Miles Free Director of Industry Affairs, PMPA

30 Jul 2013

Precision Machining Industry in Numbers

We completed our 2013 Business Forecast Report, a compilation of markets served by our industry as measured by percent of supplier dollars, and shipments versus forecast for the past couple of years, a forecast consolidating all respondents’ input on a market by market basis, and a look at markets served by size of shop.

Parts Cleaning 23 Jul 2013

Catch Them if You Can: Obsolete Specifications

The time to catch an obsolete specification is during contract review, before there are commitments to material and/or sunk costs of material, production and inspection.

17 Jul 2013

Shop Safety: A Dozen Indicators to Score Your Shop

As a manufacturing guy, I have spent a lot of time in shops in many industries.

16 Jul 2013

Manufacturing Offers Debt-Free Schooling

Going forward, we see manufacturing jobs returning to North America, as energy prices increase for the rest of the world.

9 Jul 2013

Maximize What We Can Produce With What We Have

Training assures our shops will be sustainable and that all are operating at their highest and best use. Scheduling does that for all the resources in our shops in light of market demand.

2 Jul 2013

Setup Reduction Program Offers 8 Positive Results

Setup reduction is the one discipline that every precision machining shop must master.

25 Jun 2013

More Thoughts on the Skilled Worker Shortage

Thoughts on Why We Face the Skilled Worker Shortage

18 Jun 2013

Why Tolerance is Minus on Bars for Machining

Bars are held to the minus side of each nominal dimension to ensure that they can pass through the nominal size hole, whether it be a bushing, pulley, gear, collet, support bearing or any similar application.