One last thought before we leave the subject of evaluating incoming quotes — doing nothing is risky. The gear business may seem like a stable, well...

Every order a company takes involves risk. Even after they ship, products are subject to warranty claims and, in the event of customer bankruptcies...

Traditionally, cost estimating is the basis for pricing. I was very surprised the first time a mentor pointed out that the two are often quite disc...

The guys who taught me to estimate all had great memories for part shapes, features — even part numbers. It takes years to develop that kind of tal...

Continuing my rant on disruptive employees: a few posts ago I mentioned the ill will I engendered early in a new job by questioning the large perce...

A friend of mine is the inspection department for a custom machine shop. He is also the process engineer and, occasionally, a machine operator. Rec...

I wrote in my last post about the passion our technical experts feel for the gear trade. Passion, in my opinion, is an underappreciated factor in a...

Read More

The National Football League (NFL) held its annual draft of college players here in Chicago this past week. It is probably the most publicized huma...

If you occasionally buy a lottery ticket, you probably enjoy speculating on what you would do with the money. The only assured value of a ticket is...