We have a CNC Swiss that we use to turn very small precise parts. When a part has several different diameters I notice that when one diameter is on the nominal dimension, often the others are off nominal by several tenths. Is this due to different tool pressure at the different depth of cuts? Is there a solution?

Tiny Turner

Dear Tiny,

I doubt the issue is from tool pressure. It is more likely that your turning tool center height is off. Old timers will tell you that tool center height is very important in very small turning. I’ll attempt to explain why that is so.

In the following example take a look at how being off center can affect the diameter being turned. First let’s assume that if your tool was brought to X0, the tip would be dead on the centerline of the bar.

Line “a” is how far your tool is off center. Line “b” is your programmed X-axis dimension.  Line “c” is the actual distance to the cutting edge of the tool or ½ the actual turned diameter dimension on your work.

Imagine making Line “b” longer and longer (turning progressively larger diameters) and you’ll see that Angle “A” flattens out, which in turn will make Line “c” shorter relative to Line “b.” In other words the error becomes less the larger the diameter you turn is. So when turning very small diameters it is critical to be on center.

The Pythagorean Theorem tells us that a ²+b ²=c ².  Using that information, let’s assume that your tool is 0.003” off center, and you are turning a 0.030” diameter (side a=0.003”, side “b”=0.015”). Side c therefore is equal to 0.0153” because c=√ (.003 ²+.015 ²), so your turned diameter will be 0.0306” or will be 0.0006” off of nominal size.

Now assume you are using the same tool to turn a 0.125” diameter. Running the same math we find that the turned diameter (rounded) will be 0.1251” or will be 0.0001” off of nominal size.

Since the 0.030” diameter was 0.0006” off of nominal we have a differential of 0.0005” between the two dimensions. It follows that when you offset one dimension to nominal size, the other dimension will be 0.0005” off of nominal. All of which makes it difficult to dial in the workpiece without editing the program (bad), or using two separate offsets (nearly as bad).

You can also add a macro variable to the programmed dimension. But when you think about it, all that does is provide a convenient way for the operator to edit the programmed dimension. It’s better to fix the root cause of the problem by getting the tool on center.

You can use this information to calculate how far your tool is off center and correct it with an offset assuming you have Y-axis capability. Small capacity Tsugami Swiss lathes have a feature built into the control to calculate tool height using this principle. But you can see it works best at very small diameters where Angle A and the resulting error is greater.

There can also be mechanical reasons for disparity between turned diameters. If your tool is on center check for backlash, flex in the machine/tool holder, and of course the fit of the material to the guide bushing.

Question: When you watch the Super Bowl, are you more interested in the game or the commercials?

Saturday, January 14^th 10 a.m. – Left Chicago’s O’Hare International for Thailand on American Airlines. It’s not comforting to fly a bankrupt airline’s 757 over the Pacific. The distance is a drawback to North Americans doing business in Southeast Asia – 15 hours to Shanghai and another six to Thailand is a haul. I was pleased to find PBS’s excellent series, Downton Abbey, on the inflight entertainment, but slept most of the way thanks to Benadryl.

Sunday 10:30 p.m. – Arrived at the airport in Bangkok, and while waiting for the other journalists to arrive, ate some of my favorite Thai food of the trip – deep-fried pork with a red coconut curry sauce and Tom Yum soup. Made a vow to eat only Thai food for the duration  –  was not a problem. Transferred to our five-star hotel, Novotel, and were welcomed with plates of Thai deserts, wine and palm-to-palm bows by all.

Some of the journalists after a tour of Western Digital's hard drive production facility

Monday 8 a.m. – Totally jet-lagged. We visited Western Digital’s (WD) plant in a recently flooded industrial estate near Bangkok and were met by John Coyne, President and CEO. Forty-five percent of the world’s hard drives are produced in Thailand, and WD, worth $10 billion, is the largest company. Their plant was under 1.9 meters of water only weeks before our visit. Divers come in for the most valuable equipment and moved it to a kind distributor’s facility 100 km away so they could decontaminate and repair it while the floodwaters lingered. WD employs 38,000 Thais, most who make under $10/day. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the modern clean plant was a total surprise. It contrasted heavily with outside the industrial parks, where the country’s poverty is more obvious. Western Digital’s projections for 2011 were $176 million; because of the flood they reached $119 million. No word yet on the cost of the cleanup.

The journalists preparing to enter the Board of Investment's (BOI) Fair

Monday 11 a.m. – Headed across town to the Thailand Board of Investment’s (BOI) Fair. This was interesting. When Westerners hear the word “fair” we think animals and Ferris wheels. In Thailand, a fair is a showcase of the country’s industry direct to the consumer. The fair happens only once every 10 years and was a huge deal. The King of Thailand – whose authority and respect are reminiscent of Kim Jong-ll – is a “green nut,” and the green theme is seen country-wide. The “Royal Pavilion” showcased a “green themed” 3-D film, complete with a tree growing up from the middle of the room, and the finale – a real rain shower (watch your camera). Huge exhibits in the outdoor park included Toyota, the most popular carmaker in Thailand; Chevy, which had its own 3-D show about the evolution of the American-born automobile; and CP, a huge frozen food conglomerate born in Thailand who’s big in Costco. The show also had a beer garden (hint-hint IMTS organizers) and a joyous sort of “look what we have in Thailand” feel to it. The people of Thailand are proud of what they’ve done in attracting these international companies over the last 20-30 years, but seem cognizant of environmental mistakes the U.S. and China have made during their development, and are making a visible effort to not repeat them.

