I had a chance to talk to Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board on Sunday. In my opinion, Stephens is one of the most astute observers of the Middle East political morass who I have read. He is a young guy but he has spent several years in Jerusalem and knows Israeli-Arab relations as an insider. Benjamin Netanyahu, former and current head of Israel, met President Barack Obama on Monday, and the big topic was what to do about Iran’s atomic weapon program. Stephens feels that the U.S. must stop Iran now because it will have a…
Author: Noah Graff
Derrick Perkins of Liberty Research in Gonic, New Hampshire, has a creative approach to customer acquisition. He targets a long running job which he feels he can refine and then virtually own once he cracks the code. His approach is to design and build his own equipment to elegantly and efficiently run the component in play. Perkins and his team of designers and toolmakers essentially invent the machine to make the part. He would rather build a special machine than buy existing technology in many cases because he is always looking for the “unfair” advantage versus his competition. He…
At the 2009 Precision Machining Technology Show, Noah Graff interviewed David Holscott, consultant to the Precision Machined Product Association Education Foundation.Holscott said he was pleased with the PMTS show’s student attendance, which he projected to be about 225. However, he remains concerned that people still do not sufficiently emphasize to students the importance of post high school education nor do they recognize the potential for vocational schools to lead to fulfilling careers. Question: Do you fear that in five years the U.S. manufacturing sector will not have a sufficient skilled labor force?
At last week’s PMTS show Lloyd interviewed Wes Skinner, head of ManthBrownell Corporation, of Kirkville, New York. They discussed the ups and downs of the brass market, now dominated by Chase Brass and Mueller Brass in North America. Until recently brass has never sold for more than the price of copper. In the following video Skinner comments on the difficulty in dealing with this brass bar duopoly.
By Lloyd Graff With the machining community so riddled with woe at the moment, the guns and ammo boomlet is manna from heaven. It’s a great time to be in the gun business. The buzz on the Web is that Barack Obama is going to push for a ban on assault riffles, something households need more than refrigerators. Evidently, Obama’s campaign reference, that “bitter” small-town Americans “cling to guns or religion,” has fueled a tremendous surge in gun and ammo sales. People are buying AR-15s, the civilian version of the M-16 military rifle, like 42” HD televisions. At $1000…
Today’s brutal economy is forcing people to do things they would have thought to be preposterous a year and half ago. In Japan, as unemployment grows to levels not seen since World War II, unemployed factory and office workers are going to the countryside to try to be farmers. Recently, I traveled to Japan and witnessed a place with high-tech, amenities I couldn’t imagine beforehand. Restaurants have computers to order from, taxies have doors that open automatically, public toilet seats are heated and ultra fast trains dominate transportation. People used to this world are attempting to learn to farm, in…
By Lloyd Graff The General Motors train is lumbering toward bankruptcy. Does it give you any comfort that Elmer Fudd in pinstripes, otherwise known as Fritz Henderson, is now running the show at GM? Henderson is another GM lifer who has been a successful bureaucrat politician at General Motors—not exactly a guy who looks like the next Lee Iacocca or Steve Jobs. What a mess the company has become. Alfred Sloan must be laughing or crying in his grave as he watches jokes like Rick Wagoner and Elmer Fudd, excuse me, Fritz Henderson, fumble toward bankruptcy. I felt like retching…
By Lloyd Graff, At least three times per summer we hear the sirens blare, signaling the possibility of a tornado in our vicinity. We take cover in the basement or the safest corner and wait for it to pass over. We listen for the “all clear” signal and the absence of thunder. For the machining industry, particularly in the Midwest, the tornado sirens keep shrieking and the all clear has yet to sound. Since September a lousy recession has become a depression worthy event for anybody who cuts or bends metal. The only hiding places have been in guns which…
I had always seen GM head, Rick Wagoner, as a figure like Leonid Brezhnev, the Russian Premier who just seemed like he would rule forever. When Wagoner was finally ousted from GM on March 30th, I was compelled make a video blog to reflect upon the man’s contributions to his company. If Wagoner did remain GM’s ruler for life, what would be the arguments to justify his reign?
By Lloyd Graff Just saw on the Internet that Delphi is selling its brakes and suspension businesses to two Chinese companies and the Chinese government. Sale is set to close in fourth quarter. Does anybody know exactly which plants will be affected. Any of you bloggers doing work for this part of Delphi?