The sound that a 20 ton traveling crane makes as it stolidly rolls north to south, south to north, on its electrified path, is very much like that of a lumbering freight train. I heard it all yesterday, backing and forthing, carrying its 700 pound containers of old dinosaur bones closer to their new home, 400 miles to the east. Of course, they aren’t complete tyrannosaurus skeletons being transported. They are a pile of Acmesaurus bones, the steel innards of 40-year-old multi-spindle screw machines unearthed from cabinets and shelves after being virtually buried for decades. I made my peace with…
Author: Lloyd Graff
We all absorb things from our childhood that literally wire our cerebral cortex and remain with us as we mature. There are images, sayings, emblems of fear and instigators of smiles. We soak up stories and develop a narrative that frames our lives. As I thought about writing this piece the line I remembered most vividly from my father while growing up, of a thousand things I heard from him, was, “You’ve always got to make the nut.” To him that meant you had to cover your costs every month. Losing money in business was FAILURE. It was just about…
New Year, new opportunities. I foresee a flurry of activity in 2018 in acquisitions in the machining world. Recently one of the largest screw machine operations in the country changed hands. KKSP Precision Machining based in the Chicago suburbs was sold by its owner, CapitalWorks of Cleveland, to Mill Point Capital of New York. CapitalWorks bought KKSP in 2012 with management participation. They successfully integrated the Monterrey, Mexico, plant which has around 25 Davenport screw machines with the Chicago and Wisconsin plants. The Wisconsin plant is in Pheasant Prairie, just across the border from Illinois. KKSP also has a plant…
It’s holiday gift giving time for those of us fortunate enough to be able to do it. Let me make a suggestion. If you have children or grandchildren young enough to be read to, find a book that you would love to read to them, buy it and then read it to them when they are preparing to go to bed. And read it with GUSTO. My favorite books these days are by the fabulous American illustrator and writer Mo Willems. The beauty of his works is that they are both extravagantly illustrated in vivid colors and enormously entertaining for…
I spent last weekend in Prague, Czech Republic—a wonderful place. One of the most famous tourist attractions in the city is the Prague Astrological Clock or Prague Orloj built in the 15th Century. The clock was a remarkable feat of engineering in its day for its multiple features, including a display of the position of the sun and the moon, and a monthly calendar. As I rode through Prague’s Old Town Square on my excellent bike tour my guide enlightened me about the clock’s dark history. Some historians dispute this story, but who knows what information you can trust these…
Does the National Football League bore you like it does me? I used to love the games. Thanksgiving was the day I would gorge myself on football and turkey. But last Thursday I watched a little of the Lions (who did they play?) and ignored the games that followed. The NFL has a lot of problems. The players die young or damage their brains. It still attracts the gladiators, but a lot of parents are pushing their boys toward other sports because of the apparent dangers. There are few good teams in the NFL these days. It’s the Patriots, the…
Today I have doctoring on my mind. I’ve spent the last 10 days in the throes of worry, tests, doctor visits and more tests. I came out the other side with a good diagnosis, but exhausted by the process. And I think of how much worse it would have been without my wife Risa accompanying me for every visit and comforting me throughout the experience. I also have had capable and caring doctors who explained everything in depth at the University of Chicago hospital. Still it was an ordeal. It started with seeing blood in my urine. Not a little,…
I get to do this blog today partly because my son Noah is traveling and will not get a chance to edit my writing like he generally does. I have the very fortunate opportunity to work with my adult son, Noah, in both the machine tool business and Today’s Machining World. I know “family business” may be passé to many people, an artifact of a simpler time when trades were passed on and farms stayed in the family because people felt tied to the land. But for a lucky few, father and child not only get along well enough to…
I have been into the topic of entrepreneurship lately. I see it as the creative driver of the American economy, but I’ve been struck by the lack of comments from readers on previous blogs on the subject. Maybe entrepreneurs are too busy with their young or potential businesses to be reading Swarfblog, or perhaps the machining community, which is the bulk of our audience, is too beaten down by what they have seen in recent years to want to tackle a startup. I did meet two business starters at Weekend With the Pros, a conference for machinery dealers held last…
Over the last few weeks I have become addicted to the TV show Shark Tank. What is it that fascinates me so thoroughly that I will switch out of even a thrilling World Series game to tune into one of the mini dramas? I love the energy of the fresh entrepreneurs. Often, they are working out of their homes, perfecting a recipe or constructing what they think is the best back scratcher ever designed. Usually the products are made for consumers. Rarely do I see an industrial product or a sophisticated service. The show is for the masses so most…