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The Cost of Slag
Cutting Through the Buildup: The time and money associated with managing slag is often mistaken as an unavoidable cost in laser cutting operations. But once you realize the full impact that slag has on your laser cutting process, there are ways to cut costs . . . by cutting through the slag.
Of Course You Should Be Cynical About Marketing
Marketing is too important to allow company CEOs (or anyone else of that ilk) to get their hands on it. Inevitably, they will try to shape it to fit some notion they have inside their heads. And it will be wrong.
Business Ideas to Challenge Our Thinking
Too many businesses are stuck in an “idea rut,” lurching from one gimmick to another to move ahead. But nothing works. What businesses need to do is challenge their thinking. Here are the three ways to do it.
Field of Dreams
Take a look at how Wisconsin fabricator High Tech Welding uses a portable all-in-one multiprocess power source to gain versatility and increase their welding productivity by 25 to 30 percent on field repair and fabrication jobs.
Standing on the Edge
The evolving merger of it and manufacturing is pushing shop activities ever closer to the threshold of a new industrial revolution that will reshape the future, not only of the metalworking business, but of all manufacturing as we know it.
High-Speed Cutting in a Single Look
Here’s how having all of the motion control elements on a single screen helps tool and moldmakers to master their craft more accurately and efficiently and increase their profitability.
Selecting the Proper Size Welding Cables
Here is the best way to use reference charts for ordering the correct sizes of welding cable for the shop, along with some basic guidelines to follow.
Your Mother Doesn’t Work Here: Why Housekeeping Matters
The dangers of poor housekeeping are real. It saps productivity, morale and operating efficiency, yet goes largely ignored. When every competitive dollar counts, it’s puzzling that more shops don’t make a concerted effort to address a problem that is so easy to fix.
Design for Laser Joining
Here are a few basic principles to consider when redesigning components and assemblies for the new capabilities afforded by laser welding.
A Listener’s View: We Are Our Presentations
This article isn’t about how to make a presentation because, in spite of all sorts of presentation training, few are effective. Instead, this focuses on how to understand what you’re doing when you are presenting, big or small –– to close a sale, to motivate your sales team, to engage your employees on the shop floor, to direct your management team, or meet with your bankers about a new loan for your business –– this is about how to keep your listeners front and center, where most presentations fall horribly short.
Boosting Machine Tool Efficiency: How to Integrate Automated Machining Systems
Despite the benefits of automation, its complexity can intimidate first-time investors. Shops must learn how to effectively define, plan, justify, select, implement and execute a full system integration. To do this, they should become familiar with the process and the key considerations needed for a seamless integration.
Technology Traits for Bending Efficiency
The “leaner” a part is manufactured, the greater the justification to purchase a machine tool, tooling and programming with features that encompass this level of performance and provide the greatest advantages in productivity.
