August 2010
AMT and NAM form historic partnership to promote the importance of U.S. manufacturing
Member Spotlight - Yoder rolls through 100 years
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Committee Articles
Global Marketing & Sales Committee - Lessons Learned
CRM – The good, the bad, and the ugly
Transplant Business Development Group
Advanced manufacturing technology for Japanese transplant companies
Industry News
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International Report – The latest happenings in Mexico and Brazil
Market Data Review - Is the only “W” in Texas?– Producer Price and Wage Report
– June workholding sales increase
– Foreign Trade Report - May 2010
– June workholding sales increase
– Foreign Trade Report - May 2010
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– Centralized Contractor Registration
– AMT’s Global Technology Advisory Board (GTAB)
– Upcoming SBIR/STTR funding opportunities
– SkillsUSA Precision Machining Technology winners
– AMT’s Global Technology Advisory Board (GTAB)
– Upcoming SBIR/STTR funding opportunities
– SkillsUSA Precision Machining Technology winners
– Have a Blackberry? Leave the labtop at home.
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05 August 2010Targeting Technology - August 2010– Centralized Contractor Registration– AMT's Global Technology Advisory Board (GTAB) – Upcoming SBIR/STTR funding opportunities – SkillsUSA Precision Machining Technology winners (more) |
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05 August 2010News from the MTConnect® Institute - August 2010– Membership in the TAG– Status of MTConnect at IMTS (more) |
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05 August 2010Advanced manufacturing technology for Japanese transplant companiesAMT has been approached by JETRO, an organization that looks after trade interests of companies from Japan, looking for possible suppliers of manufacturing technologies in several areas of interest to Japanese companies in North America. (more) |
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05 August 2010International Report – The latest happenings in Mexico and BrazilBoth Mexico and Brazil are growing markets for manufacturing technology. Mexican industrial output in the first 6 months of the year has grown 8.4 percent vs. last year, keeping pace with the rate of the BRIC economies. And Brazil continues its industrial expansion under very favorable economic conditions and a surge of disposable income among its population. It is growing well within the range of its BRIC peers, particularly China and India, at roughly a 7 percent rate. (more) |
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05 August 2010Business Development – Get the most from your IMTS investmentWhile IMTS is one of the best places to showcase your company’s products and services, the reality is that exhibiting there is an investment. It takes both time and money to run your booth. Are you getting the most out of that investment? (more) |
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05 August 2010CRM – The good, the bad, and the uglyWhen I began my sales career in El Paso, Texas, back in the late 1970s, communications were primitive at best. Without cell phones or the Internet, we relied on land lines and the U.S. Postal Service for contact with the home office. Of course things began to change with the advent of fax machines, cell phones and e-mail. The business cycle could no longer wait for one to find a pay phone, but demanded instant answers. And the barrage of faxes, e-mails, quotes and requests became a nightmare for both the home office and field sales to organize. With the advent of CRM, or Customer Resource Management, the situation began to change. (more) |
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05 August 2010Have a BlackBerry? Leave the laptop at homeAre you tired of taking your laptop along on a trip just to make a presentation? If you have a BlackBerry and access to a projector, you can make a Microsoft PowerPoint or PDF presentation using the BlackBerry Presenter. (more) |
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05 August 2010AMT FRIENDS & FAMILY COOKBOOKOatmeal Sesame Cookies – This is Dale Evans’ recipe. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were close friends of my parents and I lived with them one summer. Mother and Dale used to exchange recipes. Roy and Dale used to deer hunt on our ranch and at night Roy would tune my Mother’s piano and they would stand around and sing. (more) |
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04 August 2010AMT and NAM form historic partnership to promote the importance of U.S. manufacturingAMT is joining forces with the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to promote the importance of manufacturing and innovation in the U.S. economy. This historic partnership will bring the organizations together in support of IMTS 2010, Sept. 13-18. (more) |
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04 August 2010Yoder rolls through 100 yearsWhen Carl M. Yoder, a draftsman at a Cleveland sheet metal company, founded his own business in 1910, William H. Taft was the U.S. president, Orville Wright opened the first flying school, and Father’s Day was celebrated for the first time. Today, Yoder is still operating in Cleveland, and still working hard to meet its customers’ needs. (more) |
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04 August 2010Shanghai Tech Center — 100 members and counting!Anchor Abrasives Company of Tinley Park, Ill., has become the 100th AMT member company to sign the Participation Agreement and join the Shanghai Tech Center. Congratulations to President Jack Shoemaker and his team for “going more global” by working with AMT China. AMT now has many members for whom the China market represents a major portion of their annual revenue and profits, and many have “graduated” from the STC to set up their own China operations around the country. (more) |
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04 August 2010“The things we make, make us” – Or, how a TV ad can helpRecently, a once-all-American automaker started airing national television ads to market one of its 2011 vehicles. Who the automaker is, or what line it was hawking, is irrelevant. What is relevant is how the ad was framed and pitched. If the name of the vehicle and its maker were removed, this ad could easily have been a rallying cry for celebrating and strengthening American manufacturing. (more) |
