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…
Author: Lloyd Graff
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…
Why did I devote the previous two weeks to watching the Chicago Cubs during the playoffs? Sure—athletic feats are impressive and entertaining to watch. But why do I ecstatically jump up and down when my home team gets a big hit or strikes out an opposing batter? Why do I hurt when we strike out, when we make an error, when we lose? And why do I use the first person plural when referring to the Chicago Cubs? I don’t know any of the players personally, though our electrician Julio is friendly with fellow Dominican reliever Pedro Strop. Virtually none…
All this death is killing me. The list of people with cancer who I care about keeps growing by the day. A friend from high school who was organizing my class reunion was hit by pneumonia and died in a week. Three hurricanes, an earthquake, the Las Vegas massacre, then the wildfires in California incinerating whole neighborhoods. It stinks, all that death out there. I just “celebrated” (endured) the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur where Jews spend the day fasting and considering who will live and who will die this year. More consideration of death. I hate it. Maybe my…