| 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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| Metal Formers Facing Industry Challenges Head On |
“Despite the growing challenges the manufacturing industry faces with supply-chain shortages, growing material prices and a talent gap, the metal forming industry remains optimistic.”
So notes Laurie Harbour in her latest column, where she explains that access to labor, higher cost of doing business and raw-material pricing have nearly all shops—85 percent to be exact—"collaborating with their customers to help manage the supply-chain complexities that all industries are facing.” (Her data emanates from the Q2 PMA Metalforming Insights survey completed recently by Harbour Results analysts.)
Other results provided here: Utilization among metal formers peaked at
80 percent in Q4 2021 and Q1 2022, then dropped in Q2 to 57 percent,
more in line with historical industry averages. However, survey
respondents forecast utilization to climb to 61 percent by year end. |
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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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| Metal Forming Industry Quarterly Update |
From
Dave Arndt, principal, AVCMI-LLC (a Harbour Results Inc. partner), and
president emeritus, Pentaflex, comes this quarterly review of the
manufacturing economy, along with reports for the automotive,
medical-device and other sectors.
Arndt quotes FTR Transportation Intelligence: “The U.S. economy continues to expand at a modest pace, with advances in consumption and employment providing the strength to offset the headwinds caused by higher prices, higher interest rates, supply-chain troubles, and a war in Europe that has boosted inflationary forces. Spending patterns are changing as consumers shift funds to pay more for food and energy. The sharply higher mortgage rates, now over 5 percent, are starting to affect housing. The Federal Reserve has made it clear that higher rates are coming, and that inflation is the number one danger to the U.S. economy.” |
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| Comprehensive Lubrication Program to Improve Production Efficiencies |
| AMSOIL
Industrial, launched in September 2021, is a division of AMSOIL Inc.,
which brings more than 50 years of lubrication formulation and was the
first lubricant company to bring API-certified synthetic lubricants to
market in 1972. AMSOIL Industrial consults with fabricators and metal
stamping operations to optimize production efficiency by employing a
comprehensive lubrication program that starts with a plant audit by
AMSOIL Industrial tribologists and lubrication experts. |
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| Safety Tip: OSHA’s Top 10 Safety Violations—How Many Can You Name? |
Each
year OSHA tracks the top 10 workplace safety-standards violations, to
help manufacturers focus on the safety issues receiving the most
enforcement attention. As reported in Insurance Journal, for the 2021
fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2020, through Aug. 31, 2021) OSHA reported its
findings based on inspections and complaint responses conducted
remotely, due to the pandemic.
Topping the list of the most-cited safety issues (for the 11th
consecutive year): fall protection, followed (not closely!) by
respiratory protection, including failure to perform the required fit
testing. |
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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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| Higher Freight Costs Got You Down? Hang in There |
| While the U.S. Long-Distance General Freight Trucking Truckload Producer Price Index (PPI), issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, recently has reflected record-high rates of inflation, economist Alan Beaulieu at ITR Economics predicts that the PPI soon will shift from escalating inflation to deescalating inflation (disinflation). He expects the shift to occur in the last quarter of this year, partially due to “a slowing rate of growth in the economy, and thus the volume of freight will remain high and continue to rise, but at a slowing pace,” Beaulieu writes. |
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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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| An Autonomous BEV Structure Aligns Perfectly with Steel’s Best Attributes |
…however, most new concepts trial alternative materials. The global steel industry is investing significantly in product and fabrication development to continually prepare for the next challenge.
So goes the latest blog from WorldAutoSteel, introducing two concepts for battery electric vehicles (BEVs), developed as part of the organization’s Steel E-Motive program and based on a single modular platform. At the core of the concept and explained in depth: an innovative battery-frame design that mounts battery modules and cooling plates to an advanced high-strength steel carrier frame, then mounts the carrier frame to the body structure.
Also discussed: the use of topology load-path optimization and virtual
reality tools to develop an open B-pillarless body structure. |
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| Direct from D.C.: The Talent Pipeline Challenge |
In mid-June, the Biden Administration launched a summer-long Talent Pipeline Challenge, intended to help fill openings for high-quality jobs that will help rebuild the U.S. infrastructure and its supply chains. Referred to as “a nationwide call to action for employers, education and training providers, states, local, Tribal, and territorial governments, and philanthropic organizations,” the challenge encourages employers to partner with and hire skilled workers from at least one training provider in each region in which the employer has operations, such as a registered apprenticeship program.
Training providers, meanwhile, are encouraged to partner with employers
to create or bring to scale skills training programs, coupled with
wraparound services like transportation assistance and childcare, that
will prepare workers for in-demand jobs. |
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| Choosing the Right Quality Management Tools |
Noting that “many companies publish hundreds of KPIs that may or may not have an impact on strategic initiatives, product costs or market position,” QAD business consultant Jim Steventon proposes in this blog post that, “with KPIs, it’s better to focus on a few high impact metrics rather than using every one of them included with the company’s business systems. Does labor efficiency matter to an asset intensive manufacturer? Maybe, but perhaps not as much as OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) or equipment utilization do.”
Up for discussion: root-cause analysis, data analytics, and the value of enterprise quality management systems. |
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