Monday Manufacturing Round-Up

As we hit the half way point in 2014, nothing but sunny weather and optimistic feelings about the economy are in the future. An increase in focus on manufacturing education is on the up-rise as well. On to the links:

• The business section of the LA Times is expecting a substantial growth number for the second quarter. The newspaper is reporting that an increase of 3.5% for the US economy is expected for the second quarter of this year.
• The Alcoa Foundation and Discovery Education are teaming up to encourage interest in high tech, manufacturing jobs to middle, and high school students. The two have teamed up to publish a website, manufactureyourfuture.com to be a resource for teachers, parents, and students to see the potential of high skilled jobs in manufacturing.
• Manufacturing.net has the latest on a move for CAT. The company has announced that it will be shutting down three manufacturing plants in Illinois, and consolidating that work to a plant in the upper peninsula of Michigan.
• For those interested in additive manufacturing, Makerbot is issuing a Mars Base Challenge. The manufacturer of the popular 3-d printer is running a contest to see who can come up with, and print out the best idea for a theoretical base on Mars.

That it for this week’s links. Here’s to a productive start to your week.

Monday Manufacturing Round-Up

After the long weekend, we catch back up with the world of manufacturing today with stories ranging from a lack of new home buyers to new safety regulations for the Keystone pipeline. On to the links:

• Market Place has a story taking a look at the lack of first-time home buyers. An all-time high of 43% of home sales in the first quarter in 2014 were done in straight cash deals.
• A surprise up-tick in orders of durable goods has economists optimistic about the US economy. The LA Times reports that there was an increase in orders by 0.8% last month, when initial forecasts predicted a 0.8% drop off. The main increase came from the transportation equipment and military aircraft industries.
• Beechcraft and Wichita State University are teaming up to give under-graduate engineering students a chance to get valuable work experience. Manufacturing.net has the story on the relationship, that has helped Beechcraft in engineering hours, and helped students get jobs, sometimes before they even graduate.
• IMPO Magazine has the latest on two new regulations for the controversial Keystone Pipeline. The regulations include hiring a third-party contractor, chosen by the safety agency, to monitor and report on the pipeline construction, while the second regulation has TransCanada adopt a detailed quality control procedure.
• The newly elected Prime Minister of India plans on adding solar power to homes across India by 2019. Bloomberg notes that roughly 400 million people in India live in homes without any electricity, and that solar panels could potentially light two bulbs, a solar cooker, and a television in each home.

That’s it for your special Tuesday edition of MMRU. Here’s to a productive start to your week.

Monday Manufacturing Round-Up:

As we move on from Mother’s day over the weekend, and begin National Small Business Week, things are looking up for American manufacturers. With the implementation of robotics, and exporting materials, manufacturers in the US are feeling optimistic for their futures. On to the links:

• To celebrate Small Business Week, CNBC has a story about an increase of American manufacturers exporting goods. The article profiles a handful of small to medium sized manufacturers across the country.
• Another factor adding to the increase of American manufacturing is robotics. Harvard Business Review touches on “botsourcing,” or the increase of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US with the implementation of robotic aids.
• Fosters Online takes a look at a community college in New Hampshire with an eight-week CNC operator program with an astonishing 100% job placement success rate.
• A Pennsylvania-based cabinet maker is a guest blogger at The New York Times, discussing custom manufacturing pricing. Paul Downs chronicles the difficulties of properly pricing customized cabinets, which can be said for any custom manufacturing operation.
• Professional Remodeler online has a dual interview with two of the leading re-modelers in the field of “aging in place remodeling.” Aging in place remodeling transforms your home for an ensuing elderly lifestyle, that doesn’t sacrifice a modern look.

That’s it for the links, happy National Small Business week to all of the other small businesses out there, and here’s to a productive start to your week.

