The question of how much “high tech” is really needed in a situation can be difficult to answer. As Thom mentions in his article, “new-to-you equipment” may meet your needs after it has stopped being enough for someone else’s plant. To make the right decisions, you...

The component industry’s biggest event is only 3 months away! This year’s Building Component Manufacturers Conference will be held on October 22–25 in Columbus, OH. Will you be there? Exhibitors are readying their booths, speakers are preparing their sessions, and...

Writing this column on Memorial Day, I was struck by the many reasons we have to feel grateful every day. The holiday provides us with the opportunity to reflect on many aspects of lives, and people in our lives, which we often take for granted. Remembering How Fortunate We Are Anyone who...

It’s natural to strategize in our daily lives. We try to plan our actions to produce the optimal results. We may not be successful as often as we’d like, but we attempt to maximize our time and effort. So, what about the times when people take it a little too far? Embellishing or...

We all know that Glenn Traylor is a veteran of the components industry possessing a wealth of information and technical advice. What everyone might not know is that he also serves military veterans through his work with the not-for-profit Bugles Across America (BAA). Growing up as an Army...

            When my sister saw the cover of last month’s issue, her first question was—will it be a problem that the person in the photograph has no fall protection? She also was unimpressed with his baseball cap instead of a...

We’ve all had times when we feel we’ve hit a stroke of luck, and unfortunately times when we felt pretty unlucky. With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner, I started wondering about luck—when we most wish we were feeling lucky and maybe ways to get a little more luck on...

It’s February, so we’re going to be seeing hearts everywhere for the next few weeks. Valentine’s Day is an excellent opportunity to sell/buy greeting cards, candy, and flowers. But the holiday doesn’t have to be limited to your sweetheart. Consider it an opportunity to...

With the New Year just begun, I always like to take a moment to reflect on the year we’ve left behind. Although we (like everyone else) had an assortment of ups and downs in 2018, I definitely think The Advertiser can do a little bragging about having had a great year! So to take a...

As the end of the year approaches, we often find ourselves thinking about what we’ve accomplished in the preceding months, which tasks we feel are incomplete, and how we’ve learned a few more lessons the hard way. Things never seem to turn out the way we’ve expected, but life...