Manufacturing

 
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    IndustrialPR - Manufacturing & Engineering News

  • Understanding The Earlier Days Of CAD/CAM Technology Compared To Today

    Editorial Team
    14 May 2012 | 7:15 pm
    Examples of the application of CAD-CAM systems to basic drafting, advanced design, mechanical analysis, and numerical control are described. Fayetteville, AR's Baldwin Piano and Organ uses PCs running VersaCAD Design to produce all of the two-dimensional drawings for the firm's MCX Series organs. Waterbury, CT's Specialty Packaging Products creates advanced three-dimensional wireframe and shaded models [...]

  • New Mexico Manufacturers Gets Free Advertising Gift From The Custom Manufacturing Marketplace

    Editorial Team
    23 Dec 2011 | 7:57 am
    The Custom Manufacturing Marketplace helps turn the 'Land of Enchantment' into the 'Land of Business Opportunities' Albuquerque, New Mexico – With Christmas Eve just a day away the people behind MFGmatch.net sent a gift out to their entire customer base by enabling all fabricators, molders, foundries, machining shops and jobbing shops in New Mexico and [...]

  • Jobs In New Jersey To Be Generated By Online Manufacturing Promoter IndustrialSAVER

    Editorial Team
    22 Dec 2011 | 7:38 am
    Companies throughout New Jersey in need of molding, machining and fabrication services are finding suitable vendors with help from ILG Newark, NJ – The online promoter of international manufacturers IndustrialSAVER.com, and partner of the American Machine Shops Network (AMSN) introduced this morning its new marketing campaign to help the New Jersey manufacturing community connect with [...]

  • Nevada Businesses Can Now Get Bids From Local Job Shops In Real Time, Says ILG

    Editorial Team
    20 Dec 2011 | 7:26 am
    Businesses across the Silver State in need of machining services are turning to ILG to get bids from quality vendors Las Vegas, Nevada – Industrial Leaders, an online network established in 2003 for the manufacturing community, announced today the launch of its latest marketing campaign to help companies in Nevada locate a suitable job shop [...]

  • Great Plains Revival: Machining & Fabrication Solutions Promoted In Nebraska & Montana

    Editorial Team
    19 Dec 2011 | 7:20 am
    Companies all over the Great Plains are using the Industrial Search Engine to find local machinists, fabricators & craftsman Lincoln Nebraska – Entering into the last week before Christmas and the day before Hanukkah 2011, companies nationwide are rushing to take final orders before the new year. One of those companies is the B-to-B Search [...]
 
 
 
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    Green Manufacturing

  • Leveraging Manufacturing, Part 2

    28 Apr 2012 | 1:46 am
    Some details on processingThe last posting began to dig into the leveraging discussion and started to elaborate on this topic using an example. The example was  from a recent paper from our research group at Berkeley and focussed on an important aspect of vehicles and transportation - the gear train.The efficiency of gear systems was described as deriving from a variety of factors including the surface roughness of the mating surfaces.  Other studies have shown an even greater dependence on the surface roughness of the mating surfaces for hypoid gear pairs, which are found in…

  • Leveraging Manufacturing, Part 1

    3 Apr 2012 | 11:08 pm
    First, some backgroundWhere did March go?!We finished a long set of postings on the power of the digital age in the form of software to connect the designer to the process with an eye to achieving all the normal requirements of a product but, in addition, incorporating measures to drive sustainable product design and green manufacturing. There is certainly more that can be said about that.But, not now.I'd like to get back to a subject that was mentioned first about one and a half years ago in an earlier posting - leveraging.This was a follow on to a discussion centering on the "buy to fly"…

  • Tools of the trade, Part 6

    28 Feb 2012 | 1:13 am
    Last Comments on SoftwareIn the last posting I posed the question "suppose you want to take some action - either at the design end or the manufacturing end. What tools can you rely on after you've done the background work and now want to move on to execution?"The simple answer I gave was "This is where software tools come in." I then proceeded to go into details about some interesting software tools that aid the designer, or manufacturer, in decision making about green and sustainable actions to take.Shortly after that posting, I was invited to participate in a live (and simultaneously…

  • Tools of the trade, Part 5

    7 Feb 2012 | 1:13 am
    Software to the rescueIn part 4 of this series (Back in December … it has been a busy start to the year!) I introduced the idea of the "design to production pipeline."  This was to illustrate the design to manufacturing continuum and show a strategy whereby the designer, looking into the pipeline from the design perspective, could see the follow-on steps and requirements for successful production. Although the process is rarely actually serial, it is clear that some things come first, like design, and others come later, like actual production. These days there is (or should be) a lot…

  • Green Pot? Not!