Monday Manufacturing Round-Up

As we get into the swing of things in May, jobs in the service industries are on the way up, however things don’t look quite as rosy for those in construction and over-seas. There is also a new trend in the manufacturing of solar panels that could reduce costs, allowing manufacturers to pass on the savings. On to the links:

• Those who watch over the labor statistics of our service industries are happy about the growth they’ve seen. Market Watch has the brief. Some of the notable growth sectors include wholesale trade, retail trade and arts, and entertainment and recreation.
• While service industries seem to be on the up, The NAHB’s Eye on Housing report isn’t as optimistic. While they do note that there has been a decrease in the unemployment rate, the construction jobs across the country haven’t increased significantly, and the NAHB blog attributes most of the dwindling unemployment numbers to people removing themselves from the job hunt.
• In the mean time, Chinese manufacturing has shrank for the fourth month in a row. IMPO Magazine reports that the HSBC’s purchasing manager’s index is again signaling a decrease in production in China, however at a slower rate than what was reported for the three previous months.
• Solar panel manufacturers in the US and the UK are experimenting with tin in aims of driving down the cost of the panels. International Business Times has the story that breaks down the thought of using tin as an alternative to lead.
• Contracting Business has a story on the lack of refrigeration repair people on the job market. With a lack of interest from most vocational schools, the low and medium refrigeration repair sector is struggling to replace those who are retiring.

A happy Cinco de Mayo to all, and here’s to a productive start to your week.

Monday Manufacturing Round-Up

For those of us in the Pacific Northwest, spring will be arriving this week with nothing but sunshine and heat. As for the links, North Dakota is putting its economic chips down on drones, while pending home sales increase from last month:

• Market Place has an article and radio brief on the future of American Manufacturing. “Middle-skill” jobs are what the future of manufacturing in the US will offer.
• Pending home sales last month were up 3.4% from February, the first increase in pending home sales in nine months. Market Watch has the brief.
• Some potential avenues for the previously mentioned “middle-skill” jobs in manufacturing could be with drone manufacturing. North Dakota is banking on that idea, and the drone manufacturers like it out there due to its varying weather conditions, and low commercial flight traffic for test flights.
• Coca-Cola announced the plans of building a new distribution center in Chattanooga, Tn. The project has been budgeted $62 million, and will be around 305,000 sq. ft.
• And for those who find washing your car to be a massive pain in your side, Nissan might have an answer for you. Featured on Wired, Nissan demonstrates testing of their new self-cleaning paint.

That’s it for today’s links. Here’s to a productive start to your week.

Monday Manufacturing Round-Up:

Easter has passed, and the days in April are dwindling away. Construction season is steadily approaching as well as we continue to progress into spring. Our links this morning include the latest construction news, and an increase of solar panel usage. On to the links:

• The National Home Builders Association published their latest report on their Eye on Housing blog. Numbers on last month’s housing starts, and what the summer building season could have in store are included in the blog entry.
• Market Watch takes a look at a recent White House fact sheet on the state of solar panels. While solar panels are still a minor generator of overall energy in the US, there have been more solar panels installed in the previous 18 months than in the last 30 years combined.
• Fiat and Chrysler plan on making three models of Jeep in China. Manufacturing.net reports that the company is attempting to increase their sales of the Jeep model in a section of the world where they’ve historically struggled.
• SME.org writes about the continuing integration of CAD and CAM software.

That does it for the links today. Here’s to a productive start to your week.

Monday Manufacturing Round-Up,

As we get into the second week of April, spring continues to progress as things clear up out here on the west coast. Three main sporting events also mark this week as a big one with both the men’s and women’s collegiate basketball championships, and the Masters golf tournament wrapping up the week. The early days of spring also signify the beginning of the home buying season. There are plenty out there that believe this is going to be a good year for home-sellers, and is helping in the overall optimism for the economy:

• Housing Wire is spreading the optimism and joy of home-sellers for the upcoming spring and summers seasons. Overall optimism about receiving a mortgage, and job stability are the two biggest reasons for the optimism.
• With the optimism of potential home-buyers, the NAHB index is on the upward trend. The NAHB sites an 88 rating nationwide, meaning that with the combination of more steady employment and housing availability, the country is running at 88 percent of a regular market.
• Along with the housing market in the US, the beer industry in Haiti got some recent good news. Heineken announced a $100 million investment into the facilities that make the lager, Prestige. The investment includes the construction of another 24,000 plus square-foot production plant.
• This could be huge for those of you constantly in need of charging your phone, as an Israeli start up claims to have a phone charger that charges your phone in 30-seconds. Too good to believe? There’s a link to a video of an example of their product in action.
• A child seat buckle manufacturer is recalling 1.3 million child seat buckles, due to potential difficulty in detaching in the case of an emergency. While there have been no injuries attributed to the buckles, Evenflo is taking no chances.

