Articles by John Sprovieri

Good news! U.S. manufacturers employed 12,922,000 people in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That’s 4 percent more than in October 2021 and 13 percent more than in April 2020, the manufacturing employment low point of the COVID recession. 

In 1923, Albrecht Schnizler designed a hand-cranked drill dubbed the Metallbohrdreher, or “metal drill driver.” That drill became the inspiration for the brand Metabo.

When Ken Turzinski, president of TYRI Americas in Stevens Point, WI, returned from a local trade show a few years ago, he came back with a small, innocuous plastic product. Little did he know that the product would help his company become more lean and sustainable.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the airline industry particularly hard. Thousands of flights were canceled. In some cases, entire aircraft fleets were parked and mothballed.

One of my favorite dishes is the Cajun ribeye at Morton’s Steakhouse. It’s 16 ounces of juicy, spicy goodness. As much as I love the dish, however, it’s not something I could eat every day. I’d quickly develop coronary artery disease. I’d also go broke! A balanced diet is more sensible.

U.S. manufacturers have faced significant headwinds this year: supply chain problems, a skilled labor shortage, inflation, and the war in Ukraine. And yet despite these issues—or perhaps, because of them—manufacturers continued to invest in people, plants and equipment.

Rotor blades, guide vanes and other components for jet engines are made from costly materials and machined to precise tolerances. Such components are typically made in batches, due to the time involved in setting up machine centers. The process also requires a fair number of people to tend the machines and assist in changeover.

There’s nothing quite like a multistation automated assembly system. Watching robots, actuators and indexers go about their carefully choreographed routines with little or no human intervention can seem nothing short of miraculous.

Based in the Chicago suburb of Wheeling, IL, Precision Zone Inc. specializes in repairing electric motors and industrial electronics, such as AC and DC drives, power supplies, controls and displays. 

Assembling the world’s most advanced air defense missile requires technological innovation, especially when annual production is set to increase to 500 by 2024.