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Innovation and Manufacturing Technologies

Kristin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:07:34 +0000

Industry Week discusses innovation and manufacturing technologies in a recent article. The article talks about how over the pas 20 years manufacturing has gone through many changes including advances in materials, controls, communications, electronics and software. All of these changes have helped launch manufacturing into the future. The product now makes it to the market faster than before, there is less chance for human error due to the machinery used, and the improvements to machines have allowed for flexibility in operations. Not only has the manufacturing technology improved, but the way we service machines has also changed for the better. Machines have become more complex and more important to maintain and this is why we now have reliability engineers and predictive maintenance professionals. Manufacturing companies have realized that in order to keep their companies afloat and moving towards the future, that predictive maintenance and reliability engineering jobs are essential. By having well cared for machines, companies are able to keep up and running. And as innovation plays a bigger role in manufacturing technology, the job of predictive maintenance professionals and reliability engineers will also have to evolve over time because new technologies lead to new maintenance procedures/techniques and new problems to solve.

You can read more about innovations in manufacturing technologies by reading the article on Industry Week.

Good News for Reliability Engineers and PdM Professionals – New Bill Proposed to Provide $30 Billion to Help Manufacturers

Kristin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:28:18 +0000

As many of you may know, reliability engineering and PdM are a huge part of the manufacturing industry. Unfortunately the economy has hit manufacturing industry hard recently and jobs have started to decline. A new bill proposed by Senator Sherrod Brown (Ohio) is aimed at helping the manufacturing industry bounce back. The Industry Week article discusses the bill and the plans for implementation. Senator Brown believes that, “We can revive American manufacturing through investments in clean energy. This bill will help our manufacturers retool, put our auto suppliers back to work and produce clean energy technologies.” The bill would act as a revolving loan for auto suppliers and small to mid sized manufacturers. The Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology (IMPACT) Act of 2009 would establish the $30 billion manufacturing revolving loan fund. With this fund, states would receive funds for the establishment of the revolving loan programs to assist in updating, expanding or establishing clean energy manufacturing operations and improving energy efficiency. More details of the proposed bill can be read at Industry Week.

If this bill is past, it may help revive the manufacturing industry. Considering that last month, nearly half of the nation’s job losses were tied to manufacturing, the industry could really use a boost. Let us hope that the manufacturing industry can get back on track and need to hire additional employees. And with more manufacturing taking place, more PdM jobs and reliability engineering jobs will be needed to help sustain the transition/expansion into clean energy or energy efficiency.

Expatriates and Manufacturing

Kristin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:17:37 +0000

The article entitled, Expatriate Hiring Stalls, by Jonathan Katz, reports that the number one reason for hiring outside the United States is operations functions. Forty-five percent of the 99 respondents to the survey, across various industries, said they are keeping their foreign workforce levels the same despite the economic downfall. Another 35% of the respondents say they will decrease their number of expatriates. The manufacturing industry is the largest industry response group (accounting for 29% of the respondents) in the survey. So if manufacturing companies are sending work overseas, what does that mean for reliability engineers and predictive maintenance professionals? It means that there will be less manufacturing in the country, and therefore less potential work for people in reliability and predictive maintenance. The more manufacturing jobs that are sent overseas, the less of a need there will be for predictive maintenance professionals and reliability engineers in the United States.

People in the reliability industry and predictive maintenance industry should pay close attention to the number of expatriates being used in the manufacturing industry. The survey done by Sibson Consulting shows that organizations expected to increase their use of expatriates is 25%; 54% are not expecting any change; while 21% are expecting to decrease their number of expatriates

Miracle Metal Will Redefine Manufacturing

Kristin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:08:31 +0000

Afarin Bellisario from Principal Transtrategy Inc. reports on Industry Week that the 21^st Century will be the age of glassy metals. These glassy metals are being referred to as “miracle metals.” Amorphous metal alloys (glassy metals) have several unusual properties such as: the highest strengths of any known metallic material; exceptional magnetism; wear/corrosion resistance; and a large ability to store elastic energy. The ease of manufacturing these metals is what is so extraordinary. They soften gradually when heated and don’t shrink during solidification like other metals. This allows for shaping and molding into very intricate designs. The article entitled, Miracle Metal: How Glassy Metals Will Define Manufacturing in the 21^st Century, also discusses the wide range of applications of glassy metals. A few of those applications are aerospace structures, gold clubs, and medical devices.

