The meeting closed out with Mark Hatley of Rapid Sheet Metal telling us about his company and how they can be of assistance with those short run and prototype sheet metal parts.  Rapid Sheet Metal has been a sponsor of our group for several years providing us with great door prizes and support.  Last night $100 of Home Depot gift cards were handed out.  Hey and my name was the first one drawn.  I'm keeping silent about it or the wife will have me painting something this weekend!

The recession has finally hit the company I work for.  A month ago we were informed that we would be cutting back to 4 day weeks.  In truth this is a move that should have been done 3 months ago but the owner of our company is one who actually cares about his employees and put this decision off as long as he possibly could.  We spent some of the slow time learning and perfecting our capability to laser weld.  Three of our employees spent a week in Atlanta learning how to use our newly acquired Faro Arm Digitizer.  Two of the laser operators spent a week in Europe researching 5-Axis lasers.  Quotations for the contenders for a new 5-axis laser have been received and wheeling and dealing is going on now even as I type this entry.  I’m saying all this to say that we will not rest on our laurels.  A quote I heard the other day was, “Innovate or die”.   The person speaking this was refereeing to the so called web 2.0 and how the companies that are still big players are the ones who are constantly coming out with new product and content.  But doesn’t the same thing apply to all business?  And if all businesses took this approach wouldn’t it pull the country out of the recession?  In other words, to innovate you must spend money.  Look at it as an investment in the future of your company.  Yes it might be difficult to come up with the capital but there are a lot of wannabe investors out there looking for something to put their money in. 

In the company meeting where the cutback announcement was made we were encouraged to ‘think outside of the box’.  The phrase was overly used during the meeting and over the next few days to the point where it actually became a joke.  Even I was heard to say something like, “He’s never thought in the box!” in refereeing to a guy who always is quick with a strange and weird ideal.  Other guys would spend hours looking around the shop for the so called box.  One came up with the brilliant idea that maybe we should be fabricating the ‘box’ and selling it.  It was all done in jest of course but the point that the original speaker was making does have a ring of truth to it.  We must if we are to survive these trying economic times we think of new ways of doing things that offer our customers a better product that if more profitable for us to manufacture.  We must truly ‘Think Outside of the Box’.