With foreign rivals making the cut, toolmakers dwindle

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Friday, November 21, 2003 | TIMOTHY AEPPEL, The Wall Street Journal

[Willie Green]

The final parts of Microsoft's mice weren't always fitting together correctly on the assembly line. An immigrant from Austria with a reputation for perfectionism, Mr. Buchmayer spent half a year making Microsoft new molds so uniform the differences were measured in increments 1/10th the width of a human hair. Microsoft's failure rates promptly plummeted. Year after year the company came to Mr. Buchmayer for new tools.

[Tallguy]

Telling me that I have to spend a lot of my resources to make that tool ready for use is a non-starter.

If you are buying a precision tool that has never before existed, AND you are pushing the technology in a number of areas ( materials science, dimensional tolerancing, production rates), then the bidding process becomes more Art than Science. The closest analogy would be the military contracting process. And we know that cost overruns abound in that arena.

If a purchasing manager neglects that reality he soon runs himself out of good suppliers. I've been involved with the toolmaking business for 25 years, and the better purchasing managers are the ones with some kind of technical backround. The MBA-types are usually more adept a blame shifting.

[Poohbah]

If you are buying a precision tool that has never before existed, AND you are pushing the technology in a number of areas ( materials science, dimensional tolerancing, production rates), then the bidding process becomes more Art than Science. The closest analogy would be the military contracting process. And we know that cost overruns abound in that arena.

Most military cost overruns are a product of procurement stretchouts and requirements changes than due to real trouble hitting known performance targets.

Bottom line: if you're demanding that the customer spend a s**tload of money to get your widget to work after he's already spent a s**tload of money on your product, don't expect him to be enthused about your product, no matter how good it eventually is after his in-house staff finishes fixing it.

[Tallguy]

I must have hit a nerve with that MBA reference.

[Jack Black]

Speaking of the other kind of tools, anyone noticed the drop in quality of Craftsman stuff. I went to replace a wrench recently and my circa-1970 stuff seemed much nicer than the new stuff. If I had it to do over I'd go Snap-On.

[RLK]

Perot got everything he wanted: He kept GHW Bush from getting reelected because he hated Bush like you hate his Bush's son.

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This is stupid paranoid hogwash unless you can give me the figures on how many Democrats voted for Perot, how many Republicans in various categories voted for the clintons, and how much of the increased turnout during the election would have voted for Bush.

[RLK]

Let's be clear on this: if Bush I hadn't played the role of spoiler, Perot would have beaten Clinton. So it's Bush I's fault that Clinton got elected! ;^)

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Har! That's probably true.

[Willie Green]

I must have hit a nerve with that MBA reference.

No, he just doesn't understand that sometimes the "problems" blamed on your product is often more attributable to the less-than-perfect-condition customer-owned machinery that it's often installed in. Good tooling can't compenstate for crappy machines.

[RLK]

Hardinge Brothers makes a very fine high speed lathe, their forte, whick can be used for cutting precision one millimeter diameter precision titanium screws. It's good to see they are still in business.

[Willie Green]

Yeah. I was really pleased when they stepped in to salvage Bridgeport.
It sounds like a match made in heaven!

[Poohbah]

I must have hit a nerve with that MBA reference.

Actually, you didn't--don't have an MBA, don't care

Bottom line: if it isn't ready for prime time when it's delivered, the the vendor f***ed up. And that goes for computer networks (my area of work), machine tools--anything. To expect the customer to pay a princely sum for your not quite getting it right, after you've charged said customer a princely sum for your product, is just lousy business.

[Consort]

This is stupid paranoid hogwash unless....

Nope. He played the role of spoiler and the gullible fell for it and you know it.

[gonzo]

Willie, except for the names and places, my story's identical!

I may have to go to 'White-Room' production of medical supplies. The paperwork's a bitch, but so was ISO-9002.

Those parts that I used to make are now being made by non-English-speaking peoples, without regard to ISO-9002. It's cheaper in the long run to have the recalls............FRegards

[Willie Green]

It's cheaper in the long run to have the recalls............

Yep, pennies can be saved when people's labor, health, safety and the environment are cheap.

The ISO certs are well worth it if you actually do it.
(I know it can be tough for some smaller outfits accustomed to the flexibility of doing things by the seats of their pants.)
Same with all the JIT stuff. But I've seen too much phoney-baloney, dog-and-pony-show, rubber-stamp, wink-wink implementations as well. (((sigh)))
When it comes right down to it, I never had any problem with many of the sensible OSHA or EPA regs either. When I first started out, there were still way too many one-armed old-timers still working. But like anything else, once the regs are in place, the extremists keep tightening the noose.

Hope you make out well with the med supplies!

[cp124]

Hardinge Brothers makes a very fine high speed lathe, their forte, whick can be used for cutting precision one millimeter diameter precision titanium screws. It's good to see they are still in business.

Investors have notified Hardinge that they will be shut down in January if they don't get the numbers up on the recently purchased Bridgeport line.