require precision ...
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Even though this shop does not exceed the decibel limit over time, specified by OSHA, they do require PPE for all ...
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PMPA member Aaron Bagshaw of W.H. Bagshaw  Co. Inc. served on the commission. We reported on this in our blog post ...
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Shearing occurs when a longitudinal strip of base metal is torn off a bar during rolling. This strip often reattaches ...
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Why I love manufacturing: we get to do cool stuff! PMPA member company Micron Manufacturing is getting a new Mori ...
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The folks in Rhode Island are doing their part to make the availability of great careers in manufacturing known to ...
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With many OEM's out of business or the details of their designs lost or out of reach due to closings, downsizing, ...
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You may not know it but on this day in 1973 Ohio became the first state in the U.S. to ...
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Tonight, August 12, 2010 is the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower. For a great photo of a Perseid meteor ...
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The high price of copper and other base metals has led to an increase of metal theft incidents across the ...
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We remember that not all returned from "that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion." Many ...
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The Millennials  are the latest Generation to enter the workplace. millennials were born between 1977 and 1988 and represent about ...
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423,000 jobs, $24.6 billion in annual payroll, $136 billion worth of products sold. These three facts alone make a compelling ...
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The medical industry will continue to develop new products, require new capabilities from their suppliers, and maintain their drive for ...
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Guest post by Seth Godin Maybe next year... The economy will be going gangbusters Your knowledge will reach critical mass ...
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According to the latest ISM report for May 2013, manufacturing is contracting. The ISM index has fallen to its lowest ...
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"Manufacturing output rose 3.8 percent in May, but it was still 16.9 percent below its pre-pandemic level in February. The ...
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The Atlantic titles their article "Here's How Little Math Americans Use at Work" Spoiler alert, in Precision Machining, we all ...
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Prices of raw materials used to make precision machined products are up substantially,  ranging from 44% to 114%  from March ...
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The prices of raw materials that we track rose substantially this year! Aluminum  up 44% from Dec 2008. Copper up ...
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  Guest post by Peter Morici Whoever is declared the winner, the outcome of the Massachusetts senatorial election is neither ...
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1) Martensite is the hardest and most brittle microstructure obtainable in a given steel. 2) Martensite hardness of the steel ...
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PMI shows manufacturing continues to expand, but rate of growth is slowing. "The report was issued today by Bradley J ...
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"The PMI registered 53.4 percent, an increase of 1 percentage point from February's reading of 52.4 percent, indicating expansion in ...
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 Guest post by Mark J. Perry The Port of Los Angeles released data  April 14th on March shipping volume, and ...
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With 84 companies responding, the PMPA Business Trends Index in March roared in from February’s 122 to a seasonally correct ...
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We need to change the community perception that manufacturing  is "not deserving/worthy enough" for their kids. With the majority of ...
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When I grew up I learned Economics from Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob had the family farm, and worked as a ...
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The April ISM Purchasing Managers Index  (PMI) was just released today. Best description is "flat."  "The PMI™ registered 50.7 percent, ...
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  I recently started following Ryan on Change The Percepton-Devoted to Building a New Respect for Manufacturing. Last week, Ryan ...
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Institute for Supply Management's December 2011 PMI increased 1.2 percent over November, coming in at 53.9. This is the 31st ...
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Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in May for the 34th consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for ...
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Significant decline in energy use and intensity by manufacturers show improvements in both energy efficiency and changes in manufacturing output ...
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The products of the shops that belong to the Precision Machined Products Association are incorporated in nearly every technology. Automotive, ...
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11 industries reported expansion in February. The Precision Machined Products Industry, a sub industry of Fabricated Metals, serves 7 of these  ...
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"Manufacturing production should outperform GDP growth..." The U.S. manufacturing recovery continues on track and should outperform overall GDP growth through ...
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics released Manufacturing Productivity Numbers  for second quarter 2014 this morning: "Manufacturing sector productivity increased 3.3 ...
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And Precision Machining is likely to show a similar pickup when we compile our numbers later this month. Precision machined ...
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March 2016 = 8.6 % Link to FRED site for this chart ...
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The predictions are mixed, but if  we were giving the small craft weather advisory   summer outlook for precision machining, we'd ...
