Industrial Revolution Ltd

The surprising truth about what motivates us

2011-09-14T19:47:00.002-04:00

The below attached RAS Animate was forwarded to us from a business consultant we use periodicaly to get us out of trouble and get us focused again. I believe and agree with the findings of the lecture. The video talks about what motivates and list 3 factors that lead to better performace & personal satisfaction....

Autonomy, the desire to be self directed
Mastery, the urge to get better at stuff
Purpose, Transcendent place to come to work

The video explains it so no sense going through it again here. I would like to think Industrial Revolution is leaning towards these factors however I know it is not there by a long way. Will ask the guys on the floor tomorrow to get some feed back to see where we are. Will update on the weekend coming.

The Surprising Truth about what motivates, from Dan Pink;s talk a the RSA

September 18, 2011 UPDATE TO ORIGNIAL POST

I sent the video to the employees of Industrial Revolution Ltd and the feedback was interesting. Everyone agreed with Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. They noted they have more of this in a small company like Ind Rev compared to large company like Toyota. Most if not all the guys have worked for companies where you have no autonomy, no purpose, and no incentive for Mastery. They are companies run with an iron fist, dictatorship leadership.

Some of the guys noted the presenter talks fast and draws even faster. For the older guys I don't think they understand the amount of time and editing it would have taken to make that video. However it is very well done.

When it came to the idea of having a 24 hr. period to do anything you wanted, it became evident some restriction would have to be put in place. Everyone said they do not know what they would do. I suspect in the example given in the video people may not have known either until the 24 period started, or more likely if you had more time to think in advance you may be better prepared. After a while talking about it at the shop, when joking around about it, some of the suggestions if they had 24 hrs totally free to do anything;

Load up all the steel, cooper and aluminum they can and take it to a scrap yard.

This could be good, and we do ship out a large bin of steel about every 2 months of scrap. However the intent was to take pretty much everything and get some money for it.

Make a go cart.

The idea behind this is some of the guys see the many different parts and projects we get into and they are pretty sure I have enough junk around to make a few go carts.

Just go to sleep and rest.

So the next step is to set some boundaries, If you are going to use shop supplies a budget of $100 can be spent for the first go round of the free days. I suspect it will take a few of these days before things really get going and running well.

Some of the examples I thought of;

Organizing tools and repairing tool boxes and work stations to the way the individual likes to work (more self-directed).
Work on welding skills and play around with the settings of the machine to learn and feel even more confident (mastery).
Reposition lights or add more lights to make work stations better and more suited to the individual.

Bring Art and Science Back Together

2011-08-26T20:45:00.003-04:00

In the UK, Guardian paper, there is an article “Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google, condemns British education system”. Schmidt criticizes division between science and arts and says UK 'should look back to glory days of Victorian era.

When it comes to poetry and the literary arts I am not very well versed. However growing up my family was very artistic. My one uncle taught me the piano for a while, another uncle taught me how to carve and dream and to appreciate the CBC, an aunt that attempted to teach me how to write properly and make it look good (which I failed at miserably), an aunt that taught me how to figure skate till I was in grade 8 and my father a farmer and a canoe builder which requires a huge amount wood working talent and artistic ability. When I went to school, my course load was always math and science, very little of the arts except mandatory subjects. I did however have an artistic home life.

When I think about it, the majority of engineers I know that are very good do have a creative / artistic side to them. Some of the smartest number crunching engineers I have ever met have been from the former east block Europe countries. They could crunch numbers and analyze things, however I found once they figured out something was not strong enough or had a problem, they could not figure out how to redesign and solve the problem. I believe their education system pushed them very hard academically to be great math and science brains; however the art / design side was missing. So I think maybe the artical is partially correct, but I would say there are good engineers that cannot design and there are good artistic people that can design but cannot engineer. I propose that someone with both engineering and an artistic side is what I would call an inventor. You do not hear about people being called inventors anymore. I consider myself an inventor, it is the best way to describe what we do at Industrial Revolution to win orders. We invent ways to manufacture product for our customers.

Some of the passages of interest from the article are pasted below:

“You need to bring art and science back together."

"It was a time when the same people wrote poetry and built bridges," he said. "Lewis Carroll didn't just write one of the classic fairytales of all time. He was also a mathematics tutor at Oxford. James Clerk Maxwell was described by Einstein as among the best physicists since Newton – but was also a published poet."

Schmidt's comments echoed sentiments expressed by Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, who revealed he was stepping down this week. "The Macintosh turned out so well because the people working on it were musicians, artists, poets and historians – who also happened to be excellent computer scientists," Jobs once told the New York Times.

Adding George Monbiot to Links

2011-07-13T23:11:00.000-04:00

I originally referenced George Monbiot's web page because of his views and insights on nuclear and fossil fuels after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. A few posts below this is where you will find it.

