Miles Free Director of Industry Affairs, PMPA

Workforce Development 3 Jun 2014

Precision Plus Leads the Way in Skilled Workforce Development

PMPA member company, Precision Plus http://www.preplus.com/ in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, is only one of many PMPA companies committed to changing the conversation about manufacturing careers and helping to give advanced manufacturing skills to our future workforce.

27 May 2014

Lockout Tagout Periodic Inspection

Providing lockout/tagout devices and ensuring that equipment is capable of being locked out/tagged out are other management responsibilities and are typically well handled in the shops I visit. If management doesn't have their part right, there is next to no chance that the company will pass an audit.

20 May 2014

Too Many American Men are on Disability

It isn’t American men manufacturing the products being unloaded here, Mr.

19 May 2014

Precision Machining Industry: Rebuilding Our Bench

Our industry is addressing the Skills Gap by taking positive steps to increase employee knowledge and engage talented people seeking well-paying careers.

13 May 2014

It's More Than Just a Phone to IT Folks

As I am just a manufacturing guy among 4,000 computer, software and systems experts, I was in a unique position to see what our world looks like from the IT side of things.

6 May 2014

OSHA Needs to Enforce its Tower Regulations

Four communications tower related deaths have already occurred this year, according to OSHA, and more were killed last year than in the prior 2 years combined. Every one of them was preventable.

29 Apr 2014

Tooling Usually Causes Central Bursts in Cold Drawn Steel

This post will focus on the central bursts in cold drawn steel, especially from the point of view of a shop making parts on automated equipment.

Workforce Development 22 Apr 2014

PMPA Member Wins Training Grant

North Easton Machine will be receiving $41,500 to help train 25 employees and create job opportunities for four additional staff over the next 2 years.

16 Apr 2014

Material Selection for Machined Product Applications

Here is a checklist for selecting materials for making parts by precision machining.

16 Apr 2014

Determine if Difficulty is Shop or Office Problem

There is no doubt that the shop people are closer to the problem. But is it their problem?

15 Apr 2014

Demonstrate 'Safety First' Leadership

How many safety violations do you see in this photo?

8 Apr 2014

Whatever Happened to ‘Thou Shalt Not Covet?' A Look at Tax Reform

Alan Beaulieu, president and principal economist at ITR, recently took a look at the Tax Overhaul Proposal authored by David Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means committee. What he reports is chilling for small manufacturers, prospects for employment and the economy.