Lots of Good Stuff...

I don't have as good of news as "daddy" Lee Mahon has with his new "hatchlings", but things are rocking along just as well here in the North American office of Synchro32.

Simon will be stateside shortly making the rounds and we are already scheduling a follow-on visit for Richy in the early September timeframe.  Chris and Simon will both be joining me at the Investment Casting expo in October in Dearborn Michigan.  Afterwards, Chris will be venturing into Mexico to practice his Spanish at several new installations. 

Hot is the word here in Texas - blazing hot and little to no rain.  By hot, I'm looking at the outside thermometer right now, in the shade, and it's showing 106.3f or 41.3c and it's only 16:30!  The hottest part of the day is yet an hour away.  No real new pictures to share or anything - I guess I could show you the grass at my house burning up - I'll be able to bale the yard into hay before long.

Lots of good stuff going on at Synchro32 - the development team is hard at work with many new and exciting features that are being rolled out almost weekly.  At Synchro32, there is no need to wait a year or more for releases and enhancements.

Too hot for me to go camping right now, my camper is just itching to go.  I figure my next trip will probably be in November with the camper.  Unfortunately, by then the days will be much shorter, but it will be massively cooler.

All is well in Texas - hoping we can escape another year without any hurricanes.

Until next time, see you on down the road.

ShaneA

I Don't Get It

I don't get it or understand it.  Some businesses out there just don't seem to get the power of the Internet or as I like to refer it as the Wild West Web.



Three weeks ago, I emailed a local appliance dealer that I normally do business with, asking for the price on a new electric dryer and if they would just deliver it to my house.  My old dryer had bitten the dust and was no longer drying.  Although it was only about five years old, the cost for a repairman and a new heating element along with probably a few other things made it more prudent to purchase a new one.  Why dump $300 into a five year old dryer when I could have a new one for $450.  Cost benefit analysis.

Alas, I have yet to receive an email reply back.  That is NOT good customer service.  I guess they don't check their email even though itt's listed on their website.  I ended up having to drive to their store and place the order.  Would have been so much easier to have done it by email.  I knew exactly the brand, model, and features I wanted.    I forgot to ask them if they ever checked their email.

I've also been shopping for a new car for my mother.   I searched and searched the Wild West Web for the dealer I wanted to use and  to search their inventory,  but alas I could not find it.  I found an email address for their other dealership and emailed them asking where there website was at.  This is the response I got.

Good morning! I'm sorry you were unable to find our website. It is relatively new and does not yet show up on the search engines as readily as we would like. Is there a particular model that interests you? I will be happy to help in any way that I can, so please let me know if you have any trouble on our site or if you need more information. Thanks for your interest in xyz.

Come on, this is 2010, and an auto dealership has not had a website up and running for the past ten years?  How much business have they lost by not having a website?    How much has this cost them in business.  I maybe what marketers label "an early adopter", but by now just about everyone expects to be able to get information off of the Wild West Web.

Synchro32 invests a lot of money and resources into our website and the internal workings of our tracking system.  We have a modern customer resource management system that allows the entire global Synchro32 team to view the information in real time and respond accordingly.

I am also amazed and concerned by the number of metalcasters that do not have a web presence.  A simple webpage is very inexpensive and gets your name and logo out in front of the world.  A single webpage with your companies name, logo, what you do, and how to contact you is all you need for a start.  Be forewarned, if you embark on an ambitious website of current news, events, newsletters, etc. you must keep it updated all the time - stale websites show a lack of interest and commitment.

What email address do you use?  There are quite a few metalcasters that rely on "global" email addresses of Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN, Google, or your internet provider.  Is this displaying the professional image you want the world to see?  An email address can easily be coupled with your webpage to provide a seamless image.  JANEDOE@metalcastings-r-us is much more professional than JANEDOE@GMAIL.com  

Synchro32 is proud of our commitment to customer support and the embracement of technology.

Back when I was working on my MBA, the team I was assigned to had a group project.  This blog post reminded me of that.

Till next time, see you on down the road.

Synchro32 - A Safe Harbor for Your Metalcasting Operations

The Synchro32 global team has done it again by having an article published in the July 2010 issue of Modern Casting. Although my name is listed as the lead author, trust me, this was truly a collaboration of all of the Synchro32 team members and is dedicated to them.