Since I posted the info I have been following his site and below are two more subjects he has written about that I have found very amusing. I find his debates and articles refreshing, he takes a stand on subjects. He is passionate about his subjects, but logical and reasonable.

A Bounty for Blair's Arrest, be sure to following the link in his posting to the web site he started.

The Nuclear Power Debate, you can link to the actual debate, this is not really a good debate as the green piece fellow and other consultant debating against the motion never really talked about the motion but about their own agenda, however it was still very insightful. Interesting how the subject of Bombardier losing a huge train order to Siemens came up. It is also interesting that in England they offer the same strange subsides to solar power as we do here in Ontario, which is ludicrous.

Action for Happiness

2011-07-13T21:58:00.000-04:00

A few months ago I had a post about the "The Movement For Happiness". I just want to make a note that the name has changed to "Action for Happiness". I have updated the link to the site also.

As per the post for the movement for happiness I still believe very much that Ayn Rand's philosophy does not conflict in any way with this movement for happiness. Even though she has conservative views about the economy everything I have read revolves around the pursuit of happiness.

Plasma Cutting Bolt Holes

2011-07-13T21:40:00.000-04:00

Back in August 2010 we obtained a contract to make transfromer core clamps for a company near us. It originally started out to be 5 clamp sets per day which consists of 4 angles of various sizes averaging 16" in length with an average of 6 holes / slots and tapped holes put into them. It was to double in size over a few months. In the 2 months it went to an average of 30 clamp systems or 120 parts, 7 days a week from 5 days a week. We where using the CNC plasma to cut all the slots and holes and used the mill for the tapped holes.

In the two months we produced over 7000 angle parts, which corelates to 42,000 holes . The accuracy of the plasma is dependant on how long you alow the tips to run before changing. For cutting holes in wall thickness from 1/8" to 1/2" thick and hole diamters from 1/4" to 1" we can hold +- 0.035" diameter easily and location +-0.008 with ease. We did however have to give up the order as the customer required a tolerance that was tighter than this for the hole diameter.

We believe the project has been a success even though we did loose the order. It has given us a very strong base line for future quotes and has opened up the range of possiblities for new customers. If you happen to a product line that requires parts to be bolted together and the tolerances given above are acceptable which we believe they are for most structural work, then plasma cutting is without doubt the most cost effective way to do it.

We set up custom jigs to load and unload the CNC plasma table with angle, channel, beams etc from which we procede to cut the holes and parts required.

Going Critical, Nuclear Power / Coal

2011-03-26T13:19:00.003-04:00

Going Critical ---follow this link, it is good!

The above link "Going Critical" will take you to George Monbiot's web site. I recommend you read it. He has recently been on CBC radio and I liked his argument for Nuclear Power and agree with it also. He notes that more radiation is given off from coal production which is true and also notes that even an old bad designed nuclear site in Japan gets hit with one of the world’s largest earthquakes and one of the world’s largest Tsunami ever, yes there are issue, however compared to fossil fuels it is not anywhere close to being as deadly.

I have recently been doing work for coal mines and I have within the last year or so done some indirect work for the nuclear industry. For the coal mines we help with transfer chutes and other areas, for the nuclear industry we have done some structural and lifting device engineering related to the fuel cell production.

I also recommend you go back and read some of his other articals. Again agree with all I have seen so far. "Atomised" is also a good read.

Smart about 3D, lets use it

2010-12-11T10:06:00.000-05:00

When we design parts and assemblies using any 3D program the greatest benefit of this is we have already built the unit in the computer at least once before it goes to the floor.

When designing using 3D we make parts and assemble them just like you would in the real world. During the design phase designers find errors that would not normally be found when just looking at 2D drawings. We then modify the parts and assemblies to insure everything fits properly and is located in the correct location. Talk to any designer using 3D modeling and I am sure they will agree with this. The same thing happens if you are working on the shop floor building something from scratch (in the 3d world). You will put a series of parts together and then during final assembly you will often find that a part of two does not fit as you thought and you will modify on the fly to make it work. The exact same thing happens when designing in 3D, however it is typically a lot less expensive to modify a part on the computer than it is in the real world. This is the greatest reason for using the 3D modeling. You have already built a virtual part on the computer even before it gets to the floor.

It was about 15 years ago Industrial Revolution started using Pro/Eng for our designs. Before that everything was done in AutoCAD. What we found was the errors on the shop floor from mistakes on the drawings dropped by over 70% within a few weeks of switching to Pro/Eng. We switched to Pro/ENG not for this reason, but because many of our customers where using it and we wanted to match with them seamlessly. The previously unforeseen benefit of reduced rework however was huge even for a small shop like us.

