Yes, Tim, it truly is about jobs. Congress can debate health care reform, bail out banks, extend unemployment benefits, work to develop a climate bill, increase the legislative budget, and do whatever else it does until the cows come home, but we need jobs—lots of good jobs—for the economy to improve.

Jobs and a healthy economy are analogous to the chicken and the egg. You can't have one without the other. And without jobs and a healthy economy, the U.S. can't afford the flood of money Congress is spending these days. The current situation is a mindboggling conundrum—a mess. I don't have the answers, but I believe employers and employees can work together to mitigate job loss—just as the companies mentioned in my colleague's blog post did. Fabricating Update readers think so too.

[More]

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

It's now one in 10, probably more. Take a walk and glance around. You'll probably see someone in need of a job. Within two blocks of my house, I know four who are unemployed—and those are just the neighbors I know.

The Labor Department's release, which pegged October's unemployment rate at 10.2 percent, caught many off guard Friday. Most thought the rate would reach that point someday, but not so soon. During the past year, durable goods manufacturing unemployment more than doubled, from 5.9 percent to 12.9, the highest rate of any sector the labor department tracks.

Break it down a bit more and the picture doesn't look quite as dire. In September 2008 the fabricated metal products sector employed 1.280 million; in October 2009 it was 1.275. And get this: Employment related to motor vehicles and parts actually increased by more than 4 percent. Could the sector finally be bouncing back?

I know I'm hunting for diamonds in the rough here. Heck, I'd be pleased with cubic zirconium at this point.

[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.

I visited with a friend from college several weeks ago. He works in operations in the software services division for a major publicly owned corporation and was in Chicago for a tradeshow. It's a good gig for a good guy who can handle personal relationships like a three-card monte dealer can handle playing cards easy and effortless.

We chatted about old times, caught up on current affairs, and talked about the future. The current economy has weighed on him like a lot of people I know, and his job has become more stressful with the slowdown.

During this conversation, he shared a story with me that made me think. He was chatting with counterparts at a corporate get-together when they asked my friend how a guy from Louisiana, with an English literature degree no less, climbed the ladder to attain the position he had. My friend responded it was about communication and maintaining relationships with the customers. He added that the best way to keep those relationships solid was to do everything he could to support the people working for him.

A peer replied: "I would never say that. It's all about rewarding the shareholders."

Oops. The secret is out.

[More]

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

I understand the term's intent, and that it describes workers who are ever-more-valued. I just have reservations about how the term is used. When people think of a "knowledge worker," they think of a white-collar IT professional, engineer, doctor, or others who think to innovate, using their knowledge to better an organization.

But who doesn't?

[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.

The numbers popping up in the media recently draw an interesting, perhaps conflicted picture of the state of business in the U.S. Here's why.

First, there's unemployment. Like many, I expected the unemployment rate to continue its relentless rise past the symbolic 10 percent mark. It didn't. It fell a bit, to 9.4 percent. Dig a little deeper into the government's official release, though, and you'll find that 14,000 people in the fabricated metal products sector lost their jobs. Machinery-makers shed 15,000. And manufacturing overall shed 2 million jobs since this recession began.

[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.

That number bounced around the blogosphere this week as CIT teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. CEO Jeff Peek told news outlets that 760 manufacturing companies could shut down if CIT collapses. And then comes the ripple effect, which is even scarier.

[More]

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