Tony Blair speaking at the CEO Forum Bangkok

Tuesday 8:30 a.m. – Attended the BOI CEO Forum. Guest speaker: Tony Blair. A very inspiring and encouraging speech. Interestingly, he noted strongly that America would not be where it is without its open immigration policies. Mr. Blair encouraged Thailand to create this kind of atmosphere now, and noted that it has “enormous potential” – its people, geography, and relative stability. He emphasized that Thailand’s job was to let the world know that it’s “open for business.”

Tuesday 3:30 p.m. – Left Bangkok for Pattaya, a tourist city next to the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate (ESIE) and checked into our spa hotel on the beach – filled with Russian vacationers. Two Thais told me that the Russians are disliked, they are stereotyped as being cheap.

Dinner on the beach in Pattaya

Development in the industrial estate was shocking, in a good way. The government invested millions in infrastructure to attract international companies interested in supplying the Eastern Hemisphere. Roads, electricity and water supply are new, modern and reliable. Ate a fresh seafood dinner at a beach restaurant while the sun disappeared over the ocean and the beer and conversation flowed. Beautiful.

Wednesday 9 a.m. – Visited American Axle & Manufacturing’s  (AAM) Rayong Manufacturing Facility in the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate. AAM open its Thailand operation in 2008. 2010 sales were $2.3 billion. They produce mostly axle systems, but also drivelines, drivetrain and chassis, and other metal-formed products for automotive. The plant is 124,000 square feet and is located in one of Thailand’s many “free zones,” (tax-free). They currently exclusively supply GM’s Thailand operation, but plan on doubling the size of their plant, as they will be supplying Volvo soon. The Auto Alliance Thailand (AAT) manufacturing facility, a joint venture with Mazda, which wouldn’t welcome us for a tour, produces the Ford Fiesta and lightweight trucks for that particular half of the world. I was told that Thailand can’t compete with China’s steel prices, so asked what Thailand’s advantage is over China and India. I was told that it’s Thailand’s supplier base. When GM orders a part, AAM must deliver within 70 minutes.

Journalists after a tour at the Thai Summit Group

Wednesday 11 a.m. – I was very interested to tour our first Thai-owned company, the Thai Summit Group, which started in 1977 and makes auto parts for major auto companies. The stamping and injection molding facility makes mainly front and rear bumpers for Mazda and Ford. The plant was impressive and had six 3,000-ton presses and can produce 800,000 bumpers and 6,000 chassis per year. Annual sales are about $10 million a year. There was a large difference in the atmosphere of the plants from the Western owned companies and this completely Thai run company. They have a basketball court just outside of the main office and President, Mr. Shigeo Sakaki, commented that the workforce there is young and has lots of energy, so they need to have activities for them. It was much more relaxed than Western Digital and American Axle. Young people roamed the grounds like on a college campus. It appeared the more laid-back culture of Thailand had permeated this Thai run company. It was nice. They’re obviously making money, but it felt like it would be a nice place to work.

A night out in Pattaya

Wednesday 2:30 p.m. – Visited Celestica Thailand, Celestica’s largest location in terms of revenue. They employ 5,630 people and are five minutes from the large port on the Eastern Seaboard and one hour from the airport. They mainly make networking equipment, high-end storage and servers and teleconference equipment (Web cams, phones, digital photo albums, etc.). They see their future in optical device assemblies for the Internet. The Senior Vice President, Mr. Duangtaweesub, was impressive. Thai born, he had studied 30 years ago in Washington State. He started the company, which was bought by Celestica a few years later. He has been running Celestica’s Asia operation ever since.

Thursday 9 a.m. – We were scheduled to visit Magna Automotive and Asia Precision Co. Ltd. in the Amata Industrial Estate, but Magna canceled because they couldn’t get permission from the U.S. office to let us in. Asia Precision was fascinating. It employs about 800 workers (mostly women, Mr. Karoonkornsakul, the CEO noted, because they’re patient, are very good with detail, and there’s little heavy lifting needed) and has over 400 CNC machines, almost all Japanese. They make parts for automotive and camera and their 2011 sales were $30 million, with $40 million expected in 2012. Most of their business comes from the East, but they are a key supplier for Emerson in the U.S., who has asked them to consider building a plant in Mexico, which they are researching now. They are also considering expanding into Indonesia, which the CEO commented would be “the next Thailand,” with production projections of 2 million autos in 2012.

Asia Precision hires mostly women because they are "patient, detail oriented, and the parts are light"

When the automotive crisis hit in 2008/9 they began making rollers for printers. In response to their foreign clients’ needs, they are trying to expand into medical and aerospace, and are facing many of the same hurdles American companies face: the need for skilled employees and regulatory know-how.

