Dreams

Posted by stephens on Nov 25, 2009 in Engineering Decisions, Events | 0 comments

I am preparing a post for changes I feel need to be made to automotive stamping die engineering standards. The next revolution. There are many things on my mind these days. Dies, at this point in my life, are more of a casual hobby than the obsession they used to be. That said, I had a dream last night that Chris Colley and I were going to re-write die...

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Karma

Posted by stephens on Nov 14, 2009 in Events | 0 comments

Money is tight for everyone these days. No question. I have all of my money invested in a business that seems to go nowhere. My family has a food budget of $3 per person per day. It is that tight. For two days in a row, I saw a woman at a highway offramp with a sign that read: Traveling. Trying to get home. Anything helps. I had a $20 in my pocket. My last...

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Hello. My Name Is …

Posted by stephens on Nov 12, 2009 in Rants | 0 comments

Thanks to Robert Gauthier for sending this along: I wonder if they have a Fook Yoo rewards...

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Photo Op

Posted by stephens on Nov 11, 2009 in Events | 0 comments

Here is a photo from my Entrepreneurial Journey talk at Lawrence Technological University last month. LTU President Dr. Lewis Walker is on the left, I am in the center, and Prof. Don Reimer is on the right. Note that my hair was dark brown the day I started my startup. And now is it nearly all gray. I am reasonably satisfied with my presentation after reviewing...

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Broken Rules

Posted by stephens on Nov 10, 2009 in Engineering Decisions, Tips & Techniques | 0 comments

I mentioned in my previous post about how our die standards completely changed the way automotive dies were designed and built. Here are 13 the rules we broke to create new ones: Units: went from 75 years of inch-pound to hard metric to save 30% in component costs. Casting: reduced casting by 60% by going from 3 inch walls to 45 mm. Coring: simplified the...

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Guide Decisions

Posted by stephens on Nov 7, 2009 in Engineering Decisions, Tips & Techniques | 5 comments

I helped reshape and redefine automotive die standards in 1991 with five other people. We revolutionized how automotive body dies were designed and built. The dies that were designed and built up until 1992 were over-engineered and over-built. For the next decade, I feel the die standards were competitively adequate. I no longer feel that way. The standards have...

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Lawrence Tech Talk

Posted by stephens on Nov 6, 2009 in Events | 0 comments

The DVD to my recent talk at Lawrence Tech just arrived. I will carve it up and upload here next week. Until then …

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Fresh Paint

Posted by stephens on Nov 2, 2009 in About, Events | 2 comments

I gave the site a new coat of paint this weekend. Hope you like it! You will notice The Daily Reviewer badge on the right. We are in the design and manufacturing categories. Also, I added some SMORE (Social Media whore) links on the right as...

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