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competency in research and develop- ment. “Such a committee would provide a unique and new forum to allow the technicalpeopleworkinginourindus- try to exchange ideas,” she says. “I see this as a great resource to help our member companies learn how to create an innovative environment and helps them find, train and motivate the peo- ple they need to make it happen.”
Information is King
Metalformers need not attend meet- ings and events to share information and learn from each other. PMA also delivers a host of business reports to the industry, analyzing and disseminating useful information on a number of trends. Zierick uses many of them as she and her management team look to con- tinually stay informed on a number of topics related to the markets, best prac- tices and other targeted areas for which PMA publishes surveys.
“We particularly rely on PMA’s Busi-
ness Conditions Report, tracking close- ly what others are saying about shipping levels, order trends, lead times and short-termlayoffs,”Ziericksays.“Mon- itoring this report is like taking your pulse; it tells us where we’re at as a company.
“Also important for us,” Zierick con- tinues, “is PMA’s Benchmarking Report, which we use to compare ourselves to industry best practices, and make deci- sions on where to focus our continuous- improvement efforts.”
Asked for an example of how the company has applied information from the benchmarking report, Zierick cites one statistic the report tracks—value- added per employee. “Since we’ve begun tracking this performance measure,” Zierick says, “we’ve worked hard to improve in this area.”
PMA recently introduced two new business reports for members that offer information and insight into the cur- rent economic situation—Economic
Quarterly and Economic Trends Monthly. Prepared by Dr. Ken May- land, president of ClearView Econom- ics,LLC,EconomicQuarterlycontains a one-page summary of key economic indicators and approximately 20 pages of charts. Key indicators include meas- ures of economic momentum, indus- trial demand, price and inflation trends, foreign exchange rates and interna- tional prices and interest rate trends. And in Economic Trends Monthly, Dr. Mayland provides a series of timely commentaries on economic indicators as they are released, analyzing their importance to the manufacturing industries.
“Both of these new products are great examples of how PMA continues to react to the needs of the industry and its members,” says Zierick. “And, I expect that type of excitement and commit- ment to continue in 2010 with the intro- duction of other new products and ideas.” MF
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Joe Brown
Joe Brown, creator of the blog, Will the Tool & Die Industry Ever Recover? Joe’s column in Tool & Die Authority delivers timely, insightful news of the tool and die industry.
Bob Quinn
Bob Quinn, president of RCM Inc., a tool and die shop with expertise in progressive and compound dies, fourslide tooling, detail machining, surface grinding and wire-EDM. Bob’s monthly insights help tool and die makers develop and implement advanced methods and technologies to improve die-build efficiencies.
Danny Schaeffler
Danny Schaeffler, president of Engineering Quality Solutions. Danny brings to Tool & Die Authority expertise in material properties of new sheet steels and other metal alloys. His column also addresses
the practical application of forming-limit diagrams and circle-grid analysis, and topics such as tooling buyoff and cost-reduction strategies.
Drew Stevens
Drew Stevens has been providing sensor-based error-proofing solutions to manufacturers for near- ly 10 years. He also is a journeyman diemaker and author of the book Die Protection for Lean Manufacturing. In his role as a die-protection spe- cialist, he develops specialized sensor-based die- protection training and application assistance to metalforming companies.
Pete Ulintz
Pete Ulintz, a 30-year veteran of the tool and die trade with an impressive background that includes tool and die making, tool engineering, engineering management, advance process planning and prod- uct development.
www.metalformingmagazine.com
METALFORMING / NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009 35
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