We would like to see anyone using 3D modeling to please supply the part and general assembly drawings in a dxf format so we can use the data direct from your own files. What I do so often is redraw the locations of tabs and parts for that have already been modeled. We often etch the layout direct to the metal parts. We are trying to eliminate the layout time for each part we are manufacturing and to increase the accuracy. However mistakes are still made sometimes if I am only copying from a 2D drawing to make another 2D drawing for etching. It seems to me to be a huge waste of time and a shame that we cannot use the data that is already available and correct. The benefits that are gained from doing the 3D modeling are being lost, or at least not utilized to the fullest.

I am passionate about this because manufacturing in North America is falling behind the rest of the world very fast. It is not just the fault of manufacturing but also government hindrance, but that is another story. We have the tools being used already to manufacture even better and to attempt to keep the price down.

Only those companies that are using their tools and skills to the maximum benefit will survive in the global market.

Building Not For Sale / Ind Rev Sales Are UP

2010-12-04T18:36:00.000-05:00

The for sale sign came down in October. We had a few low ball offers that we did not accept. With so many places for sale the land devolopers are holding out for the guys that are bankrupt and must sell. With the economy being so slow for so long I have not seen a lot of companies starting up and growing. It would be this type of company that would likely purchase our building.

Industrial Revolution Ltd is continuing to see an upswing in sales. I would describe it as fragil as the companies that we are getting work from are doing well, however they are doing well because of others downsizing. What we like to see is everyone doing well and everyone growing. Until that happens North America is still in potential trouble.

Industrial Revolution Ltd to build CIME in Canada

2010-08-03T11:06:00.001-04:00

Over the last few weeks Industrial Revolution Ltd has made arrangements to fabricate portions of all furnaces sold in the USA and Canada. Initially the hydraulics, cradle and transfer systems of the furnace will be manufactured in Brantford Ontario. The furnace body and control system will still be manufactured in Italy until sufficient production volume has been established to justify building these parts here in North America.

The furnace body will be shipped from Italy to Canada and integrated into the frame and tested here. The assembled unit will be shipped to the customer from our location in Canada. If the furnace is being shipped to a Canadian customer all CSA approvals will be done before shipping.

We are looking forward to this new and even stronger relationship with CIME.

Available, Building or Work?

2010-05-19T22:42:00.001-04:00

It should be no surprise to anyone that business is very slow. We are seeing an increase in quoted projects and also an increase in sales volume, however it still has a long ways to go before we are back to what I would call normal sales volume.

The building we are in has been listed on MLS for sale or lease. If our sales remain the same level we need to down size and reduce our overhead. Thus the reason the building is listed.

Industrial Revolution Ltd is still a thriving business and we are going to make it through this latest bump in the road. Our current thought is the building will not sell because the market in this area is currently flooded with “for sale” and “for lease” properties. If it does sell or lease we have made plans with 2 other business that will let us move in with them depending on the exact details.

If sales pick up and we start landing the large capital projects that we are good at doing the building will be taken off the market. So either sales come back or the overhead is reduced. Eventually something will happen I just don’t know what will happen first.

The day the sign went up Karl had just finished cutting the lawn and the guys showed up to install it. It was around 10:30 am. By 12 noon I had three calls with requests for quotes for large capital projects (rail industry project, replacement close capture hood arms for the foundry industry and a PTA request in the medical industry). What a strange day, this is why I say I really don't know what will happen first.

The Movement for Happiness

2010-04-24T14:03:00.002-04:00

I recently heard an interview on the CBC radio show Q about “The Movement for Happiness”. The podcast can be found at the following link, the interview is the first on the show.

The founder for The Movement for Happiness is Lord Richard Layard. He believes that Ayn Rand’s objectivism Philosophy is a terrible philosophy and it does not lead to happiness. He believes her philosophy as everyone should look out for oneself only and if they do this everyone will be happy eventually. This is considered selfish and does not lead to a happier society. It is only a small part of the interview however I would like to defend Ayn Rand because this is not what her books say, however if you don’t read them I totally understand how you may think this with the clips that are on the net. Even in my past posts I have mentioned that this sounds bad. I would like to clarify here.

In my post dated December 30th I talk about how the oath taken and how it sounds like I am selfish not willing to live for another man or make sacrifices for society. I indicate that the oath is mine also now and that I agree with the book, however I did not indicate why and explain what it really means. It was the interview I heard on the CBC that prompted me to go back and read and now defend and explain what it means.

I believe Ayn Rand would have agreed with Lord Richard Layard and if they had talked together would have been able to help each other. Ayn Rand believed that the pursuit of life is pursuit for happiness. Below I have copied some sections from her books to illustrate my point.

Right to Pursuit of Happiness,

The Right to the Pursuit of Happiness means man’s right to live for himself, to choose what constitutes his own private, personal, individual happiness and to work for its achievement, so long as he respects the same right in others. It means that man cannot be forced to devote his life to the happiness of another man nor of any number of other men. It means that the collective cannot decide what is to be the purpose of a man’s existence nor prescribe his choice of happiness.
“Textbook of Americanism,” The Ayn Rand Column, 84.

