The Machinist’s Wife

 … there was a princess who lived in a world of manicures, pedicures and shopping excursions.  It was bliss.  Then, one day the prince in her life decided to start his own business.  That was ten years ago, but it could be light years from the life she now knows.

One thing about this recession that I’ve come to realize:  it‘s not all about me.  Snicker if you will, but like most women, I’m perfectly able to slide into a parallel universe where I am the princess of my own domain and all things must pertain to me in one form or another.  Even the negative stuff – an area in which I may even do particularly well (blame it on Norwegian heritage – my moroseness may be innate).  But seriously, I can pull a world class mope when need be.  Thankfully for the human race, I mostly reserve this behavior for the privacy of our back deck where the cat is often the only admirer of my quiet malcontent.   Mike, if he is sharing the moment with me, has mastered the art of asking only the pertinent questions and sticking with the short answers.  Smart man, I say.

This recession on the other hand has been the great equalizer, touching everyone we know.  Since we are not acquainted with any Wall Street robber barons or Dubai oil tycoons, the resounding theme here is Fanfare for the Common Man.  I find myself giving small words of comfort to friends as they worry about their job status and retirement funds.  But, it is what it is… and it will pass, as do all things.  Thank God none of us were important or wealthy enough to invest with Bernie Madoff.  Blessings in disguise!  Once we have recovered from assorted changes made to our lives during this malaise, we should all live long and prosper in one form or another.

I have been busy or I would have written a blog or two since the last one in April.  At that time I thought the world looked pretty grim, but it appears we may be recovering from the sub prime mortgage bender.  I’m grateful for that, but it still must be said – the ISO 9001:2008/AS9100C training, on top of maintaining our normal business routines, has kept us jumping.  Mike and I are both wearing hats that resemble Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat.  You know – that tall, floppy stovepipe affair.  But instead of being colorfully cute and loopy, ours are piled high with job duties which seem ready to spill over at any moment.  Happy to say, due to our ISO training there will be no spillage.  As we progress along the training track Bill Cardin has set forth, we realize the benefits of having a quality management system based upon the International Standard.   We always felt we operated a quality shop, and indeed we do, but I think it’s fair to say we have a new perspective.  The word “detail” looms large in our life, and will remain there prominently in the auspicious future we have planned.

I won’t carry on poetically about ISO training, because after all… it is what it is.  We have an enormous amount of work ahead to get our shop certified and it will take more blood, sweat and (probably) tears.   Still, I like to look back ten years ago and wonder if the princess living then would have given up her manicure for a little machine oil and grit under her nails?  Possibly, but she didn’t know a darn thing about ISO 9001:2008 or AS9100C.  Now she lives and breaths it.

The Dogwood trees are blooming here in the south, and thanks to daylight savings time, the sun is hanging around for a few more hours.  All this makes for conducive sitting on the deck after work, sipping a cold glass of chardonnay and relaxing.   And boy, do I need it.   We all do.  It’s been a truly rocky road with our withering economy and I know I’m not alone in feeling shell-shocked.  The insecurity of lost wages has taken its toll on everyone.  It’s been nerve-wracking watching the stock market teeter-totter, dropping over 3,000 points since last fall and taking most of our retirement savings with it.  And no one has escaped the abysmal aftermath of watching banks “too big to fail” fail.  We the People are uncertain about the future and feeling something not felt since 9/11… fear.

F-e-a-r.  It’s not only a dirty four letter word, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Franklin Roosevelt said it eloquently in his famous inaugural speech, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”   And that’s the thing about fear.  It only begets more fear, which when cultivated, is paralyzing.  It can also be the undoing of an entire nation.   Fear and panic go hand in hand, and it is panic that pilaged the small island of Iceland when the entire banking system imploded.  Their currency, the Kronar, disappeared overnight and in what seems a very absurd scenario, people who had seen their wealth climb sky-high by funny financial finagling, were bombing their Hummers for the insurance payout.   Even as I write, Ireland struggles to stay afloat, which is literally no small potatoes for these hardy clansmen.  But I have a lot of faith in the fighting Irish, and I have a lot of faith in the U.S.A.  It might be hard to stomach the stuff you’re hearing on the news these days, but we are a resilient people.   Fear does not reside in our comfort zone for long.  Anger, however, is a different story.