Synchro32 knows metalcasting. (Period)

Here is a link to the article.
Prevent Problems Through Perfect Planning Modern Casting July 2010


Hot here in Texas, although we are in a bit of a respite due to all of the tropical rain that has been flowing in. Keeping my fingers crossed that there are no major hurricanes this year, but there is one brewing in the Gulf of Mexico right now.

My favorite is always the Mariners 1-2-3 rule as it gives that old world feel to storms and of course the term "safe harbor" which of course has evolved into financial terms as well.

The Mariners' 1-2-3 Rule, or "Danger area", is indicated by shading. The 1-2-3 Rule, commonly taught to mariners, refers to the rounded long-term NHC forecast errors of 100-200-300 nautical miles at 24-48-72 hours, respectively.

Let Synchro32 become a "safe harbor" for your metalcasting operations by arranging for a demonstration today!

Generally speaking, a "safe harbor", besides the obvious of a place where mariners go to weather a storm, is also a  legal term that reduces or eliminates liability as long as it is done in good faith.   This applies to foundries and metalcasters that make financial projections and forecasts as long as they were done in good faith.  If the metalcaster has a modern ERP/MRP system and a top notch accounting software program that is linked with the ERP/MRP system, then the financial projections/forecasts would be made in good faith.  NOTE:  I'm not a lawyer nor a CPA - some might call me a "paralawyer" if you are up on your John Grisham books (Rainmaker).  :)   

 Until next time, see you on down the road...

TIMBER!

 Just in time for hurricane and severe storm season in Texas!  "Timber - the yell from loggers as a tree is felled".  It was an industrial sized exercise in safely removing the huge 110' water oak tree from my backyard.  The tree had a good life and was here long before I walked the face of this earth.  However, all good things must come to an end and the tree was riddled with structural weakness.  Although the tree had weathered many a storm and I'm sure kids of this house grew up playing hide-an-go-seek around the trunk and families enjoyed the shade as a respite from the brutal Texas summers, alas she is no more.

Many thanks to my friends and neighbors who pitched in and hauled off all of the sawdust.  Oak makes really good mulch.  It was back breaking work to haul it all off then to haul in some dirt to level it all back out.  Whew.  Glad that is behind me.  My next door neighbors hauled off two full truck loads of the stuff.

The tree service that took down the tree was most outstanding and I was very impressed with their professionalism and commitment to safety.  Like any good company, customer service is what it is all about.  At Synchro32, the global Synchro32 team is committed to legendary platinum level customer service that exceeds all expectations.  Period.   

As illustrated in the final pictures of Doc Holliday the MinPin - as a foundry person you can rest well at night knowing that Synchro32 is hard at work and that you are using the the best metalcasting specific software.

As you are looking at the following pictures that animate the tree removal process, look at all of the heavy duty metalcastings that went into the manufacturing of these awesome machines. I'm a boy and like Bob Vila, I like big boy toys. That crane had some stout castings on it and check out the teeth of the stump grinder. I would really have liked to take that crane for a ride. I worked seismic survey in the Louisiana , Krotz Springs, Opelousas, and Port Barie area of the Atchafalya Basin, during my college years and I got to drive many cool off-road vehicles. Nothing like being knee deep in an alligator and water moccasin infested swamp by 7am!

Until next time, see you on down the road... 

Back from Wisconsin...

Hello from blazing hot Texas!  The green text at least makes me feel cooler!  It's been a scorcher already this year and officially, Summer has just commenced.  

Chris Collins, MD/CEO, of Synchro32 and I met up in Wisconsin for the AFS Wisconsin Regional 2010.  By the way, MD refers to Managing Director and not Medical Doctor.  First time I met up with Chris during the hiring/interview/ phase, I had no idea as to what an MD truly was - I really thought he was a medical doctor!  Seemed like a strange combination of being a sawbones and involved with the metalcasting industry. 

Although one would say that the regional conference was anything but a stellar success, Synchro32 still firmly stands behind and supports the AFS Wisconsin Chapter.  For whatever reason, the attendance was shall I say dismal.  The venue location was changed to Oconomowoc at the Olympia Resort and Spa from the Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee.  The event was also shifted from bitterly cold and totally unpredictable February to comfortable and more predictable late Spring. 

