PM Blog

Managing employees with unproductive or self-defeating behavior can be a struggle. These employees are, for the most part, good workers and leaders who occasionally put a strain on their teams or companies. To solve the issue, employers need to make their employees aware of this behavior. In this month’s “About Your Business” column, Diversified Industrial Staffing President Todd Palmer describes a tool to help both employers and employees understand one another better—the Johari Window.

In the Johari Window exercise, an employee goes through a list of adjectives and selects the ones he or she believes to be most descriptive. Then the employee’s coworkers go through the same list and they select the adjectives they believe describe the employee best. The lists of adjectives are compared on a grid that shows which adjectives both the employee and coworkers chose, which adjectives only the employee choose, and which adjectives only the coworkers choose, as well as which adjectives neither choose.

The 2019 Parts Cleaning Conference has an exciting lineup of parts cleaning professionals ready to share their knowledge of the industry with you. The Parts Cleaning Conference is the place to stay up-to-date on the latest cleaning technology. As environmental limitations become more strict and manufacturers demand high quality clean parts, this conference will detail how to make it all happen, while staying within compliance and on a budget. 

Held biennially, the conference is in conjunction with the Precision Machining Technology Show (PMTS), this year, from April 2-4, at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Registering 56.2 for January, the Gardner Business Index (GBI): Precision Machining Index rebounded from December’s two-year low reading. Over the 2017 and 2018 calendar years, the Production Machining Index averaged 56.2, marking the fastest and longest expansionary period of any business cycle in Gardner’s recorded history. The latest reading is 9.3 percent lower when compared with the all-time high reading recorded in January 2018. Gardner Intelligence’s review of the underlying components of the Index revealed that the Index’s rebound from December was driven by production, supplier deliveries and new orders. In contrast, backlogs, exports and employment brought the index—a calculated average of the components—lower. All components of the index expanded during the month.

January’s readings for production and new orders experienced usually large upward changes. The production component of the Index, which last month recorded its first contractionary reading in over two years, rebounded by more than 15 points to be the leading component in January. The latest production reading is more than four points higher than the average production reading over the last two years. Similarly, new orders also experienced a strong expansionary reading in January, which was a contrast from the slowing growth and contractionary reading posted during the fourth quarter.

Production Machining’s February Digital Edition is now available. This issue features emphasis topics of EDM and Parts Cleaning, with special coverage of Medical. For the cover story we visit a shop specializing in small hole making, learning how they select from drilling and EDM for the production of micro-holes, 0.001 inch in diameter or smaller. For our Cleaning coverage, we interview PMTS parts cleaning exhibitors for a preview of what products they will be displaying at the show and what trends they are seeing in the industry.

In our Special Coverage section, we follow a medical device manufacturer that needed to reduce the cost and lead time for a vital surgical device, turning to coolant-free Swiss machining to automate and streamline its processes.

Heule Precision Tool’s BSF tooling has been selected as a finalist for the 2018 Swiss-American Business Council (SABC) Innovation Award. Members of the SABC were invited to submit an innovative product or service that has been launched within the last three years and has strengthened the U.S.-Swiss business relationship. The award’s judging committee looks at the following criteria:

Heule’s BSF automated back-spotfacing tool was chosen for its ability to reduce production costs while improving product quality in high-production manufacturing environments. The tool is manufactured at the Heule factory in Switzerland and distributed to North American customers through Heule Tool Corporation, their US subsidiary. LNS’s e-connect Ethernet system, which allows communication between CNC machines and bar loaders, was also chosen as a finalist. Big Kaiser won the award for its EWE fine boring heads.