Shop Operations

Manager's Desk: Don't assume that experienced, well-paid employees will cost you more money in the long run.

For TNT Custom Equipment Inc., adding machining to mix became a business necessity.

When filling critical shop positions, the best candidates might be right under your nose.

Western Precision Products backs up its commitment to high-quality service and a top-notch customer experience by investing in the equipment and technology to get the job done.

Are you positioned to be found when someone urgently needs a shop?

With fewer employees handling more duties, workplace stress can take a toll on productivity. Keith Jennings finds a simple solution.

For many in the machining community, tapping is the preferred method of threadmaking on a CNC machining center. Yet others contend that thread milling is better. Kip Hanson breaks down the long-running argument.

Repeat work is great, but shops have to guard against the comfortable complacency that such work can generate at the expense of diversifying its customer base. Said diversification is essential to a shop's growth.

When prompted by requests from customers for products that their existing manufacturing supply chains were not producing, Dan Olsen made the leap into manufacturing.

Finding ways to meet, interface with and show appreciation for customers and vendors can help any business. With Spring, and the hope of nicer weather upon us, CTE Manager's Desk columnist Keith Jennings is eager to leverage the season for promotional and "we appreciate you" events, such as luncheons and open houses.

When chatter rears its ugly head, it's a good idea to look at your cutting tools. Selecting material-specific cutting tools is certainly part of the solution.

Complying with sensitive information requests may be necessary in some circumstances, but it's possible to provide too much information, which might expose proprietary processes and technology and put a company at a competitive disadvantage.