Speaking of Precision

We recently caught up with Charles Ruecker of PMPA member company Core Powered to get his opinion on PMTS and the state of precision manufacturing.

Healthy and strong!

Team play. Synergy. Working together.

Thanks Charles.

Core Powered Inc.

We learned with painful social and economic clarity in the great recession of 2008-2009 that it is demand, and not supply, that drives our economy.

So what are the top 10 demanded U.S. manufactured exports?

1. Transportation Equipment
2. Chemicals
3. Machinery
4. Computer and Electronic Products
5. Petroleum and Coal Products
6. Food
7. Primary Metal
8. Medical Equipment, Sporting Goods, and Miscellaneous
9. Fabricated Metal Products
10. Electrical Equipment

(source: Brookings EXPORT NATION 2012)

Here is what the report had to say about Manufacturing:

"Manufacturing comprised the majority of U.S. exports in 2010. While on a declining trend as a share of U.S. exports, manufacturing has seen a comeback in the first year of recovery. About 61 percent of U.S. exports, manufacturing industries produced three-quarters of the additional U.S. sales abroad between 2009 and 2010. The sector's sales abroad increased by 14.5 percent and expanded faster than U.S. exports overall. Machinery, transportation equipment, and chemicals delivered one-half of manufacturing exports growth."

"Manufacturing contributed disproportionately to export recovery in the large metros (metropolitan areas). While manufacturing accounted for 59 percent of the exports sold by industries located in the large metros in 2010, it delivered almost 76 percent of the exports growth in these metros. Midwestern metros illustrated this trend, with 85 percent of their exports growth generated by manufacturing industries."

"Manufacturing industries delivered the majority of export sales growth in 94 out of the largest 100 metros in 2010."

Here are the facts on US Manufactured Goods Exports. Where do you fit in?

Precision machining companies produce components that are key to functionality of transportation equipment, machinery, computers and electronic products, medical equipment, and electrical equipment.

Our parts are used to harvest, process, and package food, and to produce and refine petroleum and coal products.

We are a sub-industry of Fabricated Metals- number 9 on the list.

What are USA's Top 10 Manufactured Exports?

They are all items that would not be exportable if it were not for the role of our precision machined products.

Why does manufacturing - especially precision machined manufacturing- matter?

Ask an economist.

Or look at exports.

Recession photo

Manufacturing Institute and National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) announced May 9th their partnership called Get Skills to Work to encourage transitioning military personnel and recent veterans to look at careers in manufacturing.

Recent veterans have a demonstrated ability to work in teams and perform under pressure.

They understand that showing up on time is important.

They have experience acquiring data and acting on it.

They have demonstrated their ability to follow directions, respond appropriately to challenges, and work well with others.

In many cases, their lives and the lives of their comrades depended on it.

I can't think of someone more qualified to make a human safety critical component for your car's anti-lock braking system or for the airbag system or …

If you are interested in learning more about how to tap this valuable resource of human talent for your shop, check the link here.

For more info on Get Skills To Work for Employers

For more info on Get Skills To Work for Veterans

Photo credit

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Milo for sharing this blog entry, which originally appeared here.

Getting back and forth to work may involve greater hazards than those we face on the job now that Orange Barrel Season has arrived.

While many of us take comfort in the fact that we can drive on autopilot- as long as we have had the first cup of coffee before inserting the ignition keys- the fact is that we need to be on the alert for changes that just might put us at greater risk than anything that we might face on the job.

Excavations, construction workers, construction equipment, and high horsepower vehicles are all hazards that might 'ambush us' now that Orange Barrel Season is upon us and in full swing.

I have a half mile of orange barrels after turning out of my neighborhood onto the state road- not even a quarter mile from my driveway.

"Safety First" in Orange Barrel Season means being on the lookout for driving hazards "Before getting to work!"

Four of every five victims in a work zone crash are motorists, not highway workers, which is why it is particularly important for drivers to remain alert while driving through work zones. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has taken steps in the past several years to improve work zone design, strengthen enforcement near work zones, and heighten awareness among drivers for bringing the number of work zone fatalities to record lows.

Orange Barrel season is the opposite of Hunting Season.

