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, [...]
Online auctions can be a great way to find and purchase supplies and equipment for your shop, especially when looking for good deals or obscure tooling. After inputting a few keystrokes, you’ll usually find exactly what you’re looking for. The only thing left to do at this point is bid on the item and hopefully [...]
Opening a business and keeping it open has never been an easy task. There are many different ways a new business can fail. Although the statistics for opening and keep a new business open are getting better, each year new shops open and close, mainly because of a few key errors on the part of [...]
