Dave Dolan runs one of the biggest screw machine operations in North America, KKSP Precision Products of Glendale Heights, IL. The company started in the 1960s with a couple of Davenports and a founder possessing great skill and ambition. I sold him some of his first machines. He sold out long ago when the name was still K&K Screw, but the company is true to its roots, even with 460 machines in the U.S. and Mexico. It is still pounding out parts on Davenports and Acmes, about $55 million worth a year now, cutting 28 million pounds of brass and…
Author: Lloyd Graff
The issue that seems to be giving America heartburn in 2016 and driving the election rhetoric is the gulf between the well-off and the falling-off. Underlying that is the feeling that it is getting harder and harder to move from “barely getting by” to “feeling successful.” I listened to a remarkable podcast this week by Malcolm Gladwell called “Carlos Doesn’t Remember.” It was so good I listened to it twice. Gladwell recounts the struggle of “Carlos” (not his real name), an exceptionally gifted student from a broken home who is trying to reach his potential. He was spotted in 4th…
The path was steep and winding, inaccessible by car. It led to the beach on the Pacific Ocean at Monterey Bay, near where my granddaughter went to summer camp. She wanted to show off the scenery to us. I chose to stay at the car while the others in our group trudged down the rapidly descending path to the sea. I wanted to douse my memories of 8 years ago, when I was wondering if I’d make it up the sand dune at Lake Michigan where the family was vacationing right before the heart attack that almost ended my life.…
Two weeks ago I spent several days in Poland, staying in Kraków and Warsaw. Poland is a country full of beauty with a rich history. Unfortunately much of that history has been a bloody one due to its location between Germany and Russia. I knew that while there it was imperative for me to learn about the history of the Jews in Poland—my roots. Many of my ancestors lived in Poland; fortunately a lot of them left before World War II. While staying in Kraków I drove an hour away to visit Auschwitz, the most notorious of Nazi concentration camps.…
I watched the NBA Finals with rapt attention as LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors. One thing that struck me was despite the incredible athleticism of the players, several key guys on the floor were inept free throw shooters. Tristan Thompson, Andrew Bogut, and Festus Ezeli were butchers at the line. It brought to mind Wilt Chamberlain, perhaps the greatest basketball player ever, who was also a pathetic foul shooter. As luck would have it, I was listening to a podcast by Malcolm Gladwell, historian, writer, social commentator and big time hoops…
The scuttlebutt in the machinery business is that the Branford Group and partners made a bundle on the Bronson Products auction a week ago. It had been a hotly contested bid by several auction groups to buy the machinery and tooling and accessories. Branford and partners allegedly had about $9 million in the deal. Knowledgeable observers think they did extremely well on the deal with the aggressive bidding and buyers premium. How did the competition miss the upside on a deal like that? My sources tell me that a Korean buyer had been interested in buying the package but…
Father’s Day gives us a reason to celebrate our Dads, either in life or in memory. I think of my father, Leonard, every day during a 15 minute prayer ritual I do. He used to do the same routine and I adopted it when I was 13. It’s one of many things I observed and copied. At one point I take note of people who were important to me and I briefly imagine them. My memory of my father always comes up first. He was a dominating figure to me as I was maturing. He would tell stories about growing up…
Some of you may remember a blog I wrote a year and a half ago promoting “Saving Ferris,” my latest YouTube documentary about the Chicago locations of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” To make my documentary I visited almost all of the film’s locations in Chicago and the northern suburbs of Chicago where it was originally shot. In the film I talk about where and what the locations actually are and how they have changed in the last few decades. I also try to recapture the experience of the movie. I go to a Cubs game, drive a Ferrari replica down…
I heartily recommend the current issue of Bloomberg Businessweek for a brilliant article on the Takata airbag saga, recounting the dubious decisions the company made in the 1990s, leading to the enormous legal entanglements of today. The title of the piece is “60 Million Car Bombs.” I am fascinated by Takata’s story, not only because I own a 2003 Toyota Avalon that had an airbag replacement recall recently, but because it relates to the machining business that many of my customers are in. The Bloomberg story indicates that Takata employees understood the danger of using ammonium nitrate as the explosive…
Within the first week of June 2016, 13 Chicagoans have been shot and killed, primarily in the war zone called the South Side of Chicago. In Cincinnati a 17-year-old well-behaved gorilla was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a 4-year-old child wiggled into his living space. Anxious zookeepers followed protocol and shot the gorilla to save the child. A week earlier at a zoo in Chile a seemingly deranged man snuck into the big cat area, stripped naked and offered his flesh to the lions. The zookeepers obeyed their preset ground rules and shot two lions dead…