From Scott LoSasso, the founder of this blog.

Since the year 2000, I have been involved in the metalworking industry as a marketer and public relations executive. I’m an observer who has learned a great deal from many talented people that I have had the good fortune to meet – from machinists and job shop owners, to engineers and innovators driving advancements in materials, equipment and applications. I have seen the mood of the industry swing from the despair of the early few years of this century to the relief and excitement that the following years of strong growth provided.

For the past several years, the research division of my firm, LoSasso Advertising, in conjunction with Techspex has conducted surveys to gain insight into operational trends and perceptions from within the metalworking industry. One of the consistently clear observations that we can make from this research is that U.S. manufacturers who are evolving into new markets and technologies are thriving. U.S. manufacturing remains strong. However, there is an  undeniable reality that we will always be forced to compete with low cost labor markets. And the manufacturers in these markets are continually improving. I believe that to thrive, we must leverage more technical and automated equipment, and we must remain at the forefront of innovation, with a willingness to evolve at a continuous and rapid pace.

With this blog, we hope to contribute positively to the knowledge sharing that will keep American manufacturing strong. We will post the results of our surveys here and make an effort to stimulate dialog. We don’t claim to have all the answers nor that our results are definitive, but we know of no larger survey of this type. We have gotten more than 1,000 respondents to each of our last few efforts, so the sample size is very good. However, we recognize that for metalworkingblogs.com to be a place worth visiting, it is up to you, the readers and manufacturers that work every day to keep our industry strong. So please, join the conversation, share your thoughts, questions, concerns and most importantly, your successes. We hope this helps you stay informed and connected with other forward thinking individuals. We also know that this won’t happen overnight, so we ask you to subscribe via email or RSS so that as the blog gains strength you will stay in touch.

Until next time – Enjoy the evolution and keep machining the future of American Manufacturing.