    3 Jan 2012 | 9:42 pm
    Choice Items for the New YearI've hit the pause button on the "Tools of the Trade" postings for the moment and, on the occasion of New Year, have included here a few items that seem a propos to green manufacturing - broadly interpreted- under the headlines 'green or not'? I know it sounds a bit like a Dr. Seuss book title - but read on!The first one is thanks to Ralph Resnick and Corey Kovalcik of NCDMM.  It is a reference to a posting in the New York Times on the carbon footprint and environmental footprint of pot growing! I think they assumed that since I am at Berkeley with all those…
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    WordPress.com News

  • Stay In The Conversation

    Beau Lebens
    15 May 2012 | 6:01 pm
    It’s now much easier for you and your commenters to keep track of the conversations you’re involved in across WordPress.com. Some recent tests have shown that by subscribing commenters to new comments by default, they are more likely to stay engaged and come back and comment more on your blog. With that knowledge, we’ve changed the default comment following behavior to help you get more conversations going on your blog. We made the initial changes last week and after great feedback from you we just launched an update. Here’s how it works: By default, posting a comment…

  • Look at These Gorgeous Blogs

    Sheri
    15 May 2012 | 1:05 pm
    We’ve added a user showcase where you can view stunning customizations made by people just like you. From complete redesigns with CSS to adding pizzazz with Custom Fonts to clever use of options like background and header, this showcase will spark your imagination and inspire creativity. Discover details about what each showcase blog is doing with WordPress.com themes and customizations by clicking a thumbnail to see a colophon-style list of credits on the left. We’ve also updated footer links so blog owners can show off the types of customizations they’ve made and visitors can…

  • Photo Blogging 101, Part 1

    Erica V.
    14 May 2012 | 10:00 am
    Spring is in the air. With the weather warming up, now is a great time to get started on a photo blog. Creating a photo blog is a wonderful introduction to blogging on WordPress.com or an opportunity to refresh your current site. Ready to get started? You can sign up for a new blog right over here. Getting started Photo blogs, sometimes called phlogs, use pictures instead of words. While many photo bloggers choose a type of photo that they want to focus on, such as portraits, others use their photo blog to document their life’s events. Photo blogs come in a variety of styles, including…

  • New Themes: Just Desserts and Oxygen

    Michelle Langston
    10 May 2012 | 8:11 am
    Happy Thursday! We’ve added some exciting new themes to our ever-growing collection, and we’re happy to tell you all about them. First out of the oven is…Just Desserts. Yep, that’s a theme! Designed by Andy Rutledge, Just Desserts is a deliciously stylish premium theme that’s perfect for blogs centered on food. With its responsive, single-column layout and unique presentation of images and posts on the front page, Just Desserts gives you a delectable canvas on which your mouthwatering photos and text can really shine — even when viewed on smaller mobile devices…

  • Find Friends Who Use WordPress

    Nick Momrik
    1 May 2012 | 2:32 pm
    Are you curious to see how your friends are using WordPress? Give the new and improved Friend Finder a try to connect with your Twitter, Facebook, and Google contacts who have WordPress sites! After authorizing WordPress.com to use your Twitter, Facebook, or Google account to find your friends (don’t worry — none of this account information is saved!) you’ll see a list of people you know who have WordPress sites. Click Follow and each time your friend publishes a new post it will show up in your Reader under Blogs I Follow. If you have multiple blogs, make sure to set the…
 
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    Shopfloor

  • Common-Sense Tax Simplification Legislation Passes House

    Monica McGuire
    15 May 2012 | 4:38 pm
    Common-sense, bipartisan tax legislation can and does pass quickly in Congress! Today, the House passed, by voice vote, the Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act (HR 1864), a bill that establishes an easy-to-understand rule on taxing out-of-state workers that helps both employees and employers. Currently, a maze of state income tax laws apply to employees who temporarily work in nonresident states and their employers who are responsible for withholding taxes for these traveling employees. The House recognized the absurdity of this patchwork of different state income tax rules…

  • 86.9 Percent of World Market Still Maintains Barriers Against U.S. Exports

    Frank Vargo
    15 May 2012 | 2:29 pm
    On the memorable day that the U.S.– Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement has at long last gone into effect – eight years after its negotiation started, it is useful to recall how beneficial Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are, and have been, for America’s manufacturers. Far from being the drag on the U.S. economy claimed by many detractors of our trade agreements, these agreements have been a boon for manufacturers in the U.S. and factory workers – as well as for farmers and service providers. Accounting for just 12.5 percent of Gross Global Product outside the United States, America’s…

