I’m know there are a lot of other engineers that are far smarter than me that have developed these products but there’s just something about dual contact holders that doesn’t sit right with me. I really don’t see how supporting the toolholder’s flange is going to increase rigidity. I also imagine that any chips or grime between the flange and spindle nose will interfere with the tool seating properly in the taper and vice versa. Are regular toolholders really that unstable that I need dual contact? Is the toolholder really the problem and not the 1″ tool that it’s holding? Does anyone else have these thoughts? Is this a case of good marketing over good product? It reminds me of a story that happened to me a long while back.

Was the Stem flexing or was it the rubber tire?

I once worked with a company developing a new line of handlebar stems for mountain bikes. The stem is the part of the bike that connects the steering tube to the handlebars. We developed a stem that was lightweight yet rigid thanks to the large diameter of the body. When we did rider testing, I found myself frustrated with what they perceived to be true. Since it was lightweight, they immediately imagined it would also be weak and/or flexible. Sure enough, one rider after another said they were experiencing too much “flex”. Bull! We built a test rig and measured that our design was among the stiffest and lightest on the market and definitely stiffer than any of the stems these test riders were currently using! The conversation with one test rider went something like this:

Me – So you really think it’s flexing too much?
Rider – Dude, totally!
Me – So let me get this straight, you’re wearing padded gloves while holding on to foam padded handlebar grips that are attached to 24″ wide hollow handlebars and you think the 3″ long aluminum stem is the part that’s flexing?
Rider – Yup.
Me – Ok let’s go over this… The stem is connected to a 4″ travel suspension fork that uses 0.050″ diameter spokes that connect with a thin aluminum rim that holds a rubber tire that rolls on unstable dirt. Are you sure what you’re feeling is the stem flexing and not one of the other components?
Rider – Dude, I know my bike. The stem has too much flex. I’M POSITIVE!
Me – Ok. Thanks for the feedback.
Rider – Don’t I get a T-shirt or something?

We ran a second round of tests but this time we hyped up the product beforehand by showing charts, graphs and fancy engineering terms. Guess what… the results were phenomenal. We took it a step further. We brought back the original group of test riders and took them through the same presentation. We told them their feedback was instrumental in improving the design. We used the exact same stems from the original test and once again the feedback was 100% positive. I specifically spoke to my original tester (Dude) to see what he had to say – “Dude, you guys really rocked it with this new design. Now do I get a T-shirt?”

This is a long story to get to my point – perception is reality. Are Dual Contact Toolholders really better or are we buying into better marketing? Hopefully I haven’t made any enemies, but I’ve definitely opened a can of worms. Let’s hear your comments below.

As an owner of a company that buys a lot of machined parts I often receive solicitations in the form of brochures.  I appreciate the time fellow business people take in putting together marketing materials to pursue sales, but correctly pursuing a customer starts well before the stamp hits the envelope.  I received a brochure lately that reminded me of the basic principles of good visual communication: grammar, spelling, content, layout and second opinions.

Click to Magnify

How Not to do a Brochure
The brochure I’ve used to illustrate these basics of visual communication is from a real company that is actually using this brochure to attract customers.  What they may not realize is that they may be causing customers to avoid them like the plague.  I’ve graciously hidden their name.  Though not everything they did was wrong, our English teacher here would have definitely issued an F-.  My favorite quote, “excellence in Precision manufacturing is everything we do”, might actually be true… because we sure know that basic writing isn’t.

Grammar and Spelling
Most of us in manufacturing were not top students in English, but that does not excuse us from knowing the basics of punctuation, sentence structure and capitalization that are needed to correctly communicate.  The aim of this section is not to teach these basics, but to emphasize their importance.  Even if we don’t have the skills, or don’t want to learn them, we at least have some people in our lives that can help.  Even in the worst case scenario we could make a call to the local high school to ask the English teacher to refer an AP English student.  $25-$50 to proofread or help rewrite copy would have that student thrilled.

