Our goal at Midland Metal Products is to possess the manufacturing capabilities to produce exactly what our customers want, when they want it, at a price point they can afford. We continuously strive to achieve this goal by simplifying our operations through the use of automation. We have implemented sophisticated CAD / CAM software applications and machinery throughout our plant over the last decade. A partial list of investments include our automated laser system for sheet metal fabrication, our CNC wire bender for wire forming, our CNC robotic welder for mig / tig welding applications, and our CNC grid welder for wire fabrication.
I am proud to announce our next step in creating a factory for the 21st century. In October, our new tube laser system will be operational. This investment will bring automation to our tubing fabrication, a major advancement in terms of throughput, quality assurance, and cycle times. More importantly, it will give us the ability to provide new processing capabilities for our customers. Upon completion of this project, it will be difficult to find a metal fabricator in our industry that can match our capabilities in sheet metal, wire, and tubing fabrication.
Our laser can process 24 ft. lengths of round (0.75” to 6.0” in diameter), square (4” x 4”), and obround tubing. It can also fabricate non-tube profiles such as formed channels. Various materials can be processed including steel, aluminum, and stainless steel. During fabrication, the machine can be used to cut off tubes into smaller pieces and fabricate slots, holes, pie shapes, and fish mouths. Our system eliminates the need for hard tooling, improves accuracy and repeatability, and makes fabrication fast and flexible. Once the designers and engineers at our customers understand the capabilities of the machine, the possibilities are endless.
Once the machine is operational, we will be releasing a video on our web site to demonstrate the machine in action. Before this time, please contact me with any specific questions you may have on the machine. We are really excited about taking this next step. We hope you take advantage of the capabilities in your next project.
Marc McDonald
Midland Metal Products
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Weight Guide
Our handy hole guide was so popular last month, we came up with another useful tool. Use this guide to determine the weight of a sheet metal and wire display.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Investing in technology and people
The past few years Midland has invested heavily in technology; bringing greater efficiency and overall capability to our operation. While we realize the value such improvements provide in helping us to meet the needs of our customers, we are committed to not letting the new machinery on our shop floor overshadow our most important resource – the people who work for us.
Two and a half years ago Midland saw the wisdom in creating a Department of Human Resources and in hiring a full-time director to better service the needs and growth of our workforce. Today, while we are happy to retain the dedicated and loyal employees who have been with us for a number of years, we are actively seeking new talent to help prepare us for what we hope will be even better years ahead.
Our most pressing need is that of an East Coast based sales representative to better service existing accounts and eventually expand the East Coast market. Additionally, Midland Metal is searching for candidates for our Junior Designate Program (JDP) - Whereby we will select one or two individuals to learn all aspects of Midland’s operations so that this person(s) will eventually serve a key role in the organization. This will help build Midland’s bench strength.
If any of our readers are aware of someone with P-O-P roots who might be eligible for either position do not hesitate to direct them our way.
As always, we appreciate your commitment and support.
Sincerely,
Bill Cox
Director of Human Resources
Midland Metal Products
Two and a half years ago Midland saw the wisdom in creating a Department of Human Resources and in hiring a full-time director to better service the needs and growth of our workforce. Today, while we are happy to retain the dedicated and loyal employees who have been with us for a number of years, we are actively seeking new talent to help prepare us for what we hope will be even better years ahead.
Our most pressing need is that of an East Coast based sales representative to better service existing accounts and eventually expand the East Coast market. Additionally, Midland Metal is searching for candidates for our Junior Designate Program (JDP) - Whereby we will select one or two individuals to learn all aspects of Midland’s operations so that this person(s) will eventually serve a key role in the organization. This will help build Midland’s bench strength.
If any of our readers are aware of someone with P-O-P roots who might be eligible for either position do not hesitate to direct them our way.
As always, we appreciate your commitment and support.
Sincerely,
Bill Cox
Director of Human Resources
Midland Metal Products
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Job Fair
Bill Cox, Director of Human Resources at Midland, will be on hand at the Joliet Jr College Job Fair on Tuesday, September 8, 2009.
Hole Guide
This is a handy tool that our sample shop uses to determine hole sizes. It also includes a guide to sheet metal gauges. Click the image for full size, printable document - print it, fold it, and keep it in your pocket.
For your convenience I am including each chart as it's own image.
