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At the AGMA/ABMA annual meeting (held March 15–17 in Napa, CA), gear manufacturers, bearing manufacturers and industry suppliers spent a lot of time talking about one of the key issues affecting all of industry: finding and retaining skilled employees.
I hear about a lot of different approaches people are taking, including cooperations with local educational institutions, such as high schools, community colleges and technical trade schools. I heard the competition for dedicated young employees who are interested in joining a manufacturing team is so fierce that many companies who want to hire simply can’t. Some have even begun creating their own in-house training and education programs at least partially in order to bypass that competition and find and develop the necessary talent.
Hanging above my desk is a quote from Nikola Tesla that reads, “Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe.” What this means to me evolves daily. For example, I was walking the dogs over the weekend, and I noticed a gray piece of plastic on the lawn. My first instinct was it must go to a toy of some kind. I have been trying to imagine all week what it might go to.
December is the sneakiest of months. I know it’s out there, lurking behind the other months. But no matter how old I get, it always manages to creep up on me. I swear I only looked away for a day or two, but alas, December got me again. You’d think by now that I’d be ready, that I’d have more of a clue about how time works. But no, apparently not. Here I am again, surprised that the year is almost over.
After reading Senior Editor Matt Jaster’s article this issue (“Advancing Technology for MRO,” p. 18), I have visions of the maintenance engineer of tomorrow. He’s not wearing a hard hat and steel-toe boots. No, he’s wearing ripped jeans and a ball cap (backwards), and he’s holding a game controller, because he’s operating the drone system your company is using to do visual and thermal inspection of your equipment, saving you enormous time and effort in your predictive maintenance routine.
As I read through this issue of Power Transmission Engineering, I’m reminded of exactly how much hard work goes into producing this publication eight times per year. I thought it would be a great idea for you to get to know a little bit more about the team whose work, too often, goes unrecognized.
If you’ve watched any of the Star Wars/Disney+ series The Mandalorian, you’ve no doubt become familiar with the catchphrase “This is the Way,” often uttered by the main character and others who come from his home planet.
We’re starting to see some encouraging signs of life from the trade show industry. Recent shows have bounced back in a big way, including Automate 2022 and MODEX 2022. Will the upcoming IMTS and Hannover Messe USA continue the trend?
Everybody’s making electric cars these days. Luxury cars, sports cars, even trucks. And demand for them isn’t going to slow anytime soon, thanks to their better fuel efficiency, lower emissions, reduced noise and overall environmental friendliness. But there’s another factor, too. An electric vehicle is also a status symbol.