  • Business Community United on Pension Issues

    Carolyn Lee
    15 May 2012 | 11:47 am
    A little while ago, a letter from 204 businesses and trade associations representing companies all across the country sent a letter to the Congress urging them to take immediate “action to stabilize funding interest rate rules for private-sector pension plans” to adjust for current economic conditions which are driving up pension funding obligations and in opposition to pension premium increases. Pension plan funding obligations are inversely tied to interest rates so when interest rates are low – like they are today – then pension obligations are high.  Since the financial collapse…

  • Manufacturing Activity Improves in New York

    Chad Moutray
    15 May 2012 | 10:16 am
    The New York Federal Reserve Bank’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey bounced back in May after a disappointing April. The composite index of general business conditions jumped from 6.6 in April to 17.1 in May, nearing the levels that it achieved earlier in the year. Equally important to perceptions about the larger economy, the various subcomponents were higher across-the-board, reflecting modest growth among manufacturers. The largest increase occurred in the index for shipments, which rose from 6.4 to 24.1. The shift in the monthly shipment figures was the result of nearly 47 percent of…

  • Retail Sales Up Just 0.1 Percent in April

    Chad Moutray
    15 May 2012 | 10:09 am
    The Census Bureau reported that retail sales rose 0.1 percent in April, following strong gains in the first three months of the year. At least some of this pullback could be due to the unseasonably warm winter, which resulting in construction occurring earlier in the year than normal. As evidence of this, retail sales of building materials dropped 1.8 percent in April, a reversal from the 2.7 percent gain in March. Other sectors with declining sales included clothing and accessories (down 0.7 percent), gasoline stations (down 0.3 percent) and general merchandise (down 0.1 percent).
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    Lean Blog

  • Changing Leadership Styles with Lean

    Mark Graban
    16 May 2012 | 4:00 am
    As I’ve heard people say, Lean management isn’t necessary complicated – it’s just very different. In an organization that is undergoing a “Lean transformation,” leaders need to shift from being controlling to: Coaching Coordinating Collaborating Challenging Caring Are your leaders making this transition? About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology. Mark is author of the Shingo Award-winning book Lean Hospitals and the upcoming book Healthcare Kaizen. He is also the Chief Improvement…

  • Scared to Death: Worry about hospital errors, not pink slime

    Mark Graban
    15 May 2012 | 12:00 pm
    I had an article published in a California newspaper and it will hopefully be picked up by others. The headline is “Scared to Death: Worry about hospital errors, not pink slime.” The article starts: The public is continually subjected to health-related scares, such as food packaging and water bottles that contain BPA, a chemical that has been linked to cancer. The media also highlights food additives that aren’t harmful, but just sound unappetizing, such as so-called “pink slime” in ground beef and the use of dried insects to color beverages at Starbucks. Yet our…

  • Podcast #147 – LeanPub.com (Part 2), Peter Armstrong & Scott Patten

    Mark Graban
    15 May 2012 | 4:00 am
    Please upgrade your browser MP3 File (run time 32:21) Episode #147 is a part two of a conversation with Scott Patten and Peter Armstrong from LeanPub.com (listen to part one in episode #140). They want to be THE website for publishing “in-progress books”. In this episode, we are talking about how they are applying the concepts of the Lean Startup methodology to their service and their business. We’ll talk about some of my own experiences as an early adopter and later as an actual user — what have they learned along the way and how do they use lean methods to be…

  • What’s Wrong with “What’s Wrong With the Lean Start-up”

    Mark Graban
    14 May 2012 | 11:00 am
    A few years back, I coined a really bad acronym: L.A.M.E. One of the things it can mean is “Lean As Mistakenly Explained.” It’s inevitable to see articles about the Lean Startup methodology that fit into this category (or maybe L.S.A.M.E.???). The Inc. article “What’s Wrong With the Lean Start-up” has a number of flaws and bad assumptions that would put the article into the L.S.A.M.E. category, as well as L.A.M.E. Ironically, the author of the piece, Jon Burgstone, teaches entrepreneurship at Berkeley — is he hanging out with fellow Cal professor…

