Rumor has it I built my company under the guise of being an inventor. If you ask me I’m simply an engineer that filled some needs for better workholding. Either way, my circle of friends has labeled me as the “go-to-guy” when it comes to answering invention questions. For this reason, they seem to continually [...]
The fax machine is a powerful tool that gained widespread use in the 1980’s, but with email becoming a far superior method of transmitting documents, the fax is quickly becoming an archaic, yet necessary component to the modern office. Though I would personally love to eliminate its use altogether, it remains so easy for anyone [...]
Back in my machinist days I was often asked what I did for a living. The response from the average person was usually the same… they had heard the terms “machinist” or “machine shop” but couldn’t really explain what they were or what they did. The interested people that actually wanted to understand my profession [...]
Once again IMTS has come and gone. Millions of dollars have been spent on travel, booth displays, hotels and dining all with the sole purpose of getting owners to spend even more on new products and machinery. Though it is an event that comes every other year, has the hype been worth it? If IMTS [...]
There’s plenty of mousetraps in the world and there’s always room for better ones right? As machinists we often find ourselves needing a tool or seeing how to improve one. (Yes, amazing things come to mind while standing at a machine for hours on end.) So what to do when the next big idea comes [...]
Ever since man first picked up a rock and used it as a hammer, our ability to hold tools hasn’t come too far. Even in the most technically and mechanically advanced era the world has ever seen, we still find ourselves holding tools by brute mechanical force. The machining industry is notoriously slow when it [...]
An article written by TR Carr, Mayor of Hazelwood, MO just outside of St. Louis, touched on some serious issues surrounding practices and policy within the US government that has far reaching consequences on domestic manufacturing. Here’s an excerpt: As the nation faces uncertain economic times, the United States was presented with a rare opportunity [...]
Housing slump. Creditor woes. Iraq. Iran. Manufacturing slowdowns. Talk of recession. There’s plenty of news to get discouraged over the state of the US economy, however the sharp entrepreneurial shop owner recognizes an often overlooked opportunity to grow their business. With the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates yet again this past week, expanding your business [...]
By Philip Cohen A comment principally on the whole-of-auction absolute anonymity of bidders recently introduced to Australia (and more recently to the U.K.) by eBay, including responses to the various, sometimes nonsensical, statements being offered by eBay in support of this decision—with apologies to all the shill bidders out there. For those of you with [...]
Jay Pierson, host of The CNC Report has a vested interest in a segment recently seen on the CNN program Lou Dobbs Tonight. Interested because he has seen how the effects of illegal immigration has played out in the life of his father, Joel Pierson. After committing his business to practice the utmost of ethics, [...]