Observe, in this context, the intellectual precision of the Founding Fathers: they spoke of the right to the pursuit of happiness—not of the right to happiness. It means that a man has the right to take the actions he deems necessary to achieve his happiness; it does not mean that others must make him happy.
“Man’s Rights,” The Virtue of Selfishness

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.
“About the Author,” Atlas Shrugged, Appendix

When one speaks of man’s right to exist for his own sake, for his own rational self-interest, most people assume automatically that this means his right to sacrifice others. Such an assumption is a confession of their own belief that to injure, enslave, rob or murder others is in man’s self-interest—which he must selflessly renounce. The idea that man’s self-interest can be served only by a non-sacrificial relationship with others has never occurred to those humanitarian apostles of unselfishness, who proclaim their desire to achieve the brotherhood of men. And it will not occur to them, or to anyone, so long as the concept “rational” is omitted from the context of “values,” “desires,” “self-interest” and ethics.
“The Objectivist Ethics,” The Virtue of S

Let those who are actually concerned with peace observe that capitalism gave mankind the longest period of peace in history—a period during which there were no wars involving the entire civilized world—from the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

Happiness

Happiness is the successful state of life, pain is an agent of death. Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values. A morality that dares to tell you to find happiness in the renunciation of your happiness—to value the failure of your values—is an insolent negation of morality. A doctrine that gives you, as an ideal, the role of a sacrificial animal seeking slaughter on the altars of others, is giving you death as your standard. By the grace of reality and the nature of life, man—every man—is an end in himself, he exists for his own sake, and the achievement of his own happiness is his highest moral purpose.

But neither life nor happiness can be achieved by the pursuit of irrational whims. Just as man is free to attempt to survive in any random manner, but will perish unless he lives as his nature requires, so he is free to seek his happiness in any mindless fraud, but the torture of frustration is all he will find, unless he seeks the happiness proper to man. The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live.
Galt’s Speech

Happiness is not to be achieved at the command of emotional whims. Happiness is not the satisfaction of whatever irrational wishes you might blindly attempt to indulge. Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy—a joy without penalty or guilt, a joy that does not clash with any of your values and does not work for your own destruction, not the joy of escaping from your mind, but of using your mind’s fullest power, not the joy of faking reality, but of achieving values that are real, not the joy of a drunkard, but of a producer. Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seeks nothing but rational values and finds his joy in nothing but rational actions.

Just as I support my life, neither by robbery nor alms, but by my own effort, so I do not seek to derive my happiness from the injury or the favor of others, but earn it by my own achievement. Just as I do not consider the pleasure of others as the goal of my life, so I do not consider my pleasure as the goal of the lives of others. Just as there are no contradictions in my values and no conflicts among my desires—so there are no victims and no conflicts of interest among rational men, men who do not desire the unearned and do not view one another with a cannibal’s lust, men who neither make sacrifices nor accept them.
Galt’s Speech,

In psychological terms, the issue of man’s survival does not confront his consciousness as an issue of “life or death,” but as an issue of “happiness or suffering.” Happiness is the successful state of life, suffering is the warning signal of failure, of death. Just as the pleasure-pain mechanism of man’s body is an automatic indicator of his body’s welfare or injury, a barometer of its basic alternative, life or death—so the emotional mechanism of man’s consciousness is geared to perform the same function, as a barometer that registers the same alternative by means of two basic emotions: joy or suffering. Emotions are the automatic results of man’s value judgments integrated by his subconscious; emotions are estimates of that which furthers man’s values or threatens them, that which is for him or against him—lightning calculators giving him the sum of his profit or loss.

But while the standard of value operating the physical pleasure-pain mechanism of man’s body is automatic and innate, determined by the nature of his body—the standard of value operating his emotional mechanism, is not. Since man has no automatic knowledge, he can have no automatic values; since he has no innate ideas, he can have no innate value judgments.
“The Objectivist Ethics,” The Virtue of Selfishness, 27.

Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values. If a man values productive work, his happiness is the measure of his success in the service of his life. But if a man values destruction, like a sadist—or self-torture, like a masochist—or life beyond the grave, like a mystic—or mindless “kicks,” like the driver of a hotrod car—his alleged happiness is the measure of his success in the service of his own destruction. It must be added that the emotional state of all those irrationalists cannot be properly designated as happiness or even as pleasure: it is merely a moment’s relief from their chronic state of terror.

Neither life nor happiness can be achieved by the pursuit of irrational whims. Just as man is free to attempt to survive by any random means, as a parasite, a moocher or a looter, but not free to succeed at it beyond the range of the moment—so he is free to seek his happiness in any irrational fraud, any whim, any delusion, any mindless escape from reality, but not free to succeed at it beyond the range of the moment nor to escape the consequences.
“The Objectivist Ethics,” The Virtue of Selfishness, 28.

