Blogs

Electric ‘Flying Car’ Start-up Archer Teams up with Fiat Chrysler

By Tom Morrison posted yesterday
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Fiat Chrysler  is teaming up with air mobility company Archer to help lower costs and accelerate the launch of an electric “flying car,” more formally known as a vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.  The deal will give California-based Archer access to Fiat Chrysler’s low-cost supply chain, advanced composite material capabilities, engineering, and design experience. The companies declined to release financial terms of the partnership. Unlike traditional planes that use jet engines or helicopters with a large spinning rotor, eVTOL aircraft use electric motors to power rotating wings or smaller rotors, almost like drones, to allow for vertical takeoffs ...
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Introverted Leaders are Hidden Talent who can Move Your Company Forward

By Tom Morrison posted yesterday
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Uncovering the hidden talent   in your organization is the competitive advantage you can’t afford to lose.   Winning the talent war   isn’t about perfecting your recruitment game – you already have the right employees! You need to learn how to identify them, and how to turn your eyes toward the places you haven’t thought to look. In my corporate training, “ Career Advancement: Release the Untapped Potential of Your Underutilized Leaders ,” I explain how to shift your perception and change your senior management’s ideas of what a leader can look like. Are introverts in your organization being overlooked? Often, great leaders are missing out simply because ...
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Resilience 2021: ‘Adapt, Improvise And Overcome’

By Tom Morrison posted yesterday
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What does it take to build an anti-fragile company that can take a punch and throw one, too? We asked CEOs across a range of sectors for top-of-mind takeaways for 2021. For Bridgewater Interiors, the best way to bounce back from a pandemic is to double down on what put the $2 billion maker of automotive seats in its strong position before the virus hit. The Detroit-based manufacturer emphasized flexibility, consistency, and culture, as Bridgewater reopened its plants in Motown and in nearby Warren, Michigan, and soon soared past its pre-COVID-19 heights. “The best you can do is adopt the mindset that we’ll adapt, improvise, and overcome, and to drive that ...
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Car Industry Changing Under the Hood

By Tom Morrison posted 8 days ago
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Auto electronics are becoming more centralized, connected, and complex, and the entire supply chain is realigning around those shifts. After an initial burst of autonomous activity, the automotive ecosystem regrouped, re-evaluated its goals, and is now ready to begin deploying new technologies made possible by modern development approaches and forward-looking vehicle architectures. The Covid-19 pandemic hurt vehicle sales in 2020, but it also gave the OEMs a chance to catch their breath. Panic over announcements from other carmakers about fully autonomous vehicles in 2018 and 2019 have subsided, and reality has set in. “People have had time to stop and ...
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MTI Moves Spring Meeting to Amelia Island, FL

By Tom Morrison posted 8 days ago
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MTI is excited to announce it has received amazing support from the general membership to move the 2021 Spring Meeting to May 3 rd -5 th , hosted at the Omni Beach Resort in Amelia Island, FL. Amelia Island offers a wide-open environment to host the Spring Meeting with proper safety guidelines and protocols in place. Amelia Island, Florida offers plenty of outdoor activities including golfing, biking, hiking, nature trails, and beachfront access, all from the Omni Beach Resort.   MTI's Education Committee has already approved the full slate of speakers that are top experts in their field. The Spring Meeting speaker line-up is as follows: Laura Stack: ...
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The Resistance to Innovation - That’s Burning Profits

By Tom Morrison posted 8 days ago
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What if there was a way that you could significantly increase the value of your business? A study done by McKinsey indicates this is possible. Many businesses could  boost their overall value by an incredible 20%  if they adopt innovations and take advantage of the technological advances in their industry. This has the potential to add another $530 billion to the service-based manufacturing industry by 2025! However, getting these increases means changing the way we do things. While we fundamentally know that innovation in heat treating and service-based manufacturing can yield significant results, change can often be uncomfortable. Resistance to Innovation ...
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MTI Educational Foundation Opens Scholarship Application Process