With the possibility of glassy metals transforming the manufacturing industry, reliability engineers and predictive maintenance professionals should pay extra attention to the applications of these metals. With glassy metals being used more frequently in manufacturing settings, people in the reliability and predictive maintenance industries should also know the properties of glassy metals, for they react differently than steel. This goes back to the importance of continuous learning, you will never know everything about your field, so you have to roll with the punches and learn and adapt to new technologies or methods with in the reliability and predictive maintenance fields.

Guess this is Good News?

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:09:23 +0000

The most recent jobs report was out last Friday and this article – “US Jobs Losses in May Slow, Fueling Recovery Hopes” gives all the basic details. Apparently, the US economy only lost 345,000 jobs in May, which is better than expected. Unfortunately, the unemployment rate jumped to 9.4%, the highest since 1083, but even then it appears this is good news as it means that people who had given up hope of finding a job have changed their minds; now they are looking for jobs. I don’t know if we should take this as confidence (as the article suggests) or more of a recognition that people have got to eat and pay the rent.

Unfortunately, the article does not discuss what has happened to manufacturing related jobs in May, although if the news about Chrysler and General Motors are an indication of manufacturing health, I’m assuming it was a pretty grim month for the manufacturing sector. We’ve been continuing to hear about layoffs of reliability engineers and predictive maintenance professionals, but don’t have enough quantifiable data to share with you. If you know about plant closings or layoffs where reliability engineers and predictive maintenance professionals have lost jobs, please let us know about them.

Lastly, beta testing is going well, but we can always use more help as the more insight we get, the better we will be able to service you in your future pursuit of job and career opportunities. If you are interested in helping with our testing, please let us know – we would appreciate the help.

Great article from ATS!

admin — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:38:43 +0000

Maintenance Could Lose Millions From Retirement
Survey says filling talent void will be expensive

Some of the nation’s largest manufacturers could lose more than $100 million from baby-boomer retirements over the next five years, reports Advanced Technology Services Inc. in its latest benchmark study.

More than 100 senior manufacturing executives surveyed say if 40%, as forecasted by industry experts, of their skilled labor force were to retire by 2013 they would each lose on average $52 million from recruitment and training costs and lost productivity, according to the Peoria, Ill.-based maintenance outsourcing firm, which commissioned the study conducted by Nielsen Research.

Of companies with more than $1 billion in revenue, 44% say they could lose as much as $100 million, compared with 46% reporting the same in a 2005 study. Only 19% of manufacturing executives surveyed say baby-boomer retirements will have “no impact at all,” down from 32% three years earlier.

Overall, 81% of respondents say they would be affected in some way by the shortage, up from 68% in 2005.

Stimulus package will kick in this year?

Kristin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:01:24 +0000

Not many people understand the need for the stimulus package more than the people in the manufacturing industry. People like a reliability engineer that rely on the manufacturing industry for projects, are starting to wonder when the stimulus package will kick in. Although Vice President Joe Biden stated that the current administration “misread” how bad the economy was when they took office, President Obama recently said the stimulus package was not designed to work in four months, but rather over the next two years. Which begs the questions, how much worse will the economy get if it takes the next two years for the stimulus package to work? With unemployment at 9.5%, the highest level since 1983, there is a much greater need for the stimulus package to kick in now. President Obama now warns that unemployment will likely top 10% in the upcoming months.

The stimulus package is supposed to help the economy recover and create jobs. The creation of jobs is something the country needs sooner rather than later. Now only 52% of Americans believe the stimulus package will restore the economy. With jobs being so hard to find, people in specialty fields like reliability engineering and predictive maintenance will have a better opportunity at finding a job if they stay current with trainings and new techniques. The need for a reliability engineer or a predictive maintenance professional will increase as organizations look to make the transition to a “green” environment, and realize the importance of maintaining their equipment. More information can be found on the stimulus package and other economic issues at CNN Money.