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NAM and Industry Week Q3 Manufacturing Survey shows manufacturing still in positive territory but the much weaker economy  is causing ...
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We caught up with Roscoe Wallace at PMTS  and got his take on Manufacturing from his perspective as an Aluminum ...
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The  PMPA Business Trends Summary Report for 2013 shines an optimistic light on first quarter 2014 for our precision machining ...
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We like graphs because they tell the story without spin. Three out of three indicators agree, openings and hires are  ...
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PMPA member and Erie, Pa employer American Turned Products looking to increase its skilled workforce by 30%! Click here for Video Erie ...
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There are immediate jobs for people with skills in manufacturing today. [youtube=http://youtu.be/GStpcos5Jm0] You can get the skills in just a ...
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Four of the top five manufacturing sectors by added employment  in 2012 were key markets served by precision machining; Transportation ...
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Guest post by Frances Brunelle, at Accelerated Buy Sell Blog I was really impressed with her thinking- and the fact ...
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The Manufacturing Institute has developed a one-stop, how-to guide on developing and recruiting a skilled workforce.  Written by and for ...
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Manufacturing Sector continues to grow and strengthen in February according to ISM PMI index, confirming PMPA's own January Business Trends ...
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Repost from Change the Perception: Often times when you read the headlines about manufacturing job loss, the type of job ...
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The Institute of Supply Management said its index of the manufacturing sector, also known as the Purchasing Managers Index, rose ...
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ISM's report of manufacturing's expansion for the fourth , and economic expansion for seventh month in a row,  combined with PMPA's  ...
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The December ISM Purchasing Managers Report confirms that manufacturing continues its recovery and growth - the PMI was up 2.3 ...
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MANUFACTURING: THE ENGINE OF AMERICA  The following fact sheet was assembled by the team at Vanamatic Company to spell out their ...
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Guest post by Jeff Wiltsie, Vanamatic Company It’s time for a reality check. Congress authorized the administration to spend hundreds ...
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We were pleased to be quoted in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal in an article by Tim ...
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The Institute for Supply Management   Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector dropped to 48.6 in November from ...
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The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM)  “Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)”  plunged 3.8  points for June, to a level of 49.7.  ...
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I like it when I find an authority with clear facts to share. Facts that I want to help share ...
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Precision Machining is a branch of fabricated metals manufacturing that continues to have a high demand for people with skills ...
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I met Sam Passenger at Detroit Gun Works open house earlier this month. I was impressed as he walked me ...
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The China Post  carried a story last week headlined "China slaps anti-dumping penalties on steel imports from U.S., Russia." The story: ...
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Excerpted from Barberbiz Blog Try This and See What Happens Greg Knight, vice president of  PMPA member AMT Machine Systems,  ...
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What's on your list? Lists? Holidays provide a great time for reflection. Santa checking his list started me thinking... Here ...
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Making it work might get the machine back up and running in half an hour, but if a quarter of ...
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Even if the cash box isn't ringing with the sweet sounds of success, here is proof that our 'tools of ...
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As our headline indicates, there are two very different market experiences being reported by our members in the October PMPA ...
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A relationship exists between the cutting speed and the cost per piece. Between the minimum total cost and the minimum ...
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The economics of precision machining can be understood with just 4 factors- Machining Cost, Material Cost, Tool Cost, and Cost of ...
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Authoritative. Comprehensive. Invaluable. Practical. Updated. Updated? I have relied on my 20th Edition copy since I entered the metalworking industry as ...
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Over 70 years working the forge. "It's a wonderful craft, the king of trades, really." We've come a long way ...
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Bloomberg News reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission will let corporate whistleblowers collect as much as 30% of ...
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How does one lose a tortoise? The irony of this poster telling the would be finder of the lost tortoise ...
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There are many ways to fail an OSHA inspection for Lockout/Tagout. There are three main areas that are solely the ...
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PMPA’s 2010 National Technical Conference will be held at the Hilton in Pittsburgh, PA from April 24-27. Transforming Technologies in ...
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In business, and in life, as in sports, it is better to underpromise and overdeliver. Failure to manage expectations can ...