Thailand’s Buddhist culture was obvious at Asia Precision. They have weekly company-wide meetings followed by meditation and a singing of their national anthem, and are heavily involved in giving back to their community through projects. They also had the first recycling center we saw, the proceeds of which are donated to the poor. Most of the employees, who are typically age 20-25, are recruited from villages in the north, and once a year they return home for the holidays. Employees may propose projects needed in their village to Asia Precision, who funds them. They are also very into exercise and health, recently holding a company marathon to raise money for flood victims. The atmosphere of the company was relaxing and the CEO mentioned they have very little employee conflict. It was refreshing to see a company that makes money but has quality of life at the forefront.

A training room at the Thai-German Institute

Thursday 3 p.m. – Visited the Thai-German Institute, a government training program for industry. This was interesting – I kept wondering why the U.S. isn’t doing something similar, it seemed so obvious. This organization started in 1992 with German funds with the goal of providing high-tech workers to industry. It is now run by Thailand’s Minister of Industry and trains 2000-3000 young people per year, mostly in mold and die technology, but also in automation and machining. It provides workers to the industrial estates in the south, who pay a fee for each worker they hire. Recruiters from training programs like these go to the north in search of competent, bright, high school graduates whom they lure to the south with the promise of decent salaries, subsidized lodgings, and per diems for the duration of training. Then they find them jobs. It appears to be a very win-win system that’s working for Thailand.

Question: Would you consider moving your business or finding suppliers overseas to save money?

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More on PartMaker
PartMaker is a Knowledge Based Machining system, allowing it to provide a substantial gain in programming efficiency by remembering the tools, material and process information necessary to machine individual part features. It thus relieves the user from reentering the same features information for subsequent parts. It also improves productivity by placing the emphasis on tool management functions.

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PartMaker Inc. is a subsidiary of Delcam Plc, the world’s leading developer and supplier of complete CAD/CAM software solutions. Delcam Plc is publicly traded on the AIM exchange in London. While PartMaker is sold direct in North America by PartMaker Inc. PartMaker is sold overseas through a network of sales partner offices operating in over 120 countries.

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For more than three decades, Herb Cohen has been a practicing negotiator, intimately enmeshed in some of the world’s headline dramas, from hostile takeovers to hostage negotiations. His clients have included business executives, entrepreneurs, and sports agents plus large corporations and governmental agencies. He is the author of New York Times Bestseller You Can Negotiate Anything.

NG: How did you get into the negotiation business?
HC: People think you must have the genes for negotiation. Both my parents were immigrants to the United States. They were happy to be here and didn’t negotiate for anything. If they sustained a loss, they didn’t report it to the insurance company because they were afraid the insurance company would either raise their rates or cancel them. And as a kid, I didn’t really negotiate. But during law school I got a job as a claims adjustor. My job was negotiating with people in New York City from different socio-economic levels. One day you’re in Bedford-Stiverson and the next day Park Avenue. [Other employees] were settling three cases a month. I settled 12 cases a month in half the time while going to law school full-time. They asked, “What are you doing, and could you teach other people?” I began teaching a three-week course in negotiation for attorneys for Allstate Insurance Company.

NG: Where have you been working lately?
HC: I was in South Korea, Hong Kong and the People’s Public of China, and more recently in London and Prague. I gave lectures in Beijing and Shanghai about negotiations to try to change some of their attitudes and outlook about how conflict should be resolved.

NG: I was reading that a lot of cultures have different customs for negotiating. Is it more difficult for you to negotiate with people in other countries?
HC: No, for some reason, I do well. It surprises everybody, especially my wife. I do very well in strange places. People somehow relate to me because I always see myself as an outsider. If you’re Jewish, you’re always an outsider, no matter how accepting the culture is. You see yourself as a little different, and it is a tremendous advantage because you tend to see what more accustomed eyes miss, and that kind of sensitivity puts you a little bit ahead of everyone else. My major strategy in negotiations is to make the other side feel they’re superior to me. I work very hard to have them relate to me on human terms.

NG: What are the biggest mistakes people make when they enter a negotiation?
HC: Fall in love with the people, but don’t fall in love with any deal. Don’t fall in love with things that are material or involve money. The biggest mistake people make is they get too emotionally involved. You want to be a little bit more detached. Another mistake is coming across as having too much authority and make quick and precipitous decisions. If your reader owns a company, he or she can say “yes” or “no.” That’s a mistake. They should say, “I’m the owner of the company, but I’ve got to check this out with my board,” even if they have no board of directors. Or, “Let me check this out with my banker. In fact, let me speak to my wife.” This means you are not forced to make quick decisions, and causes you to emanate tremendous power.

NG: If I had to hire a new salesman and was trying to figure out who’d be the best negotiator, what qualities would I look for?
HC: I would look for someone who’s at ease with people; someone people would trust; who is an amicable individual, and a high achiever; who has good expectations of life. I’d also look for someone who isn’t confined to what the “norm” is and who is optimistic about the future, who looks for new ways to do things, and has a track record of achievement, even a modest one.

NG: On your tapes you mentioned how important it is for you to be the caller. Would you elaborate on that?
HC: Many negotiations are more competitive than they should be. When you’re the caller, you tend to be prepared. You’ve got the file with you. You have an outline, you know what questions to ask. You’re in a quiet place and can concentrate. The person being called didn’t know you’d call. They don’t have the file. They’re not prepared. When dealing with a competitive situation, you should say, “Hey, let me call you back.” As simple as that. If people are egomaniacs, they don’t want to do that; they will rely on their memory, but your memory won’t work – it will fail.