Reliability and Predictive Maintenance Opportunities

Kristin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:16:03 +0000

Sometimes, I think that someday I will awake in utopia where the economy is perfect and there is free health care and jobs for every one. Then I realize that perfect worlds do not exist. The sun cannot come out to play everyday, money does not grow on trees and life is not a walk in the park. More and more people are spending their days searching for jobs, and trying to figure out how they will pay this months bills.

As I research the job market, I realize that there are hundreds of jobs I have never heard about, like Predictive Maintenance and Reliability Engineering. These jobs are long term careers that pay well and are always in demand. Up until a couple of months ago, I had never heard of the reliability field or the predictive maintenance industry. But then I realized that jobs are out there, if you know where to look. With the economy starting to rebound, manufacturing companies are starting to hire people. And with the manufacturing industry starting to produce goods again, the need for reliability and predictive maintenance professionals will also begin to increase. Companies can use Next Up Careers as a job board, so available candidates can see the job opening out there. Next Up also provides potential candidates the opportunity to post their resumes to the site, so that hiring companies are able to find the reliability engineer or predictive maintenance professionals they are looking for.

Great Interviewing Tips!

Kristin — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:54:56 +0000

With the future of the economy still up in the air, more and more people are finding themselves back on the job market, unfortunately there are fewer jobs available. The manufacturing industry is just one industry that is being hit hard in the United States. The decrease in manufacturing plants effects many people in the reliability and PdM field. Resume Lady has posted the following 7 tips for people going through the interview process.

Tip 1: Plan Ahead
Tip 2: Role Play
Tip 3: Eye Contact
Tip 4: Be Positive
Tip 5: Adapt
Tip 6: Relate
Tip7: Encourage

The competition is growing between people for PdM and reliability engineering jobs, make yourself the best possible candidate by following the interview tips provided. Visit the Resume Lady to read more about these interviewing tips.

The State of Entrepreneurship

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:38:00 +0000

I’ve have the opportunity to spend the last ten years working in the reliability engineering and predictive maintenance industry as a business advisor. In that regard, I’ve been fortunate enough to watch the industry grow up and evolve into a very exciting and critical component of our nation’s manufacturing and processing industries success. In as much as we’ve seen significant job losses to these sectors over the years, I shudder to think of what they would be if the methodologies and principles our industry provides were not being implemented at the level they are.

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet and work with some of our industry’s leading companies, many of whom are smaller/entrepreneurial companies that got started in the industry because they were passionate about reliability/maintenance and sensed an opportunity to not only make a difference but make some money. As a result, I believe that one of the primary drivers for the level of adaption and acceptance we’ve seen is directly related to the level of entrepreneurship that our industry seems to nurture.

Consequently, I was disheartened to see the recent report on entrepreneurship issued by the Kaufman Foundation and presented at their State of Entrepreneurship presentation last week. Some of the key findings:

36 percent of entrepreneurs reported reductions in head count in the past year; only 8 percent have added employees.
Nearly two-thirds have seen their sales volume and their profitability decrease.
71 percent of entrepreneurs do not expect to add any new jobs in 2010.
61 percent of entrepreneurs think the economy is on the wrong track.

As the report notes:

“Entrepreneurs are still the primary engine of job creation in the United States,” Schramm said. “In the last 30 years, literally all net job creation in this country has taken place in firms less than five years old.

With such a gloomy outlook for entrepreneurs, I am concerned about how these trends will impact the reliability engineering/PdM industry. Entrepreneurship is a critical component of the innovation and adaption occurring in our industry and we need to do everything we can to promote it and ensure that our entrepreneurial culture is nurtured and promoted. Around this time last year, I posted a blog on The Vann Group entitled “The Entrepreneurial Fix” that outlined some thinking on how to promote entrepreneurship and small business. Given the Kaufman report, I think the post is as timely as ever.

What do you think of the state of entrepreneurship and what can be done to support it?