  • All Saudi hospitals to report serious errors online

    Mark Graban
    14 May 2012 | 4:00 am
    I don’t have any first hand experience with the country, but I have had many requests for the free first chapters of my books (Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen) from Saudi Arabia over the past few years. I’m certain there would be some Lean thinking and Lean practices in that country’s hospitals. This news story made me think of a Lean topic – reporting errors for the purposes of problem solving and improvement, as opposed to using such information for punishment. The story titled “Hospitals to report serious errors online” talks about a new national…
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    Evolving Excellence

  • The Big Picture

    Bill Waddell
    14 May 2012 | 1:53 pm
    by BILL WADDELL Here's the way I see lean: This is pretty much the model I use when I am writing about companies or concepts for Evolving excellence, doing my company assessment work; or teaching at a conference , seminar or company presentation. Click on the graphic and it will get big enough to read better.  You have to be hitting all three corners, or you might as well not do anything.  It's not a cafeteria where you get to pick and choose what you want or what's easy. Most companies - I mean the overwhelming majority of companies - are doing something with the bottom part - the tools…

  • And Now a Few Words from Mike

    Kevin Meyer
    13 May 2012 | 12:40 pm
    By Kevin Meyer It's college graduation season, so once again we get to listen to a bunch of commencement addresses by supposed dignitaries launching kids still recovering from their latest hangovers out into the real world.  God help us. One of those guys was Michael Bloomberg.  As a recovering partisan hack, now deeply independent yet stuck in the conundrum of being a fiscal conservative, a social liberal, and a fairly but not completely libertarian in today's increasingly polarized environment, I like Mike.  I don't like all Mike, such as his desire to dictate what goes into my food when…

  • Blaming Deming, Lean, and Six Sigma and the Importance of "Why?"

    Kevin Meyer
    9 May 2012 | 8:34 am
    By Kevin Meyer There have been a couple articles in noteworthy rags over the last couple days that have raised my ire a bit - even if I eventually agreed with one of them.  The first was by Adam Hartung in Forbes, describing the demise of Sony but in the process placing considerable blame on none other than Deming.  After describing the woes of Sony, he begins his analysis: So what went wrong for Sony? Firstly was the national obsession with industrial economics.  W. Edward Deming in 1950s Japan institutionalized manufacturing quality and optimization.  Using a combination of process…

  • Au Contraire, Kevin

    Bill Waddell
    7 May 2012 | 9:58 pm
    by BILL WADDELL It's not often that I disagree with Kevin, and when I do it is usually over a detail and I let it pass - keep up a unified front and all that.  But I have opted to take inspiration from Elwood P. Dowd who said, "an element of conflict in any discussion's a very good thing. It means everybody is taking part and nobody is left out." In his post The Online Education Tsunami Kevin challenged some of the observations made by David Brooks in his article of the same title. Kevin wrote, "The top tier schools will presumably develop methods and technologies to enable real distance…

  • The Value of a Zipper

    Kevin Meyer
    7 May 2012 | 2:27 pm
    By Kevin Meyer Great article in Slate of all places on YKK - you know, that zipper company you've never heard of.  Maybe some of you have seen the initials on your zipper but I bet most haven't.  I'll tell you why I was especially impressed, then we'll go through a bit more of the article. A typical 14-inch “invisible” YKK nylon zipper (the kind that disappears behind fabric when you zip up the back of a dress) costs about 32 cents. For an apparel maker designing a garment that will cost $40-$65 to manufacture, and will retail for three times that much or more, it’s simply not worth…
 
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    Manufacturing Transformation Blog

  • The Collaborative Factory of the Future

    Gordon Benzie
    15 May 2012 | 12:04 pm
    The benefits of operational flexibility have been well documented, and include faster time to market, reduced product obsolescence and higher customer satisfaction. One of the benefits of my day-to-day activities is that I get to read a lot of analyst and industry research reports, providing a broad picture of what operational characteristics are desired and what can actually be attained. When an attribute is repeatedly mentioned over a period of years it tells me that either the market hasn’t yet embraced this concept, or that the actual implementation of this idea is difficult. With…

  • 3 Tips to Consider When Launching a Greenfield Plant in China

    James Mok
    9 May 2012 | 11:26 am
    I recently worked with a few Japanese and US-based manufacturing companies to help establish new facilities in China, taking advantage of their still relatively low labor costs and exploding domestic market. There are several potential pitfalls that can wipe out any expected benefits of expanding into China if you are not careful. Here are three points I observed that are critical to consider in order to make your investment worthwhile.   Manage Cash Flow It is not uncommon to hear the head of operations state “where has all the cash gone?” When building a new facility, the business…

  • Is your Global Trace and Genealogy Solution Best-in-Class?