It's a bad outcome if you "bag one!"

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Milo for sharing this blog entry, which originally appeared here.

On "Workers Memorial Day" OSHA sent out a memorandum regarding efforts to protect temporary workers.

"…the agency is making a concerted effort using enforcement, outreach and training to assure that temporary workers are protected from workplace hazards… Employers have a duty to provide necessary safety and health training to all workers regarding workplace hazards. In order to determine whether employers are complying with their responsibilities under the Act, please direct CSHOs in your region to determine within the scope of their inspections whether any employees are temporary workers and whether any of the identified temporary employees are exposed to a violative condition…

"To better identify this vulnerable population, we need your assistance gathering and tracking certain information during inspections and investigations ofworksites where temporary workers are employed. For the purposes of this information gathering, "temporary worker" includes those who are working under a host employer/staffing agency employment structure. To capture this information, we have created a new OIS code for temporary workers."

What does this mean to you as an employer?

1) OSHA inspectors will be determining whether or not your company employs temporary personnel;

2) OSHA inspectors will be poring through training records and interviewing personnel to determine "whether those workers have in fact received required training in a language and vocabulary they understand."

3) OSHA inspectors will "document the name of the temporary workers' staffing agency, the agency's location, and the supervising structure under which the temporary workers are reporting."

4) OSHA will be tracking temporary workers employment using a new coding system.

If you use temporary employees, now would be a good time to go over this new development with your temp agency. Send them the link to this blog.

Make certain that employees are trained as required and document that training, regardless of whether it is provided by your company or the agency.

<irony> We'll let you know if we find any evidence of OSHA actually providing any "concerted effort of outreach and training"on this issue.

Final thought- Who is a temporary worker?

"For the purposes of this memorandum and the new coding, temporary workers are those supplied to a host employer and paid by a staffing agency."

New OSHA Protecting the Safety and Health of Temporary Workers memorandum

T-shirt

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Milo for sharing this blog entry, which originally appeared here.

Lack of skills were found to be behind the skills gap for production jobs according to a new report by Twin Cities Business Magazine.

"Only in production work did lack of training seem to be a barrier for job candidates, and in about half of those cases, the training they lacked was technical training at the high school level-the sort of program that has disappeared from many schools."

PMPA's Vice President, Darlene Miller states in the article "I don't think it's coincidental that when our [high school] dropout rate increased by 30 percent was when all of our technical classes in our high schools ended." And that is when industry lost its pipeline of potential skilled workers.

Three ideas to get back on track from the article:

1) European Educational Model. "We need to get back in the European path," Miller says. "They really show students at [middle school] age, what are your potential career paths. And manufacturing and the trades are viewed just as highly as any other career."

2) Build career awareness in younger students. "It's costly to wait until people reach college age or older before introducing them to technical careers and skills. Rather than playing catch-up, employers and educators want to start the process earlier, not only with STEM education that emphasizes science, technology, engineering, and math in K-12 schools, but through more direct work with kids."

3) Overcome parental fears about "vocational track' education. Despite the fact that 54% of the unemployed have bachelor's degrees, most parents still equate a college education with job security."Parents worry about schools "tracking" their children at a young age: pushing them to choose between the path to college and the path to technical school, and closing off the road not taken."

The Twin Cities Business Article concludes with comments from Darlene Miller on the skills gap: "The economic security and upward mobility that have long been the perceived promise of a four-year college degree are less certain now, it's "skills that pay the bills."

"When we understand that 54 percent of our unemployed are college graduates, what does that tell us? It tells us that we've been training people for jobs that don't exist," she says. Just as some wonder whether the skills gap is real, Miller suggests that one of its sources-the notion that a bachelor's degree is always the right choice-is a fiction.

"Is going into debt and spending six or more years to get a four-year college degree, and then not having any assurance of finding a job to cover that investment when you're done, is that really real?"

Skills do pay the bills.

PMPA has a number of resources to help you explore a possible career in precision machining advanced manufacturing.

Career Overview

Training Database

Right Skills Now

Twin Cities Business Magazine

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Milo for sharing this blog entry, which originally appeared here.