Rooster's Revenge

Times are tough. Money is hard to come by. These days, it seems one can’t even get a little respect. Here is a tragically comical story:

I get an unsolicited email from someone inquiring if I am interested in a job. I get one or two of these annoying emails a week – some through the blog, but mostly through LinkedIn. My response was a flat “no”. That was October 2010.

Two weeks later, he emails again and gives me a song and dance about a down to earth company and all that. He mentions that it is located in a city that I would like to live in. So, I simply tell him I would be interested in learning more.

A month goes by, and I get yet another email from this guy asking why I want to leave my current employer. “I don’t. You contacted me,” was my response.

Out of the blue, I get a phone call on a Saturday. From his Mommy. It was another month later. Turns out, she is the HR Director. This is not a processing and quoting job opportunity as it was put to me. Hell no. This is a chance to build a die shop organization from scratch to support this company’s stamping operations – an opportunity I have been preparing and waiting for during the past 20 years.

I am interested.

After being pressured to get over there to talk, I agree to chat. And we did.

I had a short list of follow-up questions that went unanswered for two weeks, so I call to get the status. “So and so is out of town. Will get it to you next week. By the way, we think there is a strong fit here.”

Feeling was mutual. I was born to do that job.

Another month goes by, and I get a call from Momma. “Still interested, but need more time.”

Fine.

Four weeks later (I am tired of typing month here) I call to find out what is going on. Keep in mind, HR people are highly trained professionals. Polished and diplomatic, yet direct and emotionless.

“Hi. This is Tim Ste-”

“What do you want?”

This is one of the few times in my 45 years that I have been at a loss for words.

After a 10 second pause, she says, “Let me rephrase that. Why are you calling?”

“It has been a month since we last spoke. I was calling to get an update on the opportunity we spoke about.”

“We are growing by leaps and bounds. What position are we talking about exactly?”

I went into shock. A blue screen of death for my mind. And they say the best way to kill brain cells is to drink. Well pour me a tall one – it is going down the hatch to mercilessly kill a few million more. Let God sort them out, I always say.

So, that was that. The end of another dream job. At least this time, it was over before it began.

On a brighter note, a new and improved author will be taking over Die Guy here in a few weeks – stay tuned for some exciting stuff.

Just a quick note to say hello to all the Die Guys out there!

All evidence to the contrary, I have started writing again. I teamed up with my pal Lou Kren to collaborate on an article for one of his ventures. I am my toughest critic – but I am very pleased with my work with Lou.

I also have no less than 5 book concepts in the works. At the rate I am going, it will take a couple years to get it all out there – but am close to getting the first one going. It will most likely be an engineering calculations-focused book.

I feel good overall – and I genuinely believe I am doing my best work ever.

That said, did you know that Vince Lombardi prepared his entire career to be a head coach? And no less than 20 years into his journey, he finally got the opportunity with the Green Bay Packers and helped put the NFL on the map. [my prediction is they will be in this year's Superbowl and walk away with the Lombardi trophy]

We are approaching the 25 year mark on my career. Does my dream job of building a championship-caliber die engineering and build team with owning the quoting method and die standards lurk on the horizon?

If I had THAT opportunity, the possibilities are boundless. I foresee a reversal of work going overseas back to my hometown with the right die engineering and build processes with my brand of modern die standards to guide the efforts.

I do not know if 2011 is my year or not, but I know this: I am having fun right now.

After 25 years in the die business, I have never been publicly recognized for my contributions. Until yesterday.

It was nice to get public recognition and be told that I was making a positive difference. I have been waiting for this for a long time.

I was recently approached by a nice young lady by the name of Meghan who is doing research for her MBA at UConn. She gave me a list of questions that regard the metalforming industry.

I am going to share her questions and my answers here. I know there are alot of die guys out there that read this blog. If you could help Meghan with her research, please post a comment in response to her 5 questions:

 1.     How would you categorize the current state of the metal forming industry?

 This is an open-ended question. There are two core components to the metalforming industry: tool build and production stamping. The industry itself is segmented into automotive, aerospace, appliance, agriculture, medical device, semiconductor, consumer products, food and beverage containers, and military markets. Die shops for tool build and stampers tend to specialize or focus on a particular market segment (even though dies are dies and stamping is stamping for the most part).

 With regard to technology, this is an unprecedented time in metalforming. Most die shops and stampers today use software for formability analysis and simulation, solid modeling for tool design, and numerical-controlled (NC) machines to manufacture the tools.

 Regarding sales, the Asian market (specifically China) continues to grow while Europe and North America continue to shrink.

 The current state of the metalforming industry in terms of tool prices – specifically automotive – are at historically low levels. This is due to the automotive OEMs treating dies as commodity items, even though they are not true commodities. Dies are custom-built, one-off unique production tools and not mass produced items themselves.

 Consider for a moment that the die shops and stampers in the USA were a major factor in World War II (the automotive companies converted their operations to support the military), there are national security implications as a consequence to the “green” agenda.