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04 August 2010Global Forecasting & Marketing ConferenceYou may be focusing your attention on preparing for IMTS right now, but don’t forget about another important industry event — the Global Forecasting & Marketing Conference. Take a few minutes and register for the GFMC so you can cross one more thing off your to-do list. (more) |
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04 August 2010New Hampshire governor visits Greenerd plantAMT Board Vice Chairman Tim Dining, President and CEO, Greenerd Press and Machine Company, Inc., recently hosted New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch for a tour of his plant in Nashua, N.H. Dining was happy to accommodate the governor’s request to visit Greenerd to show how the company is faring during these tough economic times. Having been in business in Nashua for more than a century, Greenerd has weathered a few storms. It was especially important to Dining that the governor meet with Greenerd’s 17 employees. (more) |
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04 August 2010Market Data Review - Is the only “W” in Texas?Is the only “W” in Texas? – Wall Street can make money when markets go south or when they are bullish, but when there isn’t movement there is rarely activity that generates revenue. That is when they get out the rhetoric and try to create expectations of change. Don’t buy into it. (more) |
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04 August 2010Book Review – The American Machine Tool Industry – Its History, Growth & DeclineIn his book, Al Albrecht shares his personal and learned memories about the machine tool industry. His writing focuses on the ups and downs of the market in what he terms the “Golden Years” of the industry and its people: the rapid expansions during World War II and the ‘60s when NC machines became commercially affordable, and the consolidations in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Those who lived through these eras will recognize their own experiences in Albrecht’s stories. (more) |
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04 August 2010Industry News - August 2010Jet Edge, Inc. and Chukar Waterjet, Inc. played a key role in helping BP stop the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico; Methods Machine Tools, Inc. appoints Paul Hurtig as FEELER Product Manager; Gleason Corporation showcased its latest gear manufacturing technologies at its Gear Solutions Forum; Hill Engineering (a member of the Formtek Group) has promoted Paul Williams to the position of Sales and Marketing Manager; TRUMPF Inc. has appointed Tracey Ryba as Product Manager - Lasers and Frank Geyer as Product Manager - Laser Systems; TRUMPF Mexico celebrates its 10th anniversary this year; UNIST, Inc., appoints Tim Walker Vice President of Business Development; Automated Precision Inc. has concluded a cooperation agreement with the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC). (more) |
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07 July 2010China trade mission participants see opportunity in a growing power generation sectorWhile the true business benefit from this trade mission only accrues to those who were actually on the bus, we can report to all AMT member companies that the power generation sector in China is undergoing capacity expansion in manufacturing. Many of the workshops we visited were as modern and well equipped as any in the world. (more) |
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07 July 2010AMC keeps customers movingSince its founding in 1988, Automation & Modular Components Inc. has produced high-quality conveyor systems that can meet just about any industrial requirement. From conveyor systems that can withstand the harshest industrial environments, to those that must operate in the most pristine clean-room settings, AMC offers a wide array of products to meet a variety of needs. (more) |
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07 July 2010The uncomfortable world of deficit livingA strange thing happened on the road to renewing the federal tax credit for research and development: National groups and companies that have long revered the credit like a holy grail suddenly announced they would actively oppose the legislation that renewed it. Why? Because of something known in Washington these days as “pay fors.” (more) |
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07 July 2010Capital investment practices and competitive advantageCapital investment practices – As a supplier of capital goods to each segment and tier of the global gas turbine industry, we have a distinct perspective on who does the best job of investing for competitive advantage.Roger H. Hayes, President, Huffman Corporation (more) |
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07 July 2010Market Data Review - We are not alone!Late last month (after the AMT NEWS deadline), CECIMO, the European machine tool association, posted a press release which provided some amusement. The press release, while outlining the situation for the machine tool industry in Europe, with a little liberal license, could have been used to describe the situation in the U.S. market. (more) |
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07 July 2010Go ahead… bet the farm“You’re too small a company to go international… it’s a bet-the-farm strategy.” Such was the response from a friend after I had told him that international expansion was a large part of our growth strategy. He felt, as many people do, that a small company simply does not have the resources to deal with the complexities of international business. (more) |
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07 July 2010Industry News - July 2010Automated Precision Inc. (API) has announced that Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully deployed API’s Volumetric Error Compensation; TRUMPF Inc. LaserLab making its North American debut; Formtek announces the appointment of Jeff Shelton as a Sales & Application Representative; Methods Machine Tools, Inc. exclusive distributor of New VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparators throughout North America. (more) |
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07 July 2010FRIENDS & FAMILY COOKBOOKThe AMT FRIENDS & FAMILY COOKBOOK is chock full of delicious recipes and a little family history here and there as well. We all have some old family favorites that bring back good memories of family gatherings and meals shared in the past. For those of you who remember the days of the Whole Earth Catalog and the lifestyles of the 60s and 70s, this recipe from Doug & Mary Woods should bring back some memories. (more) |