The maintenance of life and the pursuit of happiness are not two separate issues. To hold one’s own life as one’s ultimate value, and one’s own happiness as one’s highest purpose are two aspects of the same achievement. Existentially, the activity of pursuing rational goals is the activity of maintaining one’s life; psychologically, its result, reward and concomitant is an emotional state of happiness. It is by experiencing happiness that one lives one’s life, in any hour, year or the whole of it. And when one experiences the kind of pure happiness that is an end in itself—the kind that makes one think: “This is worth living for”—what one is greeting and affirming in emotional terms is the metaphysical fact that life is an end in itself.

But the relationship of cause to effect cannot be reversed. It is only by accepting “man’s life” as one’s primary and by pursuing the rational values it requires that one can achieve happiness—not by taking “happiness” as some undefined, irreducible primary and then attempting to live by its guidance. If you achieve that which is the good by a rational standard of value, it will necessarily make you happy; but that which makes you happy, by some undefined emotional standard, is not necessarily the good. To take “whatever makes one happy” as a guide to action means: to be guided by nothing but one’s emotional whims. Emotions are not tools of cognition; to be guided by whims—by desires whose source, nature and meaning one does not know—is to turn oneself into a blind robot, operated by unknowable demons (by one’s stale evasions), a robot knocking its stagnant brains out against the walls of reality which it refuses to see.
“The Objectivist Ethics,” The Virtue of Selfishness, 29

Vbuzzer and Skype

2010-04-13T17:46:00.000-04:00

If you have Vbuzzer, our account name is "industrial-revolution"

If you have Skype, our account name is "industrial-revolution-ltd"

I am not using video on either these accounts, using them as phone accounts only. You can also text using either accounts.

Industrial Revolution Has a New Fax Number 519-772-4571

2010-04-13T17:44:00.000-04:00

As noted with our phone number we are doing the same thing with our fax number.

This may change. I will update it here as I try different things. It is over the computer and appears to work fine.

Industrial Revolution Has a New Phone Number 519-629-3675

2010-04-13T17:41:00.002-04:00

We are currently in the process of changing our phone system. This is being done to reduce cost. At this time we are going to try using a company called Vbuzzer. This is a similar system to Skype however this system has Canadian numbers, Skype does not.

New phone number is 519-629-3675.

This may change. I will be adding more numbers once convinced this is going to work fine. I will update here as I try different things. It is over the computer so the sound quality is not as good as the regular phone, however it is still very good. You can leave a message at this location also just like any other phone. I do like this even better however because I also get an e-mail notification that a message has arrived.

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."

2009-12-30T11:12:00.003-05:00

I finished "Atlas Shrugged" early this morning at 2:30 am. This is the best book I have ever read. I want to read it again as I am sure I missed a lot, but I dread the thought of trying to read it again, it took me forever (6 weeks). There are a few key chapters I will definitely read again. In an earlier blog post I titled "Who is John Galt" I wrote a quote I found on line from John Galt the main hero in the book, “I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.” When I first wrote this I did not understand it or the significance of it, also, it is an oath taken by the characters in the book. I thought maybe I should not put it in as it sounds like I am selfish not willing to live for another man or make sacrifices for society. However after ready the book, I understand the content and this is definitely my belief. I can relate to every section of the book, there is nothing I disagree with. I have a personal story that matches every section of the book, I just did not know the significance of it till now and how to put all the experiences of the pieces of my life together. Also I am amazed at how many parts of this book I have heard from other people. I have started to ask them if they have read "Atlas Shrugged" and so far most people I have asked, which I have great respect for, have not read the book. This makes this book even more increadable to me.

I am so glad that I started this blog, for if it were not for it, I would not have been direct to this book and I would not have read it.

2010 is going to be an incredible year as I will continue to live by the oath in the title; it will just be more focused and with more purpose than it has been in the last few years. This book has helped me refocus on what I believed all my life.

Industrial Revolution Ltd, built from Carnegie Steel

2009-12-09T08:47:00.000-05:00

A few picture of the Industrial Revolution Building, why I really like this business and feel like it is a part of me.

The old section of the building is the section I like the most. Many people around Brantford know the building as the old Coca Cola building. Coca Cola used to bottle pop at this location. The old syrup tank still exists as do the drains in the floor where the bottles were washed out.

From what we can tell the old section was built around 1920. The exposed beams in the loft have Carnegie USA rolled into them. The structure is both bolted and rivoted, this would have been the time when bolts where getting more cost effective and starting to replace rivoted construction. I believe Carnegie sold his steel mills in the early 1900 or late 1800, I don't know how long they continued to roll Carnegie into the beams.