NG: You also talk about the art of making the deal.
HC: There are four key ingredients to making the deal. To start with, you want to use some form of legitimacy, like car dealers do. They’ll show the sticker price, which you know is legit because it’s literally stuck to the car. The sticker price is $39,346.11. The car salesman shows the actual factory invoice price of the car, a printed document which gives it a high form of legitimacy. You’ve got to invest time and energy; you must use some form of legitimacy; you must look at how concessions are made. With the car dealer, the first concession is $2,000. Then they drop the price $2,000, then drop it $1,000 more, then $400 more, then $100 more. Then they go see the dealer or sales manager in the backroom then says, “He could knock off another $33.” When you list the pattern of concessions, you say, “Gee, I’m really at the end now.” They’ve gotten you involved in the process, and people support that which they helped create, which would cause you to close the deal.

NG: How do you negotiate with a family member?
HC: Let’s say you’re dealing with children. Kids are little people in a big person’s world. They are people without formal authority and power, yet they seem to get a lot of what they want. How do they do it? Kids aim high. They know if you expect more, you get more. Sometimes they make unrealistic requests of their parents, but it raises the expectation level of parents. That’s a good thing. Kids understand that decision making process within a family, which means if they ask the mother for something, and the mother rejects them, they go to the father. The father rejects them. The parents are united against them, so what do they do? They form coalitions or alliances with the grandparents. Kids understand that the word “no” is an opening bargaining position. Most of us, when we hear “no,” we think: Oh, it’s over. Kids understand “no” means “no” at this particular moment in time with these facts. Change the facts, change the time, it’s altogether different. Kids persist; they persevere; they wear you down. They are tenacious. And they are very good negotiators.

NG: How do you negotiate with irrational people?
HC: The truth is crazy people are the most difficult people to negotiate with. But the way to negotiate with irrational people is behave the way they behave. If they say something that doesn’t make sense, you say something that don’t make sense. In other words, all behavior makes sense from the standpoint of the actor. Crazy people don’t think they’re crazy. Irrational people think they are behaving normally/correctly, but it’s based upon their whacked out experience. So you’ve got to try to understand the experience of the other side. I remember in dealing with Iran and Saddam Hussein, I tried to give advice to our government to understand why this person was behaving the way he was. His behavior made sense. He didn’t fear the United States; he feared Iran. When the government said, “He’s got weapons of mass destruction,” I said, “I don’t know whether he has weapons of mass destruction, but he wants Iranians to think he has.” He killed millions of their people during the Iran/Iraq War when they invaded them, and I couldn’t get people to really understand it.

NG: That’s what happened with this war.
HC: As Americans, we tend to ascribe our values and our beliefs to the people we’re dealing with, which is a mistake. We assumed that they would do what we would do in a situation, which doesn’t make sense. Look at the situation in Iraq: It took us awhile to realize there are Sunnis and Shia, and they hate each other. We have yet to realize Iran has tremendous leverage with Shia in Iraq. You’ve got to understand; Iranians are Persians and the Shia and Iraqis are Arabs. There’s a big gap between those two and they’re not going to be friends. Here’s how we look at things. There’s a movie Broadway show, Oklahoma by Rogers and Hammerstein, and the songs show that the farmers and the cowboys are friends. The farmers milk their cows and the cowboys herd their cattle. We see the world in those simple terms. We look at the Israeli situation and see it in very simplistic terms. Even the Israelis sometimes are more simplistic than they should be in terms of negotiations.

NG: Do you see an end in sight for the Israel/Palestinian conflict?
HC: Sure. 60-65 percent of the Israelis want to make concessions for peace, which means that they would accept the proposal put forth by Ehud Barak which would involve a division of Jerusalem. What Israel should do, in my opinion, is try to make some concessions that will work for them, and not just make concessions. You must make the other side negotiate for any concession that you give them. When you make the concession they feel they earned it, and they give something in return.

NG: Do you think the Palestinians really want peace or just all of Israel?
HC: They’ve already spent so much time talking about the whole thing and gotten nothing. Most realistic Palestinians will take something less than the whole thing, which means they will accept Israel’s 1967 borders, maybe a little bit more. They want their own state with some way of each part communicating with the other. There must be a way for Palestinians to get from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank without passing through Israeli checkpoints and a way for people to fly in and out. They won’t be happy, but probably 65 percent would take a state like that.

NG: But Hamas doesn’t see things the same.
HC: Hard-line Hamas people will fight to the bitter end. The leadership of Hamas is not sacrificing their lives, they’re sacrificing the lives of young Palestinian kids who don’t even know what the hell they’re doing. You want to try to isolate that group and have them be seen by all Palestinians as a radical group; that if they follow Hamas, it’s going to be another 50/60 years before they’re going to get anything. They’re not getting anything. The standard of living of the people in Gaza and the West Bank is pathetic compared even to the rest of the Arab world.

