manufacturing
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A Machine Isn’t Designed to Leak
- May 10, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing, Safety
No CommentsGo into any manufacturing space, and you’ll often see pits around pieces of equipment that are like retention ponds, soaking up leaks. It could be oil, water, or hydraulic fluid. In fact, in many manufacturing spaces, you’ll see leaks like this. They have to build those pits in place because there will invariably be leaks
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Marketing Tactics for Manufacturers
- August 24, 2022
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Manufacturing
Manufacturers have one of the easiest-but-most-difficult times marketing their products, especially in the B2B realm. They have a small, defined audience, which makes their buyers easy to identify and reach. On the downside, having a small, defined audience — generally, purchasing agents or directors of operation/COOs of other companies — means that traditional marketing methods
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Hire Older Workers on a Contract Basis
- August 17, 2022
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business
Even during the Great Resignation, there are certain groups of workers who are having trouble finding work: People 50 and older. People who have been in the workplace for two to three decades. People who are a few years away from retirement, but still have plenty to offer. I can’t tell you the number of
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How Would You Start a Manufacturing Business Now?
- November 24, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Manufacturing
Every new business needs an idea, or at least an opportunity, to get things rolling. And these days, during the supply chain crisis, there are plenty of opportunities that abound. Rather than trying to come up with a new product and convincing people that they want it, you could become wildly successful by giving people
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Three Ways to Fix Your Supply Chain Right Now
- November 17, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management
There are shortages and inflation throughout the country, thanks to a number of supply chain issues. Container ships are stacked up outside different west coast ports, there are labor shortages to unload and reload container ships, and there are shortages of labor to make parts and goods here in the United States. But all is
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How Do You Find Leaders In Your Organization?
- November 3, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing
There’s no one best source for hiring leaders for your organization. Some will insist on only promoting from within, moving people up the corporate structure as the opportunities arise. Others believe you need a fresh pair of eyes in certain leadership roles, so they’ll hire outsiders to come in and lead the organization. I often
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Is There Still a Place for Old-School Manufacturing?
- October 13, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Manufacturing, Productivity
In these days of digital manufacturing and additive manufacturing, there’s still a call for old-school manufacturing with hydraulic presses, forging and extruding metal products, stamping and punching, and so on. There’s still a call for old-school manufacturing because there are some things that you just can’t automate. One reason is that you don’t have scale,
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How Can You Embrace the Green Manufacturing Movement?
- May 19, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing
We’re hearing so much about green manufacturing and sustainable manufacturing, and while they may not be required yet, they’re going to be. Even now, companies are no longer allowed to pollute and dump hazardous waste with the same impunity as they used to, and as more people learn to care about the environment — or
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Three Lessons Manufacturers Should Have Learned from the Pandemic
- April 28, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing
The COVID-19 pandemic certainly brought the world to a crashing halt, especially manufacturers. Companies that continued working were either considered essential manufacturers or they had pivoted and were making things like ventilators. We weren’t able to start working from home or working remotely. We had to be onsite, working in wide-open spaces, and trying to
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Why Do We Need More Women in Manufacturing?
- April 7, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business
People have a tendency to stereotype and it has always aggravated me when they do. There’s been a long-time myth that manufacturing is only for men, and that women are incapable of doing the kind of hard work involved in a factory. You only have to know the story of how 6 million American women