Keith Jennings

Articles • January 1, 2015 • Keith Jennings

Adapting to today’s customer

Welcome to the start of another year, where machine shops will be pushed to adhere to even stricter standards as customers deal with consolidation, relocation, certification, lean-system implementation and other versions of doing more with less.

Articles • December 1, 2014 • Keith Jennings

Cultivating the future of machining

Manager's Desk Columnist Keith Jennings suggests that employees who demonstrate their lives aren't ruled by social media have an advantage.

Articles • October 1, 2014 • Keith Jennings

IMTS was a worthy experience

IMTS is a spectacle full of machining and related technologies that will excite anyone in this business, observes Manager's Desk Columnist Keith Jennings in the October 2014 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

Articles • September 1, 2014 • Keith Jennings

When a loss isn’t such a loss

Manager's Desk Columnist Keith Jennings reminds all owners and managers that while losing key members of the staff may seem stressful, a silver lining exists when a they leave because such an event can be a blessing in disguise.

Articles • August 1, 2014 • Keith Jennings

Send shop guys to trade shows

Manager's Desk author Keith Jennings writes in his August 2014 Cutting Tool Engineering column that he believes sending shop personnel to IMTS is a wise investment.

Articles • July 1, 2014 • Keith Jennings

Getting big-company business

If growth is part of your business model, landing contracts from the big guys can help fuel that growth and generate healthy revenue streams.

Articles • June 1, 2014 • Keith Jennings

One good deed too many

It should be assumed that companies with blue-collar positions are social organizations looking to employ goofballs with troubled pasts.

Articles • May 1, 2014 • Keith Jennings

Managing family dynamics

The dynamics at play when a machine shop is a family affair.

Articles • April 1, 2014 • Keith Jennings

Small items can have a big impact

Shop growth is much easier when your credit is solid, even with slight profitability, suggests Keith Jennings in his Manager's Desk column for the April 2014 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

Articles • March 1, 2014 • Keith Jennings

More on smart online marketing

Presented here is the second part of the Manager's Desk column about Web-based marketing. The first part appeared in the February issue.

Articles • February 1, 2014 • Keith Jennings

Smarter online marketing

Keith Jennings, our Manager's Desk columnist, this month responds to readers asking for tips to increase sales, and, yes, his answer emphasizes the need for a Web presence and social media.

Articles • January 1, 2014 • Keith Jennings

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Manager's Desk Columnist Keith Jennings reflects on the ups and downs of the previous 12 months, with a nod to the "classroom of reality," which he says continues to educate him and his team. As a result, his shop created a list of goals for 2014.