NG: But do they only understand power, and not the “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” mentality?
HC: You’re right. They don’t respect reciprocity. When I was a little boy my mother said to me, “Herbert, if you’ll be nice to people, they’ll be nice to you.” This is how American kids are raised. That’s reciprocity. Arabs respect power. If you show them you’re going to be tough, you’re going to be strong, and this is the way things are, you could really make progress with these people. I wouldn’t trust them one iota, but I would make concessions to them, bargain hard in return for something else. Right now, I think the Israeli government, which is strong, should be negotiating with the Abbas government on the West Bank. Not Hamas. Israelis should make the Abbas government look good.

NG: Tell me about some of your most difficult negotiations. How have you dealt with terrorists and hostages?
HC: The first thing you must recognize is what the terrorists want; what are their needs. Very often they want to publicize their grievances. That’s why terrorists’ acts occur in a place with the most media exposure. I wrote a memo to President Reagan, in maybe ’85, telling him the next attack would most likely be in New York City, London, then the Olympics. Why? Because that’s where there’s the most media coverage. If a terrorist act occurs in Lagos, Nigeria, there’s no media to cover it. It’s worthless.

NG: What if you’re in a plane hijacking situation?
HC: You try to recognize the situation. You as one individual will have very little power. In today’s world, you must try to take back the plane while it’s in the air. Flying within the U.S, you’ve usually got people on the plane who have worked for the government. They will know what to do. If that’s not the case, try to get the flight attendants to do something. If they don’t do it, it’s up to you. We live in a very dangerous world. I’m big on not allowing yourself to be batted about. I believe in taking control of your world as best you can. You have to understand, I am a product of Jews in the Second World War. We were virtually extinguished. I believe you always have options; you always have power. It is better die on your feet than on your knees. [That leads] to a point where a lot of people who know me think I’m a little crazy.

NG: Thanks Herb.

Maddie Parlier of Standard Motor Products in Greenville, South Carolina

The news that Japan will show a net deficit in trade for 2011 is another signal of a shifting economy that currently favors North American manufacturing. Europe is in a mess, and with the Euro still hanging in at $1.30 and no real structural changes yet, it is also losing competitiveness.

The Mori Seiki plant now being built in Davis, California, near Sacramento is a clear sign of the sea change happening now. Equally significant is Honda’s announcement that it will be building its first Acura in Ohio in three years.

Mori plans to build 20 percent of its production in the U.S. and interestingly, 20 percent in Europe, indicating that its partnership with DMG appears to be working. With Mazak entrenched in Kentucky, I am expecting Okuma to once again manufacture machines in the U.S. They used to produce in Charlotte, which has quietly become one of the machine tool centers of America, and it would make sense for them to start building in that neighborhood again.

Would it be a stretch to see companies like Citizen, Star, even Doosan and DMG begin production in North America? Romi of Brazil, which made a pass at Hardinge, is another candidate. And when is Hardinge going to finally move out of Elmira?

*****

I highly recommend Adam Davidson’s cover story on manufacturing in the current Atlantic. Davidson is one of the finest economic journalists around today, and this piece is one I wish I had written. He wrote about the people of Standard Motor Products, a manufacturer and distributor of after-market automotive products, based in New York City with a big plant in Greenville, South Carolina. It is run by Larry Sills, 72, third generation of the founding family, but publicly held.

I loved the way Davidson focused on Maddie Parlier, a 22-year-old “level one” operator working in the clean room of the company’s fuel injector assembly line, and 27-year-old Luke Hutchins, a “level two” operator who oversees a 7-axis Gildemeister turning center.

Maddie has worked for the firm for three years and is considered a topnotch employee, but she is held back by lack of sophisticated education. Pregnant at 17 in high school, she had to forgo college to work and take care of her baby. As much as she would like to enhance her training now, she cannot afford the time away from her job and child. So she is stuck, and worried that a robot might take her job. And it could happen, if demand picks up enough to justify the capital investment by the company.

Hutchins, the Gildemeister operator, had the family backing and the time to choose his career path. He went to a four-year college, taking biology to become a dentist. He got bored and then thought he would follow his mother’s career path in radiography. Then a friend told him he could made $30/hour if he learned to run complicated machine tools, so he shifted gears and enrolled at Spartanburg Community College where he took a lot of math and learned CNC programming.

Now he is a key guy at Standard Motor in Greenville and doesn’t worry about his job.

I strongly recommend that you read this piece and share it with your friends and family. Even if you know and live this stuff like I do, you will still get a lot out of the article.

******

The Peyton Manning-Indianapolis Colts-Andrew Luck drama is one of the most fascinating sports, business and human stories to come along in a while. Manning, probably the greatest pro-quarterback ever, sat out this season with a neck injury. The team went 2-14 giving them the #1 draft pick, almost surely quarterback Andrew Luck of Stanford.

Luck, whose father played in the NFL like Peyton’s Dad, Archie, could be the next great NFL quarterback. But – maybe he’ll be Ryan Leaf instead. Manning will require $28 million if he comes back to the Colts. But he’s 36 and recovering from surgery and a stem cell procedure.

If you were Manning, would you play again? If you were Jim Irsay, owner of the Colts, would you risk $28 million on him? If you were as good as Luck, would you want to apprentice to Manning for a few years like Aaron Rogers did with Brett Favre?

