Shops have numerous resources for help with their pressing business concerns.

Richard Harris, consulting editor

Versatile and easy-toprogram robots such as this system from Fanuc Robotics help shops reduce production time and improve quality.

The Save Your Factory initiative promotes automation as a way to keep manufacturing in North America.

How do metal fabricators find a degree of comfort in today's upheaval of business relations? Where can shop owners find help in marshalling information to minimize risk? How can shops get new ideas to maximize growth?

Even in these tough economic times, shops have numerous resources for help with these and other pressing business concerns. For example, companies can consult industry experts and advisors, study successful shops, participate in technology networks, contact industry organizations, and attend trade shows.

Industry experts and advisors
Industry experts say surviving and prospering starts with a shop first assessing its quality systems, embracing lean manufacturing, and understanding costs and markets. Then shops should set goals; evaluate markets, customers, and competitors; identify growth opportunities such as developing a new product, putting an existing product into a new market, and acquiring another business or selling; and implement a plan.

Many experts agree that shops should specialize. In fact, most welding shops already have skills and services that serve niche markets. By specializing, shops can better focus on customer needs and time constraints, becoming service-oriented businesses that will prosper in most economic cycles.

However, shops that want to strengthen their roles in niche markets must be sure to protect their business from competitors. One tactic a shop can take is asking customers why they value its work and how to increase that value. Some firms add value with engineering, design, prototyping, on-site repair, backup production, or emergency services.

Advisors such as Dave Gobey, an Ohio State University professor with 15 yr experience developing business plans for small and medium-sized U.S. and international companies, also help businesses improve their bottom lines. He says, "My approach requires work from both parties. I provide only the resources that firms need, letting them take care of the areas in which they are skilled."

Gobey offers business owners a track laying out the sequential steps to success. He also coaches owners on what questions to ask and when to stop asking so their egos don't hinder sound judgment.

Advisors can also help firms use methods such as lean manufacturing to analyze and improve processes and identify waste. For example, shops can reduce changeover time, benefiting inventory levels and turnaround. Shops can also take hard looks at process variables such as the time it takes for material to travel from the receiving dock to the shipping dock. Process analyzes such as these help companies determine where to best use technology, reducing wasted time, defects, lot sizes, setup times, and per-piece costs.

Most advisors and experts say "automate or evaporate" has particular meaning for welding facilities of all sizes, whether jobshops, production plants, or one-man repair specialists because automation typically lowers costs and improves quality. Therefore, getting consistent weld beads with robots, using fixturing, doing 24/7 production, welding with wire feed rather than rods, and purchasing ready-to-weld technologies are options shops should explore.

Experts remind shops they should exploit the benefits of the Internet. For example, companies can buy equipment on eBay and use Web sources to post and bid on requestsfor-quotes. In addition, they can find jobshops and project-management, engineering, specialized marketing, and finance services on-line.

Firms can also locate local, state, or federal agencies, business or manufacturing associations, and local colleges and universities that provide marketing research; in-house training; and other services on-line as well.

Studying successful shops
In addition to seeking out advisors, talking with business friends, neighbors, and family members can give shops ideas that may change the course of a business or simply save it a few bucks. Better yet, asking and listening don't cost anything.

As Bob Henderson, joint owner of Farasey Steel Fabricators, Cleveland, says, "We're a job shop with 90% of our business coming from 40 years of knowing people and expanding that base. Sometimes great ideas or answers to business questions come from something simple such as meeting nearby business owners or getting a lead from a friend-of-a-friend."

Shops should also ask their suppliers for product demos, help from technical specialists, and training programs.

In addition, companies can study successful shops such as Superior Products, Cleveland, for ideas and answers. Owner Donald Mottinger got a phone call from an Italian company, which lead to Superior now exporting brass fittings because of the firm's quality and the currently weak dollar. In fact, the company is one of many U.S. firms that are part of an export growth, a reversal of the exports drop in the late 1990's.

Mottinger is exploring a joint venture with the Italian firm to further expand Superior's exports, now about 4% of sales, and hire more workers. He has also added equipment and an automated testing machine. While the lower dollar prompted the exports, he warns, "It is dangerous to bet solely on the dollar. Shops must also be low-cost and very efficient."

Technology networks
Many states host Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) centers, part of a national technology network operating through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These centers are for small to medium-size firms, offering business incubators, new product development, loan programs, growth planning, lean manufacturing, and help with installing computer and quality systems. MEP programs are co-funded by the state and the company helped.

One center is CAMP Inc., Cleveland, which provides engineering, business, and training services to manufacturers in Northern Ohio. CAMP says there are firms in each market sector that have significantly exceeded their expected capabilities. These companies outperformed competitors by finding unique ways to provide products and services that customers want.