Content
The most important aspect to a good brochure is the content. There are two sides to content – visual (photos and graphics) and copy (text).  Let’s cover the copy with two lists – Basic Copy and Optional Copy:

Basic Copy

• Company Name
• Phone number
• Address
• Website address (if any)
• Types of manufacturing processes offered
• Types of materials worked with
• Certifications and/or quality standards
• Markets served

Optional Copy

• Machinery list
• Customer list
• Size of company
• Brief company history
• Simple map showing the company location
• Contacts of key company individuals or departments

Layout

Click to Magnify

Creating a good brochure layout is definitely a stretch for most shop owners.  Our definition of what looks good is usually defined as what type of finish it has.  Needless to say we may not even possess the talent and tools to even know where to begin to create any marketing material.  It looks like the creator of our example brochure used a company that I too have used for quite some time – VistaPrint.

VistaPrint is an online digital printing company that offers a wide range of products at excellent prices.  Whether you’re a professional graphic designer or a first time user, VistaPrint has all the tools needed to create and produce everything from shirts and mugs to business cards and brochures.  They have an extensive set of templates ready to customize with logos, photos and copy.  When choosing a layout be sure you are able to include the copy elements listed above as well as the following visual content:

• Company logo
• Current photos of your facility
• Text in a size and color that is legible
• Photos of sample parts
• Photos of key individuals or company products

Our example brochure has what is called “stock photography” on the front.  This is a no-no.  Don’t waste precious photo space with something that isn’t authentically from your company.  Make sure all photos are well lit and in focus.  Always uploading the highest resolution available or else you’ll run the risk of your photos looking pixelated.

Second Opinions

One of the more satisfying events I ever experienced was when an arrogant, know-it-all boss only trusted himself and his brown-nosing secretary to proofread his work.  It all came crashing down when a print order of nearly $6,000 was tossed in the dumpster due to a simple (and obvious) key word that was misspelled.  The rule-of-thumb is always get as many eyes on your work before production… pass around the rough draft at lunch and listen for feedback.  Good inspection is a key factor to a shop’s ongoing success so why should it be any different with marketing.  Plus, what does a poorly written brochure say about your company’s quality control?

By following these key principles of grammar, spelling, content, layout and second opinions you and your team will be equipped to create a brochure worth holding on to and not adding to the round file.

- Jay Pierson

Other groups I often speak to are machinists wanting to start shops of their own and owners who want to take their businesses to the next level. The advice I give to both groups is nearly identical. Making great parts in a timely manner may be the easy part, but faced with the reality of what it takes to successfully grow and market a company of their own often causes the mental back burners to fire up. Though there’s not one right answer to successfully market a machine shop, I’ll provide several “most bang for the buck” ideas. In part 1 of this “Marketing for Machine Shops” series, I’ll cover one of the easiest marketing tactics to implement and it’s all done through a product called Google Maps.

X Marks the Spot

Google Maps can bring a company to the forefront of people’s searches without having to spend a penny. In fact, it doesn’t even require a company webpage. With Google Maps, users in a geographical area can type in a search term and find a list of related businesses with their locations pinpointed on an interactive map. Having good online visibility is arguably one of the most powerful aspects in promoting a company. Companies registered with Google Maps not only achieve this visibility of appearing on map searches, but also under normal web searches in the user’s geographical area. For example, a user in Chicago searching for “Machine Shops” on Google’s main search page will also see results appear under a map section called “Local business results for machine shops near Chicago”. Very powerful indeed!

Getting Practical

Registering a business with Google Maps is a free, one-time process. Get started with these steps:

1. Go to www.google.com.
2. In the upper right-hand corner of the page, click “Sign In”. An account with Google is necessary to proceed. (An account with Google is an asset that provides many valuable tools to small businesses that I’ll cover in future columns.)
3. In the upper left-hand corner, click on “Maps” or go to maps.google.com.
4. On the left-hand side of the page click the link that says “Put your business on Google Maps”. On the next page, click “Add New Business”.
5. Start entering all pertinent contact information and a well thought out description about the company and click “Next”. Should any of the info change, Google Maps provides the ability to edit details at any time.
6. On the following page, continue to enter as much information about the company. It’s not necessary to fill out all the fields, but don’t skip the “Category” section. Again, this can be edited at a later time.
7. Submit the information and verify everything on the next page.

Once this information is recorded in Google’s database, potential customers will have a far greater chance of making contact with your company and friends will label you the “go-to-guy” for Google Maps.

- Jay Pierson