What’s that, you say?  Anger?   Executive bonuses the size of Texas being paid for by the tax dollars of yours, mine and ours while the same executives continue to flaunt their riches in the form of MacMansions and corporate jets.  AIG blatantly doling out million dollar bonuses to people who live outside the U.S. and, in some cases, no longer work for the company (at least 700 employees became millionaires overnight!).  Bernie Madoff fraudulently bilking family, friends, and most of the Jewish Manhattan population in a stupendous Ponzi scheme while he and his wife Ruth sail around the world on their yacht, appropriately named“Bull”, as in the financial worth of Madoff’s client portfolios.   Millions, billions and now trillions of dollars being spent by our government to make things right again.  How many zeros is that?  As a nation, we are loath to accept the indignity of being ripped off.  Who’s not angry with something or someone these days?

Oddly, anger can be a good thing.  While fear accomplishes nothing, and certainly nothing constructive, anger can be the impetus for great change.  Its redeeming quality is that it is a catalyst for action.   Whether we really want it or not, change is ‘a coming.  It won’t be an across the board pleasant experience because there will be many disagreements on who and what has to change.  You can count on it to be sweeping in its scope and it will affect us all in one form or another.  But as we carry on, the grand machine that Americans are, it will make us whole again.  For, sadly, we’ve been pursuing an extravagant interpretation of the American Dream that is not realistic and, worse, even counterproductive to mainstream issues.   Originally a concept based upon freedom, the American Dream has evolved over the years to become an icon for the fruits of our labor, a beacon of light for those who chose to work hard and achieve success.  Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, the accumulation of obscenely vast wealth was added to the largeness of the American Dream and that’s when the trouble began.

When the American Dream becomes a broken dream rendered ineffectual by a hefty price tag too overwhelming to bear, perhaps its time for a wake up call.  This spring the wake up call, just like daylight savings time, came earlier than expected.  But, as I relax on the deck with my glass of Chardonnay, admiring the blooming Dogwood trees, I feel something greater than all this muck and mire called “the financial crisis”.  It’s the thing that moves us forward despite a dismal forecast at odds with our inherent desire to accomplish mighty things.  

I feel hope and hope springs eternal.

Ahhh January… Or should I say, “blahhh” January?   At any rate, the holidays are over and it’s time to move on.  If you were one of the unfortunate travelers who flew the friendly skies over the holidays, you’re most likely in deep recovery from the “congested-airport-not-going-anywhere-fast” blues.  And I feel sorry for you.  It means you’re probably sacked out on the couch every living minute of your free time with a bowl of chips resting on your abdomen and the TV drowning out all other sounds.  You’re not going anywhere.

January is one of my favorite months because it’s quiet.  And because we live in North Carolina, winters are usually mild.  So we have a mild and quiet period in which to contemplate how we’re going to accomplish that freshly composed to-do list.  But wait, that doesn’t sound like very much fun, does it?  Well, sadly, there is a long stretch ahead that looks rather unimpressive holiday-wise.  These are the doldrums between New Year’s Day and the next all-American, company “paid” day off (unless you’re fortunate enough to get Martin Luther King Day, President’s Day or Good Friday, but that has never been my personal experience).  So, technically speaking, with the exception of die-hard revelers who simply must celebrate everything endorsed by Hallmark, Martha Stewart, and the people who make calendars, we can fly right on through to Memorial Day or possibly even to the Fourth of July.  But we’re not exactly flying are we?   And thank God for that, say the couch potatoes who are recovering from the  ”congested-airport-not-going-anywhere-fast” blues.  They’re content with things just as they are.  So what, if not utilizing  diversionary tactics such as planning Super Bowl parties (or more sedate tactics such as watching it from a prone position) are we doing during this long stretch of mild, quiet time in North Carolina?

Mike and I are preparing the shop for ISO 9001:2008 and AS 9100 certification.   We took the plunge and signed up with a registrar and now we’re on the hook for some serious goal setting, manual writing and paper trail reorganization.  Whoa there lest you think we have lost our minds.  Let me just say this – Advanced Machine is a small shop, and I do mean with the emphasis on “small”.  In fact, the definition of small business is an organization with 500 employees or less and that definition is too big for us. We are definitely on the less side of small according to the SBA.   But, and this is key, we think Big.  We are David staring into the eyes of Goliath.  We are the little engine that could.  We are…. well, you get the idea.  We think that there is no time like the present, despite all woeful economic forecasts and the spirit dampening cacophony of Wall Street analysts, to be successful.  Are we crazy?  I don’t think so.  It‘s a matter of perception.  Times might be tough but we all know that when times get tough, the tough roll up their shirt sleeves and dig in.  Hence, ISO 9001 here we come.

ISO certification has been on our agenda for several years.  We’ve been back and forth on the pros and cons of whether Advanced Machine, given it’s noble but diminutive stature, would benefit from the time and expense of certification.  We run a well organized shop.  Things are under control.  Problems are small.  Why add more tasks to an already lengthy to-do list?  Why disrupt the workplace and employees with training?  Why spend the money?  Why, why, why?   “Why”.  If you type it enough, it’s a strange little word, but it’s powerful.  Powerful enough to keep a person from getting a good night’s sleep at times.

Anyway, I’ll tell you why.  Simply put it’s time.  It has little to do with size, stature, customer base, maximum equipment utilization, operations and the bottom line of our profit and loss statement.  We wrote it into our business plan several years ago and it now fits with the progression of where we want to take the company.  It’s the next step.  I honestly thought a business plan was  sort of a hokey, albeit highly advised, procedure but we wrote it one day when we felt the need to get things down on paper.  Who knew it worked?  I’m not going to get into the ISO debate here.  I know there are plenty of naysayers and scoffers out there.  Everyone has a story to tell about whether it worked for them or not and soon Mike and I will have our own story.  It comes down to running your business as best as you can.  You make decisions based upon criteria that has formulated into reality at a particular time.  Time plays its own hand and to that end, you had best be ready to play back.  We’re playing the ISO game this year and – I never really thought I’d be saying this – fortunately we are a small company.  It‘s easier to get your ducks in a row when there aren’t a lot of ducks, if you get my drift.

To all of you reading this, I hope January is not too harsh, boring, bland, cold, or insufferably quiet and mild.  And to the couch potatoes out there…get over it and start planning your next holiday travel.  Train, anyone?

Sunday morning.  Twelve days ‘til Christmas, and I’m on the 25 yard line, first and ten… but that’s only because I did most of my Christmas shopping in July.  Still, I’m fretting about all sorts of little things, like gifts that still need to be packaged and mailed, the tree is not fully decorated yet, the dogs need to be bathed (yes, that’s important too, especially if you have English Cocker Spaniels), and I still don’t have a Christmas dinner menu planned.  It’s a good thing I have a talent for prioritizing (although Mike might find that debatable…).

Women do have a tendency to fuss about little things not getting done, but I plead innocent.  These past few weeks since Thanksgiving have been very busy both at work and at home.  All good things happening, mind you, but this close to the biggest holiday of the year, there were set backs nonetheless.  I’m not complaining, just explaining…

One of the good things that occurred is a conference Mike and I attended, along with our associate, Verdell Schroeder, sponsored by Okuma and the North Carolina Military Business Center.  It was held at the Okuma Partners in THINC facility located in south Charlotte for the sole purpose of further educating NC machine shops and other related businesses on the bidding process necessary to procure Department of Defense contracts.   The Okuma Thinc facility is impressive.  We gathered for a pre-conference continental breakfast on the showroom floor, surrounded by machine tooling centers that made us salivate more than the breakfast (no offense to the caterer).  Once the grazing and mingling concluded, our hosts escorted us to an auditorium where we settled into our seats to listen to the speakers.

Eleanor Holland, of the Defense Supply Center Columbus, was the keynote speaker.  Eleanor not only knows her stuff inside and out, but she also has the patience of a saint.  We attended a workshop directed by her several years ago where she took us through the process step-by-step, pausing to answer all questions great and small.  You might be wondering why, if Mike and I had attended a previous workshop, what we were doing here – again.  Two words -  military acronyms.  Is there a dictionary for this?  Stumbling over the many FAR and DLAD clauses definitely slows a person down, but it’s completely necessary in order to understand the bid package.   The  process is undaunting, to put it mildly, but Eleanor is an ace at taking you through the steps.

Mike and I have actually been working at military contract procurement for awhile.  Sometimes it feels like we’re shooting arrows up into the air, hoping they’ll hit something.  That’s not to say we haven’t done our homework – we’re both anal people who are well trained at analyzing details – but the process itself is an art form and just when you think you’ve figured it out, a new door opens and viola!  More stuff.  I will say this, we’ve gained a whole new body of knowledge and it should serve us well.

