Publications

Michigan tool and die shop opens up new facility in thumb

A Michigan machine, tool and die shop has remained busy with niche industries such as the standard non-automotive sectors of aerospace or military and one not-so-common.... »

Tool & Die Futures Initiative (TDFI) Kickoff Meeting

Dean Mohan Tanniru and the Oakland University CIBRE group are once again leading a collaboration which focuses on the preservation, and growth, of the U.S. tooling industry. »

Have You Hugged a Shop Rat Recently?

As more and more American school systems cancel co-op programs or technical schools one Michigan group is leading efforts to encourage more young people into skilled trades. »

Motor City Motors Must-See TV for Tooling

  Brothers Mike and James Kaye are a lot like other guys in Michigan.  

James is a skilled tradesman honing his craft as a metal sculptor in Detroit at the College for Creative Studies. He's seen first-hand–like a half-million other Michiganders–what it's like to work, and depend, on the Big 3 from an automotive engineer's perspective.

Mike earned his finance degree from the University of Michigan business school before trading equity options on the Chicago Board Options Exchange.

Together they are co-owners of Detroit Bros. Custom Cycles and the stars of a brand new show on the Discovery Channel (Mondays, 10PM). The show is sure to be a hit for the mechanically-inclined and those with an engineering mind–which basically describes a large part of Michigan's workforce.

Using a Ford stamping plant in southwest detroit as their studio is fitting. "The genius of Detroit — that's the whole idea. This what made the country great. World War II — a bunch of farm boys with pliers and cable could make anything run. Throw a challenge at us, we figure it out, and we do it not just with our brains, but we do it with our hands and our heart. That's what this show's about," according to executive producer Thom Beers.

Motor City Motors is a breath of fresh air considering it's challenging content (five days to perform otherwise unimaginable engineering feats); spotlight provided for industries that need it (trades like sheet metal fabrication, machining, welding, etc.) and more.

As reality t.v. continues to become more and more ridicolous, it seems the only requirements for many of these shows are being connected to some type of scandal (e.g., Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, TMZ.com, etc.) or putting a bunch of unknown people together and watching them fight, drink and act slutty (e.g., The Jersey Shore, The Real World, Real Housewives of "…", etc.).

From the show description:

Watch each week as the brothers — with their father, John — tap into the Detroit-based talent and assemble a team of builders and specialists. Together they push the boundaries of automotive engineering to create one-of-a-kind vehicles — with a five-day limit for each build.

From a Modern Machine Shop article:  

“I’ve worked on a fair share of different CAD programs, and I’ve never found that I could just poke around and figure it out,” Dave says. “I’m not really a big ‘let’s read the manual’ kind of guy. With Cimatron, you instantly know what the tools are and what they do, versus some other programs that are confusing and inaccessible unless you’re formally trained.” Read the rest of the Cimatron article on MMS Online here

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Unexpected ISM Manufacturing Index Hopefully a Sign of Things to Come

Does the American tooling industry accurately reflect the optimistic ISM factory index report which hints at our manufacturing sector fueling a rise out of this recession? »