    John Fishell
    2 May 2012 | 11:57 am
    A topic that is definitely “top-of-mind” for manufacturers today is better understanding the details behind what products are made where, by who and according to what process. The more detail, the better … providing you can readily access this data in a format that is easy to understand and act upon. If your production lines are split across multiple locations and experience a product recall, or raw material quality issue or other circumstance whereby Work in Process (WIP) must be immediately quarantined, time is of the essence. Aggregated summary data stored off-site simply won’t cut…

  • What is Better – Common or Standard Manufacturing Processes?

    Tadeusz Dyduch
    26 Apr 2012 | 11:16 am
    Despite English being my second language, I quickly learned that different people speak with a different vernacular – similar words mean dissimilar things. “Common” and “Standard” is a perfect example. Those not involved in manufacturing operations management might consider these words as synonyms. From a manufacturer’s perspective, these words are actually quite different. Here is how I define these terms, when used to describe a manufacturing process: Standard Processes – These follow certain predefined rules (ex. best practices) and are authored by a standardization or…

  • The Building Blocks of Manufacturing Innovation

    James Pasmantier
    24 Apr 2012 | 11:38 am
    The United States became the world’s biggest manufacturer in the late 1890s, taking the title from Britain. The U.S. retained that title for every year through 2010. In 2011, China took the lead, as a “changing of the guard” for the new millennium. China’s ascension reflects the strength of emerging economies that have growth by doubling total output (see stats here and here). Part of this growth can be attributed to emerging market manufacturers achieving success through government support and focus on advanced manufacturing. In June 2011, the United States President’s Council of…
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    Invistics » Blog

  • May Webinars Scheduled!

    Xing
    30 Apr 2012 | 9:56 am
    Our popular Webinars are back for May. Join us for our Lean Manufacturing series. May 17th, Thursday 2:00 PM EST Join Invistics CEO, Tom Knight, for free, no obligation webinar on the basics of developing a Lean pull design strategy for high-mix manufacturing environments. May 24th, Thursday 11:00 AM EST Join Invistics VP Charles Agulla for a concise 1 hour session on Inventory Optimization. Click HERE to register and check out our upcoming webinar schedule!

  • Total Cost of Manufacturing Abroad

    Xing
    9 Apr 2012 | 10:36 am
    Erik Markowitz of Inc.com wrote a discerning piece on the total cost of ownership for off-shoring domestic manufacturing operations called Made in USA (Again): Why Manufacturing is Coming Home. Inside the article, he details several reasons why off-shoring isn’t the bundle of cost savings it’s promised to be and why more and more American manufacturers are bringing their operations back home. When asked why this trend was occurring, Harry Moser, founder of the re-shoring initiative, states, “The costs of going overseas have been wildly underestimated, and American firms are…

  • Invistics March Webinars!

    Xing
    13 Mar 2012 | 9:00 am
    Our popular Webinars are back for march. Join us for our Lunch-and-Learn series. March 26, Monday 1:00PM EST This month Tom Knight, CEO of Invistics, teams up with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers to bring you a concise 1 hour session on Lean Pull Design. March 27, Tuesday 12:00PM EST Join Invistics VP Charles Agulla for a concise 1 hour session on Inventory Optimization. Click HERE to register and check out our upcoming webinar schedule!

  • Back to Basics: Pull is an essential part of Lean

    Charma
    12 Mar 2012 | 9:00 am
    Pull is an essential element of Lean. The goal is eliminating waste. Pull allows for just in time inventory management. Rather than pushing inventory to the floor (whether it is needed or not), as some computer-based methods do, pull relies on indications of customer demand to replenish parts – and then in just the right amount. New material is produced only after existing inventory has been consumed, thus eliminating waste. Pull is traditionally implemented using a Kanban (meaning card in Japanese) system where each widget travels with a card. When the widget is used in production, the…

  • Unhappy customers are bad for business

    Brandy
    27 Feb 2012 | 8:00 am
    How does inventory optimization relate to better customer service? The amount of inventory that you choose to hold strongly effects the customer service level that you can achieve.  Optimizing (the better term is ‘Right-Sizing’) your inventory can make the difference between happy customers and frustrated customers.  To better understand the level your organization should choose, you have to, first, understand the effects of both decisions. Take the following scenarios as examples. 1) Setting inventory levels too low for some materials. This is the easy one to understand.  When…
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    TheFabricator.com - Blog

  • The model of a modern major fabricator

    Tim Heston
    15 May 2012 | 4:56 pm
    Steve Wiseman is honest. “We’ve forecast about a 15 percent growth this year, but mind you that 2011 was terrible for us.” The vice president of operations at Nu-Way Industries--part of our Fab 40 list of top U.S. fabricators, to be featured next month--knew that when the AT&T and T-Mobile merger fell apart, the fabricator’s [...]