That’s it for this Monday. Here’s to a productive start to your week.

Monday Manufacturing Round-Up

The third week of March always seems to mark the beginning of IT managers across the country slowing down their bandwidth to try to keep everyone focused on work, as opposed to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. However, heading into this week there’s some good news for home buyers and factories, but some skepticism amongst home builders. On to the links:

• The LA Times is reporting that factory out put increased last month by 0/8%. This virtually wipes out the 0.9% drop seen in January, that was largely attributed to unusual weather seen across the country.
• Market Watch has a report that takes a look at some skepticism some home builders are feeling. Some of the causes of the pessimism includes poor weather, difficulty finding lots and labor.
• As for home buyers, things seem to be looking up, so Housing Wire has a list of three things needed to be known about the 2014 housing market.
• Some good news coming from the car industry out of Michigan, as Fiat is adding 800 workers to an old Chrysler plant, in Sterling Heights. Fiat is planning on spending around $1 billion to properly retrofit the production facility.
• While things are looking up for Fiat, Tesla is having some problems with its direct sales strategy. New Jersey is the latest of three states to ban Tesla’s direct sales model.

Get those brackets done at lunch today, the madness begins on Wednesday. Here’s to a productive start to your week!

Monday Manufacturing Round-Up:

As the US recovers from ice and snow storms across the country, the Olympics officially kicked off last Friday in Sochi. The metal count is rather close, with the Netherlands and Norway both leading the way with 7 total metals. Meanwhile, the job addition numbers here in US look good to start off 2014, while a move by Toyota in Australia is leaving some people out of work. On to the links:

• Snips Magazine has a brief press release related to the increase of jobs in the US in January. There was a reported 113,000 jobs added last month.
• IMPO has an interview with Joe Atikian, the author of Industrial Shift:The Structure of the New World Economy. His book and the interview touch on his belief that manufacturing and farming are not decreasing in the US, and the importance of Mexico in the future of manufacturing.
• Unfortunately for Australia, Toyota recently announced that all of their factories within the country will be removed by the end of 2017. This move will remove the last car manufacturer in the country, and thousands without jobs. CNN Money has the story.
• A Toronto-based start up has created a wrist band that syncs with your heart beat to bypass passwords to your own accounts. The bracelet resets itself when removed, and if stolen, cannot be used with another person’s pulse.
• And if you’re missing out on this year’s AHR Conference, TMB Publishing has a live stream here.

That’s it for this Monday. Here’s to a productive start of your week.

As most of the country is covered in snow, one invention we have to help keep our roads safe and clear for transportation is a snow plow. Snow plows come in a variety of sizes and a couple of styles depending on the area that is needed to be cleared. The most common snow plows that are found on the market are either straight, one pieced plows or two pieced, rotating plows.

The straight plows (such as the one seen below) are typically found on larger trucks and utility vehicles, and used to clear large areas such as highways, and parking lots.

The two-pieced, rotating plows can typically go on consumer sized trucks, to large industrial trucks as well. They allow to pile up the snow within the blades of the plow, then rotate to evenly disperse the built up snow. The two blade set up is typically best used for small areas.

How Snow Plows are Made

The type of material used to build a snow plow is incredibly important, due to the conditions where a snow plow would be needed. Typically, stainless steel is used for the blades, or the actual surface that is used to scrape and disperse the snow. Stainless steel is used because of its strength and non-rusting characteristics. The sheets of stainless steel have holes punched into them at the top of the sheet, passed through a form rolling press to give them their proper degree, and then put through a press brake to bend the top section to fit on the base.

The base of a snow plow is typically made of carbon based steel, that is powder coated after construction to aid in rust proofing. Regular steel is significantly cheaper, and easier to manufacture than stainless steel, so most use a basic steel for the base. Many bases are manufactured differently, but you can see how one company makes their base here.