For example, some companies exploit the global market. And a few outsource to lower labor or piece costs. Others sell through joint ventures to identify new customers. Some companies do well by embracing risk. However, this requires knowledge and judgment to minimize the downside.

Bill Barns, director of consulting services, explains, "Small companies don't always have the expertise to manage risk, or even know the risks. CAMP suggests they partner with another firm that has complementary products or services. Using the partner's established channels and relationships will give them a way to identify risks and to learn how to manage them."

Another resource is state universities. For example, the Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (ATECH) work with startups and existing businesses, helping to implement their business ideas and revamp products.

Industry organizations
Industry organizations such as the American Welding Society (AWS) are valuable resources. For example, shops can call the section chairman, ask for a membership list, and talk to friendly competitors about metal prices, filler metals, joint ventures, or sharing work on large orders.

AWS stresses that increased globalization of metal-fabrication businesses and markets have changed welding education, potentially affecting even small shops. Educational programs from hands-on skill training to advanced degree curriculums are redefining the welder's job. No longer mere rod burners, welders are now automation programmers or joining-design engineers. Thus, the scientific and engineering principles behind welding are quickly replacing the art of welding that in the past built a craftsman's career.

According to AWS, this new educational focus will help owners adjust as the welding industry evolves in the future. Companies should expect changes in materials and the required filler metals, pre and post-weld heat treatment, and more use of embedded computer chips as welding engineers now use computer modeling and simulation tools to integrate manufacturing processes.

AWS believes welding will become a sought-after vocation. And because a properly educated work force will generate the technological development needed for global competition, all shops should support local AWS scholarship programs. Companies should also provide high school and college welding classes materials, tutors, shop visits, and mentors.

Another resource is national organizations that produce financial projections and market-trend reports to aid small and medium-sized businesses. For instance, the WEMCO quarterly economic report for September 2004 recommends evaluating capital requirements in anticipation of a recovery in 2006 and 2007. However, it cautions against inventory build-up and adding staff based on raising energy costs and interest rates. It recommends looking for opportunities to add market share and testing new niche markets.

And John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), states, "We stress four key goals for manufacturing in 2005: using metalworking technology to reduce piece costs and waste; implementing automation to compete with low labor costs; having measurable and efficient training programs; and investing in equipment and processes that will allow fast setups and flexible work flows."

Attending trade shows
Attending trade shows can give shops new ideas and let them search for new markets. The AWS Welding Show will be held April 26 - 28 in Dallas and FabTech International will be held Nov. 13 - 16 in Chicago. And the Schweissen & Schneiden — World's Fair for Joining, Cutting, Surfacing, and Welding will take place Sept. 12-17, in Essen, Germany.

Shops should also investigate joining a trade mission. WEMCO is planning three in 2005: Libya, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia (Chairman Don Lockhart, Mathey Dearman); Russia (Chairman Jan Browne, Browne Dreyfus International); and Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Venezuela (Chairman Jim Pritchard, Huys Industries).

North America has the technology to complete North America does have the technology to compete globally, according to the Save Your Factory industry initiative. Organized by Fanuc Robotics American Inc., Rochester Hills, Mich., the group also includes The Lincoln Electric Co., Cleveland; Automated Concepts Inc., Council Bluffs, Iowa; Genesis Systems Group, Davenport, Iowa; AMERICAN MACHINIST; the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Dearborn, Mich.; and others. The initiative website, saveyourfactory.com, features case studies, tools, and other useful information. The group is recruiting more partner companies and end users to add information to the site.

 

Welding Outlook Business owners forming a plan for prosperity should read Vision for the Welding Industry, an AWS study that highlights industry challenges and strategic goals. Challenges to resolve by 2020: Integrate welding into the production cycle, eliminating the idea that it is a barrier to smooth manufacturing processes on the factory floor. Continue to develop comprehensive and scientific training of welders. Promote a more attractive welding environment. Change the image of the weld as the weakest link in a fabrication. Promote new materials development that incorporate weldability. Strategic Goals: Reduce the average cost of welding by one-third by providing better process selection guidance, increasing the use of automation and robots, and lowering reject and repair; increase the use of welding by 25%. Integrate welding with other manufacturing and construction disciplines at engineering and operational levels. Develop welding technology and new materials. Through the use of modeling, systematic process selection and procedure development, and NDE technologies, assure that welding is part of a six-sigma quality environment. Train employees well, enabling them to choose the best welding technology for each application. Reduce energy use by 50% through productivity improvements such as decreasing pre and post-heating operations, using advanced, low-heat-input welding processes, and avoiding overwelding.

 

Resources for help ATECH program, The Ohio State University, David Gobey, program director, (330) 263-3716, gobey.4@osu.edu CAMP Inc., camp.org Manufacturing Extension Partnership, mep.nist.gov NAM, nam.com WEMCO, aws.org