In business we are often faced with tough calls about bringing in the “next big thing” and letting go of the “horse that brung you.”

Read Adam Davidson’s cover story on manufacturing in the Atlantic here.

Question 1: Would recruiting as is done for high school athletes work for recruiting new manufacturing talent?

Question 2: Would you release Peyton Manning if you owned the Colts?

FeatureCAM was the world’s first feature-based programming software when it was launched in 1995. Constant development since then has ensured that the system has retained its leadership in programming speed and ease of use, while an increased range of strategies has been added to provide more efficient toolpaths giving greater machine productivity.

The main addition to FeatureCAM 2012 R2 is a series of new strategies for 2.5D roughing. These include a continuous spiral option to minimise wear on the cutter and machine tool, high-speed roughing options, including trochoidal machining and Delcam’s patented Race Line Machining, and “tear-drop” moves to clear corners more smoothly. In addition, more styles of leads and links can now be used to give greater overall efficiency for the toolpaths.

Stepovers for 2.5D mill roughing can now be set as large as the tool diameter itself. Previously, stepovers were limited to 50% of the tool diameter and, if this limit was exceeded, the toolpath would leave stands. The new algorithm supports larger stepovers by providing extra moves automatically to clean up those stands.

Other milling improvements include an option to add an extra profile pass exactly at the base of flat pockets, the ability to use face-milling tools with chamfered edges to machine chamfers as well as faces and so minimise the number of tools needed, a choice of right- or left-handed thread-milling tools resulting in either climb or conventional machining of the thread, and the ability to reduce calculation times by saving boundaries as curves if they will be needed for subsequent calculations.

Roughing has also been improved for users of turning equipment that can operate with live tooling. A new option allows cutting with a live milling tool, while the workpiece is rotating in the turning spindle. This approach avoids the issues associated with interrupted cutting and ensures regular chip breakage, so removing any chance of wrap-around by the swarf.

Turn-mill programming has been improved with the addition of more flexible five-axis positioning. For example, any amount of negative b-axis movement available can be used, so avoiding extending the y limit too far back into the machine. Switching the positioning angles in this way makes editing easier to keep the machine within its travel limits.

Another turn-mill improvement is support for cylindrical interpolation, which allows toolpaths to be created with NC code for a plane and then wrapped around a cylinder. This approach, which can also be used for four-axis milling, allows cutter compensation to be applied when calculating the toolpath and gives smaller NC code files.

All FeatureCAM users will benefit from improvements to the simulation module. In particular, they will see much faster results through the use of multiple cores for these calculations. In addition, the ability has been included to save a position during the simulation, for example, while toolpaths are being edited, and then to run the simulation from that position rather than from the start.

Other general enhancements include direct cutting and pasting of models between FeatureCAM and Delcam’s PowerSHAPE design and data repair software, and the ability to create machining configurations on a network as well as on an individual computer, so saving time and encouraging consistent results from different users.

As president, Gillespie hopes to inspire other manufacturers to realize the impact they can make through an organization like SME.
“SME has provided me — and thousands of others — with tools to learn, leadership opportunities and a lifelong association with those coming to learn and those who are already world authorities,” said Gillespie. “The Society has been an important part of my professional growth.”

Gillespie has been a member since a University of Kansas professor introduced him to SME (then ASTE) in 1963. He later became a leader in Kansas City No. 57 chapter, the SME Robotics International chapter, and eventually, 67 leadership positions within the Society.

“I enjoy learning, leading and making things happen, and SME provided a chance to listen to others, lead technical conferences, publish my ideas and research, and organize others,” Gillespie said. “SME offers so many no-cost or low-cost opportunities for manufacturing knowledge that it provides the highest return on your investment of anything I have seen.”

Gillespie’s career path gives him a broad view of manufacturing — process engineer with Bendix in 1966 on micro-size precision parts, precision assemblies, electronics, to his last role as quality assurance manager of Honeywell’s Federal Manufacturing & Technologies division, where he led a 200-employee group responsible for product and operating quality in one of the county’s most sophisticated multipurpose plants.

Today, Gillespie is an independent consultant and researcher. He writes about manufacturing for Cutting Tool Engineering and MICROmanufacturing magazines, and annually publishes other papers and reports on micromanufacturing and deburring.

Throughout his more than four decades with the Society, Gillespie’s held a number of leadership roles, including terms on the SME Executive Committee and Board of Directors, the Profile 21 study of manufacturing engineering in the 21st century, education committees, certification, machining technology, deburring conferences, publications, accreditation, group technology, student leadership and most recently a study of taxonomies for use in identifying information. He was elected an SME Fellow in 1988.

Gillespie is also a recipient of several local and regional awards, the Bendix Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, two AlliedSignal Special Recognition Awards, Jack A. Knuth Continuous Achievement Award (Honeywell), ASME’s Arthur L. Williston Award and Medal, and the 1984 SME Albert M. Sergeant Progress Award.

