Although infrastructure spending has been kicked around for years, 2021 is certainly the year things have, and will get more serious. Shifting political winds have increased the possibility of earmarking funds to upgrade the country’s aging roads, bridges, airports and other critical transportation and communication facilities. It’s estimated that it will take 4 – 5…

When it came to the number of flutes in end mills, the rule of thumb was to use two flutes for aluminum and four for steel. This was due to the size of the flutes and their ability to efficiently evacuate chips. Since the more flutes you have the smaller the flute size, it’s hard…

I finally got tired of using biodegradable, sustainable and renewable in the different contexts so I decided to blend them all together to simplify things. I mean, what exactly does biodegradable mean and when are we supposed to use sustainable versus renewable? It’s very confusing, so just mash them together and you cover all the…

Perhaps the biggest challenge for any business is how to balance long-term opportunities with short-term needs. For manufacturing, controlling procurement costs is an effective way to manage month-to-month objectives. However, this can prevent organizations from realizing significant gains if they are unwilling to invest in projects that can produce sustainable production efficiencies. Here are some…

The January Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) rose to 50.9 in January, up from 47.8 in December. The PMI is a leading indicator of economic activity as it measures orders placed by specific industry segments. Any number below 50 represents contraction in manufacturing, while values above 50 indicate manufacturing growth. January’s number snapped a five-month streak…