 The current state of the metalforming industry from an overall “breakthrough” perspective is fairly static. The last major breakthroughs or advancements came roughly 20 – 25 years ago with lightweight die architectures, nitrogen gas springs, and materials advancements for dies. Transfer presses in automotive and appliance markets and computer processors to operate presses in general were the last advancements for stamping plants.

 Finally, in terms of the workforce, the metalforming industry in North America is aging and young talent is not entering the skilled trades to replace the existing workforce. Die engineering and tool build is not taught in colleges. It is learned on the job with bona fide apprenticeship programs. For the past decade or so, these apprenticeships have not been available due to economic conditions and the perception that young men and women should go to college.

 2.     How do you see the industry changing in regard to the automotive shift in the U.S.?

 We are about to see a major change in the US automotive market. A change for the worse, unfortunately. The new high strength / lightweight steel materials that will be required to meet Federal mandates for fuel economy (I call these Super Steels) will result in tool prices doubling or tripling in the next decade. This will, in turn, force the OEMs to source the tool build to so-called “low cost” countries. That is to say, most, if not all, automotive dies for North America will be built in China, effectively eliminating die build in the North American market.

 Nearly all the other market segments design, build, and run dies for metal stampings in the geographic region that the products will be sold. Automotive needs to take a lesson from the rest of the industry and follow suit. It is not economically rational to build tools in China or Korea or Taiwan for automobiles that will be sold in Connecticut.

3.     What new market opportunities do you see with the reduction in the automotive industry?

 For die shops and stampers to survive the likely loss of automotive work in the next decade, they will need to start doing work for other market segments. This would be a historic move since these companies strictly serve certain markets, even though a die to make an automotive hood is basically the same tool to manufacture a refrigerator or washer or dryer for the appliance market.

 4.     What are some best practices to reach these new markets?

 All of these markets are closed markets – closed, exclusive gated communities. Gaining entry into these markets is difficult. There is a perception of expertise in each one, even though the tools are roughly the same. Companies will have to demonstrate they know the new market and have the technical expertise to perform to win business.

 5.     How do you see customer service/ outreach efforts/ sales forces changing with new technology/ digital media?

 Unfortunately, I don’t. That is to say, the metalforming industry is a very traditional one that does not readily accept change. The last major communication technology shift was 25 years ago with the fax machine. It took a decade for these companies to embrace email.

 You will find some, not many, of these companies online. A few will use Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. These companies are the exception to the rule. And the rule is very traditional 1960s sales and marketing methods.

The curse of technical people, I am convinced, is they are too technical in situations where detail does not matter. They have an obsession with covering every minute detail when a high level concept is all that is needed.

Case in point: advanced feasibility of metal stampings.

Here is a situation where the product geometry, material type, and material thickness is far from frozen. “Frozen” is an automotive term for final designs that are released for production. Final, in this market, means “design intent will most likely change unless hell freezes over”.

At this point in the product development process, someone somewhere is simply looking for feasibility. Not validation.

The formability and proposed process is all we are looking for here. Is it a crash form or a form or a multi-stage draw?

Will it run in a progressive die or transfer?

Hell, even a rough blank size and budgetary tool cost may be required as well. Rough does not mean down to two place decimals on dimensions. Budgetary does not mean down to plus or minus 2 cents.

And that is my two cents: getting down to the level of detail of sourcing blank suppliers, getting 57 people to sign-off on a process that stands a 90% chance of never turning into a job for a product design that stands a 99.9% chance changing somehow someway to make all the advanced work a complete waste of time.

Focus on what matters. Don’t go overboard.

The level of incompetence in this business never seems to decrease over time.

I am talking about the humans that are in a position of management. Strike that. They are in the position of leadership, but provide none.

Leaders create a vision for the future and set achievable goals for the organization to live by.

Instead, management does not focus on the important things, like creating widgets the customer wants to buy and selling those widgets. Make stuff. Sell stuff. Out-perform and out-innovate your competition along the way. That is the bottom line.

Yet, management is stereotypically consumed with micro-managing the business. Kindergarteners have more creative freedom and vision from their teachers.

Lead. Follow. Or get the fuck out of the way.

It amazes me how technical people turned management have trouble communicating their ideas.

I received a three page document the other day that had to be read three times to be understood.

Once I cut through the technical jargon and management buzzwords, the message could have been boiled down to one simple sentence with three simple bullet points:

If the customer asks about Issue X when using our software, please tell them the following:

• We are aware of this isolated issue;
• Please send us your file so we can attempt to replicate Issue X;
• There is no current workaround, but Issue X will be resolved in our next release by the end of the year.

When communicating with your crew, boil it down so the message is clear, concise, and precise.

Having been forced to use Comcast for television and internet since 2006, I am not a big fan of their service. Customer service sucks. Technical support sucks. And their prices have doubled in three years.

For these reasons, I simply love the DirecTV commercial about “Blamestorming”.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z-tHzc7VXU

Having worked in a variety of companies from the Fortune 500 to the Mom and Pop backalley hillbilly metalhead shops, blamestorming occurs all the time. Unfortunately.

I blame management.