Gillespie has also been active with the Engineer’s Council for Professional Development, manpower and engineering guidance councils, served on four university advisory boards, and he has been a member of several other manufacturing and engineering-related organizations. Gillespie is a registered professional engineer in Missouri, and a registered manufacturing engineering in California. He is an SME certified manufacturing engineer (CMfgE), a chartered Engineer (Great Britain) and an Able Toastmaster. Gillespie has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Kansas, a master’s of manufacturing engineering from Utah State University and holds a doctor of engineering degree from Meiji University in Japan. In 2011, he also received an honorary doctorate from Don State Technical University in Russia.
Also elected to serve on the 2012 SME Executive Committee:

President-Elect: Dennis S. Bray, PhD, FSME
Bray is the president and CEO of Contour Precision Group, LLC, located in Clover, South Carolina. Prior to joining Contour Precision in 2010, Bray was the managing member of Bray Innovation Group, LLC. He also served as president and CEO of Cincinnati Inc. His entire career has been devoted to broadening the knowledge base of manufacturing. A member of the Society since 1985, Bray was elected to the SME College of Fellows in 2003. Additional honors include the SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award and the Ford Foundation Fellowship-University of Wisconsin. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Vice-President: Michael F. Molnar, FSME, CMfgE, PE
Molnar is the chief manufacturing officer for the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. Previously, he was the director of environmental policy and sustainable development for Cummins Inc. where he was responsible for corporate initiatives such as energy efficiency, sustainability of operations and compliance affairs. Molnar has more than 25 years of industrial experience in leadership roles across functions. He has held many leadership positions with SME since joining in 1982, including chair of the SME Member Council. Molnar was elected an SME Fellow in 2008 and holds BSME and MSMSE degrees from the University of Wisconsin, and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame.

Secretary/Treasurer: Wayne Frost, CMfgE
Frost is retired from John Deere Waterloo Works where he managed the lean manufacturing program and currently works as a consultant. With John Deere for 37 years, he accepted increasingly responsible positions in manufacturing management, quality assurance and supply management. An active SME member since 1983, Frost has served at the international, regional and chapter levels. His honors include the SME Award of Merit, SME President’s Award, the SME Waterloo Chapter Kurt E. Lear Award and the John Deere General Manager’s Award. Frost earned a BS and MS from the University of Northern Iowa.
At-Large Executive Committee Member: Thomas R. Kurfess, PhD, FSME, CMfgT, PE Clemson University

Kurfess is one of the world’s leading experts in the field of microscale manufacturing metrology, with research focused on the design and development of high-precision manufacturing and metrology systems. In 2005, he joined the faculty at Clemson University as the BMW chair of manufacturing where he also currently leads the Automotive Engineering Program. Kurfess joined SME in 1983, was elected to the 2006 Class of SME Fellows, served as the 2007-08 NAMRI/SME president and is a former member of the Manufacturing Enterprise Council. Kurfess received his SB, SM and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1986, 1987 and 1989, respectively, and his SM degree in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT in 1988.

Newt and Callista Gingrich on the U.S.S. Yorktown

I just returned from a long weekend of political-tourism in Charleston, South Carolina. It didn’t start out as a Newt-Mitt chocolate kind of trip, it just happened.

My oldest son Ari challenged me to lose 25 pounds. I said, “Okay, if I lose 25 and you drop 15 we’ll go on a trip, just the two of us without wives to a place of mutual interest” (that Southwest flies to). I lost 23 pounds (close enough) and Ari ran the Chicago Marathon and slimmed down in the process, so we decided a few months ago to go to Charleston, South Carolina.

Ari is a foodie, so I challenged him to pick the restaurants. I’m an eater, so I knew we’d be compatible. But the bonus we hadn’t planned for was that the South Carolina Republican Primary was last weekend with the Thursday debate in Charleston. We both love politics almost as much as biscuits, so this was going to be our equivalent of Seinfield’s George Costanza making love, watching TV, and eating a pastrami sandwich simultaneously.

An aside to this: When I was in the ICU after heart surgery Ari came into the room to visit. I had an intubation tube so I couldn’t talk, but we could communicate if I wrote notes with my fat Sharpie. Ari broke the news that John McCain had picked Sarah Palin to be his Vice President. I wrote, “Who is she?” He told me she was the Governor of Alaska that nobody had ever heard of. I wrote, “McCain just blew it.” This was the day after my quadruple bypass plus valve surgery, so you can infer that politics is our “inside baseball.”

We checked into the Market Pavilion Hotel last Thursday and planned our schedule around the debate and our dinner reservations. We went to a classy restaurant named McCrudy’s at 5:30 p.m. so we could be ready for the debate. The food was brilliant, especially my dessert, an intense dark chocolate goo with a thin layer of beets. Sounds ridiculously gourmet, but it was divine.

Newt Gingrich after a Fox News interview in front of the aircraft carrier.

We hoped to watch Newt dunk on Mitt at a bar, but they all had ESPN on, not CNN, so we hustled back to the hotel.

The warm-up shows were all about the ABC interview with Marianne Gingrich (wife #2) nailing her ex about this 1999 mistress (wife #3, Callista) and Newt asking her for an “open marriage.” The excitement built, and John King of CNN, the inquisitor for the debate, did not wait to pop the question of the “open marriage.”

Newt was ready. Wow, was he ready. “I’m SHOCKED” you would ask such a despicable question about my personal life, he glared. And launched into a redmeat diatribe against the ELITES of New York and Washington.

