Re: MMS Extra

I toured a Seattle-area shop a couple of years ago to profile its success adopting a lean manufacturing mindset. While talking with the shop’s vice president, I found out that his facility had recently been experiencing a number of power outages. In fact, the building lost power as my visit drew to a close. I then learned about some of the measures the shop had taken to quickly get back in stride once power was reestablished. The thing is, there really was no way to elegantly shoehorn that information into my lean manufacturing article.

I was, however, able to share that experience and those tips in a recent edition of
MMS Extra, the e-mail newsletter we launched this past December. The monthly newsletter, written by the editors, contains punchy, original articles relating some of our encounters engaging with the metalworking community. It was created to promote industry camaraderie and celebrate the personalities behind the applied technologies.

Ultimately, our goal is to deliver a metalworking newsletter that helps readers come away with a better appreciation of what they do for a living.

We’re hoping you’ll get involved, too. From time to time, we’ll ask you to offer insights and opinions about issues you face on a daily basis. In a recent newsletter edition, for example, I asked readers to share ways in which they solicit suggestions from shopfloor employees for ways to improve manufacturing processes. We included responses from a few readers the following month. If we run your response, you’ll be eligible to receive a complimentary book of your choice from the Hanser Gardner bookstore (www.hansergardner.com).

In addition, A.J. Sweatt, our resident Web guru, will keep you up to date each month on the latest metalworking resources he’s found searching the ever-expanding Internet. And we’ll wrap-up each edition by highlighting a few nifty products that have recently caught our eye.

So if you haven’t already done so, I hope you’ll sign up to receive MMS Extra. All it takes is to enter your e-mail address at www.mmsonline.com/newsletter/. Then watch for an e-mail from us about the middle of each month.

No doubt you look for ways to offer something extra to those you serve. MMS Extra is another way we look to add value to your research efforts.