  • Take a ride in a battery-powered what?

    Eric Lundin
    10 May 2012 | 9:14 am
    It wasn’t that long ago that Alessandro Volta built the first battery. In 1800 he made a stack of metal plates, alternating zinc and copper, with each pair separated by layers of cloth soaked in brine. Today’s batteries are more sophisticated but use the same principle to create electromotive force, or EMF. The basic unit [...]

  • The great asset of a graying manufacturing work force

    Tim Heston
    8 May 2012 | 7:24 pm
    Earlier this week I spoke with Frederick Hartman at Needham, Mass.-based Vita Needle, a company unique in several respects. The metal fabricator allowed Caitrin Lynch, associate professor of anthropology at the Olin College of Engineering, also in Needham, to spend five years at the stainless steel tubing and needle manufacturer. Oh, and one more thing: [...]

  • How healthy is your business?

    Vicki Bell
    3 May 2012 | 3:51 pm
    The first quarter of 2012 is behind us. Companies of all sizes are examining their first quarter results to gauge how well they are doing and plan for the months ahead. Investors wait anxiously for corporations to tally, massage, report, and spin their figures, comparing them to economists' predictions and the previous year's performance—better or [...]

  • Private equity and the fabricator

    Tim Heston
    1 May 2012 | 8:23 am
    The Roberts Co., a major industrial fabricator in the Southeast and one of this year's FAB 40 companies (to be published in our June issue), probably wouldn't be the company it is today without Private Equity. Since Main Street Resources purchased the company in 2008, just months before the financial crash, Roberts Co. has benefited [...]
 
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    thesmartvan.com

  • Can We Just Get Rid of Power Cords Already?

    Corey Lewis
    15 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    It’s one of life’s distinct annoyances: Pulling out your phone – or music player, tablet or laptop – and being greeted with an unexpectedly silent, black screen. Dead battery. The red panic light counting down the minutes to a dead battery is also its own brand of terrible, with the panicked map searches, hurried emails and machine gun texts as you chase the last bit of power out of your device. Can we just cut the cords yet? Think about the leaps and bounds we’ve made in smartphone technology in the five years since the iPhone was first introduced: Edge, then 3G, then…

  • How Tech Saves Costs, a Little at a Time

    Ian Stewart
    14 May 2012 | 2:01 pm
    When looking for ways to improve margins, it’s important to remember that even a very small change, when compounded enough times, can turn into big savings. Blogger Eric Lai profiled Safeguard Properties, a company that inspects and maintains foreclosed homes mostly on behalf of large banks or Freddie Mac and Fannie May. Lai showed how the company was able to use technology to shave just a little time off each visit, and eliminate just a little human error, which adds up to lots of little bits of savings. In August 2011, the privately-held company began piloting to its network of…

  • Research Shows We’d Be Lost Without SMS

    Mobile Enterprise
    14 May 2012 | 10:57 am
    The following post appeared in Mobile Enterprise Magazine, and is excerpted with permission. You can see the original post here. New research launched by Acision, a global provider in mobile messaging, reveals that SMS is still the most prevalent messaging service in the U.S. today when compared to other messaging services such as ‘Over the Top’ (OTT) Instant Messaging (IM) (OTT/IM) services. With 61 percent of respondents stating they own a smartphone today, 91 percent of this demographic reported using SMS regularly despite having the ability to access different OTT/IM…

  • Sticks & Stones & Titles: Really, What Should Field Service Orgs Call Their Employees?

