| Welcome to the newest monthly newsletter offering from MetalForming magazine and PMA. We hope you find it useful and interesting; please feel free to share your thoughts with us. |
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This regular column from MetalForming magazine provides an inside look at the management styles and techniques of metal forming and fabricating company executives. We’ll share some of their philosophies, their daily challenges and how they face them, and offer additional insights. We hope that you find these interviews useful and can take away some ideas to use at your own company.
Want to be interviewed for this column? E-mail editorial director Brad Kuvin. |
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| Perspectives on Business Management with Chris Zuzick, Vice President of Waukesha Metal Products |
This
month we feature Chris Zuzick, vice president of Waukesha Metal
Products, a metal forming company with locations in Sussex and Grafton,
WI, and in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
“Time to market is critical for our customers,” Zuzick says. “We must ensure that we’re not just performing tasks simply because it’s the way we’ve always done so. I constantly explain to the team that our customers expect more from us, and encourage them to step out of their traditional methods of doing things.” |
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| The right benefits can make a difference… |
| Chances
are, you have key employees that play important roles in your
organization. Having the right tools to recruit, reward, retain and
retire your top talent can help them and your business. Contact us today
to get started. |
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| Are You Still Steering the Boat by Watching the Lake? |
“Understanding how to best use human resources to maximize the amount of value-add that can be generated in a day is the first step in the battle to drive profit. Yes, other constraints need to be considered, but setting a daily goal and managing the resources within the constraints will drive profitability by ensuring sufficient value is created to make money.”
So goes the latest post from Harbour Results’ Jason Brewer, who emphasizes that looking back at yesterday’s performance against a specific goal enables timely course corrections.
“Asking the question, ‘Why wasn’t the goal hit yesterday?’ can bring attention to efficiency killers such as downtime or scrap,” Brewer writes, “rather than waiting until two weeks after the month ends and the books are closed. This is how operations can begin to steer the boat by looking forward, and responding to problems more quickly, rather than by making course corrections long after the wake of the boat is created.” |
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| Utilizing Peak Alerts to Reduce Energy Costs |
| You
can greatly benefit from reducing energy consumption on the five days
of the year when the highest demand on the electricity grid occurs. By
reducing energy consumption, you can have an impact on your monthly
capacity costs for the following year. |
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| Safety Tip: How to Read a Safety Data Sheet |
This
detailed lesson on how to read a safety data sheet (SDS), including a
short instructional video, comes from HSI, a provider of environmental
health and safety and workforce-development software, training, and
compliance solutions. SDSs cover the physical and environmental hazards
of a chemical, and precautions for safe handling, storage and
transportation of the chemical. The HSI article and video explain the
16 sections of an SDS, including:
- Identifying the ingredient(s) of the chemical product, including impurities and stabilizing additives.
- The initial treatment protocol for untrained responders to incidents of chemical exposure.
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| Sell to Someone You Can Trust AND Get a Great Price |
| Founder
led and/or family run manufacturing companies want a buyer who will
respect their legacy yet grow the business, so the employees have future
opportunity. But they also want a great price. All of this is
achievable as well as maintaining confidentiality throughout the
process. |
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| A Lot of Unfounded Negativity |
“I’m not sure what’s driving all the talk of recession. There’s a lot of negativity out there that’s not well founded.”
So says Doug Johnson, president of metal former Marion Mfg., and 2022
Chairman of the Precision Metalforming Association, in a June 4 Washington Post article titled, “Economy Shows Resilience Despite Mounting Recession.”
“There’s so much pent-up demand,” Johnson adds, “and everybody I talk to—our suppliers and our customers—say the same. We’re up 40 percent over last year and climbing. This month, we were up 100 percent over last year. It’s incredible.”
So, are we slipping into a recession, or experiencing what economists refer to as “moderation?” “Our business as a whole has never been as robust as it is now,” Johnson says. “We’re pretty bullish.” |
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| A Framework to Address Workforce Challenges: Engage, Involve, Evolve |
Just released: The Deloitte and Manufacturing Institute’s study, “2022 Competing for Talent: Recasting Perceptions of Manufacturing.” It’s a treasure trove of key insights into educating the public about the benefits of manufacturing and how to attract and retain a post-pandemic workforce.
The report recommends a focus on “elevating the workforce experience as well as recasting perceptions of the industry.” Other points explored: - Manufacturers should promote career growth and learning through upskilling and development programs.
- Increased flexibility in work location and meeting employees’ needs—such as childcare benefits—are critical in attracting and retaining a loyal workforce. “The focus on flexibility is likely to continue moving forward, as employees have come to expect it,” the report states.
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| PMA Membership |
| Position your company as an industry leader when you utilize PMA resources—ITR Econ Trends reports, trade publications, One Voice and FABTECH trade shows. A PMA membership will provide your company and all of its employees with a range of valuable industry resources that are designed to help you become more connected, more informed, more efficient, more competitive and ultimately more profitable. |
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| Webinar: Marijuana and the Workplace |
According to a study from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, employees who test positive for marijuana, compared to those who don’t, have a 55-percent greater chance of causing an industrial accident, experience 85 percent more injuries, and are 75 percent more likely to miss work. Yet, new marijuana laws enacted in many states now make it increasingly difficult to find workers that meet strict drug-testing criteria.
In the fast-changing landscape regarding marijuana in the workplace, it
can be tricky to keep up. Help comes via a webinar offered by Federated
Insurance, scheduled for June 21 at 12 p.m. CT, that promises to
demystify the complex intersection of marijuana legal reform and safe,
productive workplaces |
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| CAR Management Briefing Seminars |
| CAR MBS will take place August 2-4, 2022, at the Grand Traverse Resort and online for anyone that can’t make the event in person. With an extensive agenda highlighting the current challenges faced by the automotive industry and a diverse representation of industry thought-leaders, CAR MBS will once again deliver invaluable industry expertise and bring together the top minds in mobility and beyond. Secure your pass to the leading automotive conference of the summer today! |
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| Cybersecurity and Industry 4.0 – What You Need to Know |
If you’re already on the Industry 4.0 journey or looking to start one soon, heed the advice offered in this timely blog post from NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) cybersecurity expert Pat Toth. She writes:
“The number of interconnected devices in use today provides an opportunity to collect information and allows for advanced decision-making in management and technology, which will greatly improve production. Industry 4.0 can help make data actionable. The availability of information across a system or systems can become a powerful tool if used properly.
“These new technologies will serve to advance manufacturing, but they also introduce risk,” Toth continues. “Company-sensitive data may be streamed across a network of small, power-sensitive and deeply embedded devices, which is a completely different threat landscape than the PC-based approach most SMMs use today.” |
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Management
Event