The clips for the wood ceiling beams are rivoted to the steel beam and bolted to the wood beam. I suspect that this is one of the evolutionary steps to what we know now as a pre-fabricated building.

The east and the north sides of our building were added on to in the 1970's. The picture below is the east door into the building. This door goes into our sand blast area and the employee’s regularly use it to enter the building. During the summer I had the locks changed on the building. I would say I have the locks changed every two years. The lock smith comes in, fixes the door and locks and re-keys them for me. A few years ago we had a very large employee not able to get his key to work; we had forgotten to give him a new key, as he had been off for a few days. In apparent frustration that the lock no longer seemed to work he decided to pull on the door to get it open, he pulled hard enough that he actually pulled the door off the hinges. Although the hinges where rusty we never expected someone to be large and strong enough to accomplish tearing off the door. Since then we have reinforced the door and every time I have had the locks changed I put the following sign up.

Not knowing the purpose of the sign, it scares a lot of customers and venders. I have two thoughts on this, if you know us well enough to enter the side door un-announced then you likely know our sense of hummer, and if it scares the crap out of you, then you probably should be entering through the front door. This is an industrial establishment, even though we do everything possible to keep it a safe environment I would not recommend to anyone to just wonder around an unfamiliar building.

First Head to Head with China Since Starting The Blog

2009-11-26T07:51:00.001-05:00

On November 12th, I had an entry "Can North America Compete". We are currently working on a project to produce 1000 welding machines. They are GMAW welding machines and our plan is to produce a 250 to 300 amp machine, approximately 40% duty cycle. We are currently working on our design, gathering prices for the components required and initiating trial testing on various parts of the machine.

Welding machines are not totally foreign to us as our business uses welding machines extensively as we are metal fabrication company. However with our experience in the foundry industry, specifically induction melting equipment, a standard CV welding machine is very simple when compared to induction melting equipment. Some of our recent larger fabrication projects have included the shunt / back iron for Linear Induction Motors where special attention is given to the magnetic properties and issues arising from this. All these experiences make us very qualified to produce a CV welding machine.

I am sure there will be problems and we will learn new things as we proceed with this project however our experience gives us a very solid base to start with. If you are a supplier for welding machine components or have any special knowledge or insight in this field, that you would be willing to share with us, we would welcome any and all suggestions.

The Intimate Sound of Molten Metal

2009-11-25T13:37:00.002-05:00

We received a request last week to quote 4 U-shaped, 1800 lb capacity iron pour ladles. It has been almost 2 years now since we have had a request to quote any ladles. Up to this point we would make anywhere from 5 to 20 per year ranging in size from 150 lb to 35,000 lb capacity. Not all of these would be pouring ladles, we have also made tundish and duplex ladles for aluminum and iron foundries.

This recent request got me thinking about ladles again, and one of the most compelling thoughts was the sound of metal pouring. After graduating from Carlton University in 1990, my first job was with Wescast Industries. Wescast had recently purchased Galtaco in Brantford Ontario and I was in charge of bringing the melt and pouring departments into operation.

During the early production days when the plant started pouring, only one shift would run five days a week. To keep the day shift supplied with iron we kept the three five megawatt eighteen ton, line frequency coreless furnaces running throughout the night.

During the late afternoons and nights only two melt operators would be in the plant. It was common for me to work the night shifts to help out, and get the iron melted that was required for the day shift. I liked to turn off all the over head fans, that way all you could hear was the hum of the coreless furnace, sometimes the hum was more audible than others and a work order would be produced to check the shunts. Occasionally in the early days, a capacitor would self destruct with much the same sound as that of a cannon going off, during which time your heart stops beating in total fear for your life.

What I remember and enjoyed the most about these nights, when everything was turned off was the sound of the motel iron. When you toss a large piece of steel or cast into the molten metal and you hear the splash, more like a kuplunk, as it is not really a splash. Similarly when the furnace is poured into a ladle there is somewhat of a bubbling sound as the stream of iron hits the pool of iron in the ladle. If you have ever stood at the base of a water fall where water falls into a deep pool, it is that sound, but denser. That is the best way I can describe it. Experimenting with a launder system for a reason I no longer recall, the sound of the iron running down the launder was very similar to water running through a narrow rocky creek, but again I would describe it as denser. Noting the sound for the first time was surprising to me. After some thought it became obvious that there would be a noise associated with the pouring of iron, but the foundry is such a noisy environment you just don’t think about it. The furnaces being lined frequency they were always turned off when pouring, so even the noise of the furnace was gone.

Many years later Industrial Revolution Ltd. installed fume hoods into an aluminum smelting operation, through the night a similar situation happened, the dust collectors were off for some work we were doing, however the operation was still pouring Aluminum from the coreless furnaces to a reverb holding furnace. During the few times it had to be done you could hear the molten aluminum running through the launder system. Interestingly aluminum does not sound the same as iron when poured.

