Keith Jennings

Articles • July 10, 2017 • Keith Jennings

Manager’s Desk: Smart phone policies for shops

For his July 2017 Manager's Desk column, Keith Jennings writes that the greatest concern at his company is the impact cell phones have on shop safety. Another factor is the ease and preference of some employees and customers to communicate via cell phone, bypassing the main phone line and the human or automated receptionist.

Articles • May 4, 2017 • Keith Jennings

Manager’s Desk: The new normal

When your primary market tanks to its lowest level in 30 years, the impact can be drastic, according to the Manager's Desk column in the May 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine. Is your shop well managed and in a position to overcome such a hit?

Articles • March 1, 2017 • Keith Jennings

Manager’s Desk: Cheap marketing can have an impact

Having worked in manufacturing since 1992, I've learned many things about machine shop marketing and branding from fellow shop owners. Some spend, literally, no money on marketing while others spend a lot. I've also learned what works and what doesn't.

Articles • January 30, 2017 • Keith Jennings

Manager’s Desk: Inspiration from immigration

There have been days when it was easy to be a pessimist and see the glass as half-empty. But eventually, perhaps when least expected, something provides inspiration and my inner optimism returns. One such event occurred with an employee I'll call "Mario." Manager's Desk Column by Keith Jennings.

Articles • January 12, 2017 • Keith Jennings

Being the face of your shop

Manager's Desk Columnist Keith Jennings discusses the benefits of being the face of your company in the January 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Articles • December 1, 2016 • Keith Jennings

Tougher & wiser in times of turmoil

While attending IMTS in September, it was nice to meet fellow machine shop owners and managers, many of whom expressed optimism and reported a robust year for their businesses. That was good to hear, considering our market is in the midst of a downturn and requires aggressive management to persevere.

Articles • October 4, 2016 • Keith Jennings

Navigating customer portals

Internet portals won't transport you into the future—but your company will likely be using them soon if it is not already.

Articles • August 1, 2016 • Keith Jennings

An unexpected role

This summer has been hectic, both professionally and personally. The business side has been a roller coaster, requiring intense management. Personally, I had the pleasure of seeing my third of four kids graduate from high school and begin developing an interest in our family business.

Articles • July 1, 2016 • Keith Jennings

A Very Formal Visit

When a good customer requests a meeting at his place, I go. That happened recently, when our shop's account manager accompanied me on a 20-minute trek to a customer's new corporate headquarters for a meeting to review our contract and extend it a few years. The customer happens to be a large corporation, and our shop has a contract to exclusively manufacture certain products.

Articles • June 1, 2016 • Keith Jennings

Transactional or strategic?

We're getting lots of random requests for machined parts, and that segment of our business remains busy. One recent example was a business acquaintance of mine who contacted our shop requesting machining work. I had not seen him in a while and wasn't up to date with his professional activities, but his parts request made it clear he was still freelancing some adventurous projects.

Articles • May 1, 2016 • Keith Jennings

Manager’s Desk: Impacted by illness

I generally consider myself to be a positive person. However, these past few weeks have tested my resolve. It's not the roller-coaster daily life as a machine shop owner, but the stark reality of losing employees and friends to serious illness that's been especially hard to take. Thankfully, illness doesn't always mean death.

Articles • April 1, 2016 • Keith Jennings

Good news on the horizon

I'm thankful to share that our machining business has picked up and we're running near capacity. I can't get overly optimistic just yet, but good news nonetheless. We haven't required new equipment, new employees or a second shift, but that could change if business continues at this pace or improves. While this uptick has been a nice morale booster, our energy-focused market remains unpredictable. Even so, we're getting a bit more confident with our forecasts and planning.