    Derek Korte
    11 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    Titles have associations: “Senior.” “Technician.” “Representative.” “Engineer.” All of these words mean something, both to the customers who rely on the employee to fix a problem, and to the employees themselves. We often get lost thinking about the newest gadgets to use, and the latest tips and tricks to best serve customers. But the issue of what these people who fix things should be called has bubbled to the surface recently. Jeremy Frank, who wrote an article recently for the SmartVan about what service organizations should call their employees – and why it matters –…

  • Three Considerations for Android in Field Service

    Field Technologies Online
    10 May 2012 | 9:59 am
    I’ve talked with some of our readers recently, and from those conversations I’ve learned that Android is a topic you want to learn more about. With the uncertainty surrounding Windows and iOS not being a fit for every organization, Android may very well become the alternative you turn to in the future. In fact, according to a recent release from IDC Research, the Windows/X86 platform will slip from a 35.9 percent share in 2011 down to 25.1 percent in 2016, losing the OS lead to Android-based devices running on ARM CPUs. That said, you have to keep in mind that these statistics include…
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    HVAC Training » | HVAC Training

  • Improve customer experience with an open company culture

    Mike Moore
    10 May 2012 | 3:00 am
    An open company culture could transform your work environment. What does it mean? It means that the office and work environment is set up in such a way that interaction is unavoidable and encouraged. It’s a new concept to HVAC businesses. Here’s how it could be the best thing you’ve ever done for your business: 1.     Encourage collaboration. Instead of performing jobs in silos, employees in an open environment are encouraged to work together to solve problems. 2.     Unify the company. The high-performance team is a unified one. They know what the common goal is, they work…

  • HVAC tax credits are still a selling point

    Mike Moore
    8 May 2012 | 3:00 am
    Tax credits haven’t gone away yet, but a lot of dealers have told me that they don’t think it’s as big of a selling point anymore. I beg to differ, and here’s why: It will put you in a better spot to save your customer money and encourage solar spending, thus differentiating yourself from the competition. Here’s how to begin that conversation with your customers: 1. Education first. Educate your clients on what tax credits can do for them. Because it’s not well-publicized anymore, many of them won’t know. Remember, your customer can’t buy if they don’t understand their…

  • Does your female customer feel safe?

    Mike Moore
    3 May 2012 | 3:00 am
    Your female customer base has probably grown, since women are often the primary decision makers when it comes to large home purchases. And with field service’s bad reputation around technicians, it’s especially important to make your customers feel safe. I have a few tips on doing just that and I know your customers will appreciate the extra mile: 1. Consider bringing a female employee on calls. It’s smart to ask your customer if “she” can tag along. They’ll appreciate the effort, and you’ll be glad you did. It could make the potential sale a smoother process too. (Note:…

  • The money conversation in 15 minutes

    Mike Moore
    1 May 2012 | 3:00 am
    The first 15 minutes is crucial in an HVAC sale. I frequently talk about introducing price upfront, but what happens if that conversation gets too focused and becomes an hour-long negotiation? Here’s how to shorten that critical sales conversation and avoid buyer’s remorse: Know your prices well: A dealer I talked to at the Lennox dealer meetings a couple of months ago showed off a proposal application on his iPad that displayed pricing as multiple choice. This made that negotiation process seamless. Don’t hold your breath: Price is on the customer’s mind before you walk in the…

  • NATE certification study groups

    Mike Moore
    26 Apr 2012 | 3:00 am
    It’s crunch time! NATE certifications are up for renewal — are you prepared to take the test? Take advantage of these tips to make your study time for employees a snap: Getting a study group together: Getting a group together to collaborate on study efforts may be beneficial in regard to time, commitment, and experience. If you’re taking the test for the first time, some members of your group may be re-testing for renewal, making them the perfect study buddy. Dedicating time to studying at home may be a difficult task, so committing to time out of the house before or after work will…
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    Premier - Warehouse Safety and Efficiency Tips

  • Forklift Safety (Part 2)

    admin
    11 May 2012 | 1:33 pm
    Thanks for joining us for Part 2 of our coverage of forklift safety. If you missed Part 1 on forklift safety, be sure to check it out. Today, we’ve got more forklift safety tips from The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). These tips will tell you exactly how to avoid forklift accidents from happening in your warehouse. It is important to realize just how dangerous forklift accidents can be, so we’ve included some more Case Reports below. Thankfully, you can avoid these types of accidents by practicing our forklift safety tips in your warehouse. In April of…

  • Forklift Safety (Part 1)

    admin
    8 May 2012 | 10:23 am
    While Premier may not sell forklifts, they’re an integral part of warehouses and present a huge risk to workers. About 100 deaths and 95,000 injuries in the workplace are caused by forklifts every year. Below are some Case Reports of accidents involving forklifts. See if you can spot all the hazards before we reveal them in the video. In, 1996, the president of an advertising company was killed while unloading steel tubing from a trailer with a forklift. He was operating the forklift on a 3% grade, and when the victim turned the forklift, it began to tip. The overhead guard of the…