Steel Pricing - Looking Back and Going Forward
2008 began with a strong global demand for steel and a weak dollar but it climaxed with customers paying more for steel scrap than they had for prime cold-rolled steel just the year before. This disappointing turn of events was due to the global recession and steel producers headed into 2009 hoping they could weather the remainder of the storm.
Early August 2008 saw cold-rolled steel costs up by 72% since December 2007. At this time steel scrap (the most essential input in the production of new steel with the most volatile pricing) was selling for a market price of around $.38/lb; this was more than what Midland Metal Products was paying a year prior for the cold-rolled steel sheets that we process on our laser.
A steel-making ingredient costing more than the finished product had just one year previous is without precedent.
The steel industry, which had been soaring since fourth quarter of 2007, toppled as credit availability became scarce in the wake of crisis in the housing and financial markets.
Due to the country’s financial crisis projects requiring steel slowed significantly. Steel scrap, which had sold for $.38/lb in August, plummeted to $.21/lb in September. Steel prices followed and closed the year at only 11% higher than December 2007. This was down from 72% four months earlier.
In an effort to keep up with demand in the first half of 2008 steel mills ramped-up production - averaging 90% utilization. But when economic growth swiftly declined in late third quarter of 2008 the industry found itself with a surplus of supply and diminished demand. Steel producers spent the fourth quarter of 2008 through the second quarter of 2009 waiting, their equipment idle, for better times. Throughout this period prices kept falling and steel mills saw their utilization drop to an average of 35%.
By June 2009 cold-rolled steel pricing had sunk to levels not seen since early 2004. This did prove to be the bottom as the market began to stabilize. Since June prices climbed quickly by 25%.
Demand for steel, though not robust, does presently exceed supply. This is due largely to the drastic production cuts steel mills had made when the market was in such steep decline. In an effort to keep up with the flow of new orders they are reactivating furnaces and equipment that have sat dormant all year.
Industry analysts expect that cold-rolled steel prices will continue to rise for the remainder of the year. 2009 will probably close 10% to 15% higher than current prices. If their predictions hold true we may head into 2010 with steel costs comparable to those at the start of 2007.
We hope that 2010 will be a stable year in the steel industry. Prices have returned to a level at which steel producers can run profitably without charging exorbitant rates to the distributors or end users. It will be nice if we can stay here for a while.
Aaron Blaisdell
Purchasing Manager
Early August 2008 saw cold-rolled steel costs up by 72% since December 2007. At this time steel scrap (the most essential input in the production of new steel with the most volatile pricing) was selling for a market price of around $.38/lb; this was more than what Midland Metal Products was paying a year prior for the cold-rolled steel sheets that we process on our laser.
A steel-making ingredient costing more than the finished product had just one year previous is without precedent.
The steel industry, which had been soaring since fourth quarter of 2007, toppled as credit availability became scarce in the wake of crisis in the housing and financial markets.
Due to the country’s financial crisis projects requiring steel slowed significantly. Steel scrap, which had sold for $.38/lb in August, plummeted to $.21/lb in September. Steel prices followed and closed the year at only 11% higher than December 2007. This was down from 72% four months earlier.
In an effort to keep up with demand in the first half of 2008 steel mills ramped-up production - averaging 90% utilization. But when economic growth swiftly declined in late third quarter of 2008 the industry found itself with a surplus of supply and diminished demand. Steel producers spent the fourth quarter of 2008 through the second quarter of 2009 waiting, their equipment idle, for better times. Throughout this period prices kept falling and steel mills saw their utilization drop to an average of 35%.
By June 2009 cold-rolled steel pricing had sunk to levels not seen since early 2004. This did prove to be the bottom as the market began to stabilize. Since June prices climbed quickly by 25%.
Demand for steel, though not robust, does presently exceed supply. This is due largely to the drastic production cuts steel mills had made when the market was in such steep decline. In an effort to keep up with the flow of new orders they are reactivating furnaces and equipment that have sat dormant all year.
Industry analysts expect that cold-rolled steel prices will continue to rise for the remainder of the year. 2009 will probably close 10% to 15% higher than current prices. If their predictions hold true we may head into 2010 with steel costs comparable to those at the start of 2007.
We hope that 2010 will be a stable year in the steel industry. Prices have returned to a level at which steel producers can run profitably without charging exorbitant rates to the distributors or end users. It will be nice if we can stay here for a while.
Aaron Blaisdell
Purchasing Manager
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