When I describe the sound of the aluminum, iron or water, to me, the viscosity is similar, I think of pouring warm molasses or cold maple syrup, the viscosity is much higher and the sound is totally different. Iron, aluminum and water have the same viscosity sound in my head however they do not sound the same as the higher viscosity fluids. To me the sound is denser. If I was a musician, I would probably describe it as a pitch / tone difference, but I am an engineer.

I regularly tell people that in order to push the limits of their individual discipline, it is necessary to become extremely intimate with your subject. I would use the sound of molten metal as an example of the intimacy level I believe is required to be good at your craft. I am not implying for anyone to go out and learn the sound of molten metal, however, if you are able to notice and learn something that would seam useless to most people and apply it to your discipline; this demonstrates having achieved a level of intimacy.

GP & Larry the Cable Guy @ TKW

2009-11-18T09:34:00.002-05:00

Industrial Revolution Ltd represents Crescenzi Induction Melting Equipment (CIME) a company from Italy with in our opinion, the world’s best pressure pour furnace design. In the fall of 2007 I received a call at home from TKW, a German based company, on a Sunday afternoon asking if I could be in Tennessee the next day for a meeting about the CIME furnace. Do to my busy schedule and the short notice for making travel arrangements it was not possible for me to get there in time; however I did make it there for Tuesday. Not realizing that they were expecting a formal presentation I had no choice but to wing it, putting something together in a mater of minutes from information I had on my laptop and relying on my not so impeccable memory. My audience consisted of about a dozen influential company officials and to add to my growing anxiety my first video conference was to include four additional company officials via video link from Wisconsin.

Despite my best efforts, on a wing and a prayer, I was prodded, poked and roasted by almost all the attending parties. Surprisingly, during the presentation I began to take notice of a very familiar individual taking part in the meeting, “Larry the Cable Guy”. I will call him LTCG for short. A somewhat heavy set scruffy looking individual dressed in plad with a notably red neck demeanour. LTCG preceded to tell me that if I expected to sell a furnace to them I had better show up with my “A” game, and went on to explain to me in painful detail that my presentation was a piece of crap. Being the professional that I am, I noted his advise and thanked him for his feed back, explaining to LTCG and the rest of the group that my presentation was below par due to the short notice, and the fact that I was actually traveling, or making travel arrangements for 24 of the 36 hours since initial contact from TKW. Feeling discouraged by the preceding events and wondering what was to go wrong next the guys on the Video link asked me to leave the meeting and told another fellow to give me a tour of the plant.

Up to this point I had not seen the plant, or for that mater been given any information as to the plant layout. While touring the facility, I was convinced that this would be the last time I would see TKW Tennessee. At the end of the tour my guide walked me to the front door where goodbyes were exchanged. To my amazement the plant manager emerged to ask a few more additional questions and proceeded to tell me that TKW representatives were scheduled to fly to Italy to see the Crescenzi furnaces in operation.

The rest was history; the furnace was purchased and installed. Unfortunately two years later with the economic turn down, the plant is scheduled to be closed in January as noted in “Modern Casting”.

I have always been very impressed with the CIME furnace and the company itself, however during and after the installation I learned much more about both the CIME furnace and its manufacturer. Even more than before, I now have the utmost respect for the principles and designs of this equipment. There is some information on the Industrial Revolution Ltd web site regarding the CIME furnace with additional updates to come in the near future.

During the installation phase of the CIME furnace at TKW one of the odd and humours incidents occurred when Ing. Introna (Engineer GainPiero Introna who we call GP here in North America due to pronunciation issues of his real name, please note, there is no relation of GainPiero to the jeep driving, guinea pig on “Hammy Hamster” the popular 80’s kids TV show) from CIME was in Tennessee to discuss installation details. LTCG was sitting across from GP and my self and asked in a voice precisely reminiscant the comedy star “GP what got you into the furnace industry”. GP looked at me with the look I get when he does not under stand. I repeated to GP “what got you into the furnace industry” in my Canadian / Michigan voice. GP, now giving me his look of understanding, in his Italian accent then says “I graduated from university and started to work for a refractory company” LTCG reiterated with the same confused look GP gave me, prompting me to repeat, “He graduated from University and started to work for a refractory company” The conversation continued along the same lines for several minutes. All parties speaking English with the Canadian translating English between the two of them. I am now an official translator for southern USA English and Italian accent English. Perhaps I can broaden my resume and find work at the UN translating critical information between world leaders using apparently universal Canadian English.

Who Is John Galt?

2009-11-13T18:12:00.001-05:00

It has been noted that I appear to be a huge John Galt fan. That is John Galt the main hero of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. To date I have not read any of Ayn Rand's material, however listening to the CBC, stories and thoughts of her's come up time to time.

