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Labor Revisited, Part Two: A Different World
Much of our work right now is still physical, but we have all witnessed a lot of manual labor vanish into the digital world of sensing, digital communication, and intelligent response. Physical jobs are disappearing into the second economy, and guest columnist W. Brian Arthur believes this effect is dwarfing the much more publicized effect of jobs disappearing to places like India and China.
Ten Ways to Build Profit When Raising Prices Isn’t an Option
Steve LeFever of Profit Mastery explores how even small changes in your margin can have huge impacts in your gross profit because the largest percentage of your costs is tied up in the costs of goods sold.
Bending Aesthetics: When the Finish Comes First
Sometimes marks caused by the lower die during the bending process can turn a good part into scrap metal, even if the scrapes are very light and have no functional bearing on the part whatsoever. To deal with this problem, it is necessary to reduce or eliminate the movement of the material over the hard shoulders of the die. Here are several ways to do this.
The Safety Generalist
Before discussing specialization within a particular area of safety, Phil La Duke of Rockford Greene first explores the role and duties of the one who typically owns worker safety from “soup to nuts” within a given manufacturing facility.
Never Underestimate the Importance of Weld Bead Shape
Many weld failures occur due to lack of fusion when proper attention is not given to this characteristic. Regis Geisler of Lincoln Electric shares a remedy that may help fabricators avoid such problems.
Machine/Control Simulation Means Better Results, Every Time
Ways of the Future, Here Now: As more shops seek to maximize their machining uptime, Randy Pearson of Siemens Industry explains how the ability to simulate actual cutting conditions offline offers them many competitive advantages.
Why Aren’t More Manufacturers Using Minimum Quantity Lubrication?
While the idea of sustainability is becoming better defined and understood, many manufacturers are still not taking the necessary steps to implement newer proven technologies that foster sustainability. Why?
Five Considerations When Purchasing a Fume Extraction System
In today’s market, highly skilled welders can choose where they want to work. An important factor for any company to recruit and retain skilled welders is to have a clean, healthy work environment. For this reason, it is critical for a company to have a reliable fume extraction system to maintain a clean and safe work environment.
Welding Takes to the Cloud
Always On: Cloud-based production monitoring is radically reshaping how companies track weld performance and improve their profitability.
It’s No Time to Trip
Avoiding the Dangers: How easy it is to trip when we’re blinded by our beliefs. Unless we pay attention to the dangers inherent in our fast-paced business environment that are waiting to bring us down, it’s easy to trip at the most unexpected moments.
Modified “5-55” Vertical-Up Welding Technique Improves Bead Quality and Weld Shape
When welding with an E71T-8 electrode in structural steel fabrication and erection, here is a technique that combines the two competing priorities of being able to pause long enough at the toes to flatten out the weld and bring slag to the surface, and having a small enough weave angle in order to avoid “perforations” and inconsistent leg size.
Labor Revisited
In part one of a two-part series, guest columnist W. Brian Arthur explores the rise of the digital economy that he believes is beginning to supplant the physical economy.
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