By Tom Morrison posted 15 days ago
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The MTI Educational Foundation is excited to announce that the 2021 application process for scholarships will open on January 15, 2021. The Foundation Board has approved 11 scholarships for a total of $51,000 for 2021.   The MTI Educational Foundation Scholarship Program is open to students who are interested in a career in metallurgy, materials science, engineering, industrial, and/or mechanical sciences. Applicants must be currently enrolled, or recently accepted, as a full- or part-time student in a nationally accredited college or technical school. Applicant’s area of study must be one of the following: materials science, metallurgy, engineering, or a ...
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MTI Releases Full Schedule for 2021 Business Intelligence Program

By Tom Morrison posted 15 days ago
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The #1 challenge for your company in the next 24 months is uncertainty. The market is shifting fast and furious as COVID-19 and the government’s response take shape. With so much uncertainty, the most important information any business owner can have is clarity about where future sales are headed for their company. With so many decisions about when to invest in new equipment, install new technology, and expand labor, being able to time your decisions with market shifts can keep you from making a serious mistake. MTI is excited to announce that it has finalized its 2021 Business Intelligence Data Program schedule. CLICK HERE for t he full schedule, which ...
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Ten Lessons from the Feedback Boot Camps

By Tom Morrison posted 15 days ago
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Here are ten lessons that emerged from the great dialog in my two recent  Feedback Boot Camp workshops . We all appreciate feedback from trusted sources on what we are doing that is working and what we can strengthen or change to improve our success. In general, people feel as if they don’t receive enough of this quality feedback. Our memory banks are filled with examples where managers or colleagues have given us feedback that felt more like an attack than support and coaching. It’s sad but true: people struggle to identify feedback examples that made a significant difference in their performance or success. Saving up feedback is never a good plan. The ...
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6 Essentials of Successful Audits in Heat Treating

By Tom Morrison posted 12-17-2020
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Successful audits start with successful heat treat processes that are managed, controlled, and documented properly. The essentials are sometimes easy, maybe even obvious, and can usually be implemented quickly to kick-start your preparations for the next audit. The appropriate production control and integrated quality management software can help you organize your processes (and the inherent individual operating steps) for easy/minimal prep when an audit arises. Let’s go over the benefits and essential needs that are addressed when using a good program to prepare for successful audits. First, the following elements must be identified and followed for audit ...
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The Right Tools for Every Job: Lean and Agile in Maintenance

By Tom Morrison posted 12-17-2020
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Why tomorrow’s maintenance function will combine the strengths of lean and agile organizations.  Over the past seventy years,   lean management ’s focus on the reduction of waste and process variability through rigorous standardization and continuous improvement has transformed operational performance in many industries. More recently, the growth of Industry 4.0 and related digital technologies has brought a new methodology onto the scene. Born in the world of software engineering,   agile techniques use cross-functional teams, rapid iteration, and regular testing to improve both the speed-to-market and quality of product and service development. Industrial ...
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How 3D Printing will Reshape the Oil and Gas Industry

By Tom Morrison posted 12-17-2020
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With multiple new technologies being introduced to the suffering oil and gas industry in 2020, 3D printing is the latest fad to gain traction in the space. Additive manufacturing has been extremely useful during the Covid-19 pandemic, delivering vital PPE to frontline workers across the globe. But now, the ever-evolving technology is also being used in innovative ways across the energy sector.   Earlier this year, we saw several companies relying on 3D printing to supply hard-to-get parts because of global pandemic restrictions and delays in delivery. This takes the reliance away from third-party companies, as well as the need to ship parts from other countries. ...
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Paulo Products Awarded 2020 Commercial Heat Treater of the Year Award

By Tom Morrison posted 12-10-2020
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NEWS RELEASE    Date:       December 10, 2020    Paulo Products Awarded 2020 Commercial Heat Treater of the Year Award   At its Fall Virtual Membership Update on December 2nd, the Metal Treating Institute (MTI), the largest network of heat treaters in the world, in partnership with Industrial Heating Magazine and the MTI Educational Foundation, recognized Paulo Products, headquartered in St. Louis, MO, with the Commercial Heat Treater of the Year Award.   This award is given to the company that demonstrates that they are making a positive impact on their community and their industry. The award is judged by a panel of past winners on ...
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MTI Donates $52,000 to MTI Educational Foundation