It was right out of the movie Casablanca, when the wonderful Claude Rains (Captain Renault) enters Rick’s establishment and says, “I’m SHOCKED” that there was gambling going on,” just as Peter Lorre comes by and hands him his winnings.

Newt clobbered King, and then Mitt answered the question about whether he would release his tax returns with a “maybe.” Game on. Game lost in minutes. I said to Ari when Romney flinched, “We just saw history.”

The next day we got up early and trekked over to the Mills House Hotel where Morning Joe, the entertaining MSNBC Show with former Republican Congressman from Florida Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski host politicos of all stripes. They were interviewing satirist Steven Colbert, a South Carolina native who was lampooning everybody. Colbert was funny, though not nearly as brilliant as Ari and everybody else seem to think. After the show we took a photo with the show’s hosts Joe and Mika, who were warm and charming, and then looked for our next meal (excellent sweet potato pancakes with a latté at Eli’s).

Next stop was the College of Charleston for a Colbert/Herman Cain rally. Cain was out of the race, but close to 10,000 people showed up on the campus square to be regaled by the Cougarettes (the University’s cheerleaders), a pep band, a marching band, and a gospel choir.

Colbert sang the Star Spangled Banner gospel-style, and Herman Cain strode in elegantly with his stylish black Indiana Jones hat. The crowd was the most all-white group of college kids I’d ever seen. You would have thought you were in a Charleston country club. Maybe we were.

Colbert did his shtick. Cain was friendly but dumb, and one of the gospel singers fainted. But the brass bands were loud and good.

Ari wanted to schlep out to the Romney rally in North Charleston, but I wanted to save my energy for Newt’s rally later at the U.S.S. Yorktown, a retired aircraft carrier, so we walked back to the hotel to prepare for an early dinner at Fig, and later the Gingrich. Dinner was again superb with Ari’s sorghum walnut cake with cinnamon ice cream being the absolute “bomb.”

We then hailed a Jordanian cab driver named “Eddie” who hauled us to the Yorktown, where we had the chance to watch Newt answer softball questions by Sean Hannity of Fox News.

Left to rt.: Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of "Morning Joe," with Lloyd Graff, and Ari Graff

Whether it’s Kobe Bryant or Tom Brady or Newt Gingrich, it’s fun to watch somebody who is a real pro get on a roll. And Newt was definitely on a roll that night. He had enough magnetism to reset a compass. The man glowed. He hit all the high notes on Obama, and brought up “Lenin’s disciple,” Saul Alinsky (a community organizer in Chicago in the 1950s whose son, David, I went to high school with). He described Obama as the “food stamp” President and then double backed to those evil New York and Washington ELITES.

Later at the rally on the aircraft carrier, after being anointed by General James Livingston, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, Newt pounded the same themes, and the crowd, other than the members of the media elites, loved it. Frankly, I loved it. This was history. This was America. This was an earthquake in American Politics and it was breathtaking, whether Gingrich is a huckabee or Abraham Lincoln incarnate.

Saturday was Primary day. History. But it was also the Hominy Grill for brunch and a chocolate pudding “to die for” (oh, I hope not). We also looked for presents for our wives. Every vacation has its moment of pain, I guess. We finally found the requisite baubles and headed back to the hotel for the results of the election. Ari and I knew Gingrich was going to smite the MITTEN Man. Romney had been pathetic and he had a Cayman problem, too. Rick Santorum seemed tired and Ron Paul was, well, Frank Perdue.

Gingrich won by 12 points. We had a creamy Key Lime pie with grahame cracker crust. Newt’s two daughters stood by their Dad. I believed that the Republicans had their MAN.

Sunday we watched football at the airport and sat next to a Tea Party regular who had come to Charleston from Austin, Texas, to follow the election. Nice man. I think he was ex-CIA. Also sat next to a beautiful young African American woman who did makeup for Fox TV. She had also been working the Primary.

America. Ain’t it wonderful? Another fork for the key lime pie, please.

Question: Would Newt’s record with women stop you from voting for him?

Elijah Malik using a Landis 12 Leather Stitching Machine

Elijah Malik, has been in the shoe repair business since 2003. Four years ago he opened his shop, Your Shoe Repair, a full service shoe repair shop in Chicago’s hip northwest-side neighborhood of Wicker Park. His services include fixing buckles and rips in leather, replacing soles and heels, waterproofing, conditioning, dying, and shoe shines.

Who are your main clientele?
EM: Initially, it was mostly business people. You could count on them to keep their shoes shined and their heels looking good. But now it’s become more across the board because of the economy. People who would have normally bought some Payless Shoes and then chucked them are deciding to fix their shoes. And, I’d say 85 percent of my clientele are women. Even though I might get a higher portion of men’s shoes, the women are bringing them in.

What’s the most typical repair you do, and what is your biggest challenge?
The most common repairs are heels and shines, shines are considered a repair. Our toughest challenge is customers who have unrealistic time expectations. Some people don’t have a good understanding of what’s really taking place for the repair.

What’s one of the most interesting repair jobs you’ve had?
I had some boots come in that a dog had eaten up horribly. The customer came in with tears in her eyes but when she left she was all smiles. She couldn’t believe the shoe could be restored like that. To me that was special, to be able to touch a customer who really valued the service.

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