Is the National Acme screw machine today the accordion of machining? Are shops staking their future on the Acme the polka bands of manufacturing? As sad as I am to admit it, I am close to conceding that at least the 6-spindle Acmes have become hard for a used machinery dealer to turn into money. The reasons are many, and certainly there are exceptions to this observation. 1) You can’t find operators to replace the thousands of retiring setup people and tenders of the cam operated screw machines. An Acme makes money if you can keep it running. In today’s…
Author: Lloyd Graff
The malaise of American manufacturing is the shortage of skilled workers. Every few days, I hear the familiar lament, “I just can’t find good people.” If this is the epidemic of the machining industry in this country, we are long overdue to find the cure. I am both a participant and an observer in this area. Graff-Pinkert has a small staff of factory workers involved in cleaning, painting, and refurbishing primarily screw machines. Our approach to the skills shortage is no panacea for a big machining company, but it is a practical one for us. “Pay people what the larger…
Stuff I’ve wanted to write about but didn’t have the guts to. It stinks to feel old. I am well into being 78 years old, which is a blessing and a curse. My hearing is miserable. I denied my hearing loss for many years, blaming it on overactive wax glands and sinus congestion, but my E.N.T. a doctor who excavates my ears searching for wax, shamed me into taking a hearing test during one of my drilling days. The results were that I had rather severe hearing loss. I needed hearing aids to hear clearly. I bought pricey ones from…
There is an economic boom going on in recession predictions. Since COVID-19 hit in early 2020, the brilliant economists and professional pessimists have been predicting misery for the American economy. We actually did have a recession in 2020. It started in February and ended two months later according to a group of economists who are in charge of making an “official” designation of such happenings, the shortest downturn on record. For the last three years, the recession lobby has been pummeling us with continual harping about recession that is just around the corner, yet unemployment remains at 3.5%, the lowest…
I’m on vacation. Hold on a minute, I’ve got to take this call from the office. You probably think I am nuts, but this is the vacation that I wanted and expected. My wife Risa is the same way. She usually has a meeting or two every day and phone conversations about clients. They punctuate her days. They stimulate her and give meaning to her life. For me, the business calls from Graff-Pinkert are often with Noah and Rex. They are usually about opportunities and possibilities that allow me to stretch my mind and enjoy connection with them. If I…
LeBron James became the all-time highest scorer in NBA history Tuesday night, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record. They are both amazing athletes, bright, dedicated men who are icons in the African-American community. In Sunday’s Super Bowl, both star quarterbacks, Patrick Maholms and Jalen Hurts, are Black. It is the first time that has happened in the championship game. These are tremendous personal achievements for these four men, but I will pose the question that a white man perhaps has no right to ask. Has their greatness as athletes been a positive thing for the Black community in America? I was thinking…
This week Otto Frank, Bobby Hull, and Stormy Daniels all made the front page. My challenge is to mix them into a blog that holds your interest and makes you think. International Holocaust Remembrance Day was January 27. In Ken Burns’ recent documentary on the actions of the United States during that terrible period in Europe, he opens the series with the story of Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank, and his frantic efforts to leave Germany before the soldiers came for him and his family. He tried every connection he could imagine to get into the United States.…
Ping pong has changed my life. I thought about that a few days ago when I watched my adult sons whacking backhands and forehands playing against and then with each other in doubles at a big family celebration in California. They love the game almost as much as I do. The family they are part of never would have happened without ping pong. I started playing as a kid with my dad. Great for developing hand-eye coordination and a father-son relationship. I graduated to after-school competitions. One year, I played three games for the school championship before a few hundred…
I have thought much about friendship in recent years, wishing I had more, wondering why so many guys I know also don’t have many friends. In 2023, I decided to do something about it. I made a mental list of people who I hope to have a better relationship with– acquaintances, family, friends from long ago who I had lost contact with. I have committed to write them, text them, email them, and visit to begin to see what happened to them. I have seen stats that nearly 15 percent of men and 10 percent of women say they do…
This blog is what I decided not to blog about. I considered writing about holiday bonuses. I have struggled with giving bonus checks for as long as I have made business decisions. Every year is baffling. What is the right amount? Is it even a good idea to give them at all? Do I sow discontent because employees find out what other employees make and they resent that I did not feel they deserved as much? I have considered giving no bonuses at all and instead raising salaries, but that seemed dangerous because it locked me into wages which may…
