feature
Top Shops
Leverage LinkedIn
Discuss shop topics with more than 1,000 of your peers
in Modern Machine Shop's Top Shops LinkedIn Group.
By DeRek koRn
n September 2011, Modern Machine
Shop launched the Top Shops LinkedIn
Group. This exclusive group is geared
toward decision-makers in North American
machining facilities, including shop owners,
managers, engineers, programmers and
other senior personnel. We've limited the
group to only these people (as well our
magazine's editors, of course) because we
believe this exclusivity is part of what makes
this group different and helpful.
The group now has more than 1,000
members sharing ideas, offering opinions
and posing questions. Some of the threads
have spurred multiple comments and interesting exchanges. Here are a few that
received a healthy number of responses:
• Cell Phone Policy—Does your shop
have a policy about personal cell phone
use? Is cell phone use among shopfloor
employees an issue you've had to face?
• Recruiting Talent—In looking for
new talent, we've had limited success
w h e n c o nt a c ti n g th e few l o c a l te c h
schools that still have precision machining
I
18 MMS August 2013 mmsonline.com/topshops
p ro g r a m s. W h e r e a r e yo u c u r r e n tl y
looking to find good, trainable people for
your shop?
• Carbide end Mill Issue—We have
not be en succe ssful holding 1-inchdiameter carbide end mills in TG or ER
collets without having them pull out of the
holder. Solid holders with a screw require
a flat and will work. Shrink fit should work
fine but we have not tried that yet. What is
your shop's current solution?
• Publishing Production Schedules—
How are smallish shops publishing production schedules to the shop floor? We are
not utilizing our shop management scheduling module yet; it requires a lot setup and
maintenance. We're not convinced that
magnetic or wipe boards are the answer.
What are you using?
why noT joIn?
Consider joining the group and adding your
insight. The more of the right shop personnel we have in the group, the better the
discussions will be.