To the library we go, actually on line to see if it is in, and it is not, the last person to take it out has not returned it and it is over due. Atlas Shrugged is a 1088 page book, no wonder it is overdue.

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." -- John Galt

Not sure if this is me or not, will decide after reading the book.

The last few books I have read and really liked;

John Gray, Black Mass
John Gray, Straw Dogs
William D. McArdle, Exercise Physiology

The last book I have read and really did not like;

Dan Brown, The DaVinci Code

I did not see the movie, but I kept hearing how great the book was. When it first came out my wife bought it for me, I tried to read it a few times but I could not get past the first few chapters. So a few months ago I decided I am going to read the book to the end. Thought was it must get better, but it did not get better. Now I am debating if I should rent the movie or not.

Can North America Compete

2009-11-12T13:56:00.001-05:00

Can North American industry compete against the manufacturing sectors of Asia or Eastern Europe? We at Industrial Revolution strongly believe that the answer is yes!

The uniform consensus in North America is that the low labour rates and other favourable conditions in overseas markets, which contribute to lower cost finished goods represent a huge leverage towards all but low production quantities and high tech items.

Industrial Revolution would like to challenge the believe that North America cannot compete with Asian or Eastern European countries and invite any company currently purchasing or planning to purchase manufactured goods form these markets to allow us to quote on this work.

A future blog will be posted to show a case study that will demonstrate that we can be competitive.

Starting today, if you have a product that is currently being manufactured over seas, give us a chance to quote. We can be competitive on landed at your door price head to head with any manufacturer in the world.

Starting The Blog

2009-11-11T20:28:00.000-05:00

Some are hesitant to publish this kind of info to the public, especially as they don't want competitors to know what their secrets are; I'm not concerned with keeping this information confidential. My only secret is intensity; i believe in my will to work, out perform and endure to be greater than any one of my competitors'. I feel as if writing this information online will even further motivate me. Interpret this how you will, arrogance or otherwise, but this is a real look inside MY head.

You can expect to see what I am currently quoting on, business successes, failures, problems, plans etc. I am sure this blog will evolve over time. Blog updates will be sent regularly and possible a few times a day.

Casting Design and Development

2009-05-18T18:15:00.000-04:00

Most of the employees of Industrial Revolution Ltd have come from a foundry background and we have always maintained a strong presence in the industry. Casting design and development has always been an integral part of our business since its inception. Our customers have benefited from this expertise and used it to their advantage.

If you have a product you are interested in having converted to a cast or an existing cast you wish to duplicate or improve, Industrial Revolution Ltd is ready to assist you.

Abrasion & Wear: Gets Promoted

2009-05-18T18:13:00.001-04:00

For many years Industrial Revolution has been performing hard facing, clad plating, integrating white iron castings into products, and in general working with exotic materials from around the world to produce long-lasting engineered solutions to various challenges. In both the foundry and steel fabrication industries, you will see we have added new links to better illustrate what Industrial Revolution Ltd has to offer.

Plasma Transfer Arc (PTA)

2009-03-30T18:17:00.000-04:00

March 30, 2009

The PTA machine is running smoothly and currently at about 30% capacity. We have started to use Chrome Carbide powder and it looks and performs very well. Our position now is if the component can be placed on the PTA machine, we will recommend this process over hardfacing with stick or wire.

December 29, 2008

Earlier this year a Plasma Transfer Arc (PTA) machine was installed at Industrial Revolution. We are actively looking for projects that can utilize this machine. The primary use of the machine currently is to apply a Tungsten overlay to mining equipment. The Tungsten overlay can increase the life many times depending on the situation.Hard facing by Plasma Transfer Arc (PTA) has many advantages and markets:

Agricultural, Lawn and Garden, Construction Equipment, Industrial Equipment, Mining Equipment and Railroad Equipment.

Sales Representation Wanted

2009-03-30T18:16:00.000-04:00

The Industrial Revolution's close capture fume hood is the most efficient, reliable and easily maintained hood for induction furnaces on the market. Our company's strength is in the design and manufacturing of equipment like these fume hoods. We would like to work together with a well established company with a proven sales force. Currently, Industrial Revolution Ltd does not have sales team, all our work comes from either this web site or referrals within the industry.

CNC Saw Cutting

2008-11-28T18:21:00.001-05:00

With our Kasto saw we can automatically cut steel beams and shapes up to 16" x 16" in cross section. Combine the saw cutting along with our shot blasting and many other services, we can be the cost effective, high quality supplier of your product.

Shot Blasting

2008-11-28T18:20:00.000-05:00

With the installation of a 4 wheel Wheelabrator shot blast machine this year we are currently looking for production blasting requirements to fill the capacity. We can handle beams and shapes up to 60 feet long and 36" deep or items that can fit through a 32" x 48" opening.