  • Material Handling Video Friday: Warehouse Storage and Stacking Guidelines

    admin
    4 May 2012 | 1:01 pm
    It’s Friday, which means we’ve got another material handling safety post for you. In today’s video, we are coving how to properly store and stack materials in the warehouse. In any material handling application, knowing how to store and stack in the most efficient way possible is essential. Space is a valuable commodity in the material handling industry, and wasted space is not acceptable. This video will get you stacking and storing materials of all sizes like a pro! As usual, we keep it simple and indicate the basics of what to do and what not to do when storing and stacking materials…

  • Warehouse Personal Protective Equipment

    admin
    1 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    No matter how careful and safety minded your warehouse is, an accident is eventually going to happen. Wearing the proper personal protective equipment, or PPE, can greatly reduce the risk of injury when an accident does occur. PPE can provide protection for a variety of threats, including fire protection. Neglecting to wear personal protective equipment while working in a warehouse can lead to injuries that could have potentially been avoided. In this week’s warehouse safety video, we discuss some of the most common types of personal protective equipment in the workplace and how to use…

  • Material Handling and Wooden Pallet Statistics

    admin
    27 Apr 2012 | 10:00 am
    The material handling industry is enormous and only continues to grow. Creating revenue of over $156 billion dollars every year, the influence of the material handling industry on every other industry is hard to overstate. The bulk of the spending is in third party logistics, material handling containers, and pallets comprising $25 billion on their own. Undoubtedly the cornerstone of the material handling industry is the pallet, and specifically the wooden pallet. Because of the wide usage of wooden pallets, great lengths have been taken to make sure that they are being created, recycled and…
 
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    CNCCookbook CNC Blog

  • 15% Off Sale on G-Wizard Calculator!

    SiteOwner
    15 May 2012 | 11:35 pm
    We’re on a campaign to double our user base in 2012 versus what it was in 2011.  Every so often, we goose our sales by offering just a few 15% off coupons good on our 3 year subscription.  It doesn’t happen every month, and we only offer enough of the coupons to hit our sales goal–it’s first come, first served. To use the coupon code, just order the 3 year subscription from our purchase page and enter the “15OFF” code where it asks for a coupon.  But do it now, before the coupons run out.… Read the rest

  • When to Use a Spot Drill

    Bob Warfield
    15 May 2012 | 1:29 pm
    Machinists are familiar with spot drills–they’re stub length and have little or no flutes.  These little drills are designed to be extremely rigid so that they can precisely spot a hole for a twist drill.  The goal is use the spot drill to make a little dimple in the workpiece that keeps the twist drill from walking so that the hole winds up in the right place. Is a spot drill necessary every time an accurate hole is to be drilled?  Not necessarily. If you use a carbide drill, or a screw machine length drill, spotting is typically not needed.  The carbide itself is so rigid…

  • EDM’ing a Sweet Tool Height Setter

    Bob Warfield
    11 May 2012 | 10:50 am
    I was trolling through Practical Machinist posts for something interesting and came across this sweet project.  This fellow has used an EDM, a mill, and a lathe to make a really nice tool height setter.  EDM is an acronym for “Electrical Discharge Machine”.  It literally uses electrical sparks to disintegrate the metal.  There are electrode EMD’s, that plunge a conductive electrode into material, and there are wire EDM’s.  Think of the latter as being a ridiculously fine and precise scroll saw.  EDM is slow, but it has the ability to carve out shapes that would…

  • Shopmade CNC Press Brake

    Bob Warfield
    7 May 2012 | 10:38 pm
    Press brakes are cool machines for bending sheet metal. The CNC variety have what is called a “back gage”. You insert the sheet metal through the opening until the back of the workpiece hits the “back” gage and step on the pedal to do the bend. You can set up a variety of tooling in the opening, and a skilled operator can walk the workpiece through each station of tooling to make a finished part: Click here to view the embedded video. Meanwhile, there’s a guy over on CNCZone who has done a post showing how he built a CNC press brake from scratch. Very cool…

  • Pssst, are you a cheapskate like me?

    Bob Warfield
    5 May 2012 | 6:00 pm
    Are you a cheapskate like me?  It’s no problem.  Our money doesn’t go as far as it used to and we need all the help we can get. And, I hate companies that hide their coupons, ration them only to new customers (why not give your loyal customers something too), give rebates that are hard to cash in on, or otherwise rely on you to be your own worst enemy so you won’t get the deal.  It’s hard enough actually being my own worst enemy without having to be reminded of it constantly. Because of that, I’ve create a special “Cheapskate Page” where you can…
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