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MTI Fall Meeting & FNA 2022… Defeating Your Top Enemy: Labor Shortage

If you are like every other heat treater in the industry, qualified labor with a good work ethic has dried up. The toughest challenge holding back productivity and output for any plant is enough labor. What we have learned from numerous labor experts is this trend will continue throughout the... Continue Reading

Leading with Spine

One of the criticisms that we often hear, especially about elected officials, is that they “lack spine.” This criticism is not unique to politicians. Most of us have worked with people who fit that description — people who are not “leading with spine.” What... Continue Reading

Tackling Your Every Day Challenges

Every heat treater has two enemies working against your ability to thrive and grow everyday: The Labor Drought Time…Never Enough With these two enemies in your face every day, it is important for every heat treater to think through how to get work done differently in order to... Continue Reading

MTI and Furnaces North America Announce NEW Industry Award

Metal Treating Institute, the largest nonprofit network of commercial heat treaters in the world and Furnaces North America, North America’s largest heat treat only trade show and technical conference, is excited to announce it has established a new honorary award for the heat treating... Continue Reading

Rising Costs Are Your Enemy…An MTI Solution

As MTI has been meeting with members around the country and having conversations on the key challenges in 2022, knowing how cost and productivity metrics are going comparatively has been a huge topic of conversation. Operational costs including energy, labor, and raw materials to name just a few... Continue Reading

Wholesale Prices Rose 10.8% in May, Near a Record Annual Pace

Wholesale prices rose at a brisk pace in May as inflation pressures mounted on the U.S. economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. The producer price index, a measure of the prices paid to producers of goods and services, rose 0.8% for the month and 10.8% over the past year. The... Continue Reading

Manufacturers Face Uptick in Ransomware Attacks

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is warning plant operators that ransomware attacks are increasing in the manufacturing sector. Trade organization The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) cautioned plant operators this month that ransomware attacks against manufacturing... Continue Reading

Logistics Hiring Slowed in May Amid Shifts in Retail Sector

Trucking and warehousing companies added 31,000 jobs last month as pandemic-driven e-commerce growth appears to be waning, Companies on the front lines of supply chains pulled back hiring in May amid signs that the boom in e-commerce demand is waning and consumers are shifting spending from... Continue Reading

How Robotics is Enabling Warehouse Labor Automation

Vision, mobility and enhanced safety features make robotics ideal for labor automation, says Divya Prakash, director of business consulting at SICK. Because labor availability is one of the key challenges for warehouse operators, a great more automation is entering the warehouse, Prakash says.... Continue Reading

Why it’s Time for “Data-Centric Artificial Intelligence”

The last 10 years have brought tremendous growth in artificial intelligence. Consumer internet companies have gathered vast amounts of data, which has been used to train powerful machine learning programs. Machine learning algorithms are widely available for many commercial applications, and some... Continue Reading

Summer Savings: Tips for Reducing Energy Usage (& Costs)

Summer is on the horizon, and for many of us, those above average temperatures have already hit. Unfortunately, higher temperatures and higher energy bills go hand in hand if not properly managed. Coupled with the volatile electricity and natural gas prices as of late, many businesses are looking... Continue Reading

Pentagon Updates Timeline for CMMC Cybersecurity Initiative

The Department of Defense hopes to begin implementing its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program requirements in contracts in May 2023, as part of an effort to prod hundreds of thousands of defense contractors to better protect their networks and controlled unclassified... Continue Reading