The status of Cummins perhaps best sums up the manufacturing economy at large. We may be on the rebound, but all of the unemployed aren't heading back to work tomorrow.

Last week the engine maker reported third quarter profits that exceeded expectations. Like so many, they got there by cutting jobs and inventory. According to a Bloomberg report, the company "cut about 7,500 workers, including fill-time and temporary employees, from late 2008 through June, and has since recalled about 900."

About 900? That's good … I guess.

[More]

If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to the Fabricator® Blog.

Talk of health reform has become frenzied in recent weeks. The latest compromises have bordered on desperation. We can't pursue the public option plan, to appease budget-weary politicians (and voters) and the insurance industry. We're uncomfortable about requiring everyone to buy insurance during the current economic climate. The insurance industry isn't going for caps on premiums. The idea of taxing high-end health insurance plans isn't faring well either. What's left are thousands of pages of legalese signifying, well, not much.

Democratic representatives, senators, and the president have all said they will pass health care reform. They say they can’t walk away from the table.

No wonder special interest groups are moving in for the kill.

[More]

If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to the Fabricator® Blog.

My fellow editors and I often invite those who read our columns to share their success stories so that we may pass them on and inspire others. Traditional success stories about businesses thriving are hard to come by these days. The last time I personally received e-mails from readers who said their businesses were doing well was in the first quarter of this year, when I received two. One was about a family-owned fabricating shop in Louisiana that was just moving into a new, larger facility to accommodate its rapidly growing business.

[More]

If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to the Fabricator® Blog.

Buried within the Institute for Supply Management™'s July Manufacturing ISM Report on Business® is a telling quote from a metal fabricator.

"No stimulus for manufacturing."

[More]

If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to the Fabricator® Blog.

Rodie Woodard just finished a good week.

When I talked with the president of Irving, Texas-based Maximum Industries Thursday, he told me he just closed a deal that will keep his contract fabrication shop humming 24 hours a day for several months. His customer in the signage industry is putting together a large advertising project for a cellular phone company.

He said that it seems companies are trying to catch what's likely to be a very gradual upswing in the economy. Although optimistic, the shop owner doesn't have immediate plans to hire additional employees.

This encapsulates where I feel the economy stands, judging by the people I've talked to and reports I've read: People are itching for an economic rebound, but they're not willing to bet the farm on one.

[More]

If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to the Fabricator® Blog.

If your business isn't doing as well as you'd like—and whose is these days—there may be internal factors that are making an already tough situation even worse. One likely suspect is waste. I know, you probably are so very tired of hearing about lean manufacturing, and you may think you're leaner than you want to be, at least in terms of employee count, as well as business coming in and product going out the door (not exactly what lean proponents had in mind).

You may be equally sick of hearing about Six Sigma, the data-driven business management discipline, and how it can help transform your company.

I'm not here to beat the lean or SS drums, but I do want to pass on a story I ran across in my search for bright spots in manufacturing. (Believe it or not, they aren't all that difficult to find.) This story is an interesting read and a good example of how one company benefited by adopting these strategies and learning to speak the same language.

[More]

If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to the Fabricator® Blog.

It seems Paul Gordon of the Peoria Journal Star hit a chord last week.

Two metal fabricators in Morton, Ill., southeast of Peoria, changed ownership on the same day: Friday, June 26. Morton Welding, previously owned by Michigan-based BHM Technologies, was brought back under local ownership by a group of small investors. Another firm—Morton Metalcraft, currently undergoing bankruptcy reorganization—was sold to a Canadian company.

[More]

If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to the Fabricator® Blog.

This has been a busy few weeks for Eric Isbister.

The chief executive at General MetalWorks in Mequon, Wis., north of Milwaukee, held an open house Friday to celebrate 10 years since he and his wife, Mary, took over the fabrication business. Late last month he braved the halls of Hannover Messe, the giant industrial tradeshow with hundreds of exhibitors in the wind industry. And this week he's attending the WindPower 2009 expo, put on by the American Wind Energy Association.

[More]

If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to the Fabricator® Blog.

Did you hear IBM's getting into the water business?

That’s right, the water business. Specifically, IBM managers are looking to change the way water is managed through digital sensors and computer networks. This is coming from a company that grew up in the era of mainframes and transformed the corporate world with the personal computer. Now it wants to get into the infrastructure-improvement business, including the management of automobile traffic, water, and the power grid, according to a recent Associated Press report.

[More]

If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to the Fabricator® Blog.

Some ugliness emerged Friday just south of Grand Rapids, Mich., where fights broke out at Wayland Chevrolet on the same day dealership employees learned they would be losing their jobs. According to the Associated Press, the dealership blamed its fate on the ailing auto industry, and on the shutdown of a nearby General Motors stamping plant.

This is just one example of how emotion swells in this country around the auto industry. It made its mark on manufacturing like no other sector. In the Midwest, it almost single-handedly created the middle class.

But there's more to the Midwest than automotive. Go west of Grand Rapids, across Lake Michigan, and you’ll find Manitowoc, Wis.-based Tower Tech Systems, where 210 employees fabricate wind towers nearly 300 feet tall and almost 200 tons.

[More]

If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to the Fabricator® Blog.