Shop Floor Automations is always grateful to manufacturing trade publications that take the time to publish our press releases on new products, technology or industry news.
Here is the 10th installment of our SFA Legacy Blog series, with past instances where we have been published.
Fabricating and Metalworking published a piece about our Wi-Fi USB Connect and updates to one of our hot-selling products DataXchange.
Canadian Metalworking published a blurb about the Wi-Fi USB Connect. For product coverage, Modern Machine Shop covered Predator MDC updates
To further stay in touch with Shop Floor Automations, we would love to chat with anyone on social media about our solutions. We are located on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
For more information on solutions from Shop Floor Automations, please contact us here or call (877) 611-5825.
https://www.shopfloorautomations.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SFA-Site-Logo-300x138.jpg00Greg Mercuriohttps://www.shopfloorautomations.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SFA-Site-Logo-300x138.jpgGreg Mercurio2017-09-20 17:16:172018-12-21 18:42:29SFA Legacy Blogs – Edition X
People in the manufacturing shop floor industry love our G-code shirt. Even though it’s merely a machinist humor shirt, it makes us understand the value of being in a community and displaying the pride of being in that community via clothes and other accessories.
If you strive to wear machinist-related shirts each day of the week, add our shirt to your wardrobe AND check these folks out:
5th Axis – This work holding solution maker located in San Diego (hey, we’re in San Diego, too!) makes two great shirts to choose from. You can either wear a “Don’t drink the coolant” shirt, or their infamous “RUN CNC” shirt (a take on the RUN DMC hip-hop group logo). You can also buy a RUN CNC hat or mug, too! They used to carry a hilarious “License to Mill” shirt. Shirts are $20.
Dan’s Discount Tools – They sell tools, cutters, gages, and of course, shirts. Their current shirt is a bold definition of what a machinist is. They are also famous for a shirt that exclaims “Eat, Sleep, Machine, Repeat.” Priced $15 to $21 per shirt. They also have hoodies available for a little more money.
CNC.Worship on Instagram – This self-described “CNC Work Addict” not only posts daily photos of products made from CNC machines on Instagram, but they also sell some great shirts. There are close to 30 different designs, such as “CNC machinist – because freakin’ miracle worker is not an official job title” to “Keep calm and let the CNC operator handle it” designs. Shirts look to range from $20 to $22, as well as hoodies available for a bit of an upcharge. You can also order the shirts in lady sizes.
Big Ass Solutions – No, we promise we are not cussing. The company is famous for their Big Ass Fans (the “ass” is their mascot Fanny, who is a donkey – get it?) Humor is a big part of the heartbeat of this company, so naturally, their swag reflects this culture. Get a drink koozie that declares “Live life big ass,” use one of their mugs, or you can even get one of their decals for your car. During the election, they had a hilarious cap that looked like President Trump’s red “Make America Great Again” hat that read “I’m on Team Ass.” Clever. Shirts are $10 to $16.
While shirts are great for a machinist’s daily routine, it is also important that you have the tools needed to function on the shop floor. For solutions that combat downtime, communication errors, production scheduling, and OEE issues, please call (877) 611-5825 or fill out a contact form here.
The following is an archived copy of the July/August 2017 Shop Floor Automations newsletter:
Communication Issues You Can’t Ignore
You may have heard about DNC Software recently, but what exactly does it do? What benefits does it have that you need?
Here are three quick reasons DNC Software is a necessity on the shop floor:
End CNC communication failures and stop manually managing your programs. One network for thousands of your CNC programs. Drip-feed, download and upload programs that are too big for the CNC memory. Make sure these crucial jobs are actually getting done at the machines on the shop floor.
Hardware just won’t cut it. If you have a small shop with one or two machines, then using a Portable USB Connect may be enough for you, for now. But once your shop grows, you will get more machinery and more employees. You might already be a large company experiencing growing pains, coupled with CNC communication failures or wondering where on the shop floor your programs are floating around. Buying hardware or adding a USB port, though both actions are a great first step, won’t control your programs or get you the latest version of a file.
The value is unmatched. When you invest in Predator DNC, it can be integrated with Predator MDC for machine data collection, or linked up with Predator PDM to help with paperless document control, or used with Touch HMI to make working at the machine easier. There are many integration possibilities – collecting machine trends can help improve OEE, while going paperless saves you time, and Touch HMI can replace old proprietary hardware like bar code readers.
SFA & The MFG Community
Shop Floor Automations loves being involved in the manufacturing community. We see the community is quickly growing as an influx of younger generation workers enters. This is especially true for the manufacturing community’s social media presence.
SFA has been involved with the manufacturing community in a multitude of ways over the last few years. Ask us how!
Call (877) 611-5825 for more info. Link to the original newsletter here.
Americans have watched in horror this past week seeing the destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey. The Houston Texas area was hit the hardest, which includes the Houston TX manufacturing community.
The exact monetary amount of damage is debated heavily. A risk modeler for Bloomberg states the storm will cause up to $75 Billion in economic loss, while CNN also gave a figure of $75 Billion, with Accuweather estimating that Harvey will have caused a $160 Billion dent in the economy. For perspective, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 cost the economy $160 Billion.
The manufacturing community of Houston Texas, which is currently the most populated city in Texas, was no doubt impacted by this horrendous storm. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) states that manufacturers in Texas account for 15.22 percent of the State’s output and employs 7.33 percent of the Texas workforce.
These percentages may sound small, but as of 2013, manufacturing in Texas accounted for $233 Billion+ of output. In 2014, the industry employed 890,200 Texans and as of 2012, there were over 17,000 manufacturing companies in the state. As the past four years have gone by since these figures were recorded, these numbers have more than likely grown, since in 2013, manufacturing only accounted for 871,700 jobs in Texas, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
How can we help, in this time of need?
In terms of general services, you can donate money or blood to the Red Cross or offer shelter for free to impacted families through the AirBNB Disaster Response Program.
As far as helping the manufacturing community of Houston, which is no doubt already impacted by an existing skills gap and having to pick up the pieces from Harvey’s wake, there are a few ways to help. Students who are taking STEM or machinist course work in local schools or colleges can volunteer to help, as well as those who have retired recently from the manufacturing field can temporarily help.
Shop Floor Automations wants to assist manufacturing companies in the Houston TX area by offering heavily discounted services. To help assess the damage done to your productivity and tools, please visit this page or call (877) 611-5825
People in the manufacturing shop floor industry love our G-code shirt. Even though it’s merely a machinist humor shirt, it makes us understand the value of being in a community and displaying the pride of being in that community via clothes and other accessories.
The following is an archived copy of the July/August 2017 Shop Floor Automations newsletter: