Posts Tagged ‘CNC’
Monday, November 30th, 2009
Today was the end of Charlie Weis’s five year tenure at ND. With a 35-27 win loss record, and ending this year at 6-6, the stock holders at ND are less than pleased. Athletic director Jack Swarbrick announced the decision, saying in a news release: “We have great expectations for our football program, and we have not been able to meet those expectations.” Charlies is gone.
Those close to me all know that I am not a fan of Notre Dame (personal reasons) but I am a huge fan of sports and more importantly a huge fan of success and the fact that “Status Quo Sucks”. I have been listening to the fans, friends, co-workers, family and all others say: “Charlie needs to go!” Now that being said I respect ND as a business machine and a lot can be learned from ND as a business model. ND will need to belly up 15 – 20 mil to buy out CW’s contract than somewhere around another 5 mil for a new coach. Do you think the amount of money even comes into play? No amount of money will keep ND from making the correct decision. Summarizing the AD, they have expectations and it ain’t losing!
This brings me to another point. All sports teams are ran like a business: high school, NCAA and the pro’s. You can try to argue that they are not, but they are out there to win and be successful just like business. When there is a losing season or seasons the fans want the coach and/or coaches replaced. You never hear”Awwww, how can they fire him”, or “he has been with the team for years, how can they do that?” It’s always good riddance, bring on the next coach. Such the opposite in most work places. It’s kinda funny how one’s desire for a sports team to be successful vs the desire of the companies success. Just sayin.
Tags: BCI, Bremen Castings, Bremen Foundry, bremen indiana, Bremen Machining, business, business climate, casting machining, Charlie Weis, CNC, Ductile Iron, Fired, Foundries, Foundry, Gray Iron, IN, Indiana, machined complete, Machining, Manufacturing, metal casting manufacturer, ND, Notre Dame, sports, SQS, status quo sucks, Weis
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
The demise of customer service in America seemed to come about through a gradual decline over the last decade. Today, with the current economic climate, we are seeing significant improvements in our treatment as consumers. In the past, we were consuming in large amounts regardless of how we were treated as the customer. Contrast that with the current climate, where we have all reeled our consuming in favor of more saving and you see the decline in demand has dictated better customer service.
Consumers today are diverting their reduced dollars to those providing the best customer service. We have grown intolerant of poor customer service or have we always been intolerant? I would argue that we have always been intolerant and that we did not demand good customer service. We received exactly what we demanded, nothing more and nothing less. Today, we are demanding more and we are getting it or moving to where we receive better customer service. If consumers are smart enough to learn from the past, then we need to continue to demand good customer service even when we return to a new level of normalcy in the economy.
Tags: BCI, Bremen Castings, Bremen Foundry, bremen indiana, Bremen Machining, casting machining, CNC, customer, customer service, Ductile Iron, Foundries, Foundry, Gray Iron, IN, Indiana, machined complete, Machining, Manufacturing, metal casting manufacturer, service, SQS, Team BCI, technology, tooling
Posted in General | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
We have all witnessed talented employees get promoted to management and then fail miserably leaving us with the question of why? The Peter Principle is a book and theory from 1969 that still holds true today; employees within their organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level in which they are incompetent. Over the last 20-years of observing successes and failures; here are the main reasons managers fail:
1) Lack of respect from their peers and their direct reports – respect is earned, not handed to you on a silver platter when you get promoted.
2) Lack of “Big Picture” mentality, cannot see the organization as a whole and often think their department is the most important – managers need to work at a higher level to see the organization succeed as a whole and that means all departments.
3) Avoiding responsibility for things when they go wrong, by blaming others – it is a team effort, you are either all wrong or you are all right; help everyone to be right.
4) Unable to effectively deal with people; often too blunt, showing favoritism or being harshly critical – management is all about dealing with people and given the different personalities you need to tailor your approach to effectively reach and motivate employees at all levels within the organization.
5) Incapable of developing or contributing to the development of their subordinates – employees who advance within an organization often have managers that spent time developing them into decision makers and leaders.
Much can be said about successful managers inherently having many of these skills or traits. It is more often the case when you get promoted that some or all of these need to be learned. Here is how to succeed; have a willingness to accept criticism, understand that your role has changed, focus on the bigger picture and lastly learn from other successful managers either internal or external to your organization.
Carol Senour
Director Human Resources
Tags: BCI, Bremen Castings, Bremen Foundry, bremen indiana, casting machining, CNC, Ductile Iron
Posted in Manufacturing | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
Over the years all these books, consultants, papers, teachers, parents, co-workers and everyone around us has heard and understands this over rated term. It’s the feel good attitude to look at everything as your glass is half full. What does that mean? You are a positive person? You are an optimist? You fit in the norm of socety and say the things that make you look smart or educated? I say you are lazy and dependant on others. It’s ok to look at the world as 1/2 full if you like comfort and Status Quo. I am not negative or a pessimist but for me, co-workers, sports teams, companies, lawyers, doctors and any other profession you can think of, works a hell of a lot harder, smarter and uses common sense when behind the eight ball or “The Glass is 1/2 Empty”. Think about it. The glass is at the same level whether it is 1/2 full or empty, correct? When it’s 1/2 full you are comfortable and you know that you have 1/2 left. When it’s 1/2 empty, you know you only have 1/2 left and you better fill the damn thing up before it goes dry. It’s all about the attitude.!
Tags: 1/2 empty, 1/2 full, BCI, Bremen Castings, Bremen Foundry, bremen indiana, Bremen Machining, casting machining, CNC, Ductile Iron, Foundries, Foundry, Gray Iron, Machining, SQS, Team BCI, technology
Posted in Manufacturing | 3 Comments »
Monday, March 30th, 2009
It was announced last night that the GM CEO (Rick Wagoner) would be stepping down. Now the media is reporting that this came from President Obama and was forced to quit. Now if this is true how can the President force any private citizen to quit. I understand that GM, like many other companies, have taken lots of money from the government but that does not mean the the President can run the company! When the last monies were given to GM and Chrysler we were told by the President and our elected officials that every dollar would be accounted for. Where the hell did it go? Why is no one holding the President or Congress accountable for this?
Now back to the GM CEO, who was supposedly forced to quit. It was just announced on the news that the Government wants to put together a committee of GM execs and government officials to hire a replacement?????? What? When did GM become government owned? Does anyone not see what is going on out there. Does GM not have a board of directors. This is there job NOT the President of the United States nor any government branch. This is disgusting.
Tags: Bremen Castings, CNC, Ductile Iron, GM, Gray Iron, Machining, Rick Wagoner
Posted in Manufacturing & Politics | No Comments »