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Today is National Tradesmen's Day.To show our appreciation for the skilled tradespeople that produce, maintain and install in our industry, ...
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Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind when your company becomes involved in a crisis. Communicate. At ...
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Editing to remove non- value adding distractions and waste is the true essence of Lean. Who is the "Lean Editor" to cut the ...
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Lead is NOT banned by the European Union's End of Life Vehicles Regulations for machining purposes in steel, aluminum and ...
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High schools aren't graduating people with skills that can add value in your shop. Lorain County Community College is! From ...
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"Laps are longitudinal crevices at least 30 degrees off radial, created by folding over, but not welding material during hot ...
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The labor participation rate fell to 66.3 percent it's lowest level in 34 years in March. What recovery? Even the ...
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The number of Americans NOT in the workforce is at record levels, and yet the talking heads assure us that ...
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OSHA is now practicing theology with its latest interpretation concerning labeling requirements regarding the revised Hazard Communication standard (HCS 2012), ...
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It is critical that those of us who provide technical support, advice, or counsel communicate clearly and accurately. And make ...
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Some things you want to have bubbles, some you don't. In beermaking, yeast consumes the sugars in the wort and ...
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Courtesy of Lifehacker blog. And my daughter the EE computer whiz. I have been pounding out some data sorts in ...
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Kevin Schlueter, President  of PMPA member company Kalkaska Screw Products, Inc.  (KSP) was featured on UpNorthLive, a news and information website ...
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Of course prices have risen. We finally are back to manufacturing expansion following 18 months of  contraction in the manufacturing ...
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(Corrected) The PMPA Business Trends Index for June 2014 declined 8 points to 120. This is the same pattern that ...
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“This month’s 112 value is 37 points or 49.33% higher than the 2009 Calendar year average of 75 during the ...
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All of the crucial raw materials that we track are up double and triple digits compared to same month last ...
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Good news/ bad news: Manufacturing growth resumes, but Employment shrinks in Manufacturing  for first time since September 2009... "Manufacturing expanded ...
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In July, the European ISM  manufacturing index has now fallen over 12 consecutive months to hit a 37-month low. The  rates ...
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We remain optimistic for the outlook for manufacturing for the next three months based on the latest  ISM PMI and PMPA ...
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"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat ...
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Steve Goldstein at WSJ  Marketwatch has been skeptical of the so called manufacturing renaissance for some time. In March 2013 ...
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Creating permanent jobs sure is expensive! In what appears to be a somewhat controversial move, the Obama administration is expected to ...
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      Family owned firms account for 89% of all businesses in the United States. Family owned businesses employ ...
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The Department Of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics JOLTS release yesterday showed that job openings posted by US employers reached ...
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"What I can say is the Obama administration is business-friendly. We want to help with our actions, not with our ...
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The precision machining industry is generating strong sales and positive prospects going into calendar year 2014. PMPA's January Business Trends ...
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The January 2013 PMI composite shows a modest expansion, with all of its component indices showing positive gains for January ...
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Guest Post by Peter Morici, professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, and former Chief Economist at ...
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Wall Street Journal   Alexandra Berzon reported Wednesday that "Federal penalties for workplace-safety violations were increased this week for the first ...
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The commissioners found the US domestic industry had been injured, with all six commissioners voting that injury had occurred as ...
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February 1 is deadline for Posting OSHA 300A in your shop Employers with 11 or more employees must post a ...
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I spent a few days at a Users Conference for PMPA Technical Member Epicor, an ERP software solutions provider. As ...
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Don't You Agree? It's not about ability to promise. Heck, that's pretty easy. It's not about ability to plan. I've ...
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When I first started in the industry the focus was on cycle time. Cycle-time dictated how many parts you could ...
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How can you call yourself a manufacturer if you don't manufacture anything? The Economic Classification Policy Committee (ECPC) of the ...
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No. I'm really more focused on Quality. On draining the swamp, not swamp beautification. Quality Assurance. Organizational Improvement. (People and ...
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Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in February for the fifth consecutive month, while the overall economy grew for ...
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"Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in March for the first time in the last six months, while the ...
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The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported to day that the PMI for January PMI was at 53.5%a decrease of ...
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While economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in January for the eighth consecutive month, and the overall economy grew ...
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