Help Needed for Aluminium and Magnesium Alloy Stampings

Posted by stephens on Mar 31, 2010 in Engineering Decisions, Events | 7 comments

A good friend of mine emailed the other day. People think I am driven and passionate about the die industry. I don’t hold a candle to Erkan. He reminds me of me 20 years ago. I am giving him some help offline, but perhaps you can lend him some of your expertise as well. Here is his note: Hello Tim, I follow your web-site regularly. I am doing my master of...

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Die Standards for the 21st Century

Posted by stephens on Mar 30, 2010 in Engineering Decisions, Rants, Web Technologies | 0 comments

I remember telling the GM Die Standards Task Force that the die standards should be published as a searchable web-based tool instead of the traditional static paper document in a three ring binder. That was 1992. For the past 15 years, it has been a static PDF document. Hoo-ha. Why not publish die standards using Wordpress blog technology? I have spent my entire...

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Help Wanted: Tool Room Manager

Posted by stephens on Mar 29, 2010 in Events | 5 comments

There has been a surge of hiring activity lately in the die and stamping industry. Most of it, from what I see, is attrition-related and not from growth. A turnaround is coming, but it is not here yet. DieGuy.com reader Karen Bradley sent me a note this weekend: Hi Tim, I am looking for a Tool Room Manager (metal forming/stamping technical expertise) in York, PA...

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Looking Ahead

Posted by stephens on Mar 26, 2010 in About, Events | 5 comments

It took me about six months after the Speedraft CTO meltdown to figure out what to do with my professional life. I got a call from a friend in the business that led to two interviews. Out of the blue, I get contacted through this blog on a third cool opportunity. In the matter of a week, I go from completely lost to overwhelmed. It was a tough decision to walk...

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Looking Back

Posted by stephens on Mar 25, 2010 in About, Rants | 0 comments

I have been interviewing for die engineer positions lately. For those that are familiar with Speedraft, I will blog on that experience soon. During this interview process, I have been forced to take a look back over my career. Looking back, I was in the right place at the right time. For the most part. Starting off in the manual world and engineering dies for...

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