Electro Fire

We take the recycling to the curb knowing basically one thing: they’ll take this bin of recyclable goods away and magically turn it into new products. But many people don’t think of recycling as what it truly is: a manufacturing process. After the plastics are picked up from the recycling bin, they are separated from [...]

The quick answer to whether or not you should retrofit your manufacturing facility with new, efficient lighting is: yes, you should. But, there’s more to the decision than whether you should or should not—there are decisions to be made about who will do the retrofit. The truth is, your own maintenance staff could easily change [...]

There’s been a lot of chatter recently about the prospect of bringing the Apple Corporation’s manufacturing of signature electronic devices like iPads and Macbooks onto home turf—as far as I can tell, it started when one well-intentioned but misinformed blogger proclaimed that brining the manufacturing profit margin home, from China where Apple’s devices are currently [...]

The numbers for November are finally coming together, and while manufacturing overall dropped by almost a half a percentage point, those declines were almost exclusively in the auto parts industry and may have reflected a shorter workweek in factories during holiday months. Although most sectors were down compared to the rest of the year, at [...]

The incandescent light bulb: a revolutionary invention that some have recently called outdated and inefficient. Congress even went so far in 2007 as to pass legislation that would have banned the production and sales of the incandescent bulb in America, starting in the coming year. With a last minute amendment, the ban was reversed. Congress [...]

For the first time in over half a year, industrial production in U.S. factories has declined sharply. The decline was only 0.2 percent, according to The Federal Reserve, including the nation’s factories, utilities and mines. The largest decrease was in the industrial sector, which dropped 0.4 percent, mostly due to a drop in domestic automobile [...]

When you buy a prepared food product, you put your trust in the product and the company that manufactures it. A legitimate question to ask is: how do I know this food product is safe and what are the manufacturing procedures that ensure its safety? Food safety standards in manufacturing facilities have emerged gradually and [...]

R.S. Owens & Company manufactures the 13 inch golden Oscar award statues given to winners at the Academy Awards, but this year there is a slight problem—a dispute between the company’s management and workers might mean that no new Oscars will be manufactured before next year’s awards ceremony. The dispute is over a potential pay [...]

If you need to design and office space for your employees, you’re likely wondering where to start—what type of desks should I buy? Do they all need offices? Do they all even need their own desk? Is there a way to control noise even though my employees will have work in close proximity because of [...]

If you’re old enough to be reading a blog about manufacturing, you’re probably also old enough to remember one of the most well-known Mr. Rogers segments of all time—the tour of the crayon factory where we, America’s curious schoolchildren, got to watch the Crayola people make a batch of yellow crayons. It was pretty cool. [...]