Back with more! October 22, 2014

Training!

Applied Process conducted the first-ever AP University Purchasing of Ferrous Heat Treatment Seminar at our purpose-built classroom in at AP in Livonia. There were 21 attendees who came from far and wide to learn about how to purchase various kinds of heat treatments, not just austempering. 

Multiple attendees told us they are being asked to make large-scale purchases on heat treat services with no prior training in the field.  Nobody expects to create metallurgists in one day, but the attendees still learned the difference between various cycles.  These professionals become better at their work when they know the difference between bainite and martensite, even at the same hardness.

We at AP were thankful they took the time to visit with us.  AP people go to great lengths to make these things high-quality and non-commercial, which is how it should be.  In the final analysis, the post-class survey found that 100% of respondents would recommend the class to colleagues.   

Watch out for another session in 2015! 


A Macroeconomic class in a one-minute read …

… about moral hazards, from the Economist, discussing government bailouts in China:

"… a sudden (economic) collapse is most unlikely. The same thing that got China so deep into debt is what keeps it from blowing up: state control of the financial system and the perception, often substantiated, of government backing for debts. Instead the biggest danger is “zombification’, a hollowing-out of China’s financial system along the lines of Japan’s slow decay over the past two decades.  Can China avoid this fate? Much rests on whether the government can uproot moral hazard from the financial system. By removing the perception of state guarantees and allowing failing companies to fail, the authorities could force banks and investors to allocate their capital much more carefully, slowing the rise in debt.  There are reasons for concern. Officials tend to go weak at the knees when even relatively inconsequential companies fall into distress."  

There are all kinds of temptations when you are spending someone else’s money.  This will be interesting.

 

Big Harvest

From Farm Equipment Magazine:

" ... 74% of corn (is) rated either “good” (50%) or “excellent” (24%), it is well above last year’s 60% … On a year-over-year basis, corn prices are down 21.6%, soybeans are down 27.6% and wheat is down 26.6%." 

If you make agricultural castings, what should you make of that?   Well, someone still has to harvest it all, so some consumable components will still be flying off shelves, even in a down year for ag work.  Even so, anecdotal evidence tells me that many shortliners are doing just fine as they provide a more nimble purchase option for credit-strapped farmers and dealers.  Stay tuned for more as this situation develops.