At this point I’ve really got to commend the North Carolina Military Business Center for doing an incredible job of connecting NC manufacturing sources to DoD opportunities.  It is their sole aim to grow North Carolina’s military manufacturing base to one of the largest in the country and they are almost relentless in their pursuit.   Obviously this is to our advantage, because notably they have put together a vast network of resources.  One of these resources is the establishment of the SourceNC website.  Thanks to the guys at Source Authority, selecting a bid package has been greatly streamlined.  It’s a huge improvement that has done wonders to lessen the brain damage I was experiencing previous to its presence.  We, and I think I speak for all NC shops involved in this, should all be happy for this huge improvement.

Here’s the link to SourceNC’s website with pictures of the conference:  http://www.sourcenc.com/briefingroom/news.cfm#dec05

Okay, so this is where I have to put down the keyboard and the coffee cup.  Not that it hasn’t been enjoyable to sit and collect my thoughts for a moment, because I’ve been wanting to communicate to you how important NCMBC has been in, not only our lives, but any NC machine shop interested in becoming involved with DoD work.  But time is of the essence and dogs must be bathed.  It is a dirty job and unfortunately, Mike has to go to the shop this morning so it’s my duty… Hmmm…. A typical female pause here to wonder who got the better deal?

Happy Holidays to all and a Happy New Year!  

It’s true.  Cupcakes are making an appearance everywhere lately and this time around they’re adorable, dolled up, whimsical, dramatic, holiday embellished and so extravagant you would fret to take a bite.  But you know, despite their sumptuous garnishment, cupcakes make sense in a very practical way.  They’re easy to eat for one thing.  The basic version consists of a 2-3 bite sized, cake-filled, frosting topped paper cup.  No plate or fork is needed and you can eat them on the fly.   There is also the gigantic benefit of serving them at a birthday party attended by 5 year olds.  OK, so you might find discarded cupcake wrappers, but this alternative is nothing compared to coming across a piece of runaway birthday cake stomped on and ground into the carpeting.  Trust me, I know.

So what’s the deal with cupcakes?  More than likely it has to do with the ubiquitous Martha Stewart, Queen of Homecrafts and Cookery.  I also think they are a good example of creative marketing.  Cupcakes have been around for a long time.  According to “The History of the Humble Cupcake” by Brock Hamilton , they  debuted in the early 19th century and were used as a measuring device.  But this we also know, somewhere between then and now, cupcakes slid down the list of our favorite things.  This probably happened during the Great Depression, followed relatively closely by WWII, when butter and eggs were either scarce or too expensive.  My own personal theory is that when Chinese food became really popular as #1 take out, people just plum forgot about them… War, economic crisis and Chinese exportation can wreck havoc on anything.  Fortunately clever people have resurrected the cupcake and brought it to new heights by devising exciting new flavors and catchy names that could double as online monikers.  Coconut Bunny, Drama Queen, Lemon Drop and Pucker Up do a fantastic job of capturing the imagination and awakening the taste buds.

And this brings me to my point.  Everything old is new again.  So I ask, can this be true for manufacturing in America as well?   President Elect Barak Obama has a plan for resurrecting the manufacturing industry and I am eager to hear it.  Could it be that the practicality of bringing manufacturing back home to the USA, given correct market and economic conditions, could become a feasible option?  I say this with baited breath, for even as I write the stock market has plummeted another 400 points and GM looks as though it won’t make it into next year.  One has to dig deep to find optimism these days.  Creativity is one thing, but having the resources to stay afloat is another.  Careful business management is the cornerstone of any successful small business but when market conditions sour they can vanish all our hard work quickly and harshly.  The question which looms over every single one of us is simple:  How can we turn this baby around?

I have no clue.  The experts don’t seem to have much of a clue either but I believe they will figure it out.  It stands to reason that bringing our manufacturing base home to the US is one of the key elements to literally shoring up a large part of our economic foundation.   Am I’m dreaming?  No, and I’m not expecting miracles either.  What I am is hopeful.   I also believe that anything is possible given time.   Oh, and did I mention hard work?  Relentless hard work.

Anyway… for now, work-schmerk.  I’m going to put my feet up on the desk and take a bite of my Drama Queen cupcake.  It’s chocolate with vanilla french butter cream frosting and I also get the lick the paper.  Yum…