By Tom Morrison posted 12-10-2020
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The Metal Treating Institute is excited to announce the Board of Trustees has approved a year-end donation of $52,000 from the proceeds of the FNA Virtual Conference and Trade Show to the MTI Educational Foundation.  MTI President, Jim Oakes from Super Systems stated, “Given the impact of COVID on everyone’s business, the Board felt donations may be light in 2021. The Board did not want COVID to have a negative impact on the Foundation’s ability to continue to attract talent to the heat treating industry through scholarships, so it decided to donate an amount that would give the Foundation Board the ability to award the same level of scholarships the past few ...
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Managing a Multigenerational Team at a Manufacturing Company

By Tom Morrison posted 12-10-2020
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How managers can make the most of a mixed-age team to maximize its efforts. Manufacturers in the U.S. find themselves in a challenging position as they try to find the right people to fill the job openings within their ranks. The   generational gap   has never been greater in the manufacturing workforce. Thanks to people generally living longer than they did in the early part of the 20th century and looking to work longer to pad their retirement nest eggs, manufacturing companies could have five generations working under the same roof. That means folks who grew up with rotary dial telephones are working side-by-side with young people who only know of phones ...
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Lean Manufacturing in the Pandemic Era

By Tom Morrison posted 12-03-2020
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Problem-solving steps up for metal fabricators in uncertain times of the COVID-19 era.   During the depths of the lockdown in April and May, Lean manufacturing—especially just-in-time inventory management—got some bad press. Were supply chains too Lean? Did manufacturers need to scrap JIT and start holding more inventory? “There’s a lot to be said for diversifying your supply chain, of course. So much has gone to Asia over the past 30 years, and that’s going to change. Many manufacturers are reshoring and finding redundant sourcing, but I certainly don’t agree that JIT is a dead duck.” So said Gary Conner, a recently retired consultant with the   Oregon ...
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Crises Need Leaders, Not Superheroes

By Tom Morrison posted 12-03-2020
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Crises are humbling. They unmask imposters and reveal dormant strengths. During COVID-19, many leaders navigated unrelenting and unchartered territory from their bedrooms, not their boardrooms. Some found themselves uttering previously unspoken words like “I don’t know,” “unprecedented,” “new normal,” or “pivot.” I was fortunate to have a front-row seat on leadership behavior during the pandemic while serving on crisis task forces for my clients (C-suite leadership teams at globally recognized brands). Aided by videoconferencing technology, I observed vastly different leadership responses to the pandemic. As I worked with diverse teams, I asked senior leaders ...
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Indirect procurement: Insource? Outsource? Or both?

By Tom Morrison posted 12-03-2020
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A more thoughtful balance between homegrown capabilities and outsourcing can help companies generate more value from an often-overlooked opportunity.   For many organizations, indirect procurement—purchases of services and supplies that support business operations—is a source of tremendous untapped value and savings. But even though indirect spend can represent 10, 15, or even 18 percent of revenue in some industries, it typically isn’t fully managed by a single function or business owner, and is frequently overlooked as “noncore” spend. Because many companies lack the necessary capabilities to address all of the potential opportunities and capture full ...
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The Future of Automotive Design Will Be Digital

By Tom Morrison posted 11-19-2020
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Editor Bill Wong talks with NIO’s Qiyan Wang about how new ECUs are impacting digital automotive design.   What you’ll learn: Traditional versus digital automotive design. The role of software in automobiles. The automotive industry has been one of the traditional manufacturing models for decades, but more computer control, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and even self-driving cars has turned the industry on its head. I talked with Qiyan Wang, VP of Engineering, Digital Systems at NIO, to get his take on how the industry is changing.  What has been the traditional manufacturing model for the automobile industry? The traditional ...
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The Emerging Wave of Procurement and Spend-Management Technology

By Tom Morrison posted 11-19-2020
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Historically paperbound processes are advancing from automation to intelligence. But first, procurement departments must address data and culture change. Up to half of the purchase orders from the purchasing department at Chicago-based manufacturer JBT required a change before the product was received. Buyers had to comb through thousands of lines on a spreadsheet to update quantities or other parameters and send the supplier new information by phone, fax, or email. To tame the beast, Terri Decker, Supply Chain Performance Manager, turned to a tool that communicates order changes in real-time with suppliers and confirms that the supplier knows about the ...
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