As you know, times they are a’changing for all of us here in the metalworking nation. Welcome to the fourth industrial revolution, or “4IR” as it is being called.

My youngest child is graduating high school on Sunday and it got me wondering how much a high school diploma is actually worth these days? There are wildly differing reports and, like most things, it seems to depend on a number of factors such as

Manufacturers are not traditionally known for being the most open organizations. This is often tied to the fact that many of their customers have parts that are proprietary or connected with the government or military. But, this NDA-culture has

As Jim and Jason always say on the MakingChips Podcast, “If you’re not making chips, you’re not making money!” We all know it’s true, yet few shops have formal systems for increasing their spindle uptime. 

According to this week’s MakingChips news story, lawmakers will soon be voting on the new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), pronounced “oooze meck ahh” according to Jason, or simply called “the new NAFTA” by most news outlets. The trouble is, when

Listen up mom and pop, if you have dreams of raising kids who will take over the family manufacturing business someday, you’re in luck. Comparatively speaking, kids are much more likely to want to follow in your well-laid footsteps than go

In this week’s MakingChips news segment the guys took a look at a recent article, “10 Tips for Changing Your Company’s Culture—and Making It Stick”, published by The Society for Human Resource Management. This got me thinking about manufacturing

This week’s episode of MakingChips was all about the guys sharing their personal stories and insight on family business succession planning, but succession is not limited to family businesses. The truth is, every manufacturing business leader needs

Something we’re all proud of here at MakingChips is that each of us comes from a multi-generational, family-owned manufacturing business background. And  just as those who have come before us took the time to teach and guide us in this business, at

Never underestimate the power of finding a few good mentors. Click Here if you missed Part 1:Dream Big but Take Little for Granted

Manufacturing is a cyclical industry. When things are booming, it's hard to keep up. So we work more. Then, when things are slow, it's hard to survive. So we work more. The sales may fluctuate, the market may boom or tank, but the amount of effort

No industry is free from factors of high stress, including the metalworking industry. According to a recent Forbes magazine article, workplace stress has risen nearly 20% in three decades, and most significantly over the past five years. In an

This week’s news segment focused on a February 2019 Industry Week article asking, “What makes a great manufacturing leader?” This is a valuable, in-depth article based on interviews with established manufacturing executives and industry observers,

LinkedIn began in 2002—before the dawn of Facebook—and in my opinion has been misunderstood and mischaracterized ever since. Thus, many manufacturers have not taken full advantage of this powerful platform to promote their products, find new

In this week’s MakingChips news segment, Nick shared an article from LinkedIn Business titled, These Industries Will Face the Biggest Talent Shortages by 2030, where manufacturing was third on the list.