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President's Corner

"Could You Use a New Customer or Two?"

As is likely fairly evident to you by now, we're pretty actively engaged in the activities of the National Tooling & Machining Association (NTMA). We've been a member since 1976 and have been attending bi-annual National Conferences, Technical Conferences and Purchasing Fairs for over 20 years. It's the latter that I write about this month.

One of the primary missions of the NTMA is to help member shops connect with potential customers. It's accomplished through "backwards" tradeshows - Contract Manufacturing Purchasing Fairs.

We all know how very difficult it is today to make those first contacts with new, potential customers. The obstacles are huge; few receptionists, empty lobbies, direct lines that are hard to uncover, voice mail. You know the drill. So, picture a day in which the Association brings in 30-50 "customers" who are available in one room for an entire day. Imagine making as many as 25 sales calls in a day, picking and choosing who to get in front of, face-to-face, depending on your shop's own disciplines and core competencies.

Such an opportunity is coming up in Irvine, CA on May 12 as the NTMA partners with the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) with a creative twist. This Purchasing Fair will emphasize "Re-Shoring" - an attempt to attract customers who are interested in bringing their work back to the U.S. from overseas. Harry Moser, Chairman Emeritus of Agie Charmilles, is leading this effort on behalf of American manufacturing in general and the nationwide membership of the NTMA and PMA in particular.

Both members and non-members may attend, but attending as a member is surely the economically smart way to do it.

Several years ago, we earned a new customer from one of the Purchasing Fairs. Our lifetime sales with this (still very active) customer are $3.6 million and rising. Was it worth the small investment in NTMA membership? As Fox News would say, "We Report. You Decide.". See you in IrvineÖ

-John Belzer

This Month's Featured Process - Blanchard Grinding

Blanchard Grinding, technically referred to as Rotary Surface Grinding, quickly removes stock from one side of a part...typically a part too large to be Double-Disc Ground. Parts as large as 48" ◊ 84" or 60" ◊ 72" can be Blanchard Ground on our largest machine. Dimensional tolerances to ± .001", parallelism to .001", and flatness to .001" are achievable on all our Blanchard Grinders. Using significantly greater horsepower than other grinding methods, Blanchard Grinding removes large amounts of stock quickly and efficiently.