Synchro32 has absolutely no doubt that the AFS Wisconsin Chapter will pull it all together and make the necessary changes to have the next expo/meeting a resounding success.

However, there were many positive things that came out of this regional conference.  Chris and I got to spend a lot of time together and discuss the entire company, our operations, growth projections, what we are doing right and what we need to do moving forward.  Additionally, Chris, Phil Laney of B&L, and Steve Hoppe of Guardian Software all got together over dinner to discuss the state of the industry and to get to know each other.  Furthermore, Synchro32 met up with a lot of our vendor friends and also made new industry friends.  These are all hugely important components of an expo and is immeasurable.  One can not always judge the success of an expo based on the number of sales leads obtained and converted.

Well, I've put my traveling cases in storage for a while.  Next up, and not until October, is the Investment Casting show in Dearborn Michigan!  http://www.investmentcasting.org/events.asp  Leland Martin and the team at the ICI always do a bang up job each year.  I've already got my flight booked!  Hope to see all of you investment casters there!

Till next time, see you on down the road.

Say Yah to Da Up eh?

Its Not To Late!

I can assure you, that the 2010 release of the AFS Wisconsin Regional will NOT be ground to a halt, at least not due to blizzard conditions!

It's not too late to make your plans and head on over to Wisconsin for the AFS Regional Conference! I will be meeting up with the Synchro32 CEO/Managing Director Chris Collins next week. If you are in attendance at this important show, be sure to make plans to attend the presentation by Chris and Tom on Wed morning at 9am sharp!

The weather looks great for next week, if you place much stock in weather forecasting! One thing is for sure, the temperatures should be a lot more moderate than what we are currently experiencing here in Texas. As I look at my thermometer, it is a pleasant 98.9f (37.2c) outside right now. Temps in Wisconsin should only reach the 70's!

For more information on the AFS Wisconsin Regional at the new venue of the Olympia Resort - please see http://www.olympiaresort.com/ and http://www.wisconsinafs.org/1006/1006.html

In advance, the entire global Synchro32 team wants to thank Donna Nagy, Tom Schell, and everyone else involved for bringing this all together. It is no small feat in pulling this important conference off year after year. Synchro32 also wants everyone to know that we give three thumbs up to having this Conference at a new location that is less expensive, easier parking, no bottlenecks at elevators (theory of constraints), and in a more relaxed atmosphere. Synchro32 also wants to say that we really appreciate and approve of rescheduling the event to a, shall I say, more favorable time of the year. Synchro32 is a very cost conscious company and the "blizzard" of Feb 2008 made the AFS Wisconsin show a very expensive endeavor for us as we received only one lead and I was a full day late in arriving due to airport closures.  As illustrated by the opening photo of this blog entry, I saved the newspaper from 2008.  

Please be sure to visit Synchro32 in booth #28. The show kicks off on Wednesday and finishes up on Thursday.

Till next time, see you on down the road...

Shane

Is Your Metalcasting Facility in a Hole?

Synchro32 is a friendly company to work for and to do business with.  I must say, I get along smashingly well with the entire global team.  It's the first place that I've ever worked at where there is "peace and harmony".  We "sing" (just like Provo's Privy - It Sings) - can you name that legendary movie from long ago?  This of course makes it very easy to do business with Synchro32 and become a customer - using the global platinum standard for metalcasting specific software.  Customer support is everything to the company - before the sale and long long after the sale.  That's why every license of the Synchro32 comes with unlimited support for trained users.  What more can be said...

Here is a story, borrowed from the WestWing, that really enforces friendship for me and also what Synchro32 can do for your metalcasting facility - anywhere in the world!

"This guy's walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can't get out.

"A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, 'Hey you. Can you help me out?' The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.

"Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, 'Father, I'm down in this hole can you help me out?' The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on

"Then a friend walks by, 'Hey, Joe, it's me can you help me out?' And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, 'Are you stupid? Now we're both down here.' The friend says, 'Yeah, but I've been down here before and I know the way out.'" 

So, if your metalcasting facility is in a hole, call on Synchro32 and we will all jump in the hole with you - we know the way out!

Till next time, see you on down the road...