MC0007: It's Not Your Dad's Machine Shop

The image is that manufacturing is a dirty, physical, turning-cranks, labor intensive job, but the facts is that the machining industry is one of the most technological forward and innovative industries. In this seventh episode, Jim and I discuss how the industry has changed along with machine and software technology. Jim tells an interesting stories about when his dad ran the shop and one of his machinist screwed up a part, which you can't do nowadays and I throw out how old I was when Jim started in the industry. More high schools are teaching manufacturing skills. In our Manufacturing News segment, we discuss how Wheeling High School (Wheeling, IL) has been turning out hire-ready manufacturing students for the last six years. Part of Germany's education model is that a 15 year old will enter into an internship whereby manufacturing is one of the top choices. In our Metalworking Tools segment, we discuss the advantages of thread milling: control the size, breakage, tool life.