Manufacturing Misperceptions

Tool & Die Futures Initiative Meeting Announcement (March 5, 2010)

The Tool and Die Futures Initiative in conjunction with Oakland University's School of Business and CIBRE program have scheduled their next collaborative meeting. »

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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Manufacturers e-Marketing Makeover

Over the past two months I've been preparing a sales & marketing tool written specifically for Tier 2 & Tier 3 suppliers in, or to, the tooling industry. I noticed a lack of strategy from a marketing/awareness/lead generation standpoint. To confirm this I conducted surveys and interviews to tooling execs across U.S. and Windsor-Canada (prog... »

China Denies Currency Manipulation – Blames U.S. Instead

Deny. Deny. Deny. When it comes to damaging allegations, the M.O. of past Presidents, Actors and now Golfers seems to deny to their blue in the face. One LCC Trade Minister has taking it to a new level: Deny. Deny. Deny. Blindly reverse the accusation. GENEVA (AP) -- China rejected Monday the charge that it was... »

U.S. Army Faces Difficulty Sourcing Trigger Components to Domestic Tool and Die Shops

How many times have we warned and shouted from the rooftops that our tool and die industry is critical to our national security–in addition to the economy?

Now it appears some of those fears are a reality. This is exactly the type of issue we have tried to warn non-manufacturing citizens and government alike. We can not lose our ability to tool up when needed. However, deceiving OEMs are the biggest perpatrators (more on that in an upcoming article) that have leveled a large portion of our tooling base. It must be stopped. Now. And before it's too late. 

Barbara Bartholomew, Chair of the U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission (USCC) warned that a side product of our growing trade deficit with China is that as more business goes abroad, the technology that we have developed for aircraft, computer chips and other products go with it. She related how the Army recently had a problem buying domestically made triggers for its rifles because the tool-and-die industry is so decimated.

Furthermore, the AFL-CIO President, Richard Trumka stated::

The report drives home the point that the Chinese government’s export-led manufacturing strategy is driven by a full range of subsidies, many of which are illegal under both the WTO [World Trade Organization] and our own trade agreements with China. These industrial policies begin with the most important illegal subsidy of all—the continuing substantial undervaluation of the Chinese currency.

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