Economically speaking, it's been a grim year. Few industries have escaped the repercussions of the downturn, and ours—metal manufacturing—is among the hardest hit. It was under a heavy cloud of concern that a stressed, worried industry came together at the 2009 FABTECH® International & AWS Welding Show, including METALFORM earlier this week. Exhibitors wondered if attendees would come.

Would companies that are making drastic cutbacks spring for the cost of sending people to the show? Would those who came buy?

They came, they saw, and they bought. (TRUMPF sold four machines the first day.) FABTECH 2009 exceeded exhibitors'—and editors'—expectations.

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At the restaurant, I knew something was up.

The family ate out at a middle-class dining establishment next to a big shopping mall on Thanksgiving weekend the day after Black Friday. Only, the place was only half full. More than that, service was horrible. Two waitresses scurried around helping everyone; the kitchen seemed backed up. Yes, it looked like the place had downsized.

This was something, I thought. Deciding not to get a plasma TV is one thing, but not eating out? That’s something else entirely. For my family, going out for a reasonably priced (OK, cheap) dinner is one of the last nonessential things we plan to cut from our budget, should the need arise. Friends, family, and prepared (even cheap) food served to everyone: You just can’t get better than that.

But when times are tough, food at home, transportation, and shelter win out. Sitting at the restaurant table, I began to wonder just how bad things have gotten. How many of us lived beyond our means? How many lived with high credit card balances? If it’s enough to keep people home most of the time, we’re in for a rough ride.

The news Monday didn’t cheer me up either, when the Institute for Supply Management™ told us that U.S. manufacturing has hit its lowest point in 26 years, and that the sector continued to shed jobs for the fourth straight month. Today the government finally got around to telling us that we’ve been in a recession since December 2007, and stocks plunged with the news. (Economists are really good at predicting past events.)

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Jerry Sadler didn’t look like the news from Wall Street really bothered him. Walking the aisles at the FABTECH International® & AWS Welding Show earlier this month, the quality manager at Ameron International had other things on his mind, like customer orders that have been placed through 2011.

That’s right: through 2011.

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At last week's FABTECH International® & AWS Welding Show with METALFORM in Las Vegas, I walked the show floor, which I'm proud to say I survived. Anyone who attended the show knows what I mean. The show was huge and the aisles were long. The first day, it also was crowded with record attendance—a positive sign at this time when we're focused on so many economic indicators.

Along the way, I stopped by booths and spoke with company representatives eager to talk about new products and enhancements to tried-and-true products. As I took notes, I began to write key words in the margins that jumped out at me as motivators for new developments. Coincidentally, all five begin with the letter "S."

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Two machines sitting on a porch facing New Hampshire’s Merrimack River may well change the world. And at the FABTECH International & AWS Welding Show last week, I got a glimpse of them.

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The credit for this headline goes to my publisher, Ed Youdell, who suggested it when I told him about my brief attempt at welding at the 2008 FABTECH International & AWS Welding Show with Metalform that ended Oct. 8.

Ed also deserves some of the credit for my attempt. As I explained in an earlier post, Ed welded at last year's show. I had the opportunity and chose not to. The fact that he did and I didn't has bothered me all year to the point that I vowed to track down Sue Bartholmew from ESAB at this year's show and see if the opportunity still existed. It did.

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Much has been said and written about the skilled labor shortage, yet it remains an issue that plagues manufacturers across the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Skill comes from training and experience. It begins when an individual is exposed to a craft, develops an interest, and decides to pursue the opportunity. It continues with education and practice. Sounds simple enough. Why is it so difficult to attract prospective skilled workers and persuade education decision-makers to invest in technical training programs?

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On Sunday, after the Thanksgiving guests departed, with enough turkey leftovers to last for the next few millennia or so, and with my wife and 9-month-old daughter out at a brunch, I had a quiet moment to sit.

Yes, sit. And as any parent knows, sitting is not something somebody with a 9-month-old takes for granted.

For one blissful hour, it was just my paper and me. Paging through the business section, I saw the usual company profile the paper runs on Sunday. This week it was on a health care firm specializing in case management. Other Sundays have featured debt collection agencies, payroll service firms, information technology firms, more IT firms, health care services, health care services, and did I mention health care services?

Not often do you find a manufacturing firm, and judging by the attendees at the FABTECH International & AWS Welding Show earlier this month, I can honestly say our newspaper is missing out on some insightful stories.

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